Snow Joe iON13SS 40-Volt Cordless Snow Shovel (Review)

Snow Joe iON13SS is a battery powered snow shovel. It’s not exactly cheap – you can actually buy a pretty decent electric snow blower from this same manufacturer for similar pricing, which does raise a question – can it really be worth the money?

Performance

Snow Joe iON13SS has clearing path of 13 inches and intake height of 6. With its 500W brushless motor and 2 blade paddle auger it can move up to 300 pounds of snow per minute.

Snow Joe iON13SS deals with 6 inches of regular snow pretty well. If snow is more dense or heavier you might have to push the shovel slowly especially if it’s frozen/icy.

It’s however definitely not a machine you want to use on wet/slushy snow. If you are lucky it still might do the job but expect to push Snow Joe iON13SS back and forth a lot in such conditions. In some cases shoveling will be a better way of dealing with slushy snow.

Chute

Snow Joe iON13SS does throw regular snow a good distance but you can’t adjust the direction of chute. It will always throw snow in front of you which can cause multiple issues.

First of all you might have to do multiple passes as it will likely throw the snow both in areas you already cleared and areas you are about to clear in front of you. Because of this you might have to do a second pass on areas you already cleared once and as it throws additional snow in front of you it might struggle more the closer you get to the end of driveway. Not a huge issue if your driveway is small, but this unit is certainly not for large ones (not that anyone

Second of all it throws snow pretty high so in windy conditions it might be thrown onto you.

It might experience a different problem when it comes to slushy snow. In some cases it really struggles and barely throws it at all.

Battery

Snow Joe iON13SS runs on 40V 4.0 Ah eco Sharp Lithium-Ion battery. Manufacturer claims battery life of up to 45 minutes. It seems to be pretty accurate as it will last around 40 minutes in light conditions – less on more demanding.

Quality

Most of the unit is made of plastic so it’s not very sturdy. It shouldn’t be a problem if you use Snow Joe iON13SS electric snow shovel with care but be careful not to hit any tough/hard objects with plastic paddle auger as it might break in such instances.

Ergonomics

Ergonomics aren’t that great. Snow Joe iON13SS is pretty tall, feels a bit heavy and has no wheels meaning it does require some effort to push. If you are healthy adult with a small driveway it probably won’t be an issue for you, but for someone who’s not physically fit and/or has large driveway the task of cleaning it might feel very physically demanding.

Miscellaneous

Snow Joe iON13SS is ETL approved, CSA Safety listed and Energy Star certified.

Conclusions

Is Snow Joe iON13SS electric snow shovel worth the money? In most cases no. For similar pricing you can buy Snow Joe SJ627E corded snow blower that does job of removing snow exceptionally better. If you don’t want to deal with a cord then battery powered Snow Joe iON15SB-LT snow thrower is what you might be looking for – it doesn’t remove snow as good as SJ627E but it does perform better than iON13SS.

Snow Joe iON13SS 40-Volt iONMAX Cordless Brushless Snow Shovel Kit | 13-Inch | W/ 4.0-Ah Battery and Charger Specs/Details:

• Type: Electric (battery powered)
• Motor: 500W Brushless
• Plowing Capacity: 300 lbs/min
• Clearing width: 13 inches
• Intake height: 6 inches
• Battery: 40-Volt 4.0Ah
• Certifications:
  • ETL approved
  • Energy Star certified
  • CSA Safety listed