Review: Ryobi Cordless/40v Mower Review. (both 16in and 20in.)

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EngineerDave
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Review: Ryobi Cordless/40v Mower Review. (both 16in and 20in.)

Post by EngineerDave » May 20th, 2017, 7:13 pm

First off I just wanted to make sure my first post on the forum was something useful rather than another Weed ID request (don't worry I have plenty of those to come I'm sure!) And I haven't seen a review of any of the electric Ryobi Mowers posted so far so I figured I'd just right in with a recap of my experience!

A little background: I bought my first house back in March. When I got the house I didn't realize that I was responsible for more than just my front yard and rear yard up to the freshly planted privacy trees... Turns out I'm also responsible for the hill as well. I thought my total yard area was 5000sqft, but it turns out that it's at least 8000sqf... more on that later. The first purchase after a gallon of paint and some cardboard boxes was the Ryobi 16" 40v mower. Man I was super excited! I had done lawncare/analysis/Sales to put myself through grad school, so I was beyond excited to have my first piece of green to call my own! This little mower I thought was going to be perfect!

First off, you can change the mow height on this thing with a simple lever, just like you do on normal riding lawnmowers. No bolts, no individual wheel adjustments, just this little lever that you pull forward and back to lift and lower the deck. Secondly with the 40v 4ah battery, I wasn't going to smell like a gas station after mowing, and wasn't going to have to fuss with spark plugs, airfilters, gasoline, oil changes... Just keep the blade sharp and I was all set! Also it's worth noting that the 16" mower is extremely light. You can pick this thing up with two fingers via the handle in the middle. Man I thought I had made the best purchase ever... Until my Dad showed up to help with some of the move-in tasks. First thing he did was have a laugh once he found out the deck size. 16" is apparently small... (when I said I worked in lawncare we didn't do mowing. Fert, disease, weed control, areation, overseeding were our bread and butter.) But after some jabbing from the old man, he wanted to see the new thing work, so we took it for a test mow on the strip between the road and the sidewalk. It did a great job with cutting, and it was super quiet. My Father was quite impressed with the little mower, especially at it's power and cutting prowles. The next weekend came, and I was able to give the little mower a full shake down cruise. I was able to mow everything in front, sides and 75% of the back yard (or at least what I thought was the backyard) on a single charge. Throw the battery on the charger, do the weed eating and edging, and by the time that was done there was enough charge left to finish the rear and enough juice left over to use the leafblower that came with it (I probably should mention I got it at the Homedepot black spring event and the combo kit was on sale for less than 200 bucks... again more on this price later.)

As time went on the little mower did a great job on the 5000 or so sqf that I'd been mowing. I had a system down to handle the slight downtime to recharge the battery so that everything stayed perfect... Then I had to go out of town for 7 days. I came back to a lawn that hadn't been mowed in 10 days. First battery charge was used up completely on the front and sides. Rear lawn needed a full battery... On top of that my neighbor informed me that my property line doesn't stop at the tree line and that I have to mow all the way down to the side walk on the other side... an extra 3000sqft. After that day, I started researching extra batteries. THe extra batteries for these things are somewhere between 90 - 180 bucks depending on amperage (think fuel tank size.) Well based on that I felt defeated. I wanted to extend the range of my little mower, but really didn't want to spend nearly 200 bucks on just an extra battery.

So research starts. Turns out Ryobi makes a 20" mower! and it comes with a 5ah battery! That's 25% more mow time on a charge, and 20% more deck size! On top of that since I moved, I started getting moving coupons, including one 20% off coupon towards a Home Depot purchase above 100 dollars, up to 500. (You'll get these sort of things when you fill out the USPS change of address stuff online... Also got a pretty sweet one for Amazon.) Armed with my coupon, I had visited another Homedepot location that was back in my hometown while I was waiting for another family event to occur and came across the 20in Ryobi. One impulse buy later for 240 bucks, I had a new mower with a larger battery and larger mowdeck. Which I've now used exclusively since early - mid April.

