Comparison AIRLINE AB-S-07 vs GARDENA Snow Scoop 3260-20

— Garden / construction. This kind of shovels can be called classic: speaking of a “regular” shovel, most often they mean a tool of a garden / construction type. Such models have a rather large length, and the shape can be almost any. Among them there are tools for a variety of types of work: digging holes and trenches, throwing loose materials, etc. At the same time, a long handle reduces effort during work, but makes it difficult to transport.

— Tourist / automotive. Shovels of small size, designed primarily for the convenience of carrying in a backpack or transporting in the boot of a car; exactly the tool that is usually called "sapper shovels". Often made folding or equipped with a telescopic handle, many models are equipped with covers for added convenience. Their small size makes it difficult to use such shovels for large-scale work, but they are not designed for such an application — tourist / automobile models are designed to solve simple tasks of a small volume, such as digging out a wheel “buried” in the snow, preparing a hole for a fire, digging tents, etc. P.

— Snowplow. Snow shovels have a large blade width — it is larger than other types of shovels of the same length. The canvas itself in such models is soviet (see below). The length can be different: there are both full-size tools that are not inferior to garden / construction shovels, and...compact ones (60 – 70 cm) suitable for use as tourist or automobile ones.

— Scraper. A specific device used mainly for snow removal. It looks like a very wide (70 – 80 cm) shovel cloth with a U-shaped handle. Such tools differ from snow shovels (see the relevant paragraph) not only in size and design, but also in the way they are used: the scraper is designed not so much for tilting as for raking snow.

— Steel. Steel can be called a "classic of the genre" — this material has long been used for the manufacture of blades of shovels, and it has not lost its popularity to this day. This is due, on the one hand, to the good strength and reliability of steel, and on the other hand, to its relatively low cost. Cloths from this material are used in all types of shovels and can be made in any form (see above). And for a tool that is subjected to high loads — for example, a bayonet or rock shovel — a steel sheet is almost a must. Note that there are two main varieties of this material on the market — ordinary and stainless steel. The first variety is inexpensive and affordable, the second is more reliable, not subject to rust and keeps sharpening longer. Moreover, if the shovel has corrosion protection (see below), we are talking about ordinary steel; and in the absence of a coating, it is worth focus on the price category of the product — an expensive steel tool is usually made from "stainless steel".

— Aluminium. In the case of shovels, aluminium can be called a low-cost analogue of steel. This material is inexpensive and resists corrosion well, but the strength of aluminium blades is much lower than that of steel. Therefore, units of bayonet shovels are produced from this material, and such models should not be taken for serious work. And most of the aluminium models are snowplow or touring/automobile....r>
— Plastic. Plastic, on the one hand, weighs a little and is inexpensive, besides, it is absolutely not subject to corrosion. On the other hand, the strength of this material is noticeably lower than even that of aluminium, not to mention steel. As a result, such blades are used only in snow shovels and scrapers, less often in tourist / automobile models.

— Wood. Wood usually refers to plywood. This material is noticeably inferior in strength to metals — even aluminium, not to mention steel. And compared to plastic, wood is noticeably cheaper, but less resistant to moisture — from prolonged contact with water, it can swell and warp. In addition, plywood is poorly suited for sharpened blades — the sharpened edge of the wooden sheet is very quickly crushed. Therefore, mostly snow shovels are made of wood, which are not designed for heavy loads and high resistance, and most of these models are generally intended for children.

— Titan. Titanium shovels are extremely durable and relatively light in weight. The main advantage of titanium is its high durability, such models do not rust, dull slowly and practically do not deform. In addition, soil practically does not stick to the bayonet of titanium shovels, which greatly facilitates the processing of heavy wet soil. To reduce the cost of a shovel, an alloy of titanium and aluminium is often used instead of pure mud. Titanium shovels are usually equipped with a wooden handle, although more advanced tools may use a titanium handle that forms a single unit with the shovel.

The presence of stiffeners on the shovel blade — longitudinal parallel protrusions. As the name suggests, these ridges increase the stiffness of the web, increasing its strength and flexural strength. This function is especially popular in models made of plastic (see "Web material") — this material itself is not very strong and bends easily, and additional reinforcement is very useful for it.

The total width of the shovel blade.

The value of this parameter will be different depending on what the shovel is used for — digging, loading / unloading bulk materials or snow removal. In the first case (for example, in bayonet shovels), the width of the pit being dug depends on the size of the canvas. It doesn't always have to be large, and a wide blade experiences more resistance, meaning a large shovel isn't always the best choice. For example, drainage cloths (see "Form") are initially made narrow.

In the second case (shovel shovels), a large width allows you to scoop up more cargo, however, this cargo will weigh accordingly. Therefore, here the difference between different models is most often not very large — most of the canvases have a width in the range of 220 – 260 mm.

In the third case (snow shovels and scrapers), the large width allows you to capture more snow at a time, which is convenient in large open spaces. But for difficult conditions with an abundance of narrow passages and tight nooks and crannies, it is better to choose a narrower tool that can go where a wide canvas does not fit.

The presence of a rubberized handle in the design of the shovel.

Rubber by itself is too soft to be used as a base material for a pen. Therefore, in this case, most often means a rubber pad on the handle. Such pads are designed to ensure that the handle is comfortable to hold, does not slip and does not cool the hands. They are found only in shovels with metal handles, made of aluminium or plastic (see "Shank material") — this function is not relevant for wooden handles (in particular, they are quite convenient on their own).

The total length of the shovel; for models with variable length (folding or telescopic, see above), the maximum size is taken into account, when unfolded to the maximum position.

In the case of full size shovels (garden shovels, construction shovels, snow shovels — see "Type"), the optimal length depends primarily on the height of the user. It is believed that a shovel, placed vertically, should be 10 cm below the shoulder joint; however, some prefer a shorter tool — up to the elbow. If you do not have the opportunity to “try on” the shovel “live”, you can measure the height to the desired point (10 cm below the shoulder or elbow) and, when choosing, compare this height with the length of the tool. Note that a shovel without a handle (see above) may well be somewhat longer than necessary — the “surplus” of the handle usually does not create any particular inconvenience. But in the presence of a handle, length matching is extremely important.

If we are talking about small shovels for tourist / automotive purposes, then here we should proceed from a compromise between efficiency and compactness. A shorter shovel will be more convenient to store and transport, but may be inconvenient and ineffective for heavy work (both because of the inconvenience in the hands and because of the short lever length, which requires considerable effort).