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We’ve reviewed our picks after another winter’s use, and we stand by them.
The Hopkins SubZero 80037 has been our ice-scraper pick for years. I’ve used the original test model through four New York City winters and more nor’easters than I care to remember, and Wirecutter senior writer Doug Mahoney has done the same with a second one on his farm in New Hampshire. Both of consider of us consider it indispensable when the white stuff arrives. “Before getting the Hopkins,” Doug said, “I used the smallest, lamest, cheapest ice scrapers I could find. I had no idea that a little added investment would make such a nice difference.” It really does.
Efficient at clearing ice and sweeping snow, this model is robustly built, works on any size of vehicle, and has thoughtful design details that set it apart from the rest.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $30.
The Hopkins tool’s scraping blade combines a scraping blade and ice-crushing teeth to make quick work of thick or thin ice, and its plow-like bristle broom is the best we’ve tested—equally adept at shoving snow off body panels and brushing it out from tight spots around the mirrors and wipers. Its many thoughtful design details, including padded grips, a self-locking extension mechanism, and easy-to-use (but hard-to-misuse) buttons, set it apart from its competitors. The size is average—39 inches folded up and 60 inches (5 feet) fully extended—but no other contender offers such a complete scraping-and-sweeping package with so few weaknesses. Plus, it’s proven to be durable long-term: after multiple winters, our original test model is still working like new.
The Hopkins SubZero 16619 is similar to the 80037, but shorter, with a smaller brush, and a slightly different scraper—it’s still great but a bit less efficient.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $22.
The Hopkins SubZero 16619 shares most of the design features that make the 80037 our pick, including the foolproof buttons, sturdy broom-squeegee-plow head, and efficient scraper. But the brush head is narrower at 8 inches versus 10 inches, the extended handle measures only 51 inches (versus 60 inches), and the narrower ice-crushing blade takes a bit longer to clear thick ice off a vehicle’s glass. It’s a very good tool, but it's one that requires a bit more reaching and effort than the 80037 when cleaning snow off big vehicles like trucks and SUVs.
The Snow Moover’s quick-drying foam brush pushes a lot of snow, the tool disassembles for compact storage, and one piece can be used as a handheld scraper.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $33.
The Birdrock Home Snow Moover 55” Extendable Foam Snow Brush and Ice Scraper trades a bristly broom for a foam snow pusher, which is capable of moving a whole lot of snow off a car very quickly. The tool comes apart for storage, making it a good choice for smaller cars. One of the disassembled pieces is a hand scraper, designed to be used on its own. And because the Snow Moover uses a foam blade instead of an absorbent brush, it’s less likely to bring any snow into your car and make puddles. The downside is that the foam is less deft in nooks and crannies, like around the wipers and license plate, where bristle-brushes like the Hopkins SubZeros do a better job. We were also worried about how resilient the foam would be, but after two winters of use it's not showing any signs of wear.
If you just need a basic handheld scraper, this tool—the Hopkins SubZero scraper head and ice crusher on a nice cushioned handle—is far better than average.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $6.
It’s easier to clear a car with a long-handled tool, but if you just need a basic, compact scraper, you can’t go wrong with the Hopkins SubZero 16621. An 11-inch tool with an ice scraper, crusher, and cushioned grip, it’s a handheld version of the same great scraper head you find on some of the brand’s other tools.
Efficient at clearing ice and sweeping snow, this model is robustly built, works on any size of vehicle, and has thoughtful design details that set it apart from the rest.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $30.
The Hopkins SubZero 16619 is similar to the 80037, but shorter, with a smaller brush, and a slightly different scraper—it’s still great but a bit less efficient.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $22.
The Snow Moover’s quick-drying foam brush pushes a lot of snow, the tool disassembles for compact storage, and one piece can be used as a handheld scraper.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $33.
If you just need a basic handheld scraper, this tool—the Hopkins SubZero scraper head and ice crusher on a nice cushioned handle—is far better than average.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $6.
