Here’s a first look at the new Dewalt FlexVolt cordless snow blower!
The first-ever Dewalt cordless snow blower, DCSNP2142, features a brushless motor, single stage auger design, and 21″ snow-clearing width.
It’s got a 7-inch steel auger, for chopping through heavy wet snow, dual LED headlights, an electric 2-way chute control, push button start, ECO mode for prolonged battery life, boost mode for quicker driveway cleanings, 9-inch wheels, and a quick-fold handle for convenient storage.
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The electric chute control paddles are located at the operator’s fingertips.
The 3 power modes – max, standard, eco – gives users the flexibility to choose between maximum clearing power, longer battery life, or balanced performance.
At the max power setting, the snow blower can throw snow up to 40 feet, with the distance measured along the snow discharge arc.
Dewalt says that the new FlexVolt snow blower can clear up to 16 parking spaces (9′ x 18′ average with 3-5″ snow depth) on a single battery charge with 2x DCB612 (12Ah) batteries.
As usual, runtime and snow throwing distance can vary depending on environmental conditions.
The DCSNP2142Y2 kit comes with (2) 4Ah (20V Max 12Ah equivalent) batteries, and (2) DCB1104 single-port chargers.
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Price: $999 + shipping
ETA: September 2023
Discussion
The cordless snow blower requires (2) batteries to operate, which is standard for most competitive cordless snow blowers currently on the market.
Correction (9/5/23): The snowblower can be powered by one or two FlexVolt batteries.
Dewalt equipped the cordless snow blower with premium features I haven’t seen in competing models in the same sub-$1000 price range.
The electric 2-way chute control feature in particular sounds interesting and potentially convenient. Having 3 power modes, with an eco mode, turbo mode (max), and balanced standard setting gives users the best of all worlds. I like the idea of this option.
The snow blower/thrower looks to have a very compact footprint, which makes it appeal to me even more.
This is a very exciting development, at least in my opinion.
It’s looking like Dewalt might beat both Makita and Milwaukee Tool to market in the cordless snow blower race. We know that Milwaukee has been working on one, and Makita tends to be highly focused on cordless outdoor power tools.
I suppose we shouldn’t be surprised, as Stanley Black & Decker, Dewalt’s parent company, owns a growing portfolio of outdoor power tool brands, such as Cub Cadet and Troy-Built.
The two-way electric chute controls and three power modes definitely have my attention.
Big Richard
They also are offering it as a bare tool, unlike their mowers. No word on pricing, but based off the Y2 kit’s $999 price tag, I’d guess $699?
One thing I wondered though, they are calling this 60v, not 2x60v, but yet say it operates off of two batteries. So does it need two batteries, or can you run off one with reduced runtime?
Philip John
Good question. If 60v… it’s wired for the 8 ah… double the ah of one battery
Lance
60V @ 8Ah is not much energy storage. Ego kits their snowblowers with 5Ah batteries (56V) at a minimum, with 10 and 12Ah batteries as options. MUCH more energy storage.
The DeWalt might be ok for small driveways and light snow, but for the plow pile at the end of the driveway you’re going to want an extra set of batteries. Hopefully this new unit works better than their first lawnmower, lol!
Philip John
Yes. Although my ego 20 inch performance was extremely good with one 5ah battery… with the second one in… it’s designed to handle electrical peaks. Superior design. Dewalt may have an ace up sleeve if it can use a back up 3ah x2. I doubt it. But its one thing I like about Dewalt ope. A bit smaller for ergonomics and ofcourse cross compatibility with hand tools. Have Said this. I switched to ego ope as everything works amazing.
Big Richard
Yeh, EGO’s similar steel auger single stage comes kitted with either 2x5Ah (560Wh) or 2×7.5Ah (840Wh). Even the latter kit is still ~$150 less than DeWalt’s 2x4Ah (480Wh) kit. You can get up to 600Wh with DeWalt’s largest 5Ah FlexVolt batteries.
