Minnsnowta Dynamo Snow Roof Rake

This equipment is sturdy, well made, and performs as promised. Cleaned off the snow in record time and I didn’t have to climb on the roof! Awesome!

I almost never give 5 star reviews because I can usually find something I don't like about a product. However, there aren't many products like this out there and I do believe this is this the best one.As I said above, do buy it before you need it. I'm in Massachusetts and typically we get a break between snow storms so the snow melts away. I probably only need a product like this every three years or more. Although now that I have it, I'm sure it will get more use. This year we got several storms in succession and no chance for melting in between. Right before February vacation to boot. I knew this was going to be a problem. So I last week I ordered this and then spent about 2 hours on a ladder with a home-made roof rake (not the razor type like this one). It was grueling work, I did a lousy job, and I risked gouging my roof. Despite my efforts I still got a little bit of water in the house from the ice dam. I probably would have gotten more.So now I'm back from vacation and it's 45 degrees outside. There was still about 6 inches of wet, heavy snow on the roof in a non-problem area. So I gave this thing a try. It's awesome. In minutes I had snow flying off the roof. There is no comparison to the rake-style devices. I can't think of a type of snow where the razor-type won't beat a rake-type.Of all the razor-type products I've seen, this one has the longest pole sections at 6 feet and the longest standard length at 24 feet. I just ordered more poles and an angle kit straight from Minnsnowta since my yard slopes away. I could probably make use of 50 feet of reach. I took some comments about the weight and poor quality of a competing product to heart when choosing this one. I am happy with the quality and weight of this one. The poles and head seem sturdy and the the chute seems pretty heavy duty. Time will tell.When I ordered more poles I noticed that the main product is a lot cheaper direct from Minnsnowta. The shipping is about the same too. I'm conditioned to just buy from Amazon I guess because I didn't notice at first.

As at least one other reviewer has done, I purchased the roof razor and then left the box unopened until we got buried in snow. Fortunately, the hardware was intact (2 carriage bolts with self-locking nuts). The construction is sturdy: heavy-gauge aluminum, with strong fabric for the slide. My first use of the roof razor was to clear about 26" of fresh and reasonably dry snow. My first pass resulted in a face full of snow, but I quickly learned how to avoid getting dumped on. The amount of snow that can be cleared in a relatively short time is amazing. It seems to me that there are three reasons why this device is superior to a conventional roof rake:1. You have to lift it over the edge and onto the roof, but no higher. You do not have to raise it over the level of the snow at all, much less on each pass.2. You are not pulling the weight of the snow with each bite; you are simply sliding the device under the snow and letting gravity do the rest. It has to be seen to be believed.3. The snow slides on a slippery length of fabric, not on the high friction roof shingles.Maneuvering the roof razor sideways is not easy, but I figured out how to angle the razor into the upper end of new snow and then angle my way around until I had the poles at right angles to the eves. This is much easier to do than to describe, and you will figure it out for yourself almost immediately.I cannot yet give the roof razor a 5-star rating because I don't know how long the slide will last before abrading to the point of needing replacement, and I don't how well it works on melted and refrozen snow. A previous reviewer indicated that it works just fine on crusty snow; if so, the roof razor is not just superior to a conventional roof rake, but it is vastly superior. I will add to this review after my first experience with crusty and icy snow. But I can confidently say that for dry snow, this item is worth every penny.

At this time it is hard to fully rate this - thus the four stars. It's very unusual for my area but we haven't had much accumulating snow. We normally have a seasonal snowfall of over 100 inches. I have used it once on a snow cover of about 10 inches and it worked great. Sure beats using a snow puller. I really want to use it on a cover of 15 inches or more before fully evaluating. Unfortunately (or fortunately) there is still no heavy snow in sight.I do have a couple of personal observations/comments:1. The part that actually cuts the snow is also the rod where the skirt top end is wrapped and fastened. There is no blade in front of it. It would seem that the skirt would eventually wear through at this point. Looks like a blade could be fabricated and attached here without much trouble. It seemed to function OK on soft snow as is, however.2. There is a locally made unit similar to this model (and much more expensive) That has an optional bracket or blade that is clamped to the pole. This cuts the sliding snow blocks so they fall away from the operator. It looks as though this might be accomplished here using a twisted L-bracket.I'll add to this when or if we get more snow.