So now that I've had the 20" mower for a month and a half, It does a great job on the lawn, decent striping without a dedicated lawn striper, I can do the entire front, side, and rear lawn on one 5ah battery, but need the extra battery from the previous mower to do the area beyond the trees, though the extra battery compartment makes the swap super painless. This mower does change mowing blade speeds though. THere are two, one for normal mowing, and another higher speed one that kicks in if the cutting resistance gets too high. The quality of the cut seems good, even when dealing with overgrown grass. any missed blades are the result of me missing the grass rather than the mower failing to cut... Though it does seem that the cutting area is the outer 2 - 3" portion of the blade, so if you drop it on a heavily grown area, the middle won't really get cut until you move off of it. Only issue I've had so far, is sometimes with the smaller battery if it's 85+ degrees out and I've been mowing for a while the temp sensor in the battery will shut the mower down due to heat. Allowing the battery to cool, or leaving one battery in the garage, and then swapping it rather than using the holder so far has fixed that issue. I'm sure I'll have an update once August hits.


Ryobi 16in push mower 40v.

Pros:
Light weight!
Came with a free 40v leaf blower (which rocks btw.)
easy to convert from bag to mulch.
stores easily!
easy height adjustment
quiet! (seriously you could be that guy mowing at 4am and no one would hate you.)
no gas
no air filter
no sparkplugs
no oil


Cons:
If your yard size is more than 4000sqft You will have to charge the battery.
Tiny mow deck
only one angle allowed for the push bar.
smaller portion of the blade is sharpened that what I'm used to on push mowers.




Ryobi 20inch mower -

Pros:
Same as the 16in mower plus!
Comes with a battery, and has a second place to put an extra battery if you "accidently" bought the 16" mower first!
Quiet mowing, similar to the 16in!
Still pretty light weight.
Stows away even easier! 2 pull releases, and 2 flip-snaps and this thing fits under my truck.
Bigger bag than the 16in if you need to bag.
easy hose down for clean up.
two angles allowed for the mow bar

Has headlights?

Cons:

Even with the larger battery, yards over 5000 SQFT will need a second battery.
Batteries even when not in use, can overheat in the storage area.
Mulching plug isn't as nice as it is on the 16" in terms of install, or quality.
Battery could charge faster. (same for all Ryobi 4ov's though.


So far I don't regret my decisions. But I'll keep everyone posted throughout the year how what it's like for a years worth of mowing on battery power alone!

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ken-n-nancy
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Re: Review: Ryobi Cordless/40v Mower Review. (both 16in and 20in.)

Post by ken-n-nancy » May 23rd, 2017, 9:59 am

Thanks for the helpful post and welcome to the site!

EngineerDave
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Re: Review: Ryobi Cordless/40v Mower Review. (both 16in and 20in.)

Post by EngineerDave » May 23rd, 2017, 6:01 pm

Thanks! I'm planning on updating the review throughout the year if any issues crop up, followed by an end of season summary. Glad to be here, now I just gotta get some soil tests underway!

Charley
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Re: Review: Ryobi Cordless/40v Mower Review. (both 16in and 20in.)

Post by Charley » May 24th, 2017, 1:18 am

Thanks for the write up. I've got a situation where I may need to buy an electric for a small yard so will be following your progress. I had some concerns about how it will deal with high grass and mulching leaves in the fall so will read your reports.

The battery powered clippers and spray have been good choices for my situation. Hard to believe I may buy a battery mower. If equipment isn't loud it is not getting much done has been the regular way of thinking about it.

BTW, it is really only the outer 1" of the mower blade that does all of the cutting. It should be spinning at near 3,000 rpm. Every minute the two tips pass a particular spot 6,000 times or 100 times a second. Normal walking speed does not move very far forward in 1 second.

EngineerDave
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Re: Review: Ryobi Cordless/40v Mower Review. (both 16in and 20in.)

Post by EngineerDave » May 26th, 2017, 10:04 am

Charley wrote:
May 24th, 2017, 1:18 am
Thanks for the write up. I've got a situation where I may need to buy an electric for a small yard so will be following your progress. I had some concerns about how it will deal with high grass and mulching leaves in the fall so will read your reports.