EGO is tough to beat across the OPE board in terms of performance, runtime, and price, imo.
neandrewthal
Worth mentioning that you don’t get half the runtime with half the batteries. A Samsung 40T cell for example will deliver 11.6 watt-hours at 10A discharge but only 10.1 wh at 20A discharge. All while rated at 14.4 wh. And DeWalt rates them at 16wh (They might use a different cell but results will be similar)
Big Richard
Answered my own question, can run off of one battery.
Pablo
Lithium Batteries tend to run poorly in extreme cold. This seems like the wrong application to me, even though I love my other electric outdoor power equipment.
TomD
As long as your batteries are stored inside (so they start out room temperature and not garage temperature) they’ll stay nice and toasty warm as they rapidly discharge.
Stuart
This is much less of a concern today than with earlier generation Li-ion battery packs.
I’ve been using cordless snow blowers for years. I’m glad to not have to bother with gas or extension cords.
Lance
Agreed. I’ve been using Ego’s cordless single stage for what seems like 10 years, but realistically 5-6 maybe. I have their 2-stage snowblower as well, both work great.
Bob
Used to keep an old MTD single stage rubber augered blower in the back of the truck. Had a little two stroke engine. A few of the driveways I did had elderly folks. It was light enough to grab it and blow the last little bit of snow away from garage doors. A shovel probably would have been just as quick. Although the auger/paddle wheel contacted the ground and got the surface very clean. It was a wear item was the only downfall.
This DeWalt might fit that role assuming enough spare battery’s though I don’t see the weight listed. I would prefer a rubber auger but steel is probably better for icy snow and more universal. I wonder if these have enough power to get though the refrozen berm of snow at the end of the driveway from the road plows? Also how does the battery charge hold up to that scenario.
I like the compact size/folding handles too. Most gas blowers the handles are fixed in position so it’s kind of a pain to store. Would be sweet if the plastic shoot was removable. Might even fit in the bottom of a garage cabinet at that point.
Will be interesting to see how these work out. I’d guess these would be good for the parts of the country that don’t typically get much snow? I don’t see this or any electric holding up to a 12-14” storm that is typical around here but I don’t think they are claiming it’s built for that either. Looking forward to se YouTube reviews in real world conditions this winter.
JMG
Is it just me, or does the unit being operated in the first picture look to be a different model than the other two photos?
I would like to have one of these, but living in an area where it might see use maybe once a year just doesn’t justify the price tag, or the space it would take up in my garage. Might change my mind if it could be used to bag leaves too.
Doug N
Looks very nice, I prefer single stage even here in MInneapolis.
Based on the timing of this announcement from Dewalt, I predict a similar product from Milwaukee next week.
MicahMc
Agreed; I’m also in the Minneapolis area and am curious how this will hold up in our winters!
I might hold off a year, given the improvements they made on their battery mower in the second year in production. But then again, I might bite the bullet and try it out this year!
Jason
I have the Greenworks 80v single stage (sadly plastic auger) and it actually does pretty good. Biggest downfall is the icier snows or when the plow goes by and there’s large chunks at the end of the driveway. Other than that it’s plowed through 6-8 inches pretty good. Still not ready to part with the 26” dual stage gas though.
Chris I
That thing’s gonna eat batteries for breakfast.
45secs runtime?
I only get about 6min runtime with 12ah battery in my FB leaf blower.
Louie+Orama
I get a lot more time with my 9AH. You may want to check your 12AH for issues. That is if you’re talking about the FlexVolt Axial Blower. I think it’s the 722.
Collin
Ego blower uses a 2000 watt motor.
I’m guessing this thing has something in the ~3 horsepower range as well.
I am curious how Milwaukee will design their blower now that DeWalt hit the market with a dual battery 60v blower.
