Standby generators have certainly drawn the attention of Baby Boomers, considering that 80 percent of sales go to homeowners age 50 or older. At the very least, standby generators—which start up automatically when needed—can protect not only your home but also your life.

Forget Dickens—this is more of an outdoor-gear spin on the Aesop fable “The Ant and the Grasshopper,” a moral lesson on the virtues of hard work and planning ahead. But in this case it was a snow blower and not a winter food supply that stymied the grasshopper. And the ant learned that, when it comes to snow-blower maintenance, there can be a downside to having the only working machine in the neighborhood.

A recall warning for Oregon Replacement Lawnmower Blades has been issued by Blount International Inc., of Kansas City, Mo., says the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission today. The safety agency says the blades can break during normal use and pose a laceration hazard to the user and bystanders.

There’s nothing like a multiple day power outage to move plans to get a generator up the to-do list. That’s what happened this past Halloween, when a freak nor’easter dropped more than a foot of snow and downed trees in the New York metropolitan area. Many people were without power for a week or more—and that followed power failures left in the wake of Hurricane Irene at the end of August. Clearly, having a backup generator can help weather the next storm.

Procrastinators are still holding out hope that they’ll get a good gift at a good price by Sunday. Retailers are slashing prices on everything from clothes to toys to tools including some of the cordless drills recommended in Consumer Reports tests. If that sounds like the perfect present for the handyman or woman on your list, check out our new model pages, which give our testers' take on each drill as well as the highs and lows of every model.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission has issued a recall alert for 111,800 Rayovac NI-CD Cordless Tool Battery Packs. The rechargeable batteries, distributed by BatteriesPlus LLC, of Hartland, Wis., can unexpectedly explode and poses a risk of serious injuries to consumers, warns the CPSC.

Despite all the ads and hoopla, not everybody wants an iGadget, shiny bauble or flat-screen TV for the holidays. Some people on your list might fancy new kitchen gear or another product that makes life around the house more enjoyable such as a coffeemaker that brews terrific coffee or a stand mixer that kneads bread dough. And any handyman will appreciate a beefy cordless drill.

The Consumer Product Safety Commission is considering proposals to improve the safety of table saws. Its staff says those tools cause an estimated 11 amputations a day and thousands of injuries each year. Safety improvements could involve a braking mechanism for table saws. The commission has seen demonstrations of one such device, called SawStop, which would stop a saw blade upon encountering someone’s finger or hand.

It’s that time of year for wish lists, and what we at Consumer Reports often wish for is the chance to squeeze in a product that missed our own deadlines for testing. This happened with our recent cordless-drill tests, when Lowe’s announced this fall it was adding 18-volt cordless and corded power tools (photo right) to its Kobalt line.

In the market for a snow blower? If you have a single-stage gas model, your memories of last winter’s victory over your best efforts might still linger. But even if you’ve merely had your fill of shoveling, there’s good news: For the same money as some of the better single-stage models, a two-stage model’s addition of an impeller behind the usual auger gives it more heft in lifting and throwing snow. Even a compact two-stage, with widths up to 24 inches, can give you the edge in the coming months. What doesn’t help, however, is that two-stage models are heavier and take up more space in a garage or shed.

Despite embracing Facebook, Twitter and other new technologies, Sears took a pummeling today from the Wall Street Journal, which said some of the retailer’s stores are “dumpy” and quoted a customer saying one story was so empty, “we could have played Frisbee in there.” It’s a sad portrayal of the 125-year-old chain because some of its venerable brands—Kenmore, Craftsman—have stood the test of time in Consumer Reports tests.

Last month’s freak nor’easter was winter’s opening salvo to what snow blower makers like Ariens, MTD, and Toro expect will be a busy season. If you needed your snow blower to start after that storm, you already know the outcome. For everyone else, now’s the time to do some last checks and fire it up. Better you know now, when there’s no snow blocking your driveway, if your snow blower needs intensive care.

Consumer Reports Ratings of cordless drills include mention of which have a hammer-drill mode. It’s one of those features that you might not consider if you’ve never needed it. But as we recently discovered, there's no substitute for the hammer mode for certain home repairs.

This week comes the annual Green Industry and Equipment Expo (GIE+Expo), a trade show for outdoor power equipment and related products, which starts Thursday in Louisville. We’ll be previewing interesting products on display at the three-day show, which is a joint effort of the Outdoor Power Equipment Institute, Professional Grounds Management Society, and Professional Landcare Network (or PLANET). We also hope, given the show’s 19-acre outdoor demo area, to get our hands on some of the outdoor gear we’ll be testing over the coming year.

When Consumer Reports tests most products, we look for features that seem especially helpful for certain users—such as people who suffer back or other pain. With outdoor power equipment in particular, we recommend that concerned users seek out electric start, spring assist, and similar features that ease or replace the pulling of a cord to start a gasoline-powered product. But as we’ve found in our tests, some helpful features are better implemented than others.