Snow Joe SJ615E (Review)

Snow Joe SJ615E is one of the cheapest electric snow blowers you can buy – can it really be any good while being this cheap?

Performance

Snow Joe SJ615E is a cord powered snow blower with 15 inch clearing width and 8 inch intake height. It hass 11-Amp motor than can move up to 441 pounds of snow per minute according to manufacturer. So how does it tackle snow?

It handles 8 inches of fluffy snow without any issues. It’s capable of clearing more than that but it might struggle, especially if you are going through 1+ feet of snow – you might have to go slower at it or even slowly go back and forth at snow. Overall it works pretty well when it comes to light, fluffy snow.

Wet snow is a different story though. It usually handles few inches (like up to ~4”) of it without major issues but still might struggle at times too. More than 4 inches of wet snow and you will likely need something more serious. Be warned that chute tends to clog in heavy or wet snow.

Overall this unit isn’t really made to tackle wet, slushy snow as often it will require a lot more effort (but it’s still better than shoveling). If you have to deal with it on common basis perhaps you should look for a more powerful, advanced and unfortunately more expensive unit. However putting extra effort once in a while if you don’t have to deal with wet snow often isn’t that bad.

Manufacturer claims this unit throws snow up to 20 inches far – keyword here being “up to” as you are unlikely to see it throw it further than 10. If there is very little snow (less than 2 inches) or snow is slushy then it might barely throw it at all.

Quality

Almost the whole unit is made of plastic. Quality of plastic isn’t bad – it’s not cheap, fragile type but neither does it feel particularly sturdy. Some parts do feel a bit fragile though. For example when you are pushing snow blower through heavy snow you do it carefully because otherwise it feels like handlebar might break.

Ergonomics

For the most part Snow Joe SJ615E is comfortable to use – it’s very lightweight making it easy to push  and maneuver. It has two drawbacks though:

1. Snow Joe SJ615E is cord powered snow blower meaning you will have to deal with cord management. It can be somewhat irritating at first if you have no prior experience with corded snow blowers.
2. Handle is located quite low which makes it less comfortable to use. Not a deal breaker but it’s still even minor inconveniences aren’t welcome.

Miscellaneous

Snow Joe SJ615E uses two blade plastic auger to cut through snow. Chute is manually adjustable in 180 degrees.

Snow Joe SJ615E it ETL approved.

Conclusions

For light duty jobs Snow Joe SJ615E works well enough – it handles 8 inches of fluffy snow without issues and can handle more than that too with a bit more effort, but for more serious jobs like clearing wet, heavy snow you probably should look for a more serious unit.

Snow Joe SJ615E Electric Single Stage Snow Thrower 15-Inch 11 Amp Motor Details/Specs:

• Type: Electric – cord powered
• Stage: Single Stage
• Motor: 11 Amps
• Plowing capacity: up to 441 lbs/minute
• No Load Speed: 2100 ± 10% rpm
• Clearing width: 15 inches / 38 centimeters
• Intake height: 8 inches / 20 centimeters
• Wheel size: 6.3 inches / 16 centimeters
• Weight 21.3 lbs / 9.65 kg