I ended up going with the Parton brand blower, taking the Craftsman back tomorrow. I didn't like the way the Craftsman turned (Or didn't really turn) without power steering. Seem strange to me that the wheels don't freewheel to let you turn the blower 360 degrees in place. Felt a bit like trying to spin a rollerskate in place. So that and the chute control (which seemed difficult to use) swayed me to the Parton. ON doing some more research, it looks like this might be a knockoff/off brand of Poulon and use Poulon parts. I can't confirm without a call into Poulan support, but a few links I've found (in russian weirdly enough) say Parton aka. Poulan Pro. AND they look incredibly similar:

http://www.poulanpro.com/products/snow-throwers/pr300es/

So we'll see. If it falls apart at the seams on the first heavy snowfall I'll be kicking myself, but I might also be happy to save the $100 after 10% off. Weirdly, the Sears outlet offered better financing than the Sears store, 2 years, no interest so that's nice too.

It would probably be better to buy a brand you're heard of should you need parts down the road, and you likely will.

The next question is if you actually need a 30" snowblower. I've found that a lot of people have much bigger snowblowers than they actually need. Generally speaking, they are bigger, heavier, harder to maneuver, and more expensive. You may be better served by buying a smaller but better quality machine.

So I did a little research on this and I think this company is owned by Huskvana which also owns Poulan Pro. If you look up a Poulan Pro 30 inch snow blower it is identical to the Parton. Also if you Google the address for warranty info at the back of the owners manual it comes up as Huskvana us headquarters. I bought one as well. Let's hope its as good a deal as it seems.

*Husqvarna.

Anyway I hope this thing holds up for you, but at least you know what it is now. Probably the same factory in China makes both of them and just puts different names on them. The main thing is how well it is designed and the durability of parts. Usually it's plastic stuff that breaks, and there is a lot of plastic these days.

Happy snowblowing!

This thing actually had less plastic parts than the craftsman I was looking at. Steel chute, steel skids, etc, so I have high hopes, sadly it looks to be a mild winter here so I might not get to put it through its paces this season.

I have to say that after getting it put together, which was not hard at all, it appears to be a rugged beast!! It certainly has all of the bells and whistles, with the exception of heated handles..... I agree it had less plastic then the others and to look at it, it certainly appears to be well put together. I hope looks are not deceiving in this case. Good luck to us. If it turns out to be a good machine what a great deal

Used for the first time today and it was fantastic. What a beast it was. Threw the slush with no problem at all. Very impressed at the moment!!!!!!

Brandon, I am not a fan of shopping, so when I make a purchase I would rather spend more for longevity. Ask some local snowplow contractors, or your local landscape equipment supply what the contractors like. I am on my 2nd Ariens snowblower in 25 years, could have gotten more out of first one, but a good deal came along on a replacement, so I bought it. Unfortunately, even Ariens has started thinning out steel and putting some plastic parts, but still a solid machine.