In addition to our multiple tests of scrapers, both in the wild and in Ford’s lab environment, Wirecutter’s testers have also personally dealt with decades of rough winters. We’ve scraped ice and swept snow off cars, pickup trucks, SUVs, a fire engine, and a backhoe in the high desert of California, after Philly’s heaviest snow in its history, and in one of New York City’s worst-ever winters for snowfall (2013–14) as well as 2018’s record stretch of cold weather. Our picks have endured long-term testing in the unforgiving winters of Ithaca, New York, and Keene, New Hampshire.
If you own a vehicle and live anywhere with enough snow or ice that you need winter gear like snow shovels or a snow blower, you also need a tool that combines a scraper for clearing ice off windows and a broom or pusher for sweeping snow off the rest of the vehicle. Some states, including New York, New Jersey, and Illinois, have passed laws requiring drivers to clear snow and ice from cars.
If you already own a basic ice scraper and you’re wondering whether it’s worth upgrading to a longer, more expensive tool, it absolutely is. A tool with a longer handle makes it easier to reach across a windshield without having to use a stool or getting snow all over your coat. You’ll find it easier to drive safely, because the handle and brush make it simpler to clear the entire car. When you use a small scraper, the windshield alone can be so much work that by the time you’re done, you’d probably rather hit the road than do the rest. Still, if you’re just looking for a better small, inexpensive scraper, we get it—our budget pick is a standout choice.
We sought a tool with a wedge-shaped scraper at one end, a snow brush on the other, and a telescoping 4- to 5-foot handle to reach across a vehicle, as well as the following details:
It was 75 °F when we arrived in Detroit—but inside the climate-controlled test room Ford let us borrow, it was -3 °F. And they had taken it easy on us: That particular room can go down to -40 °F and up to 122 °F.
We brought seven scrapers to test; Ford brought an Explorer SUV and a Focus sedan. Using paint sprayers full of water, engineers Dale Snapp and Justin Dorazio laid down thick coats of ice on the cars. We cycled through the scrapers, clearing windshields at various temperatures and ice thicknesses. Six hours and 28 windshields later, we had sore shoulders, numb toes, and a lot of observations.
We found not all ice is identical—clearing the thin, paper-white kind that forms during a hard frost was the toughest, as most scraper blades weren’t sharp enough to get beneath it. Thick ice was easier, as the scraper’s teeth could score deep grooves in the ice, then the blade could catch the grooves’ edges and pop the ice off in sheets. The easiest ice, though, was the loose, crusty, “Diamond Crystal Kosher Salt” layer.
Subsequent tests in the real world over several winters have confirmed what we learned at Ford’s facility—and the research there has helped us evaluate newer scrapers ever since.
Efficient at clearing ice and sweeping snow, this model is robustly built, works on any size of vehicle, and has thoughtful design details that set it apart from the rest.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $30.
The Hopkins SubZero 80037 has the features of an ideal ice scraper: a strong and effective blade; prominent ice-crushing teeth; a sturdy handle with padded grips that locks securely; easy-to-use (and difficult-to-misuse) buttons; and the best brush-broom-plow head we’ve ever tested. It’s plenty big enough to use on trucks and SUVs, yet it collapses small enough to fit in any car.
The 80037’s blade is broad, extremely sturdy, and cleared a windshield of thick, clear ice faster than any other scraper in our tests. The ice-crushing teeth are tall and sharp, and they run from one edge of the 4-inch-wide blade to the other, making it easy to get them into position against the windshield for the broadest possible ice-crushing stroke.
The handle is made of strong aluminum tubing and thick, comfortable neoprene grips that don’t slip in gloved hands. When extended, the handle sections click into place on their own with a confidence-inspiring thunk. Lesser scrapers have looser connections, slippery handles, and sections that don’t lock automatically.