The battery powered clippers and spray have been good choices for my situation. Hard to believe I may buy a battery mower. If equipment isn't loud it is not getting much done has been the regular way of thinking about it.

BTW, it is really only the outer 1" of the mower blade that does all of the cutting. It should be spinning at near 3,000 rpm. Every minute the two tips pass a particular spot 6,000 times or 100 times a second. Normal walking speed does not move very far forward in 1 second.
It does come with "Ryobi's Mulching blade" so the outer 4" or so are sharpened. Other reviews have stated that the Greenworks mulching blade does a better job with mulching, so when it comes time to change blades I'll probably give that a shot. As far as high grasses, the previous homeowner put down some contractor rye on the side where bare soil used to be and it handles that just fine at 6 - 8" tall. The mulching performance seems drop only when it hits extremely dense areas of my lawn, regardless of height of the turf, and will leave 1" long clippings behind in that small area (usually less than 20x20" patch. a second pass mulches it just fine.

So far the leaves it has encountered it handled fine. I might have gotten a little overzealous with the roundup in my mulch beds and hit some shoots that I thought were just seeds for my tree coming up... turned out it was part of my red ornamental tree... for about two weeks red leaves littered the area until the tree recovered, and the mower would handle those (along with some sticks) just fine in mulch mode.

So far I've still been pretty pleased. I'm hoping it stays that way as we get into the hotter months. I do wonder about my decision vs the E-Go self propelled version though every time I have to mow the hillside. I'll try and grab some pictures of the yard today before/after the Pre-Memorial Day Mow so you can get an idea of what it's currently tackling.


EngineerDave
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Re: Review: Ryobi Cordless/40v Mower Review. (both 16in and 20in.)

Post by EngineerDave » June 22nd, 2017, 2:49 pm

June Update!
So I broke down my photos into 3 galleries so that you don't get lost in the sea of pictures, and so I can talk about each set as we progress.

Prior to mowing album:

https://postimg.cc/gallery/2gn4m1pmm/

Grass is between 4.5 - 6" tall for this cut.
Tallest section being on the side of the house (second measuring photo.)
My backyard is sort of split in the middle by a set of pine trees. The area between the house and the trees is fairly flat for the most part, but the side after the trees has a good 30 degree slope or more.

Pictures of the mowers next to each other, storage options etc:

https://postimg.cc/gallery/2m2vmqb42/


The large mower comes with a rest on the back which makes getting to the mower blade super easy. The 16" mower takes a bit more effort to put into storage mode, as you have to loosen the nuts on the handle by hand. The larger mower all you have to do is flip out two locking clasps, pull out and rotate the locking pins, and then it folds up. You can put the locking pins back in place when it's collapsed so that the handle doesn't flop down when stored vertically.

After mow pics:
https://postimg.cc/gallery/14vnzrrgi/

Pretty close to 3.75"! After using this mower for around 3 months I also ended up sharpening the mower blade, as the cut quality wasn't exactly what I was looking for. After sharpening the blade however the blades were being trimmed perfectly.

It still takes the entire 5amp/hr battery and less than 25% of the 4amp/hr battery to do a full cut. I have had issues where if I leave both batteries inside the storage bin on the front on hot days that the extra battery will build up too much heat, and ends up shutting down just before I finish up and I have to wait for it to cool down before I can clean up around the pine trees. So if it's above 80 degrees when I'm mowing I just leave the extra battery in the garage or in the shade on the patio until it's needed, then remove the dead battery from the bin to avoid the issue.

If the grass has been allowed to get too long between mowings (7 - 8 days) the mower requires a second pass to complete the mulching process in especially thick areas, even with the newly sharpened blade. This isn't that big of a deal for me, but if you want to avoid extra clippings on top, it does require a little bit more work. Bagging doesn't have this problem. I'd be stoked If Ryobi or a 3rd party manufacturer would come up with an improved mulching blade. It would also be nice if the user could manually kick it into "High grass" mode prior to hitting the thicker patches since I think that would cut down on the need for a second pass. (As stated before, it does it automatically when it detects resistance against the blade.)

