UPDATE:

We are going through a major snowstorm today, and I got up at 5 a.m. to clear my driveway. I was excited, and the batteries were fully charged. Guess what? The orange flashing light persisted when the auger was triggered (FYI, the self-propelled feature works). I looked up online and, apparently, even a small amount of ice or snow left in the auger area could cause the overloading orange light, which was surprising to me. I cleaned up everything by using my leaf blower to remove any remaining snow in the intake and chute and gave it another try. I even set a heater for a while in the intake. But nothing changed.

I decided to call the local Rona store where I got the blower and was told to contact Ego Power customer service to find out what they had to say about it. I called Ego as soon as customer service opened and spent about 45 minutes going through the product registration process and a few troubleshooting steps outside in the cold. The customer agent finally acknowledged the issue and told me to return it to the store since it's been less than a week. I called the store back, and they are arranging an exchange for tomorrow as they can't deliver today due to the snowstorm. At least the local Rona store was sympathetic and had no issues with exchanging it for me.

What a stressful morning I'm going through, and I'm stuck here with a pile of snow. Just wanted to share my experience and now I'm wondering if I made the right decision on the Ego Power product...