Briggs & Stratton S1024 Snow Blower (Review)

Briggs and Stratton S1024 is a two-stage gas powered snow blower with 24 inch clearing path and 20 inch clearing depth. It has 4-Cycle OHV 208cc engine that develops 9.5 lb-ft. of torque and with its 12-inch steel auger it should go through snow like butter. But does it?

Performance

When it comes to removing snow Briggs and Stratton S1024 performs very well for most part.

Fluffy snow is no challenge for it – even if you come across 2 feet of light snow it will go through it without effort.

Wet snow is where it might struggle a bit – you might have to go slower at it or do two passes (go back and forth) depending on conditions. It will still do the job most of time but it will require more effort to do the job. With that being said it will deal with up to 8-12 inches of wet snow without much issues most of the time (unless it’s really slushy) – more than that and it will likely start to struggle.

It has both – 230V electric start and recoil (manual pull) start. Either works great, manual way only requires 1-2 pulls to start.

Although instructions say that the snow blower comes with oil inside the engine some consumers have noted that they received unit without oil. So before using Briggs and Stratton S1024 snow blower be sure to check the dip stick to see whether the unit has sufficient if any oil inside the engine to prevent it from seizing.

Reliability

If you inspect consumer reports of this model you will notice quite a bit of reliability issues. The most common issue is belt slippage, however there are other complaints about many different issues meaning this unit might not be all that well built for long term use.

It must be noted that majority of the consumer feedback is positive, though there is still enough complaints to cause concerns.

Maneuverability

Briggs and Stratton S1024 snow blower is self propelled and has 5 forward and 2 reverse gears. It can pull itself on incline. Reverse speeds are a bit slow but it’s not a deal breaker. The main issue is how difficult it’s to handle Briggs and Stratton S1024. It’s very heavy and with no power steering and other features turning it requires quite of effort. It’s not too bad that a normal healthy adult couldn’t do it, but at this pricing you would want something that’s easier to handle.

Tires are 14” x 4” with Arctic Trac tread.

Features

Chute is made of steel and is adjustable from control panel both horizontally (with crank) and vertically (with lever). It rotates in 200 degrees, range of vertical adjustment is wide too.

Briggs and Stratton S1024 has built-in LED lights that turn on automatically – it seems like you can’t turn them off.

Briggs and Stratton S1024 is CE Compliant.

Conclusions

Briggs & Stratton S1024 seems to be decent snow blower when it works. It’s more than adequate for most situations however in heavier conditions it might struggle, on top of that complaints from some consumers about reliability is concerning too. Is it worth the money? Yes, unless you get unlucky and your unit starts generating issues.

Briggs and Stratton S1024 Snow Blower Specs/Details:

• Manufacturer: Briggs and Stratton
• Model: S1024
• Type: Gas powered
• Stage: Two-stage
• Clearing Width: 24″
• Clearing Depth: 20″
• Engine:
  • Type: 4-cycle OHV 950 Snow Series™
  • Engine Displacement: 208 cc
  • Engine power output: 9.5 lb-ft. (~5-6 hp)
  • Starting system: Recoil (manual pull) start + 230V electric start
• Transmission:
  • Self propelled: Yes
  • Type: Friction disk drive
  • Forward speeds: 5
  • Backward speeds: 2
• Chute:
  • Chute Rotation: 200 degrees
  • Chute material: Steel
• Tire Size: 14″ x 4”
• Auger:
  • Auger diameter: 12 inches
  • Auger material: Steel
• Certifications:
  • CE Compliant