Prevent Slips and Falls This Winter with These Key Products

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As winter settles in and snow and ice storms arrive, driveways, walkways, and front steps can quickly become slick safety hazards. Avoid a painful injury caused by slipping and falling in your own yard by being prepared with the right products. Products like high-quality ice melt that breaks through stubborn frozen layers, ergonomic snow shovels that help you clear paths efficiently, and handheld lanterns or motion sensor lights that illuminate dangerous dark zones can protect you from winter’s most common safety threat. Consider investing in these items before the first snowflake appears to protect yourself and your family, along with visitors, neighbors, and delivery personnel.

Redmond’s Nature’s Blend is packed with concentrated dye-free, urea-free, and polymer-free nontoxic ice melt chemicals that effectively bust ice and slush over an area up to 400 square feet. The all-natural blend is certified by the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI), making it one of the best snow melts to use around children, pets, vegetation, and waterways. It’s safe and easy to apply via hand, shovel, or cup.

What our tester says: “This pick’s unique formulation can melt snow quickly in temperatures approaching 0 degrees Fahrenheit. It works a bit more slowly at more extreme temperatures, but we were impressed by its overall melting capabilities in our tests. The fact that the mild formula is also easy to handle and safe around snow blowers, vehicles, and other sensitive items makes it ideal for residential use.” —Zach Lazzari, Contributing Writer and Product Tester

Clear your walkways and driveway with the Shovelution from Snow Joe. This combo-style shovel features an 18-inch-wide polypropylene blade with a metal lip and an aluminum handle that snaps together. Its lightweight construction and unique lift-assist handle make scooping and pushing heavy snow across a driveway and lifting snow over a deck railing easy.

What our tester says: “Beyond being incredibly lightweight and user-friendly, we also liked that the Shovelution was easy to assemble, especially considering it came in the smallest box. The additional lift-assist handle seemed like a gimmick, but it required much less bending over compared to a traditional shovel and plenty of leverage for scooping.” —Tom Scalisi, Contributing Writer & Product Tester

Made from rust-resistant steel and featuring thick glass light shades in an attractive diamond pattern, the Beau Jardin solar pathway lights earned the top spot during our review of solar path lights due to their long-lasting walkway illumination. They are easy to assemble and come with batteries. These lights emit a bright white glow and cast an attractive decorative pattern on the ground. You also have the option to choose from four other colors in addition to white.

What our tester says: “I love the pattern these lights cast on my walkway. Plus, they’re so durable and withstand all kinds of weather. They’re a great combination of aesthetics and quality.” —Glenda Taylor, Staff Writer & Product Tester

This extra-durable outdoor doormat from Ubdyo is simple yet effective. It’s made of alternating strips of plastic artificial grass and rubber; this pattern offers texture to help remove mud and dirt from shoes without the doormat looking dirty. The rubber-backed doormat is very easy to clean and dries quickly when exposed to heavy rain. It comes in four sizes.

What our tester says: “While this isn’t an absorbent mat, it did a good job of knocking off water before entering the house. I liked how easy this doormat was to clean. I shook off dry debris, rinsed the mat with a hose, and it looked like new.” —Stacey L. Nash, Contributing Writer & Product Tester

The Ego Power+ Peak Power single-stage snow blower is a battery-powered machine that runs on two 5Ah batteries, offering impressive snow-clearing power on a single charge. Weighing just 53 pounds, this snow blower operates similar to a lawn mower. It has a bail switch for easy control and a conveniently placed chute lever for quickly adjusting snow-throwing direction.

What our tester says: “We appreciated that this machine was so easy to set up, only requiring us to install the chute. Its batteries charged in just 40 minutes via our rapid charger, but a standard charger will still get the job done in a relatively short 100 minutes. Though this machine didn’t quite throw lightweight snow the full 40 feet Ego advertises, it got pretty close when we tested it on wet and heavy precipitation, even in below-zero temperatures.” —Becky Helzer, Contributing Writer & Product Tester

If the measure of a good lantern is brightness, you’d be hard-pressed to find a better lantern than this super-bright model from Lepro. Its 1,000-lumen LED bulb with 360-degree illumination provides bright light in every direction. The lantern features four light levels: cool white, warm, white-warm combination, and flashing. You can change the color temperature to suit the setting and remove the plastic shade to create brighter overhead lighting. It also has hooks at the top and under the base for easy carrying and hanging. The Lepro lantern runs for up to 12 hours using its two rechargeable lithium-ion batteries. It also has a USB port that lets you use it as a power bank to charge your phone or other devices.

What our tester says: “Along with the ability to change the light temperature, we also loved the ability to dim this lantern by simply holding in the button on any of the light modes.” —Tony Carrick, Contributing Writer & Product Tester

The Snow Joe 24-Volt IonMax Cordless Snow Shovel Bundle is a surprisingly lightweight and easy-to-handle battery-powered shovel that effectively clears walkways, decks, and other tight spaces. The unit works down to the ground relatively quickly, and the battery lasts about 30 minutes. It’s very easy to lift and use. With the battery charged and installed, you simply push a button to activate the auger. 

What our tester says: “During testing, it zipped right through the snow left on our driveway by a big storm, pushing through the accumulated inches with minimal effort.” —Zach Lazzari, Contributing Writer and Product Tester

The Ring Smart has plenty of intensity to light up a large area such as your home’s entry. Plus, it features the latest innovative technology. The Ring Bridge, sold separately at Amazon, allows you to connect the light to communicate with other Ring devices, such as doorbells and security cameras. It comes with all the tools, screws, and wire nuts needed for connecting it as well as excellent step-by-step instructions. It has a powerful motion detection range, being triggered within 55 feet. The illumination range was quite large, lighting up the ground for about 65 feet. It features two flood lights that can be adjusted to focus the beams in any direction within a 180-degree radius.

What our tester says: “This is one of the brighter, more powerful lights we tested—a result of being hardwired—but its primary benefit is the ability to control it remotely by voice commands or from a smartphone. We downloaded the Ring app on our smartphone and followed the steps to connect the Ring light to our Wi-Fi network via the Ring Bridge. It connected quickly, and once it was synced, we were able to turn the light on and off using our smartphone or Alexa voice commands—a handy option for someone who wants to operate the light remotely.” —Glenda Taylor, Product Tester & Staff Writer

 

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