Since we've jumped into fuel as well...
I just picked up an Ariens Deluxe 28SHO for the new driveway this winter. Very much looking forward to not shoveling the snow.
I think my main concern lies with Eastern MD winters where there is always a potential we will get zero snow, or it could be like the last couple years and we'll get socked with 10-20" a couple times with some 3-4" snowfalls in between.
The Ariens dealer filled the tank with Trufuel 4 stroke so it's good for this tank and/or this winter if for some reason we get zero snow. I'm looking at local options and I can easily get Sunoco Optima for about $13/gal after tax, 100LL from a local airport for $4.75/gallon and of course the normal 87/89/91/93 with marine Stabil. Doesn't look like VP is readily accessible, but for the cost, I'd prefer the Sunoco anyways. There are no 0% ethanol stations local to me, except the place I can get the Optima, according to pure-gas.org
Then the next question, if you were to get the Optima or the Avgas, would you dump marine Stabil in too? Any of either fuel that is left over can be dumped in my mower in the spring so it wouldn't ever sit for more than 5-6 months.
Certainly quite a price jump from normal pump gas to the Optima, but given the infrequency, if it's worth it to keep this snowblower around for a while, I'll invest. Given I just spent $1300 on it, I'd very much like to see it live a very, very long life.