Are Ryobi Battery Lawn Mowers Any Good?

Last Updated on October 2, 2023 by Kyle Whitley

 

Well I guess I am a little partial here, but if you were to ask me are RYOBI battery lawn mowers any good, I would give a resounding, yes.  I personally own two RYOBI lawn mowers the 16inch 40v push mower and the 100Ah 42″ zero turn.  I enjoy using both of the mowers to handle the cutting duties at my home.

While I am not a full fledge dyed in neon green/yellow RYOBI fanatic, I do own quite a few RYOBI hand tools and outdoor power tools which I use in and around my house on a regular basis.

In the spring of 2019, I was in desperate need of replacing my aging Husquvarna gas riding lawn mower.  At that point, I decided I needed and wanted to make the switch to battery powered lawn mower and battery powered lawn equipment in general.

I personally made the switch to all electric lawn equipment near the end of the spring of 2019.  I ordered both of the RYOBI mowers from Home Depot (which is the exclusive retailer for RYOBI in the US), and they arrived within a week or so.  I have been very pleased with both mowers and couldn’t be happier with my decision.

What is RYOBI?

RYOBI is a multinational power tool manufacture.  They make everything from drills and circular saws to shop vacuums and battery powered lawn mowers.  They are mostly known for the affordable line of 18v power hand tools that are used by millions of DIYers, hobbyists, and contractors all over the United States and the world.

RYOBI also manufactures a wide range of outdoor power tools that are either powered by the popular 18v + line of batteries or the more powerful 40v batteries.  In recent years RYOBI has branched out from producing just push mowers, leaf blowers, pressure washers, and string trimmers to full-fledge riding mowers that use sealed lead-acid batteries.  My RYOBI zero turn is one of the newer models released in 2019.

Who owns RYOBI?

RYOBI is a subsidiary of TechTronic Industries Company Limited, TTI.  TTI is the owner of several well known brands such as MILWAUKEE, RYOBI, HOOVER, and HART.   If you look closely especially at the HART line of products sold from Walmart,  you will notice some striking similarities between the RYOBI and HART cordless power tools both indoor and outdoor models.

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What kind of electric and battery powered lawn mowers does RYOBI make?

RYOBI manufactures  three basic categories of mowers:

• push mowers
• self-propelled mowers
• riding mowers

Push Mowers

RYOBI makes several different kinds of push mowers that range in size between 13″ – 20″cutting widths.  These mowers are powered by a few different batteries and power sources.  Most of these mowers come with side discharge and munching capabilities along with folding handles for easy storage.

Plug In Electric mowers

There are several plug in electric mowers that are in the 13″ – 16″, they run off the power from a standard wall outlet. There is actually a 18v/hybrid 16″ model that is currently available that works on both the 18v batteries and plug in if needed.

Battery Powered Mowers 18v and 40v

The other push mowers in the RYOBI line are powered by 18v or 40v batteries.  The 18v mowers range in size from 13″ – 16″ cutting widths, and use the same 18v batteries that are used in all RYOBI handheld power tools.

The 40v push mowers are in the 18″ – 20″ cutting widths. These mowers are larger and have longer runtimes.  The 40v batteries power stronger motors that are capable of cutting more dense and thicker grass while allowing you to cut more area per charge.

Regardless if you go with an electric, hybrid, 18v, or 40v mower, these mowers are an exceptional value with great features, that should handle most users’ lawn cutting needs.

Self-Propelled Mowers

RYOBI’s self-propelled mowers are the cream of the crop mowers that are non-riders.  These mowers feature 40v batteries, that power brushless motors with cutting widths between 20″ – 21″.  These mowers have a wide range of features with most including folding handles, head lights for cutting in lower light situations, and RYOBI’s Smart Trek Adaptive Variable Speed system, which adjusts mower travel speed to your walking speed.

These are high-end mowers with high-end price tags, but I believe them to be worth the investment.  I have a firm belief that gas powered mowers are going the way of the dinosaur, and battery powered mowers have come of age. These RYOBI self propelled mowers prove those facts.

The two top end 21″ mowers feature steel decks and adaptive speed self propelled feature.  The newer 21″ model released in 2021 feature a crosscutting blade feature which allows the grass clippings to get cut many times, which in turn provides additional nutrients to your lawn.

All of the self propelled mowers have mulching, bagging, and side discharge ability, with single lever cutting height adjustments.

The mowers have a great set of features and have overwhelmingly positive reviews from owners all over the country.

RYOBI Riding Mowers

RYOBI has two different types of riding mowers.  Standard riding mowers and zero turn riding mowers.  The standard or conventional riding mowers with a steering wheel have been on the market for several years and have proven to be very reliable and provide quality cuts to thousands of users all over the United States. The zero turn mowers were first available in 2019.  They have since extended both lines of mowers to include models with cutting widths between 30″ – 54″

The mowers have 48v batteries with ranges from 50Ah for the smallest 30″ model to 115Ah for the largest 54″ model.   The larger the Ah the longer the mower will run.

