GeekDad Review: Ryobi 18V One Battery-Powered 16-Inch Lawnmower
Since 2015—the year I reviewed it—I’ve been cutting our lawn using a Fiskars StaySharp Max Reel Push Mower. I still love the silent and precise operation, but I’m less thrilled with the effort required these days. Our grass seems thicker than ever and I’m not getting any younger. And although I have teenagers in the house who theoretically handle lawn cutting duty, they have never clicked with the push reel mower. Probably they don’t want to click. Anyway, two issues converged at the end of spring: I began looking around at powered lawnmowers, and I was starting a construction project and needed to replace some aging batteries for my Ryobi power tools.
I ended up buying a Ryobi 18V One 16-inch lawnmower. It was a decent price (MSRP is 299), but that includes a pair of 4.0 Ah Ryobi One Lithium batteries, which usually go for around 100. A classic two birds with one stone situation.
Grass Cutting
I’ve been really happy with the Ryobi mower’s grass cutting capability. It has a 16-inch blade, which is considerably wider than the Neuton battery-powered mower I had years ago. It also has more power, slicing through (and mulching) everything, including sections of incredibly thick grass that have been the norm during a spring and early summer that have been non-stop alternating heavy rain and blazing sun.
A bag is included if you want to keep the clippings instead of mulching them. It also folds for storage and has a carrying handle. If you’re worried about kids, this mower has several safety features. There’s a key that must be inserted for it to start. And with the key in place, you have to both push an ignition button and hold down a handle-mounted lever for the mower to start up. Let go of the lever at any time and it stops.
The novelty factor ran out after the first run, but my kids are back in the lawn cutting game with this mower. It requires far less physical exertion, it’s very maneuverable, and there’s no cross-cutting of problem areas required. The bottom line is it takes them half the time to cut the grass that it used to, and they do a better job of it.
Battery Life
Besides whether it has the power to actually cut the grass effectively, the big question with a battery-powered mower is how long it will last before needing to be recharged. Ryobi estimates the run time with the supplied batteries for this mower at 40 minutes.
I have what is probably an average-sized lot (around 72 feet wide and 140 feet deep), with a house and deck in the middle. With the two supplied batteries—which fit under a clear plastic housing near the front of the mower—the Ryobi mower just cuts the front and back lawns. There’s typically maybe five to 10 minutes of battery left after, which means a few times it has run “dry” with a few strips of grass yet to cut. However… That’s not a concern for me because it uses the same One batteries as my power tools, so slapping one of those in the mower is enough to complete the job if needed. Note: although the mower has slots for two batteries, it will happily run on one (for half the duration), so you don’t need to have two spares.
Those One batteries have been available for years, and Ryobi makes over 125 One tools that are compatible. That means the batteries are easy to find, and they’re inexpensive. It was the high cost of battery replacement and difficulty of even finding one that led me to walk away from my first battery-power mower. That definitely won’t be an issue with the Ryobi mower.
Coming (Almost Full Circle)
When we first moved into this house 16 years ago, I bought a 6.75 HP gas-powered, self-propelled lawnmower. Overkill, really, although it did a nice job. Then it was the Neuton battery mower, but the battery-powered mower tech wasn’t quite ready for prime time. From there it was human-powered push reel mowers—which work well, but when that human power is hard to come by (or reluctant) they are a tougher sell.
Now I’m back to battery-power with the Ryobi 18V One 16-inch lawnmower. We’re only a few months into its first season but this one definitely feels like a keeper. It has noticeably more power, a wider cutting area, and far more flexible battery options than my first go at battery-powered mowers a decade ago. So I’m back in the battery lawn mowing game—and this one is good enough that I think it’s safe to say I’ll never own another gas-powered mower.
And if you use Ryobi One power tools—with a pair of 4.0 Ah Ryobi One Lithium batteries included in the box—it’s pretty much a no-brainer. Keep an eye out at Home Depot, because you may be able to pick it up with additional outdoor tools as part of a combo kit (I paid the Canadian equivalent of the 299 MSRP at Home Depot, but as part of a kit that also included a string trimmer and leaf blower).
Could a Ryobi Lawn Mower Help Make Your Garden Summer Party Ready?
The sun is shining, the days are getting longer, and the countdown to summer has begun. It’s time to start prepping your garden for the much-awaited summer party season. A well-maintained garden provides the perfect backdrop for memorable gatherings with friends and family. But, with so many lawnmowers on the market, which one should you choose? This blog will FOCUS on how a Ryobi lawn mower could be the perfect choice to get your garden summer party season ready.