If I left something out, or if you want to know more about something specific, just ask away!

Bonus picture of the rear yard:

Image

glenforest
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Re: Review: Ryobi Cordless/40v Mower Review. (both 16in and 20in.)

Post by glenforest » June 23rd, 2017, 9:07 am

Thanks for the review and the update. I'm following with interest because I'm considering a cordless mower. My main interest is getting something lightweight because I have to carry the mower up steps to reach my back yard. It looks as if the Ryobi 40V 20" weighs about 45 pounds (compared to 68 pounds for my old two-cycle LawnBoy).

EngineerDave
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Re: Review: Ryobi Cordless/40v Mower Review. (both 16in and 20in.)

Post by EngineerDave » June 23rd, 2017, 3:03 pm

glenforest wrote:
June 23rd, 2017, 9:07 am
Thanks for the review and the update. I'm following with interest because I'm considering a cordless mower. My main interest is getting something lightweight because I have to carry the mower up steps to reach my back yard. It looks as if the Ryobi 40V 20" weighs about 45 pounds (compared to 68 pounds for my old two-cycle LawnBoy).
The 20" is definitely the lightest 20-21" mower I've experienced. The 16" is super easy to carry by the handle, but really if your yard is much bigger than 5000 sqft I wouldn't recommend it. If it is however I'd give that one a look. You can carry with two fingers no problem lol.

glenforest
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Re: Review: Ryobi Cordless/40v Mower Review. (both 16in and 20in.)

Post by glenforest » June 23rd, 2017, 7:26 pm

EngineerDave wrote:
June 23rd, 2017, 3:03 pm
glenforest wrote:
June 23rd, 2017, 9:07 am
Thanks for the review and the update. I'm following with interest because I'm considering a cordless mower. My main interest is getting something lightweight because I have to carry the mower up steps to reach my back yard. It looks as if the Ryobi 40V 20" weighs about 45 pounds (compared to 68 pounds for my old two-cycle LawnBoy).
The 20" is definitely the lightest 20-21" mower I've experienced. The 16" is super easy to carry by the handle, but really if your yard is much bigger than 5000 sqft I wouldn't recommend it. If it is however I'd give that one a look. You can carry with two fingers no problem lol.
I'm only mowing 2300 square feet, so I expect lawn size won't be a problem.

EngineerDave
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Re: Review: Ryobi Cordless/40v Mower Review. (both 16in and 20in.)

Post by EngineerDave » June 23rd, 2017, 10:16 pm

glenforest wrote:
June 23rd, 2017, 7:26 pm
EngineerDave wrote:
June 23rd, 2017, 3:03 pm
glenforest wrote:
June 23rd, 2017, 9:07 am
Thanks for the review and the update. I'm following with interest because I'm considering a cordless mower. My main interest is getting something lightweight because I have to carry the mower up steps to reach my back yard. It looks as if the Ryobi 40V 20" weighs about 45 pounds (compared to 68 pounds for my old two-cycle LawnBoy).
The 20" is definitely the lightest 20-21" mower I've experienced. The 16" is super easy to carry by the handle, but really if your yard is much bigger than 5000 sqft I wouldn't recommend it. If it is however I'd give that one a look. You can carry with two fingers no problem lol.
I'm only mowing 2300 square feet, so I expect lawn size won't be a problem.
Well shoot. In that case I probably would get the 16". I was going to suggest the combo that I got, but I got that during HD's black spring event. I think I was out the door for 239.99 which included the jet fan blower and battery. That same kit is showing up at $370... Of course the 16" has increased in price too... Though you could get the 16" online for 169 (without battery) and get the trimmer/blower 40v with battery combo for 129 and come out under 299... Sometimes I guess it's better to make your own combo?

Anyways the 40v 20in would run you $299. $399 for the new self propelled model. Just by owning both side by side, I find it hard to believe that the weight difference (according to HD) is only 5lbs, as it seems significantly heavier.

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