The 80037’s buttons—one to unlock the handle for extension, and a joined pair to adjust the broom head—are a standout. The handle button is a wide, low-profile paddle that’s protected by a bumper. It’s easy to operate with gloved fingers, but unlike designs with an exposed button, won’t unlock accidentally while scraping or sweeping. The broom buttons, one on each side of the broom’s axle, must be pressed simultaneously to adjust the broom’s angle, which is easy to do when you want to but impossible to do by accident.
The combination broom/plow head is the best of any we tested, with stiff but non-scratching nylon bristles on one edge, a rubber squeegee on the other that’s rigid enough to push snow off body panels but flexible enough to fit the curves of windows, and a 10-inch-wide extruded-aluminum plow that moves a lot of snow with each pass and stands up to years of work. The bristles sweep snow and ice out of nooks and crannies where other brushes (and foam plows) can’t reach. The head locks into seven positions to optimize the plow angle; competitors’ brooms aren’t as versatile.
The Hopkins 80037 has worked efficiently and easily through three New York winters (including a storm that brought 28 inches of snow). Its brush makes quick, one-sweep work of powdery snow, and has proven stiff enough to plow wet snow off the roof and hood. It doesn’t scratch paint, and in warmer weather, the squeegee works well to quickly clear windows after a wash. The tool lives in a car parked outdoors year-round, and we haven’t seen any degradation of the plastic bits or the foam padding on the handle.
The Hopkins 80037 performs poorly on thin, hard ice or frost, like most scrapers we’ve tried.
While the Hopkins 80037 collapses to a little over three feet, it can’t be fully disassembled.
The Hopkins SubZero 16619 is similar to the 80037, but shorter, with a smaller brush, and a slightly different scraper—it’s still great but a bit less efficient.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $22.
If the 80037 is unavailable, we recommend the Hopkins SubZero 16619, which has the same combination broom-squeegee-plow head, wide and flexible scraper blade, and error-proof buttons. The head is narrower, 8 inches versus 10 inches, so it sweeps less snow with each pass. And it’s shorter when extended, at 51 inches versus 60 inches. However, when collapsed, the 16619 is more compact than the 80037, at 32 inches versus 39 inches, making it easier to store.
The ice-crushing teeth on the 16619 are on the side of the broom head, instead of on the back of the scraper blade as on the 80037, and they’re narrower—2 inches instead of 4 inches. That means more ice-crushing passes and having to flip the tool end-to-end to switch between crushing and scraping ice. We prefer the faster-working 80037’s design. Also, the 16619’s plow is made of heavy molded plastic and its shaft is made of steel; on the 80037, both are aluminum.
Otherwise, the 16619 shares features we like on the 80037: soft, grippable neoprene handles; functional buttons; a sturdy combination broom-plow-squeegee head; and a 4-inch-wide ice scraper that quickly clears ice and frost off the glass.
The Snow Moover’s quick-drying foam brush pushes a lot of snow, the tool disassembles for compact storage, and one piece can be used as a handheld scraper.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $33.
If you want a scraper paired with a foam brush that can clear snow quickly and then disassemble for easy storage, get the Birdrock Home Snow Moover 55” Extendable Foam Snow Brush and Ice Scraper.
The Snow Moover’s foam pad measures roughly 6 by 13½ inches, giving the Moover almost twice the surface area as other tools’ brushes and allowing us to clear an SUV roof in less than a minute. The design of the foam pad also helps with clearing. One edge of it curves back while the other curves forward, giving the tool a squeegee effect whether you’re pushing or pulling on the handle. You push a load of snow off the car, give the Moover a quick spin, then pull the next load off.
When storing it, like with the Hopkins SubZero tools, you can just fold the pusher head down and call it a day. At its most compact, it’s just over 3½ feet, which is longer than most of its competitors. But the Snow Moover also quickly disassembles into three pieces: the foam head, the handle, and the ice scraper. This makes for much easier storage in a smaller car, and it also gives you a separate hand scraper, which is nice if you don't want to deal with assembling the entire pusher.
