Best Ryobi Lawn Mowers

Good Performer – Nice clean cut and reasonable range from batteries, just don't have the mower height set too low for taller grass as it tends to chew through the… Read more

battery. I recently upgraded to this from a Rover 53cm Hi Wheeler petrol lawn mower. Compared to the Rover it is quieter but somewhat heavier. I like that I'm not breathing in fumes like I was with a petrol mower. I'm still getting used to the self-propelled drive, but again I figure it works better than a petrol engine with a belt drive as it's driven by an independent electric motor with variable speed control. It does seem a little less rugged than my old trusty Rover but it's reassuring to have the 6 year warranty.

Super For The Money – A long story very short I ended up with this. Is it worth the extra $50 over the normal brushed version? Well, it depends (owned the brushed one… Read more

for 3+ years).

On a slope and flicking these lightweight things around this one looks way less likely to need gaffer tap to hold the arms in after say two years, assuming at least once-a-fortnight usage. I think the battery lasts a tad longer but hardly night and day between this brushLESS version and the $50 cheaper brushed motor one.

The arms are more robust in this brushLESS version. Also, the height adjustment is easier and the metal reinforcing around that is more assuring, but the older one did the job.

Why I Rated 5 Stars for Value

In the end, the Bunnings (Ryobi partnership) warranty is gold brick. 4 years with a receipt and an extra 2 years if you bother to register online. Bunnings are really on your side in my experience - A GREAT warranty guaranteeing me 6 years.

How Does It Cut

The answer is very well. For my mostly buffalo grass-type conditions it goes low enough and I find its cutting height range is plenty overall.

Is It More Powerful than the Cheaper Brushed Motor Version

The simple answer is yes it is.

I went to push the grass to the back of the catchment box after a short time cutting. The brushed motor version never really could do that, even with dry grass. This one made that exercise way less necessary, even with damp grass, from a lawn crying out for a good trim (2 weeks of growth with some rain to help it along situation).

Both will get the job done, but I think I genuinely get through particular damper areas a bit quicker overall, with the brushLESS motor version ($50 more).

Coverage Area For This Tool

I have (VERY roughly) 4 areas that average out at about 5 metres x 4 metres per area, which I use this mower for. If it's been a dry two weeks then x1 5AH battery will easily do all of it. Any more demand than that you are quickly chewing into 7+ AH for a one-hit job.

Overall

With a couple of narrower nooks and crannies the 33cm mower suits me. I have never felt I needed bigger in any meaningful way for the rest of what I have to do in the area(s) I mentioned.

My first electric mower purchased nearly 2 years ago. It has been excellent and performs well, however I noticed the plastic start button always… Read more

seemed flimsy. Recently it failed and would not start, I assumed it was the button issue. I took it back to Bunnings where I purchased it with the receipt, and upon inspection, they provided a replacement. Good service, but a bit disappointed that it failed.

I purchased this battery mower because my Rover self drive Briggs and Stratton broke down after 25 years. All my battery tools are Ryobi 18volts not… Read more

36volts, so therefore I could use 2 x 18 volt batteries of 5 or 6 amps. Do 2 x 18 volt batteries equal a single 36volt in power? I’m unsure but I’ve heard not….

I have used this mower for a few months now and generally it mows my 100 sqm couch lawn well.

I do think there is room for improvement… Being taller I wish the handle bar could be adjusted higher but it’s a one height suits all, just a little low for me at 188cm. Mowing dry or damp couch grass is ok , but if it’s wet or maybe buffalo grass I feel that it has a choke point where the clippings build up at the mower exit before going into the smallish catcher. The rpm is obviously less than a petrol so grass imo doesn’t get ejected hard enough.

The overall height of the mower could be lowered at the battery cover, it had an unnecessary big hump in it so going under bushes or say a caravan means you have hits/damage to the clear plastic cover. On my couch lawn I find the very lowest cutting height at 25mm (as per stats on the Bunnings site) does cut hard/scores the grass and the next height leaves my grass a little too long but that’s the design it is, not a big deal. My old Rover had the ‘perfect’ height.

Price point ….. well as we know Bunnings and Ryobi are on a good gig because you cannot find Ryobi tools discounted so at $700 I do think this mover is heavy on the price but as I noted above it can take 2 x 18volt batteries which all my tools are.

Generally it’s a good mower, obviously quiet, does a good job for my sized couch lawn at 100sqm plus the 51cm cutting path means you get the job done quicker. There are few nuances to a battery mower, sometimes there are power surges as it senses the load but having a variable speed slider helps with the job. All in all I like this unit, as mentioned a little overpriced imo, room for design improvements but good all round.

Poor Ergonomics – Trialled this lawn mower for a month on loan from my father-in-law - and not for me. Machine beautifully put together and a really excellent cutting… Read more

action - especially where mulching was concerned. But the joy-stick - an engineering marvel but an ergonomic nightmare. Problem was two fold. The joy-stick fights to return to neutral. In consequence, after a hour of lawn-mowing, my right forearm was in agony! The constant pressure on my arm made the mow extremely onerous. I found the support for the right-arm hopeless: the arm-rest was too far back, too high and too close to the centre of the machine - and it, unlike the arm-rest for the left arm, cannot be adjusted. Secondly, unlike with a traditional zero-turn, the joy-stick translates both side-to-side action and front-to-back action into drive/direction. With my less than bowling-green smooth lawn, this meant that every bump in the lawn transferred to the joy-stick and caused the mower to wobble. No problem when I was mowing in the middle of the law but extremely difficult maintaining a sure course when it came to trying to mow along edges and around fence -posts, etc.. The joy-stick was also a nightmare when it came to backing; a real trick trying to get the machine onto a trailer. It's extremely sensitive. I also found it difficult to judge the cutting edge on the left side of the machine - the side usually at issue when trying to cut close around edges and objects. The cutting deck is not in alignment with the front wheels on the left side - though it is on the right side - the side impeded by the grass shoot - and sits behind the rider. I think Ryobi would have been better advised to work on zero-turn steering-wheel technology like Ego, rather than the joy-stick.