Anybody remove snow with a Wovel?

[PamNY]

A photo caught my eye because it looked a bit like a bike wheel. The Sno Wovel (http://www.wovel.com/) looks like such a good idea; I wondered if anyone has one.

Since I live in an apartment I don't shovel but I do listen to the noisy blowers all night. I'd love to see the neighborhood go all Wovel (assuming they work).

Pam

[SadieKate]

That looks incredibly inefficient. You can't lift the snow very high or throw it sideways without picking up the whole thing, which is a lot heavier than a shovel. You can't clear a sidewalk or driveway by just pushing straight forward. And, when you run out of space and have to start throwing it over the mountains? Oy.

http://i22.photobucket.com/albums/b310/SadieKate/The%20Lodge/IMG_0823.jpg

[lph]

Cute! :p Ooh, I love gadgets. And I especially love the way they find it logical to compare it to a snow blower, rather than it's plain little sister, the regular snow shovel. That's sort of like comparing a recumbent bike to a car. "No parking tickets! No gas expenses!" :D

I can imagine it works fine if you have conditions like the ones pictured, not too much snow, a flat firm surface and surroundings that are flat or slope down to throw it all onto. But that wheel is just waiting to get bogged down if you have more snow than you can pick up with one swipe.

We just own a lowly aluminium shovel, the backbreaking kind you pick up and throw away the snow with. Our lovely neighbours (they lend it out) have a modern non-stick shallow one that you can either pick up or push in front of you. And our even lovelier neighbours on the either side have the pièce de résistance, a large two-handed push-in-front "shovel", that can't really be picked up but makes a very satisfying wiiide swath in the snow. You do have to prepare a ramp for the debris in advance though.

[ginny]

I have a funny handled shovel that is great! I can shovel for about an hour without getting too tired. I used to live way up in the mtns and they didn't clear about 1/4 mile of my private road and driveway. A little tractor would have been perfect. My ex was a cheap skate and we bought one of those 4 stroke gas engine push plow things. It wasn't ideal for the mtns, but now that I live in town, my neighbors LOVE me. ;) I usually still use the shovel unless we get heavy or lots of snow. I have to agree that the 'gadget' above looks ... um... not terribly useful for most shoveling operations. Though, it looks like it's fun to use.

[GLC1968]

I agree with the others - it looks like a great tool if you live somewhere where all you get is 6 - 8 inches at a time, every once in awhile. If you live where snow piles on top of snow and piles on top of more snow - it would be useless before too long because you can't lift it high enough.

I will give them marks for ingenuity - and it certainly looks sturdy enough to last.