We liked the overall quality of the Snow Moover. The buttons are nice and big and we had no problems operating the tool with bulky gloves on. The pivot point up at the foam pusher is sturdy. We were concerned to see so many negative customer reviews noting durability concerns. However, Birdrock Home told us those older reviews refer to a previous version, which this Amazon reviewer shows in some handy side-by-side photos.
In our tests, we did find a couple downsides. First, the foam can’t conform like a brush, so it’s difficult to clean snow out around the wipers, the “wiper gutter” area, the door handles, the front grill, and around the license plate. Also, we used the foam pusher fairly aggressive on roof racks, windshield wipers and a truck bed, and the edges of the pusher sustained some wear. We’ll continue using the Snow Moover, keeping a close eye on the durability of the foam pad.
If the Snow Moover is unavailable, Birdrock Home makes several variant models, including the Extra Long Snow Moover, Deluxe Extendable Snow Moover, and Heavy Duty Snow Moover, which are all similar, if not just as good. We’ve broken down the differences between these other models in the Competition section.
If you just need a basic handheld scraper, this tool—the Hopkins SubZero scraper head and ice crusher on a nice cushioned handle—is far better than average.
*At the time of publishing, the price was $6.
For a basic handheld scraper, you can’t go wrong with the Hopkins SubZero 16621. Essentially an 11-inch version of the same scraper head on some of the brand’s other tools, this combination scraper and crusher is nice to have in a light frost, when a larger tool can feel like overkill, or if you need something small to clear off side windows and mirrors. It’s most similar to the scraper / crusher duo on the 16619, but the ice crusher here has an additional, sixth tooth. We estimate the extra tooth saves about 0.4 seconds when scraping a windshield.
Unlike the super cheap and tiny handheld scrapers most of us have suffered with at some point, the 16621 has a cushioned grip, similar to the Hopkins SubZero's long-handled tools. It feels nice in a gloved hand, has contours in all the right places, and is large enough that you can use a second hand to lay some weight into it for thick, stubborn ice.
This item takes up a lot less room than our other picks, but the advantages of a bigger tool are considerable: It’s easier to scrape a car forcefully and stretch across the windshield with a long-handled tool, which means less fatigue and a better chance you can keep your sleeves dry.
Since our original testing in 2014, a number of the brushes we tested have been discontinued. These include the Mallory Pink Snow Tools 31-inch Snow Brush, Mallory USA 999CT 35-inch Aluminum Snow Brush, Hopkins Power Series 18520 26-inch snow brush, the AmazonBasics Extendable Snow Broom, Eneeko 36-50 Inch Snow Brush, Staryard Extendable 50” Car Snow Brush, the Dart Seasonal CB99, and the Hopkins Subzero Avalanche 14052.
The Hopkins Subzero Avalanche 14052 is nearly identical to the SubZero 80037, but it lacks the aluminum plow, and it has a foam squeegee head instead of a rubber one. We think our top pick is still your best bet, but if it’s not available, the Avalanche 14052 is a good alternative.
We tested several variations of Birdrock Home’s Snow Moover in 2019, and we think they make for good alternatives if our also-great pick isn’t available. The Extra Long Snow Moover is (as the name suggests) longer than the standard model, at 58 inches, and it has a similar rubber-squeegee-broom-plow head to our top pick, making it a bit more versatile in different conditions. The Deluxe Extendable Snow Moover is even longer than that, at 60 inches, and has a combination broom/foam head. By contrast, the Heavy Duty Snow Moover is slightly shorter than the standard Snow Moover, and you can’t disassemble it if you want to use or carry only the ice scraper end. It does have a curved handle, which makes it easy to maneuver around even larger SUVs. And it has a broom end instead of a foam squeegee, which makes it better for cleaning corners and clearing off fluffy snow than for dealing with slushier situations.