Paul
So now we can assume that Milwaukee has continued “the wait and see” approach to developing new tools. They are always last to get to market (see their mower) and although the product they develop might be superior, it will almost certainly be priced in the top tier.
I’m in the milwaukee platform and was hoping for a snow solution for this year. I didn’t want to jump into ego. But now I might have to.
Steve L
Very interesting observation. Might be the reason my cordless tools are Dewalt and I use Ego outside. If M18 product had come earlier there is a good chance I would have gone Milwaukee.
Stuart
According to a statement from the highest levels, they’re working on one – https://toolguyd.com/milwaukee-snowblower-packout-mx-fuel-pipeline-2022-teasers/ .
There’s still the potential for a Milwaukee snow blower to launch this year, but it’s hard to say.
Ego’s are good. I really liked their paddle snow blower and continue to give up garage real estate to my sample of their 2-stage model.
I’m planning on a shed, and the 2-stage will go there. But, there’s great appeal in something neat and compact like this Dewalt that uses the same batteries as my tools.
We get a lot of snow some years, and almost nothing other times. Two seasons ago I was able to test the Ego 2-stage to its limits. Last year, we had a couple of snowfalls but they were only deep enough for me to bust put a shovel.
TomD
Compact is huge as it were; if they can’t make it a reasonable replacement for a full size Toro I’d rather they made it compact, light, and easy to throw in a trunk than make something 24 inches wide that burns through batteries instantly.
Champs
As often as it “snows” here and as much as I have to clear, I’m happy to just have a shovel and pick. Nothing better to do if the whole city is iced in.
Milwaukee will have its snowblower in a few years when they figure out cell balancing and how not to undermine the 28V platform with the lighter duty 60V platform they need.
Steve
Seems to me the run time is weak and the capability is not that exciting. Seems more like a tool for something like Milwaukee’s MX line. In this form, it seems like a light duty only tool…
Bobcat
They ain’t going with the MX line which is a total failure because of the pricing I can only imagine what a snowblower would cost if a light goes for 3 thousand dollars, I’ve been to 7 home depot and none are carrying the MX line so what does that tell you
Stuart
Let’s take a look at some tools from the MX Fuel system. https://toolguyd.com/milwaukee-mx-fuel-cordless-tool-construction-equipment/
MX Fuel Rocket Tower Light/Charger
MX Fuel Sewer Drum Machine
MX Fuel Handheld Core Drill
How many 10-foot 27,000 lumen worklights does each Home Depot sell on a regular basis? Sewer drum machines? 6-inch core drills?
“MX line is a total failure.” Maybe, maybe not. Frankly, I don’t know. These aren’t consumer products and it’s hard to tell if the target audience are buying them.
“I’ve been to 7 home depot and none are carrying the MX line so what does that tell you” It tells me that these aren’t tools Home Depot expects to sell very well, nor would I expect them to.
TomD
I’ve seen MX in use in the field, and they keep releasing more of them, so it must be at least moderately successful.
BUT, you could argue that they’re also gambling on CA and friends outlawing gas motors on construction equipment – counterpoint; if they were really bad people local to me wouldn’t have them until forced. I think MX is successful in the market they’re aiming at, which is NOT low end professional/high end prosumer/weekend wallet warriors.
Philip John
Ego is the leader here. And the dewalt set up is very similar. It’s very good for tight driveways with constant changes in operation.
I love how my ego can run one or two batteries. And the chute manual rotation works great.
Milwaukee at 2x 18 for 36v will be better in winter… as they run hot lol
Philip John
Very similar performance with ego. And similarl voltage per dewalt battery.
Food for thought ego version recommends not to go lower than the 4ah battery.
So it’s worth to notice that using a very popular 60v 3ah battery is not a good idea. Unless dewalt says otherwise… it’s maybe possible of they have some kind of advancement in the motor or etc.
Philip John
When using my ego. I found this same type of auger here on dewalt… Metal screw with 2 rubber paddles. Had advantage over other types …was chewing up city truck snowplow walls at end of driveways.
