Best Three-Stage Snow Blowers in 2022: Buying Guide

When it’s snowing outside, and you can’t get your children to their bus stop or your vehicle out of the driveway, you know it’s time to take the snow blower out.

CUB CADET HD 3X Snow Blower Thrower 28

CUB CADET HD 3X 28″

These are fantastic machines for clearing snow off of your walkways and driveways. Instead of paying a neighborhood kid to shovel your driveway, consider running a snow blower through your yard and moving tremendous amounts of snow to where it won’t obstruct travel.

A three-stage snow blower differs from a two-stage model by having a second auger in place. The first auger pulls snow and ice chunks into the discharge impeller fan, whereas the second auger can demolish compacted snow mounds and ice by rotating more than 10 times as fast, ensuring that your yard and driveways are free from obstruction and slipping hazards. The impeller fan works the same by throwing out all the snow and ice brought in by the augers.

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Three-Stage Snow Blower | Recommended

Our Pick No. 1
Ariens Mountaineering Professional RapidTrak (32')...
Ariens Mountaineering Professional RapidTrak (32")...
420cc Engine; Electric Start; Hydrostatic Drive System; Heated Hand Grips; 3 Year Warranty

Last update on 2024-03-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API


Three-Stage Snow Blower | Recommended

Last update on 2024-03-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

Our Recommended Three-Stage Snow Blowers in 2022

2) CUB CADET 3X (26″)

CUB CADET 3X (26") 357cc Track Drive Three-Stage...
  • 357cc Cub Cadet OHV 4-Cycle engine
  • Innovative 3-stage system with electric start
  • Easy Control Chute Rotation & Deflector, also has a track drive system

Last update on 2024-03-27 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API

1) Troy-Bilt Vortex 2490

The final item on our list is another one of Troy-Bilt’s products the Vortex 2490. It can be said that 2490 is the little brother version of 2890 mentioned earlier. First, 2490 can clear snow of up to 26 inches wide and 21 inches deep in a single pass.

It also comes with a central 12-inch auger that moves 10 times faster than the side augers for grinding up snow and ice before sending it through the impeller fan. Like 2890, the fan can send snow and ice flying more than 30 feet away. Despite being smaller in size, most homeowners who’ve purchased this product have complimented it for being a more realistic size for clearing walkways, and it won’t add any significant amount of time and effort in clearing driveways.

This unit also comes with headlights to increase visibility during nighttime operations. Unfortunately, the handles are heated to keep your fingers toasty, but a good pair of mittens or gloves can work just fine.

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Three-Stage Snow Blower Buying Guide

Like any yard tool, you might need to invest some time and effort in researching which three-stage snow blower is best suited for you and your home, or even if you need such a powerful machine. The following segment will provide you with a brief explanation of what the most important specs and features of a three-stage snow blower are and what to consider before purchasing one.

Troy-Bilt Vortex 2490 277cc Electric Start 24-Inch Three Stage Gas Snow Thrower

Troy-Bilt Vortex 2490

Snow Depth

If your part of the globe measures snowfall in inches and not feet, then perhaps a three-stage snow blower isn’t for you. These machines are designed to demolish huge one-foot-high mounds of snow. If you run a three-stage snow blower over grassy areas covered in only a thin layer of snow, then you’ll most likely end up tearing large patches of grass out of the soil, leaving your yard with unsightly bald spots when the snow thaws.

Accelerator

The accelerator is the additional auger that crushes snow and ice before throwing them into the discharge impeller. Accelerators are normally at least a foot tall, though some three-stage snow blowers can come with larger augers for heavy-duty snow and ice destruction. The need for a larger auger depends on how much snowfall your city experiences and how compact the snow is.

Clearing Width

The main reason for purchasing a snow blower, in the beginning, is to reduce the amount of time spent in the chilly outdoors doing manual labor. One way of making quick work out of otherwise laborious cleaning is by selecting a snow blower with the right width to fit the size of your pathways. A larger intake means moving more snow in a single pass. However, if you purchase a model that’s wider than your walkway, there might be some balance issues when running this machine.

Troy-Bilt Vortex 2890 357cc Electric Start 28-Inch Three-Stage Gas Snow Thrower

Troy-Bilt Vortex 2890

Large Tires

Three-stage snow blowers are the largest variety of snow blowers available. Since they’re so beefy, they need to sit atop heavy-duty wheels to ensure perfect balance and that they can work on all sorts of terrain, paved or otherwise. We recommend finding a model that has large enough tires with proper traction to prevent slipping and sliding along icy pathways.

