The Best Snow Shovels on Amazon, According to Hyperenthusiastic Reviewers

This Snow Joe “Shovelution” has a second handle that increases your leverage, allowing you to lift more snow without hurting yourself. There are many satisfied customers among the 755 five-star reviews, including one man who says, “These bad boys are a TOTAL back saver! I’ve shoveled several hundred pounds of the white stuff myself, and I gotta tell ya, I will NEVER use a ‘regular’ snow shovel again! Having that extra handle is a God-Send.” He ordered five more after testing it out. Another customer found he “finished the job faster than usual.” According to him, “the springiness makes it easier to throw the snow farther and helps you to control the shovel as you reset to scoop again.” His elderly neighbor, who had to “set down his cane to give it a try,” liked it too. The shovel requires some assembly, but most reviewers say it’s a simple process. If you do have trouble, one reviewer provided a helpful step-by-step photo review.

This Garant shovel features a wooden handle, which customers say makes it sturdier. “Garant is made in Canada, so they know snow,” says one Buffalo resident who has “been shoveling snow for over 50 years.” He calls this a “great shovel.” He likes that it’s lightweight and has no “metal edge to wreck your deck or stone patio.” Another reviewer agrees that “the wood handle gives enough heft to make sliding the shovel easier.” He says this shovel requires “less lifting, as you can push the snow,” which can otherwise happen only with a hefty shovel.

Wear strips are rubber liners that run the length of a shovel blade to protect it from chipping and cracking, giving this shovel an added durability many reviewers appreciate. That’s especially important, one says, since this is a combination shovel, which means it can be used to push snow aside as well as scoop it up. That constant pushing, he says, means the shovel scrapes against the ground more than others do. One person found the shovel to be “a little heavy,” but he says he got used to it. Even when the strip wears out, don’t worry: You won’t have to buy a new shovel. One reviewer says, even without the strip, the shovel will still be “functional because of the heavy, all-metal construction.”

Nearly 40 percent of five-star reviewers say they keep this compact, collapsible shovel in their car for emergencies. But the most surprising part of this little shovel is its durability. One reviewer says the shovel allows him to “lift lots of wet, heavy snow with no problem at all.” Another, who uses the shovel to clear the snow around his car after storms, reports that it has been through “half a dozen snowstorms” and it’s “still going strong.” He likes how easy it is to break down and how it’s small enough to fit under the seat of his car. Or you can keep it with your spare tire, as one reviewer suggests. He says it “breaks down small enough to fit in the rim of the spare tire, so it doesn’t really take up any usable space.”

Hopkins designed this shovel as an easy grab-and-go model to keep in the trunk of your car in case of emergency. Unlike the Aluminum Sport shovel mentioned above, this one just folds up instead of breaking down, so no assembly is required when you want to use it. As one customer points out, “it may not be as solid as regular snow shovels,” but he’s satisfied with it. “I’m living in Buffalo, and today alone I have used it three times: making a parking space for myself and to get two other cars out of the snow.” He likes that it takes up very little space in the trunk. Other reviewers call the shovel a “lifesaver” and “insurance … [for] digging out of snow or mud situations.”

A curved handle means you don’t have to bend over quite as far to grab the shaft of the shovel with your second hand, which makes lifting the snow much easier. One reviewer with a bad back says, “The curve of the handle is in the correct spot for me because it allows me to place my dominant hand into the D-handle and place my other hand on the top of the curve.” One reviewer, who says he has owned many snow shovels in his 59 years of living in New England — including both the straight-shaft and the curved version of this shovel — calls this one “the best general-purpose snow shovel” he’s ever used.

Reviewers like the 30-inch width of this blade, which allows them to clear spaces in fewer passes. One reviewer says, “Man, this thing was fast. It pushed pretty dry three-inch stuff out of the way in a snap. This thing cleared virtually every inch in under five minutes.” Some complain that it’s a bit too wide to use for deep snow, but snow pushers are made only for a few inches of precipitation — the “one-to-three-inch fluffy snowstorms,” according to one reviewer. He notes that “the blade has enough of a curve to it that it allows you to shovel it once you slide the snow to a pile,” but if you’re consistently dealing with larger snowstorms, he recommends getting a heavy-duty shovel or a snow blower instead.