First storm watch · 25 winter products rated · prices re-checked weekly through January
Roof rakes, heat cable and gutter de-icers, before the ceiling stains.
Picked for the job, the price and what owners report after a winter. These are not put through the five-factor rubric the machines get; every pick still says when to walk past.
The plain roof rake done right: a 24 in poly head on wheels, five snap-together aluminum sections to 20 ft, and a bracket to hang it all summer.
20 FT · 24 IN · 4 $109.20 MSRP · Amazon price not shown Check price on Amazon →Not a rake: wheels ride the shingles while a 17 in by 12 ft slide carries the snow off the eave in sheets, from the ground, with no scraping and no lifting.
16 FT · 17 IN · 1.5 IN $172.55 MSRP · Amazon price not shown Check price on Amazon →Sixty feet of 5-watt-per-foot cable zigzagged along a shingle eave and down the spout so meltwater has a channel through the dam; plug it in before the snow, not after.
60 FT · 300 W No maker list price: Frost King publishes none · Amazon price not shown Check price on Amazon →