Final Remarks

What separates three-stage snow blowers from their single- and two-stage counterparts is the additional auger. With this auger in the center of the front housing, you can tear down large snow mounds and chunks of ice in just a matter of seconds. Furthermore, you won’t need to worry about accidentally shooting snow onto another part of your driveway thanks to their extremely powerful impeller fans that can toss out snow more than 30 feet away.

MTD Genuine Parts 42-Inch Three Stage Snow Thrower Attachment

MTD

Keep in mind that many homeowners may not require a beefy three-stage snow blower for eliminating snow mounds and ice chunks from their yards and driveways. The main benefit you get from a three-stage snow blower is a bigger front housing with a central auger for reduced time and effort. However, if your home comes with a narrow walkway and driveway, a single- or two-stage unit may suit you just fine.

There are several things to look at before picking up a three-stage snow blower from the Internet. These include how large the front housing is (height and width), the speed of the accelerator (central auger), how large their tires are, and how well they offer balance and traction on slippery surfaces.

In this article, we’ve also included our picks of the three top-performing three-stage snow blowers currently available. Of the three we’ve chosen, one is an attachment that should fit well on a Troy-Bilt Super Bronco XP lawnmower.

CUB CADET HD 3X Snow Blower Thrower 30

CUB CADET HD 3X 30″

The other two models are made from Troy-Bilt, the first being a larger 28-inch machine with heated handles. However, the top three-stage snow blower, in our humble opinion, is the 26-inch 2490. Admittedly, you lose two inches of width for clearing paths, but for most homeowners, the loss in width won’t matter since you’ll still have to make repeated runs to clear wide driveways.

Three-Stage Snow Blower | Recommended

Our Pick No. 1
Ariens Mountaineering Professional RapidTrak (32')...
Ariens Mountaineering Professional RapidTrak (32")...
420cc Engine; Electric Start; Hydrostatic Drive System; Heated Hand Grips; 3 Year Warranty

Last update on 2024-03-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API


Three-Stage Snow Blower | Recommended

Last update on 2024-03-10 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API


This website is supported by readers. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.




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Previously in Our Recommended List

MTD Genuine Parts 42-Inch Three Stage Snow Thrower Attachment

The first product on our list of the top three-stage snow blowers is an attachment for a riding lawnmower. This snow thrower attachment from MTD is designed to be fitted onto the Troy-Bilt Super Bronco XP. The first thing to look at is the massive 18-inch ice-chomping auger which helps speed up the snow-clearing process by up to 25% compared to two-stage machines.

It has a clearing path of up to 42 inches so clearing your driveway can be done with just a few quick sweeps. Its tremendous steel arch allows users to tackle snowbanks of up to 18 inches tall, making even the deepest snowfall no longer an issue. Hitching this tool onto a Troy-Bilt Super Bronco XP or another similar riding lawn mower is easy to do.

However, some users have talked about difficulties in keeping the snow blower centered when making turns around tight corners. You should note that this problem is not unique to this MTD snow blower attachment.

Troy-Bilt Vortex 2890 357cc Electric Start 28-Inch Three-Stage Gas Snow Thrower

Next up is the Vortex 2890 from Troy-Bilt. This heavy-duty three-stage gas blower is designed to eliminate the most challenging snow mounds in mere seconds. It has a humungous 28-inch wide and 21-inch tall front housing for clearing wide paths in just a single pass.

Its three-stage design includes a heavy-duty 12-inch auger that spins 10 times quicker than the side augers for grinding up ice and wet snow. The impeller fan is where the magic is; it has the power to discharge huge amounts of snow more than 30 feet away from the location of the snow blower. 2890 comes with a 357-CC gas tank for extended use in the chilly winter months. To make things easier, this machine features power steering to help clear corners while maintaining perfect balance.

Since you’ll be out in the cold, Troy-Bilt has included heated handles to keep your digits from succumbing to frost burn. Traction and immaculate maneuvering are guaranteed thanks to the heavy-duty 16-inch tires. Furthermore, with 2890, you get a handy headlight that pierces through the dark for nighttime use.

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