AVALANCHE! Original Roof Snow Removal System AVA500 with 17-Inch Wide Cutting Head and 16-Foot Quick Connect Light Weight Fiberglass Handle

Comment: This product was very easy to assemble. It is lightweight which is important when reaching up to the roof of your house. It works great for light or heavy snow or fresh fallen snow. Do not try to remove snow that has become frozen (ice like) to the roof as you will damage or break the Avalanche as stated in the manual. It does not get hung up on gutters when removing snow. A great tool to remove snow from your roof and prevent ice dams which can lead to extensive damage. Priced very reasonably here on Amazon.com.

Comment: Baltimore was hit with about 80 total inches of snow this season and as the sun came out in between storms, we started getting nasty ice dams. I didn't really do anything about it (I mean, I spent 2 days shoveling out my 100 foot driveway, what am I going to do about 5 foot drifts on my roof?) until I saw that my library was flooding.

First thing to say is that the Avalanche works best when you use it IMMEDIATELY after a snowfall. The system is ingenius--you're basically sliding a conveyor belt underneath the snow and snow on your roof comes sliding down off of it. It truly works better and with less exertion than a traditional roof rake. But don't get me wrong, it's still a lot of work and you'll be exhausted afterwards.

If the snow is very wet or if you've let it sit and melt like I did, you'll have more work trying to push the head of the Avalanche through the snow. This is where my first complaint comes in. While the head of the Avalanche is very high quality metal, you get 4 fiberglass poles (which are connected with metal interlocking systems) that you can snap together to your desire length. These poles are probably designed to be as lightweight as possible, but they bend. And the longer the length (i.e. all 4 poles), the more the bending is evident. Thus, when you're pushing at the end of the handle, you want the head of the Avalanche to push straight through the wet snow, not for the pole to start wobbling and bending on you. One more suggestion I'd make to the Avalanche people is that they should make the handle end in a D-grip, like on most snow shovels (like this). For the amount of exertion put into raking the roof, making the design a little more ergonomic will save a lot of strain on your customers' hands, arms, and shoulders.

My main criticism though is that the plastic sheeting is sorta flimsy. It ripped on the first use. The poles also look like they're developing hairline cracks. If this item only cost $50 like other traditional snow rakes (or like one other Amazon reviewer paid for it back in 2005), then maybe I'd say, "oh well, it was a lot of snow." But for over $100, you'd want it to be pretty sturdy and dependable. I also agree with another reviewer that there should be a way to wind up the plastic sheeting; it's unwieldy when moving the Avalanche from one part of the yard to another, especially if you're also wading through a lot of snow on the ground.

I will say however, that I'm glad I got this instead of the Avalanche Drift Buster because I was able to use this one in reverse. I brought it up to the attic and 2nd floor windows and, by starting at the roof's bottom edge and positioning the sheet below, I could pull the Avalanche towards me and send the snow flying off. That way, I was able to reach certain places on my roof that was hard to reach from the ground.

In the end, the Avalanche worked very well for a roof rake. But there were parts of my roof that I ended up climbing up and shoveling the snow off with a traditional snow shovel. In those areas, I felt that I worked faster, with less exertion, and removed more snow (right down to the roof), allowing the sun to melt the remainder more quickly. But I have to admit that it was very dangerous, and I limited that shoveling to the parts of my roof that weren't very steep. In the other parts, the Avalanche was able to remove enough snow or at least make channels in the drifts to help aid the melting process. If the rake were below $90, or if the company guaranteed free replacement parts, I'd up my review to five stars.

Comment: Just recieved this today and took it out to use it. Went together easy, was easy to move on the roof and the snow came down just like it's supposed to. I still have 3" of ice up there, but at least the snow is off. I agree with the other review, it would be nice if there was a knob or something to help rewind the slide, but I'm still very pleased with it.

Comment: I just purchased this with overnight delivery after getting hit with the "Blizzard of 2009". We ended up with around a foot of snow, but it piled up on the front of our house. We had a problem with ice dams last year, so I wanted to remove the snow before we had to break out the buckets and sponges.

The AVA500 comes disassembled, but goes together in several minutes. "Snap" (pop-up) buttons are used to hold the four pole segments together as well as for attaching the frame. The vinyl roll snaps into the bottom of the frame.

Usage is trivial: assemble to the desired length, unroll the vinyl, put the wheels on the edge of the roof, and slide the frame up the roof.

Oh, and stand back - this product is appropriately named. The snow literally flies down the sheet and off the roof.

Roll the frame back towards you, and repeat on the next section.

You typically only need to go up a few feet to prevent ice dams, but given how easy this was, I probably went up around eight feet.

Another plus: the wheels on the frame will prevent any shingle damage.

It didn't have a problem with two-day old snow, which had packed and melted somewhat.

Only negatives I can see so far are:
- No easy way to wind up the roll (it's only eight feet, but still, a knob would have been a good idea)
- The vinyl will eventually rip and need to be replaced; it's reasonably thick but will eventually catch on something.