It replaces the old one, which had seen better days.
Features I like on the new one:
* While you’re snow blowing, it shows you old episodes of whatever tv show you choose (for me, it’s classic X-Files).
* It runs entirely on solar power. Admittedly that’s not that useful on dark snowy winter days, but still…it’s progressive.
* While most snow blowers are dominated by binary thinking, this one is much more dialectical in its reasoning.
* On coldish days, it serves you hot soup. I elected to go with the “seafood chowders” theme. It tastes a bit of engine oil but that’s fine, it’s soup.
* It senses when you are inadvertently about to run into and hurt people, and helps you decide whether you want to keep going at that point.
* For the sake of playful irony, on especially hard jobs, where the snow is deep and heavy, it sings “16 Tons” while you work.
* It starts on voice command. You simply say “klaatu barada nikto” and zip, it starts right up.
All these things come standard.
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