I have seen these types sitting unused for years now, someone tried to give me one about 15 years ago but I had heard bad things about them so I didn't take it. This one is in good shape but could use either new paint or a plastic cover on the slides to help the snow migrate to the blower but otherwise it works well. I did make sure that I used it in the colder mornings so the snow was not damp but two stage blowers don't work very well with that type of snow either. Probably the ideal would be to have a two stage, a one stage and a blade that could be used depending on the conditions. Five minutes will see it on or off.