Back in April I had the chance to go to the Ryobi headquarters with some other bloggers. I always LOVE seeing the behind the scenes of companies I work with. I am completely fascinated with how they come up with concepts and then make them a reality. It is the same reason I love watching Project Runway or any other creative reality show.
So before I tell you about this electric lawn mower, I want to show some pictures from that trip.
We got to meet and have lunch with the folks at Ryobi.
And then we went outside and got to try out ALL the outdoor products! There were three things that really stood out to me and those are the three things I chose to review here on my blog. The Pressure Washer I already wrote about, the mower is today’s topic, and the chainsaw will be next. I LOVE this chainsaw!
At Ryobi they have EVERYTHING they need. The have an in house marketing team where they design packaging and endcaps and shoot commercials, the lab where they make the prototypes, and a photography studio where they take all the pictures of the products. We got to talk to the people who design the tools too!
(Ryobi 20 inch 40V Lawn Mower)
Like I said before, one of the products that really impressed me was this lawn mower. It is powered by a 40V battery! No gasoline or oil to worry about.
I think it is part of my nature to be skeptical at first when there is a new idea thrown my way. When they were presenting this mower to us the dialog in my head went something like this:
“I don’t think a battery powered machine could ever be as powerful as a gas powered machine. I think it is going to basically be a glorified weed whacker (that is what I call weed trimmers…) and the battery would die long before I was done with mowing.”
One of the first questions I asked was how long the battery charge lasts. You see, I have almost a half acre of lawn. The battery charge should last about 40 minutes. I have the larger of the two mowers. It is a 20 inch. That helps too. I didn’t time myself when mowing like I wanted to. I got lost in “reviewing mode”. It took two charges to do my lawn. The 20 inch mower that I have has a spot for a second battery. So if I make sure and have two batteries charged and ready to go, I would just have to stop a second, and switch the two batteries.
If you have a small or medium yard this would be perfect. And if you have a larger yard like mine, make sure you have that second battery or even a third.
One of the things I loved was how easy it was to start. You push a button! No pulling a starting cord over and over. If you have back problems this would be a life saver. The brushless motor is quieter than a gas powered mower too . As far as if it is as powerful as a gas powered mower, I gave it the pinecone test. When I run over a pinecone with our gas powered mower it chops it up quickly and spits out little tiny pieces. So I ran over several pinecones with this and it did the same thing. I also let my grass grow out longer that I normally would for testing purposes (much to the dismay of my neighbors I am sure). And it cut it the same as our gas powered mower.
Another feature that I may have gotten a little too excited over was the fact that it folds up! You guys! I have a tiny house and and even tinier garage. The fact that it folds is HUGE! I can put it on a shelf and save precious floor space. Because it is plastic and not metal and not filled with gasoline, it is pretty light weight too.
Okay, I know that was a lot of info I just threw at you so I will break it down for you.
PROS:
*No gasoline or oil.
*Starts at the push of a button
*Light weight
*Folds to store more easily
*Just as powerful as my gas powered mower
*Comes with a 3 year warranty AND if you register it they will add 2 more years making it a 5 year warranty
CONS:
*Because it is electric, it can’t get wet. Try not to mow really wet grass or leave it out in the rain/sprinklers
*If you have a big yard you will need more than one battery
I have another maybe, sort of con. I wasn’t sure if it is because it is new and I feel protective over things that are new to me, or if it is because it is made of plastic instead of metal, but I felt like I had to be careful with it. Like I couldn’t bang it into the tree (on accident of course) or something of that nature.
I let my husband try the mower so I could have his thoughts on it as well. He agreed with me on everything BUT this. He said he didn’t feel like he had to be careful at all. So maybe it is just that I get panicky about new things at our house :)
So there you have it! If you are in the market for a new mower, you should consider this one. I mean come on, it passed the pinecone challenge ;) It is available at Home Depot. It may not be in all stores yet so check online.
*I was given the mower to review but all the thoughts and opinions are all mine!
I LOVE the fact that this folds up! I have been wanting one all summer love! Love it!
I love Ryobi stuff! how fun that you got to go to their headquarters!
I love that it folds up … what a great way to save space in the garage!
I love Ryobi! And that picture of you chain sawing is awesome!
Fun day playing with tools… LOVE that it folds up!
That lawn mower is so awesome. I love that it folds up. Fun post!
This lawnmower looks amazing! I would love one. Ryobi makes the most user friendly tools. p.s. Do you have any of those Ryobi M&M’s to share?
That is awesome that it folds up. I can never get our crappy gas powered mower started (although it is a good excuse to have the hubby mow the lawn). ;) I love everything Ryobi. We don’t have a very big area to mow, so this would probably work great for us. And we already have a ton of Ryobi batteries. That is so cool you got to visit Ryobi headquarters. What a fun behind the scenes look!
I bought this mower because of the trouble I had with gas mowers and the alcohol gas that eats the carb and hoses up. I have had it for a bit over two months. It works well but a few days ago I live in Florida I was mowing and had a sudden down pour. The mower got wet and will not start. If this is the best they can do for 450 dollars its a POS. I will give it time to dry out and if it does not start will return it to Home Depot. My cordless drill and other batt tools have gotten absolutely soaked and never had a problem. If this is the best they can do its back to gas.
I have had one of these lawnmowers for over a year now and I just love it. It is sooooo quiet I can mow the lawn at 3 in the morning and no one would ever wake up. Worth every dime.
I have their hybrid 18v string trimmers as well and it is another great tool for people who don’t want gas or cords.
I returned one as it did not start. It turns out that the telescoping handle must be fully extended. Tech support did not know that. Now, it works great.
I live in Florida and have St Augustine grass which requires a 4″ mower highth. I have the Ryobi 16″ mower. Does anyone have any good solutions on how I can raise the cutting highth?
BIGGER WHEELS?
I have been very disappointed in the Ryobi 40 v 20″ mower. I returned one after apparent staring issues. I had been mowing and wanted to show my husband how to start the mower. It would not start. I removed the key and put it back in and the mower started without anyone pushing the button or holding the bail, so I exchanged it for a new one. Now I have had the second mower only two weeks. I mowed with it last week just fine. Today I began mowing with it. It started just fine, but after 5 minutes of operation, it shut off. After several attempts with two separate fully charged batteries, I finally got it started again, but after running for less than 5 minutes, it shut off. I made sure that it was not clogged with grass and tried several times to start the mower. The one or two times that it did started, it immediately shut down. I really want to like this mower, but it is a very BIG disappointment!!!! I will not try again. It is going back.
I had the exact same problem Kitty describes. The first Ryobi 40 v mower I brought home had problems immediately. It would start briefly and then shut down after 5 or 10 seconds. So I exchanged it for another. That one worked for 2 months, and then started shutting off for no reason mid-mow. The next time I used it, it started out ok, but then started shutting off by itself and then wouldn’t run more than 20 seconds without shutting off. I would have to remove the battery to reset it to get it to run, but it would just shut off again. I have returned it, but every Home Depot around me is out of stock of this mower now. I’m not sure I will buy the same mower unless I find out that Ryobi has fixed a known problem.