Big Richard
Teaser video on it – https://www.dewalt.com/NAG/PRODUCT/VIDEOS/DCSNP2142B/DCSNP214_SnowBlower-48sec-60V-16×9-EN_VBS1.mp4
BrianA
Throws snow 40ft measured on the arc LOL. So instead of measuring from where the machine is to where the snow lands, the new marketing scam is to measure the path. So its possible it throws the snow 20ft in the air and it travels 20ft down right next to the machine, it throws it 40ft!!
TomD
Reach vs standout was a mistake and we’re going to pay the price forever.
Jack S
A statement in the video is key to its performance: “Clear up to a 1/4 mile of sidewalks” on a fresh set of batteries before a recharge. 1,320 linear feet under the best conditions (light fluffy snow) limits its usefulness. Guessing at the run time assuming a 2 mph walking speed (best conditions) is ~7.5 minutes. Tough sell…
Big Richard
Sidewalk is 60″ wide, this has a 21″ clearing width. So it takes 3 passes to clear a sidewalk. You gotta triple your numbers. It would actually be about 3960 linear feet and about 22.5 minutes runtime based on your 2 mph. Assuming they are talking about completely clearing a sidewalk, and not just one single 21″ path.
I live on a double corner lot of a dead end street, so I have the most sidewalk in my neighborhood by a long shot and it is still only around 300 feet. Most of my neighbors have a whole 50 feet of sidewalk, so I think this would suffice for many a urban user.
Derek
Yup. I could clear the whole neighborhood in my townhouse development. And have more Dewalt batteries for my tools as backups.
Munklepunk
a tool like this has variables all over the place in battery life. 12″ of dry powder is way easier than 4” of wet compact. This is big battery time.
This is great for small jobs or homeowners, I had jobs where this would have been perfect. It would have made life super easy because just the noise drop would have allowed me to do jobs way earlier in the AM. This is almost a “price be damnded” tool because a good quality snowblower already costs $1,500+ if you want it to survive commercial use for a few seasons. And since the batteries can be used on other tools, that’s a bonus. If dewalt and other manufactureres can build to the same quality as Ariens or Honda they have a winner for contractors, because every single landscaper in cold areas also plows and does some type of sidewalk cleaning.
KMR
Not sure how I feel about this. I’ve been considering a smaller battery snowblower for a few years. I live in a lake effect snow area, where we had been averaging 120+ inches of snow a year, but the last 4-5 years, we’ve been in the 70-80″ range and much of the daily snowfalls I am finding myself just pushing / shoveling 3-4″ at a time, once or twice a day.
Is this even self-propelled? The axle line looks really close to the outer case of the unit, which seems to limit your choices for driving the axle. I guess if we had a few more pictures, this would probably become obvious, but it isn’t stated or shown anywhere that I can see.
I’m not in the Dewalt cordless ecosystem, so some of my reservation is likely the fact that it would require an investment into that system or settling for the batteries for this to be specifically single-use for this solution. Some of my other OPE is Greenworks 80V, and they do have snow removal solutions, but overall the Greenworks tools don’t feel like professional OPE tools to me, and I’m reluctant to invest more in that system beyond the trimmer and blower.
Stuart
To my knowledge, single stage snow blowers aren’t usually self-propelled.
KMR
At least two of the Toro single stage units I’ve looked at are self-propelled. Perhaps Toro is a bit of an outlier in respect to the rest of the market, they seem to quietly do their own thing and not get a ton of attention/press.
KMR
It looks like there is a distinction between single stage blowers with a ground engaging auger that simultaneous pulls the unit forward providing pseudo-drive or steel auger units, like the Dewalt, where the auger does not scrape the pavement and thus require the operator to push the unit forward manually.
Stuart
One Toro model I checked isn’t. Another is advertised as having a self-propel feature, at double the price.