Ryobi: The Ultimate Lawn Maintenance Companion
With Ryobi lawn mower parts designed to deliver performance and durability, Ryobi offers a wide range of lawn mowers to suit all needs and budgets. From petrol-powered to cordless electric models, there’s a Ryobi lawn mower perfect for every garden size and terrain. These mowers are packed with features that make lawn maintenance a breeze, leaving you with more time to FOCUS on planning your next summer gathering.
One of the key features of a Ryobi lawn mower is the cutting-edge technology incorporated into their designs. Ryobi’s cordless lawn mowers come with powerful brushless motors, providing excellent cutting performance and extended runtime. With adjustable cutting heights, you can easily achieve a perfectly manicured lawn that will be the envy of your neighbours.
Battery Power: The Eco-Friendly Choice
The environment is a hot topic these days, and for good reason. Choosing a Ryobi cordless lawn mower means you’re making an eco-friendly choice. Their battery-powered mowers are not only quiet and easy to manoeuvre but also produce zero emissions, contributing to a cleaner and greener environment. With Ryobi’s ONE system, you can use the same battery across a range of garden and power tools, making it an economical and practical choice.
Many Ryobi lawn mowers come equipped with a mulching feature, which finely chops grass clippings and redistributes them back onto the lawn. This provides valuable nutrients for your lawn. promoting healthier growth and a lush, green appearance. This added bonus means you can spend less time on lawn maintenance and more time enjoying the company of your guests.
Safety Features: Protection for You and Your Loved Ones
When you’re planning a summer party, the safety of your loved ones is a top priority. Ryobi lawn mowers come with a range of safety features to give you peace of mind. The safety start button, for example, prevents accidental starting of the mower. Additionally, many models feature an easy-to-use safety switch, which stops the blade within seconds when released. These safety precautions ensure your garden remains a safe haven for friends and family to enjoy.
Let’s face it – space can be limited in a garden, particularly when you’re planning to host a summer gathering. Ryobi’s cordless lawn mowers are compact and lightweight, making storage a breeze. Some models even come with foldable handles, allowing you to store your mower vertically, freeing up precious space for party essentials like tables, chairs and decorations.
Ryobi 40V Lawn Mower
I don’t have a lawn that needs to be maintained, but if I did, I would want a cordless battery-powered push mower like the Ryobi 40V (RY40112A kit, RY40100A bare mower).
Obviously larger lawns and fields are better mowed with ride-around or robotic mowers, but for smaller lawns the Ryobi walk-behind mower looks quite good.
The cordless mower has a 16-inch cutting deck, quick height adjustment, large wheels, 3/4″ minimum cutting height, and mulching capabilities.
The handles even fold up and collapse down for storage. It looks like this is accomplished using large tool-free levers.
Runtime is said to be 40 minutes. The kit comes with two 40V batteries which charge completely in 90 minutes.
According to Ryobi, this mower is suitable for lawns are yards 1/4 to 1/2 acre in size.
Price: 349 for the 2-battery and charger kit, 169 for the bare tool.
Buy Now(Kit via Home Depot) Buy Now(Bare Mower via Home Depot)
Black Decker’s 19-inch (399 via Amazon) and 18-inch (310 via Amazon) 36V cordless mowers look like reasonably good alternatives, but I find the Ryobi to be more visually and functionally appealing. The bumper on the front, large carrying handle on the top, and large levers and adjustment knobs make the Ryobi mower look a little more polished.
Do you use an electric battery-powered lawn mower? Which would you recommend?
s:
I have a Honda HRX lawmower I got as a smoking deal a few years ago, and It’s been great the seven years I have had it. I have to admit the new cordless lawn mowers have been tempting me lately. The fact that they are so quiet and you don’t have to hassle with gas going bad and other maintenance like oil changes. I don’t have a large lot to mow so running out of a charge isn’t an issue. The one thing that concerns me about these 40v tools is the replacement battery cost 130 dollars is pretty pricey and you only get 3 years of warranty on the battery.
I use the Neuton CE6 and I like the mower but dislike the battery technology. The lead-acid battery technology is slow to charge and the battery is really heavy. I also don’t like the customer service of DR Power the company that sells Neuton. That being said I would never again buy a gas mower for a small lawn, it’s not worth the hassle, noise and smell of starting and maintaing a gas mower.
