Either one will serve you very well. You need a stout machine to deal with the lake effect snow. Briggs and Stratton owns Simplicity which owns Snapper so the models are likely similar.

I have a Simplicity the pro series from a few years back.Yes a Snapper is basicaly the same.I looked at Ariens also and both are very good.I just liked the Simplicity better because of local dealer support.Interview the dealer and see who seems to offer the best service if needed.

Ahhh - so we bought the Snapper snow thrower two storms ago (about 2 weeks ago).

During the cleanup of the first storm, the chute favored the right and refused to readjust to the left. We called the local dealer and they sent someone out to fix it. When he couldn't fix it he loaded it onto a trailer and took it back to their store for more fixin'. They dropped it off later that week.

Yesterday was our second storm and, yes, you guessed it, the same thing has happened. Now I will contact the dealer again tomorrow but this time we're returning the Snapper.

I haven't ever tried to return such an expensive item before, does anyone have an opinion on our success? I figure we may have to upgrade but I am concerned about what stock the dealer may have left.

Any advice would be welcome.