$1149 is a lot for a snow blower with a paddle instead of a steel auger.
They say “Self Propelling paddles help you get the job done quickly”. Does that mean the paddle is self propelled or it has motor-driven wheels?
They don’t exactly say on the website either, and their user manual also isn’t clear.
“Power Propel technology blasts through the toughest drifts and crustiest snow. Use its muscle without taxing yours.”
The Toro has 7-inch wheels.
Whereas with the Ego 2-stage, they make it clear the snow blower has a reversible motor driver: “Contains variable speed auger and self-propelled forward/reverse options”, “Independent brushless motors: self-propel and auger.”
It looks like the Toro might just propel itself forward via the scooping action of its auger, rather than being a true self-propel motorized wheel drive.
Philip John
This design of auger single stage is somewhat propelled with the auger. This design and movement is great around cars. Drive wheels around cars is a pain in you know what
Philip John
This snowblower thrower is available even now in Canada… so it’s Imperative that the customer know what’s the minimum size of battery dewalt recommend. Since the set up is wired for 2 bats already at 60v (series) . 9-3 ah batteries in the thrower is then 6 ah. This maybe why dewalt decided to must have 2 .. because so many people have this battery. And would like to have the back up to keep snowthrow while the 2- 12-4 ah are are on the charger. 6 total ah in my opinion works pretty amazing.
Big Richard
Philip, sorry for the delay on this. The snow thrower is wired for parallel batteries and CAN run on a single FlexVolt battery, but is not recommended due to poor runtime. DeWalt’s official answer:
“Only use DeWalt Flexvolt battery system batteries (DCB612 recommended) with this snow blower. NOTE: The snow blower can operate with a single, fully charged battery but it is not recommended as it will result in less run time and reduced performance.”
I think the 12Ah/4Ah DCB612 is recommended because it offers the best combo of optimal runtime:price, which makes sense because that is what they are kitting it with. Obviously a pair of the 15Ah/5Ah DCB615 will give the best run time, but costs significantly more.
That said, they are offering it as a bare tool (no batteries), so if you have a pair of DCB609 or even DCB606 at home already, they will work. Just don’t expect the best runtime.
Ben
Hey Stuart – wasn’t this article posted a few weeks back, then removed? Was there a timing issue with DeWalt’s press release / launch schedule? Not trying to be a sneak, just want to make sure I’m not crazy.
Walter Bordett
This is a useless mostly plastic toy, if you live in the snow belt.
Toro makes a real mid-size snow blower that is the same blower as their gas blower uses but with battery power. It has been favorably reviewed by Paul Sikema on his channel. It is worthy of consideration if you want electric OPE.
Right now, they will have to pry my 2008 Ariens 26 inch 9.5HP snowblower from my cold dead fingers. It will clear the frozen plow drift at the end of the driveway, pump slush and clear more than 18 inches in a single pass. My last Ariens was 22 years old and working when I traded it for this one at a local dealer. I stick with what works and has parts available if they are needed.
Right now most electric OPE is not supported by dealers and some brands have no parts support at all. The big box stores change brands more frequently than I change socks. Not confidence inspiring for someone who plans to keep equipment for the long haul.
Franco Calcagni
I don’t think this is useless, in fact I think it can be quite useful, for the right people.
To me, this is going to be very much like a gas single stage, without the runtime a gas model has. Still, city folks that have walk ways or paths to clear. My uncle would have a contractor do his drive way, but the walkway to the front door, and to the back yard shed, he would do himself. With his bad back, he looked for a small “electric shovel”.
Myself, I have a large rural are driveway that I use my Kubota tractor. But there are many days where we get light dustings of an inch or 2, I got a single stage for these occasions, to not have to use the tractor.
These are instances, and I am sure there are others, where a snow blower like this would be perfect.
Ray
I wonder how those paddles and the auto chute rotation will hold up at -30 in Canada.