I had an older model Ryobi for a few years. The moment your done using it you better get it back on the charger. After about a year it would no longer fully charge and the battery life fell apart. I bought a new battery and always kept it on the charger when not in use. Worked fine again for a while until hurricane Ike. We were 9 days without electricty and a lawnmower was not my priority on my generator. Battery again fell apart. Trashed it and went back to a gas mower. I’ll never buy another.
Reasons like this are why I am really, REALLY hoping that brands release 18V x2 battery pack adapters for the 2015 lawn and garden tool season. Black and Decker had mixed results with their efforts in this area, but Makita seems to have seen favorable sales for their 18V X2 tools. (2) Li-ion batteries that provide combined voltages of 36V or 40V Max would be great for lawn garden tools and gear. I know a lot of brands (such as Craftsman) have new tools out this year, but maybe they can still work on battery adapter solutions.
Too bad Don did not read the owners manual it would have saved him a low of headaches. The manual states remove the battery from the charger when fully charged and unplug the charger.
For small lawns I simply use an old fashioned style push mower. Significantly less issues than I can imagine with a battery operated unit. The push mower always has power, as long as I can push it. For small lawns it takes little effort or time with the push mower.
Actually I own this particular model and it’s incredible. It has two batteries and they last a descent amount to get both my front and backyard lawns done. The batteries also do not lose any charge while sitting around. I love this system and my husband is a big tool guy and he says it’s so much better then gas powered lawn equipment. I assure anyone looking for a good quality product, this one is excellent! Unless you have massive yard then you might need a few more batteries but otherwise great!
Hi, I have a BD 24v mower which I really like. A few years ago the charger went bad. Because I had just bought a new battery, I decided to get a 24v battery tender, which was cheeper than the replacing the BD charger. It works great. I have thought about getting a second battery and making them interchangable, but the wife just looks at me funny when I mention it.
Craftsman has its clone of this mower in red and black, if you prefer that look. Both mowers have extremely chintzy handle locks which don’t leave a good impression if you fold the handle up and down a few times. Likewise with the bagging door and mulch plug – all of these items are plastic, but thin in places they ought not to be to save weight. Don’t be mowing on a chilly morning, folks. Other than the plastic, the motors are reasonably grunty and the mower is fairly well balanced. I wish the price was a bit more reasonable, but those 40V batteries are spendy little suckers. Speaking of batteries, while I haven’t gotten a chance to test it yet I’m fairly certain the Ryobi 40V batteries and the Craftsman 40V batteries are the same connector, just like how the BD 20V Matrix and the CM 20V Bolt-On used the same battery with different casing and color.
I have a Greenworks 40v mower that I purchased off Amazon 6 months ago. I believe it’s the same as the Ryobi. One charge can do my whole yard (1/4 acre of grass) with 25-35% battery left. It’s light, quiet, and plenty powerful for what I need. Under load (thick, damp oak leaves) it increases in rpm temporarily. I like not having to maintain or run a gas mower. Adjusting the cut height is easier and faster than with the Troybuilt mower I used to own and it takes up less storage in my shed.
I agree completely. I have the Greenworks 40v Gmax and I LOVE it. I have only had it one full season, so we shall see about long term battery life. So far this thing is a beast. It is suspiciously similar to the Ryobi and I am in process of researching if they are indeed sister companies. I suppose best practices would mean many brands adopt successful features.
Purchased the Ryobi 40V, 20″ cordless mower and found it poorly made, especially the handle to mower attachment, and overall ‘flimsy’. Considering it’s price tag here in Canada at HDepot of 449, it is poor value. Will be returning the one I bought and looking for something else.
Have a Ryobi lithium mower – runs well tho have only used it 3 times – Who knows how to adjust the lower handle at the mower body – cannot get the handle to sit up high enough for comfortable use – do not see mention of adjustment for that part of handle in the manual- there are round ‘caps’ some sort of plastic, that have a lever type lock, but for what ? if cannot adjust.
I just bought the ryobi 40v mower about three weeks ago. I grew tired of cleaning the carburetor of my gas powered, self-propelled lawnmower. My old lawnmower had large rear wheels to ensure the self propelling would be easy my 1/4 acre lawn, so I was a little worried about going to a battery powered lawnmower, that is not self propelled. After cutting my lawn twice, i am convinced this is the best lawnmower I have ever had! I cut my lawn (front and back) with a single battery (40v 5 amp), and still have about 25 % charge or more remaining. It’s easy to push around, quiet, efficient and even fun. I am even thinking of trying the chainsaw to replace my gas powered chainsaw.
