As I write this Boston has over 2 feet of snow on the ground and we had 7.5″ of wet heavy snow here in Chicago. When I arrived back from sunny Las Vegas I was greeted with the picture below.
They call this heart attack snow because of how heavy it is. I certainly was happy that I had the Troy-Bilt Storm Tracker 2690 XP Snow Thrower to test out. The 2690 has a 26″ clearing width and is a 2 stage unit. This means that snow is automatically fed into a fast spinning fan that shoots the snow far. Years ago almost every snow blower was powered by the now defunct Tecumseh Snow King engine. They were loud and didn’t really start all that easily unless you had an electric start on them. The Troy-Bilt motor is made in house. It is a 208cc 4-cycle OHV engine that started every time on the first pull for us. This engine has really impressed us with its ease of starting, quietness and power. It also has an electric start feature, we rarely used this because it was so easy to pull start. One thing you need to make sure is that you use fresh gas in any gas powered equipment. Bad gas is the leading cause of engines not starting. Gas can go bad in as little as 30 days, so you need to use a product like Stabil to keep your fuel fresh.
This unit has a 4.5″ x 10″ track drive like a tank. The advantages of this are that you almost always have 10″ of track on the ground which gives you better traction. 6 forward speeds and 2 reverse speeds propel the unit. The 2 speed reverse was to slow for us and most times we just pulled it back by hand. It has a power steering feature operated by 2 triggers. Pulling the trigger basically stops the corresponding track to allow the unit to turn. When you pull both triggers the unit stops and you can pull it backwards if you need to. Both handles have a grip heater that does a decent job of keeping your hands from freezing with gloves on. The chute is what one of our Youtube subscribers called fly by wire, meaning that you use a 4 way electronic joystick to control motors to aim the chute. Moving the chute is simple and easy, just use your thumb. If the system ever stops working there is a way to manually override the system.
With SelecTrac Drive you can shift the weight of the unit depending on the task, storage, normal use, gravel driveways and packed snow. The reversible skids are allow them to last longer. The unit had plenty of power and didn’t hiccup once. I found it especially good at tearing through the frozen snow and ice that accumulates at the end of the driveway from the plow trucks. A lot times you use a snow blower at night when you get home from work. The 2690 has a integrated light and reflective tape on the sides to provide maximum visibility and don’t forget it is quiet for it’s size. For times when your auger gets jammed there is a clearing stick attached right to the unit. Troy-Bilt covers the Storm Tracker 2690 XP Snow Thrower with a very nice 3 year warranty. I have been using the Troy-Bilt brand for years and never had an issue. This blower is feature packed and is great for places with lots of snow. I would not recommend this blower for small tight areas due to the sheer size of this unit. Packed full of features it is made to move some serious snow. Anyone that gets a lot of snow and has a big area to clear, this is the snow blower for you. Check out Troy-Bilt
this makes my snowblower look like a little kids toy! ha!
Wonder if ya could rig it up so you could push it while riding your ATV?
My legs can’t go that far on a good day without cramping up.
Don’t get any snow where i live in No, california, but will be moving back
to SOUTH DAKOTA where i was born sometime next year. That would be good to
have out there, guess i could hire my nephew to run it.
Isn’t that what nephews are for? LOL. Not sure how you could rig it up. I heard South Dakota is beautiful, would like to go there sometime.
It would be nice if we could see it delivering after at least 10″ of snow, even 8″ would give us an idea how good this thing is or not.
So if get one of those big snow falls just give another shot, please.
Wheres the John Deere? haha
Using the troybuilt 21″ snowsqual that you reviewed last year and it took care of the 8″ of snow we got two weeks ago and is running just fine, but I think I need to upgrade. Nice video..
Eric….I just wanted to thank you for the great article on the Troybilt 2690 XP Snow Thrower….after almost 12 winters with my 9hp Craftsman 26in. snow blower, it was time for an upgrade….I looked at alot of different snow blowers and through the wonders of Google I ran across your website and the review w/video the you posted on the Troybilt 2690 XP. The fact that it offered nearly everything the Honda offered and at nearly half the price it was a no brainer…I purchased one last Thursday (Feb.21st) We had just gotten about 3 inches of wet snow and it cleaned it up with no problem…the big test was when I went through the 8 to 10 in. of snow that was next to the curb that the snow plows left behind…I’m pleased to say that the Troybilt went through it like a hot knife through cold butter..the engine never bogged down at all and it threw the heavy wet snow a good 20 feet.. I had several of the nieghbors watching me and they were very impressed with the power, the ease of use and all the bells and whistles this snow blower has…Needless to say I have the coolest snow blower on the block…or perhaps in the town….Thank you once again for the great article….I will be checking back with you often….
Thanks Kim! It is the best snow blower on the block! The tracks are awesome!
finally found the video of it in the snow! what a beast. how do you compare this to a aries?
You mean an Ariens? The Troy-Bilt blows it away in features and quality.
The engine on the Snowtracker 2690XP is made by Powermore, not Troy-Bilt. It’s 208cc and specially built for snowblower duty. No question that it’s a very good machine especially when you have lots of snow to get rid of.
I as well live in the Chicago area (Lake County) which is North of the city along the Wisconsin State line. i Have the model before this unit with the manual adjustable chute but other than that, same unit.
We tend to get some lake effect snow and last winter started off the first snowfall with 20″+ of heavy snow (in November)!
This snow blower moved that snow like nothing, we even had areas that had drifted to 3′ or more and were taller than the unit itself. All it took was to punch through, then back up and go back and pick up the snow that was taller than the unit.
First pull start every time now and I think we have had ours for almost going on 10 years now. Belts are still good (have a spare just in case).
Awesome, good to hear and thanks for sharing.
Where is this machine made?
Where is it made?
very poor performance don’t purchase
clogs clogs clogs the chute directional joy stick is broken again for the third time whom ever designed this model failed engineering
reverse is non existent buy a HONDA don’t waste your money on this machine
Thank you ?Mine right from the beginning would just keep spinning in fresh snow to where i had to push it to get through certain areas.Also it got to the point where the left track slips off while turning . It gets anoying after awhile that i have to keep putting it back on and adjusting it . Other then that the rest of it works great .It’s been sitting in the barn for a couple of years now . I removed the gas and parked it .