To test snow blowers, we turn the scene outside our Yonkers, N.Y., headquarters into a virtual blizzard. Our testers throw more than one million cubic inches of saturated sawdust—CR’s proprietary blend of fake snow—on the ground and use it to identify the best new models that can clear a driveway.

When mounded together, this mixture can also simulate a plow pile, like the ones your town’s plow service may leave at the foot of your driveway. Our sawdust blend gives us a consistent substance to plow for judging each snow blower. In each test, we measure how fast the machine cuts through this mixture, how far it’s thrown, and how clean the surface is left. In addition to these three tests, we also factor in brand reliability and owner satisfaction into each snow blower’s Overall Score.