Ryobi 80V 30-inch Lawn Mower
While visiting the Equip Expo (formerly GIE) earlier this year in Louisville, Kentucky, we got a sneak peek at the latest OPE from some of the biggest brands in the industry. Ryobi was on the roster, and it showed off the newest addition to its 80V lawncare system. We’re taking a look at the Ryobi 80V 30-inch Lawn Mower to see how it upgrades the brand’s walk-behind lineup.
Ryobi 80V Self-Propelled Lawn Mower – The Big Deal
This mower is Ryobi’s first walk-behind mower on the 80V system, which until now consisted of three ride-on mowers and just-announced Ryobi lawn tractors. The addition of a 30-inch walk-behind mower gives the lineup more flexibility and allows you to use the same battery system for smaller mowing tasks.
Ryobi 80V Self-Propelled Lawn Mower Battery
The Ryobi 80V 30-inch Lawn Mower uses a 10Ah 80V suitcase-style battery, which provides a higher capacity (720Wh) than you’d get from the brand’s 40V mowers. In fact, you can expect to see up to 90 minutes of runtime per charge, which is 20 minutes more than Ryobi’s next highest-capacity model, the Whisper Series 21-Inch AWD Crosscut mower.
Blade Design and Cutting Width
The Ryobi 80V 30-inch lawn mower features two 15.35-inch stacked cross-cut blades that help deliver aggressive cutting performance. The two stacked blades overlap slightly, essentially giving you a pair of smaller CrossCut blades stacked side-by-side. The additional edge space yields better overall cut quality when compared to a single higher-mass blade.
The mower’s 30-inch total cut width is a really big deal; it’s a high cut capacity for an electric walk-behind mower. The only other battery-powered walk-behind we know of with this size is the Greenworks Commercial 82V 30-inch push mower, which we also saw at Equip Expo this year.
A handy blade reset indicator also alerts users when they need to sharpen or replace the blades.
Mulching and Bagging
Ryobi makes both bagging and mulching easy, regardless of which one you prefer. To switch between modes, you just have to twist the lever on top of the deck, at which point a door moves to open or block the pathway to the rear bagger. This lets you avoid dealing with a removable mulch plug, which can save you from a lot of annoyance.
Cutting Height Adjustment and Storage
Ryobi uses a 10-position single-lever cutting height adjustment system to lift and lower the blades. This makes it easier to achieve the perfect height and minimizes the adjusting you have to do. Dual-locking side rails provide a stable setting for a nice, even cut without needing a separate lever on each wheel.
You can choose an optimal cutting height between 1 and 4 inches.
When you’re done mowing, you can fold the mower’s handle all the way down for compact storage. To engage, you simply pull up on the handle release lever and push the handle down towards the mower body.
Features Summary
Ryobi 80V Self-Propelled Lawn Mower Price
This mower will include an 80V 10Ah battery and an 80V Super Charger. It retails for 450,999 including the single 80V 10Ah lithium-ion battery and charger. Like all Ryobi tools and equipment, you’ll find it exclusively at The Home Depot. Impressively, the mower AND battery carry a 5-year warranty.
The 80V 30-inch Lawn Mower will also be manufactured at Ryobi’s Anderson, SC facility, making it the first Ryobi 80V product to be made in the USA using global materials.
Final Thoughts
Ryobi moves into an interesting position by adding a walk-behind mower to the 80V line. Homeowners with 1/2-acre to 1-acre lawns would benefit from a machine that’s smaller and more manageable than a ride-on mower. On the other hand, professional crews often use walk-behind mowers to get into smaller areas where ride-on mowers won’t fit. In this way, Ryobi cements itself nicely in the Prosumer category between residential and commercial lawn care sectors.
Specifications
ryobi mulch plug
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Final Thoughts
We’ve covered it in detail here, and on the infographic above, but if you are having problems with your Ryobi mower stalling the most likely cause of it is the handle and the safety switch.
They work in conjunction with each other and have been purposefully designed to ensure you can’t accidentally start your mower without the handle being properly engaged.
Unfortunately, the design ruins what are otherwise very good mowers!
If your mower is still within its warranty get in touch with Ryobi who should sort the problem out for you.
Or simply bear this in mind when you make future purchases, as it is a very frustrating problem to experience.
There are some great lawn mowers on the market these days, so you shouldn’t have to put up with a recurring issue like this.