Our pick
An ideal combination of size, weight, ergonomics, and materials makes this the right shovel to clear off steps, sidewalks, patios, or decks.
The True Temper 18-Inch Ergonomic Mountain Mover has a sturdy, lightweight aluminum shaft that gloved hands can grip anywhere. Its 18-inch-wide plastic scoop is neither overly large and awkward nor too small and inefficient. The shovel has a curved shaft, an unusual design that makes moving snow easier, as it means you have to put less work into each swing. The nylon leading edge of the scoop won’t gouge your deck or catch on your brick patio. Plus, the shovel is built to last—I’ve used mine through New England winters since 2009, aside from some scratches and a beat up leading edge, it still works fine.
Also great
Attach this second handle to any shovel’s shaft to make the work easier, safer, and less of a strain on your body.
The Ergonomic Mountain Mover is good on its own, but it’s even better with the addition of a BackEZ EziMate tool handle. This secondary handle attaches to the shaft and improves ergonomics and lessens the risk of injury. With this additional handle, the effort to shovel is more balanced between your two hands, greatly reducing the strain on your back and lowering overall exertion. Simply put, it makes shoveling easier, whether you’re scraping snow off steps or scooping it from the ground. So no matter which shovel you end up getting, we recommend adding an EziMate.
Runner-up
The durable Bully has a wider scoop than our pick but the lack of a curved shaft makes it a little more of a strain to shovel heavy loads.
If the Ergonomic Mountain Mover is unavailable, we recommend the Bully Tools 92814 Combination Snow Shovel. Overall, the Bully has a more-durable feel than our main pick, and the longer handle is ideal for taller people. But we still prefer the ergonomic benefits of the Ergonomic Mountain Mover.
Also great
This tough metal shovel can knife through packed snow and scrape sidewalks and driveways clean. But it scratches delicate surfaces and catches on uneven ground.
If you’ll be shoveling snow on flat, scratch-proof surfaces like city sidewalks and paved driveways, consider the True Temper 20-Inch Aluminum Combo Snow Shovel. This shovel has the same curved handle as our main pick but pairs that handle with a metal scoop instead of a plastic one. With this design, the shovel can easily knife under compacted snow and scrape flat surfaces clear. The drawbacks? Its metal blade scratches wood, bluestone, and other soft patio and deck materials, and the leading edge is so stiff and sharp that it catches and abruptly stops on uneven ground areas such as gravel drives, brick walkways, or even blobs of asphalt patch. This model is also heavier than the poly version, which adds up over the course of a shoveling session.
Also great
This small shovel slices through icy snow and can be disassembled for car storage. It isn’t cheap, but it’s what we’d want to have in a roadside emergency.
If you’re looking for a shovel to keep in your car for emergencies or to dig out of a snowed-in parking space, we recommend the Voilé Telepro Mini Avalanche Shovel. Made for backpacking and mountaineering, this model has a nice strong scoop and is easily disassembled for stowing underneath a car seat or in a corner of the trunk. It’s built to slice into frozen snow, so it’s unlikely to break in an emergency. The Voilé isn’t cheap, but it was clearly the best in our tests against four other car shovels, all of which were either too flimsy or too small to be trustworthy. It’s also a good option if you live in a city apartment and have minimal shoveling needs and very little storage space.
Also great
For clearing light snows off a flat surface, this pusher has a longer handle than the rest and an extremely durable scoop.
This sleigh holds a lot of snow and slides around like a sled. Unlike others, it has a bent handle to reduce back strain.
The metal edge on this tool is ideal for scraping and cutting into thick ice. The long handle helps with getting a low angle for scraping, and the padded end is easy on the hands.
Good for pulling snow off a roof and preventing ice dams, this 17-foot roof rake has a push-button telescoping handle that adjusts to a wide variety of lengths.
We also have recommendations for a few supplementary tools that you may want to consider in addition to your shovel. The Bully Tools 92813 Snow Pusher and Garant Sleigh Shovel are designed to clear larger areas, liker driveways. The Ames Sidewalk Scraper is a great tool for smashing up stubborn bits of ice. The True Temper Telescoping Roof Rake is, as the name suggests, good for knocking snow off a roof, which goes a long way toward preventing ice damming. We also have a separate guide to snow blowers, which offer yet another way to remove snow from a driveway.