We considered several new models in early 2021 that looked similar to our current picks, including the AstroAI 62.4” Ice Scraper with Snow Brush and Ice Scraper/Snow Brush with Squeegee, and the MATCC Car Snow Broom Brush Ice Scraper 51.5” Extendable Snow Removal Tool. But none of the companies had the same proven track record as Hopkins or SnowMoover, so we dismissed them without testing.
In late 2019, we also tested the Frost Guard Plus Windshield Cover. Unlike other windshield protectors that depend on weak magnets that never reliably attach to car, the Frost Guard has a small pole on both sides that you close in your car door. This keeps the sheet weighed down in the case of wind, and as long as it’s resting snugly on the windshield before you close the doors, it should keep the moisture away. In our experience, it did exactly that; after one particularly harrowing evening of freezing rain, which left our car completely glazed over with a thin sheet of clear ice, we were still able to remove the Frost Guard with ease. Even though it was lacquered with ice, the windshield underneath was completely fine. Still, we needed to use our ice scraper to crack the doors open (yes, it was that bad) and clean off the other windows. So although the Frost Guard is effective, it’s more of a complement to, rather than a replacement for, a standard ice scraper.
In 2019, we also tried two other foam pushers, the Snow Joe SJBLZD and the True Temper ABTT5212. The Snow Joe, like the Snow Moover, can be disassembled, but it’s difficult to do with gloves on, and overall, the tool doesn’t feel as sturdy as our picks. The True Temper pusher is a nice, high-quality item, but it can’t be disassembled, a feature we really appreciated with the Snow Moover.
The Hopkins 14039, a previous top pick, is still a good tool. It’s fast, it’s light, and it’s balanced and easy to control. But it has only a broom—not a combination broom and plow—which means after a blizzard, you’ll need another tool to sweep the bulk of the snow off your car.
The Hopkins 14180 Ultimate Crossover Snowbroom has a flexible blade to conform better to the curves of windshields, theoretically improving scraping performance. In our test, though, we didn’t notice much difference in effectiveness. At 48 inches, it’s a bit short for big cars.
The Blizzerator Professional Auto Ice Scraper, a previous pick, does not lock automatically as it extends, and the Blizzerator’s broom/plow head remains parallel to the handle as it rotates—so when plowing snow, you have to sweep sideways instead of pushing.
The Mallory USA 999CT 35-inch Aluminum Snow Brush is slower than average at scraping frost off windshields, and the ice-scoring teeth are shorter than the Hopkins 80037’s, making it harder to cut through and remove ice.
The Mallory 518 16-inch SnoWEEvel Snow Brush cleared the window fast with its sharp blade and biting teeth, but its smooth plastic handle is slippery, hard to grip, and too short to clear snow off large vehicles.
The OXO Good Grips Extendable Twister Snowbrush has a solid handle, a rotatable snow brush, and a sharp blade, but it’s too short and has no teeth for scoring thick ice.
We’ve tested multiple other models of no-brush ice scrapers in previous years and rejected most for cumbersome design or ineffective scraping. These included the Iceplane, Ice Master, Snow Joe Edge Ice Scraper with Brass Blade, CJ Industries F101, and Hopkins 13014.
An exception was the Swedish Ice Scraper, a laser-cut wedge of acrylic glass that excels at removing thin, hard frost, with a material just flexible enough to hug the windshield’s curves, clearing ice with each pass. But it’s impractical: It lacks the comfortable handle of the Hopkins SubZero 16621 and has to be ordered from Sweden, which adds costs and delays.
Tim Heffernan is a senior staff writer at Wirecutter and a former writer-editor for The Atlantic, Esquire, and others. He has anchored our unequaled coverage of air purifiers and water filters since 2015. In 2018, he established Wirecutter’s ongoing collaboration with The New York Times’s Smarter Living. When he’s not here, he’s on his bike.
by Christina Williams and Wirecutter Staff
by Christina Williams and Wirecutter Staff
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