Ariens used to be THE blower, but I've heard even they are diminished, as in, chineseoated.
I just sold "my mistake", also a Searias Crapsman. I now have a bout a 28" old beater Ariens I bought used, 8hp. "On paper" the two machines should have been equals, in fact the Crapsman had 1 more hp.
The Ariens LITERALLY runs circles around the Crapsman. It's main problem is blower and chute design, something that cannot be fixed. The chute on the Ariens is HUGE compared to the POS
This is the crapman, it's finally gone. I took a bath on it, paid about 600, used it little, sold it for 350