Ryobi 36V 46cm Brushless Lawn Mower RLM36BL

Heavy, bulky and underwhelming – Had to swap for another one after the first one broke during the first use- handle bolts kept coming loose and cross threading The mowing job was good, but the mower itself is very heavy, bulky and hard to manoeuvre, especially compared to my last lightweight battery mower. I was not expecting the physical demands of using this mower- it was like pushing a shopping trolley through mud. Show details

Ranges from Excellent to Little More Than A Toy – I bought this lawn mower from Bunnings about 5 years ago. Originally I was mowing a city block and as it was dry most of the time, the mower proved excellent. It is light and easy to manoeuvre. However, I have recently moved to the country on as town block. The mower is OK on the back lawns which don't grow too fast and are not very thick. On the… Read more

front lawn, which is Kikuyu, it is hopelessly inadequate.

The mower is strong enough but the chassis is fairly lightweight. The blade is one piece with a cutting edge on either end. For the premium price I paid I did expect better. It does cut OK but that's all I can say.

I have had to buy a petrol model to do the front and kept the Ryobi for the back. Now the lightweight blades have buckled. Really Ryobi? Not good enough. Never had a mower break or bend a blade in my entire life.

In the end, I'd have to say the mower is really only good for small well kept lawns. Not for serious lawn mowing. I should have realised this before I let the salesperson talk me into it. Mind you, for the original block in the city it was adequate BUT nowhere as good as the petrol model I have purchased.

Far superior... I'm so happy – I upgraded after having the Ryobi 18v for a few years and all my previous frustrations with the 18v have been eliminated with the Ryobi 36v brushless 46cm mower kit. I have a small patch of Sir Walter grass... about 15m x 3m. The 36v cut through the Sir Walter without having to do a double pass. No cut grass was left behind. The mower sensed… Read more

when it had to work a little harder and gave me the power to cut through without stalling. Its edge cutting feature is pretty good too. I did the whole patch on one catcher... and it had done what it was meant to do... caught all of the clippings. Because it was a little longer than I usually leave it, I chose to do one pass on level 4 and then a second pass on level 3. I read somewhere that this is good practice. I didn't even use half of the battery. I lowered the mower to level 1 at the end to vacuum the adjacent pathways.

I am soooo happy. My friend can have my 18v mower because she has Santa Ana grass.

Great little mower fit for purpose ! – If you are maintaining a regular lawn maintenance regime, this mower is ideal! Lightweight and push button and go. If the going gets a bit tougher you will use more battery so it pays to have an extra battery on hand just in case! There are a diverse range of extra garden tools that also match the 36v battery. For all accounts a handy machine at a… Read more

reasonable price. Just don’t mow when the lawn has been wet from rain or dew , always let your lawn dry first, if you can? Happy Mowing!

Good mower for the average yard – Purchased this one recently from Bunnings for $499 to replace a previous Ryobi battery powered mower that had done the job for 6 yrs. This model is easy to put together (just the handles and catcher). It cuts the grass well and the 46cm wide track is decent. Battery life is sufficient to do an average yard and footpath and it charges again… Read more

quite quickly (about an hr). Some comments about its use: it did leave small clumps of grass behind even though the grass was only the slightest amount damp and the catcher wasn’t full. This meant a light going over with a rake to pick it up. Work I don’t really want to do. It seems that there needs to be a stronger push of the cut grass into the catcher. The mower is powerful enough and does give an extra boost when needed on terrain like sloping land etc but it did ‘choke’ and stall on some clumps of taller grass about 150cm high. Worst things: 1. the start button inconveniently located in the middle of the handle facing away from the operator 2. the on/off triggers. These are made from very hard cylindrical shaped plastic and start to hurt your hands after 10 -15mins of holding at least one down to keep the mower in operation. They are terrible and nowhere near as good as the power button on the previous model that was a ’soft’ plastic that was recessed into the handle. 3. The actual handles are waaaayyyyy too narrow. Holding the handles requires you to have your arm in an odd bent position with elbows outward. The handle is too narrow to hold comfortably with arms outstretched at shoulder width. As a result, it forces the user into a highly awkward position for mowing that puts a strain on arms and shoulders. The handle also has some black foam/rubber?? Padding that looks like it will deteriorate fairly quickly. Height adjustment is easy to do and has 5 settings but highest setting 5 still cuts too low for those who just want a light trim. Noise level is good - very quiet for a mower. Overall, mechanically, it’s quite a good machine and appears to be sturdy. Battery power and charge time are good but it’s not the most comfortable mower to use if you will be taking more than 20 mins or so do do your yard. UPDATE: have been using it on average once per week. It works well but I haven't seen any evidence of the mower's ability to pull grass in from the sides to get a clean edge. Also have found it makes ridges of slightly higher grass when it cuts. First thought I must be missing a line along the edge but even ensuring a significant overlap of cuts, still produces these ridges. The fuam rubber grip material on the handles is starting to deteriorate quite noticeably even though it's stored in a fully protected shed