Snow Joe SJ625E Electric Snow Thrower (Review)

Snow Joe SJ625E is a single stage corded electric snow thrower. It has 15 amp motor that with clearing width of 21 inches and intake height of 12 can move up to 800 pounds of snow per minute according to manufacturer. Sounds pretty impressive but how does it perform in reality?

Performance

For an electric snow blower it performs quite well. Handles up to 8 inches of light/fluffy/dry snow without effort. From 8 inches to 1 foot it starts to struggle slightly but still does the job pretty well – you just have to push it a bit slower. If really necessary it can handle 2 feet of light snow too – but you will have to push it even slower and have to do multiple passes.

When it comes to wet/heavy snow its performance is less impressive although not terrible. It will handle up to 6-8 inches of it, but anything more than that and you will wish for a more powerful snow blower.

Quality

As expected for a budget priced device Snow Joe SJ625E doesn’t feel heavy duty. With that being said the build quality isn’t terrible – it’s not like you dread unit breaking when using it. So build quality can be rated 3.6 in roentgen scale – not great, not terrible.

Auger is made of steel whereas the two blades from rubber. If things go wrong many parts like rubber paddles, pulleys and belt are replaceable.

Maneuverability

Snow Joe SJ625E isn’t self propelled so you have to push it yourself, however because it’s lightweight (just 34.6 pounds) it doesn’t require much effort unless you are pushing it into really deep or heavy snow.

Tires are 8 inches in diameter and 2.5 inches in width. They are kinda mediocre – they don’t provide the grip that more serious snow blowers with deep, aggressive tread do yet are better than cheap, plastic ones that many other budget snow blowers have.

One of the flaws of corded snow blowers is cord management, but that’s something you learn to deal with. Buying a proper cord that remains flexible in freezing temperatures makes cord management a lot simpler.Be sure to get cord with gauge (AWG) of no worse than 12. You could buy a battery powered snow blower for similar pricing and not have to deal with cord, however it won’t be as powerful.

Control panel

Control panel is intuitive and simple to use. To start the snow blower just hold the safety switch and pull start bar – once it starts you release the safety switch. Head light has on/off button on top of it. Chute rotates in 180 degrees and it can be adjusted vertically with a lever. Horizontal adjustments are done manually.

Features

Snow Joe SJ625E has built-in 3W LED light – it’s not super bright but it’s adequate for nighttime.

Snow Joe SJ625E is ETL approved.

Assembly

Assembly is very simple and quick – just attach the handles, wheels, chute control arm, chute top and that’s pretty much it. Shouldn’t take more than 20-30 minutes to complete.

Conclusions

Although Snow Joe SJ625E doesn’t perform as well as gas powered snow blowers it’s more than adequate for most conditions and not having to deal with the maintenance and other inconveniences of a gas powered unit is a big advantage. For the budget pricing it’s a pretty impressive unit.

Snow Joe SJ625E Electric Snow Thrower Details/Specs:

• Type: Electric (cord powered)
• Motor: 15-amp
• No-load speed: 1,800 RPM
• Plowing Capacity: 800 lbs/min
• Clearing width: 21 inches
• Intake height: 12 inches
• Stage: Single
• Weight: 34.6 lbs
• Dimensions: 40.6” x 42.5” x 34.6” (D x H x W)
• Certifications:
  • ETL Certified