We have an Ariens snowblower, & it does a good job on the driveway and sidewalk. There is very little wheel slippage, even though the driveway is on a grade. Some people using garden tractors with attached snowthrowers have problems with grades, so this might be an issue, depending on how steep your driveway is. You have quite a bit of area to clean up, so I suspect that the tractor with snowthrower combination would be faster.

Ont: Snow-blowers can be hard on the Transmissions of Small Lawn Tractors. Check out Your Model thoroughly before buying a Blower which might damage your Unit. If you are in good physical condition go with a Top Line Manufactured Snow blower . I have been using a walk behind for yrs and always have my Drive (Horseshoe) done before my Neighbor with his Cub Cadet Tractor and Blower , with a lot more maneuverability and less hassle . It's more or less up to your climate and obstacles within your clearing area IMHO.

Having had both I'd get a walk behind-period. More maneuverable, set up to start in below zero weather, and will go a lot of places a tractor won't. Also, there's the major aggravation of taking off the mower and installing the blower every fall with the reverse in the spring.

I've lived in Northern NY (Oswego) and didn't see any tractor mounted throwers there and that's major snow country.

Another consideration, I've had to dig out tractors when they went off the driveway or whatever, never had to dig out a walk behind. You'll probably also find that a walk behind (dual stage) will throw snow further than a tractor mount.

You mentioned a Craftsman tractor, is it a Garden tractor-large rear wheels? If not even though Sears may say a blower will fit, you're asking for trouble.

Good Luck,

Ev