50Ah = 1 hr or 1 acre of runtime

75Ah = 2 hrs or 2 acres of runtime

100Ah = 2.5 hours or 2.5 acres of runtime

115Ah = 3.5 hours or 3.5 acres of runtime

Standard Riding Mowers

RYOBI makes three different riding mowers currently.  They range in cutting widths between 30″ – 38″.  These mowers are perfect for smaller lawns or for lawns where you might need to go in and out of gates but are just a little too big for a push mower.

All of these mowers have three cutting options with mulching, side discharge, and bagging  (that requires a bagger sold separately).  They feature single-handle multi position height adjustment (7 positions for the 30″ and 12 positions for the 38″ mowers)  and cruise control.

Zero Turn Mowers

RYOBI currently carries three zero turn riding mowers from 42″ – 54″ with battery ranges from 75Ah – 115Ah.  Each of these models has a single handle multi position height adjustment with 12 different height settings.  Each mower features slow/fast driving and cutting speeds.  The mowers also feature USB ports, storage boxes,  and cupholders.  All three models have LED headlights which are plenty bright to cut in the dark (not that I have done that or anything).

The 75Ah and100Ah zero turn mowers have been on the market since 2019, and as I mentioned earlier I have the 100Ah mower and couldn’t be happier with it.  Each of these mowers features 4 brushless motors for the blades and drive wheels.

The larger 115Ah zero turn mower was released in 2021 and features a newly designed larger 10 guage steel deck and 5 brushless motors for drive wheels and cutting blades.  This mower had armrests which the other two models don’t have.

 

RYOBI mowers and personal experiences

As I have mentioned several times in this post, I do personally own two RYOBI mowers and that is why when I am asked if RYOBI lawn mowers are any good I can quantifiably say yes.  Yes, they are good durable mowers that can stand up to rigorous mowing conditions.

At my current home, I cut between 2.5 – 2.75 acres of grass.  I have a mix of Bermuda sod and some type of fescue weed mix.  Bermuda or as I call it “the good grass” is around my home and backyard.  I have what is left of a pecan orchard and a small grass field surrounding my house.  That grass is a mix of Bermuda, fescue, clover, and weeds, or what I refer to as the “bad grass”.  I use my mowers three seasons out of the year, either cutting grass or mulching leaves.  My mowers get a lot of use and I use them, and only have a couple of months’ downtime, generally January and February.

I will now go over briefly my personal experiences using these two RYOBI mowers and why I think RYOBI makes a good battery powered lawn mower.

RYOBI RY40140 – 40V 16″ MOWER WITH 4AH BATTERY & CHARGER

I personally own the older 16″ RYOBI 40v push mower that is no longer sold from Home Depot, but you can still find it on Amazon. I have had zero reliability issues with my mower over the almost three grass cutting seasons I have owned the mower. The mower is more than capable enough to cut the grass in and around a fenced-in area in my backyard.  The mower came with both bagging mulching, and side discharge capability, but I strictly mulch with the mower.

The mower came with a 4Ah battery and charger.  I have yet to run a complete 4Ah battery down while using this push mower, and usually, I switch that battery to my RYOBI string trimmer and use it for trimming as well. While I don’t have a tremendously large area to cut with this mower the grass is thick and it barely uses one bar of battery capacity when cutting.

What I Like

• Different cutting methods mulching, bagging, side discharge
• Multiple height adjustments
• Folding handle for storage
• 40v battery compatibility with other RYOBI 40v outdoor tools

 

What I Dislike

• Folding the handle isn’t super easy
• The grass and leaf clippings are a little larger than I like, so multiple passes are sometimes needed
• The bagger capacity is a little small, but what do you expect with a 16″ mower

Overall I am very pleased with this mower and would recommend it to anyone if they still made it.  RYOBI does make the same mower in an 18v version and I expect it would work just as well.  I am currently looking at the larger RYOBI 18″ – 20″ 40v pushmower because I just want to speed up the time while pushing.  It gets hot down here in the Southern US in the summer.

 

RY48ZTR100 – 100 AH 42″ ZERO TURN ELECTRIC RIDING MOWER

I have owned this RY48ZTR100 100Ah mower since 2019 and couldn’t be more impressed with it.  Like I previously mentioned my lawn is not small and I have to do a lot of cutting for most of the calendar year.  This mower has made a huge improvement in my cutting time.

My previous mower was a Husquvarna 42″ gas lawn tractor.  While it was a great mower it was loud, required a lot of maintenance, and was slow to cut the grass.  I was never really impressed with the cut from that mower, and the RYOBI’s cut is so much better in my opinion.

I cut my mowing time down from a total of three hours to a little more than 2hrs.  The mower is more than capable to cut for more than two hours at a time.  I have put more than 100hrs on this mower, and I haven’t had any issues I didn’t personally cause (like causing a flat tire by running over some large thorns).

I have used the mower to pull a lawn cart to collect limbs (pecan trees are always dropping limbs), and I have pulled a core aerator behind it as well.  I am a little unsure what the towing capacity is ( I think it is in the manual), but neither of those was really heavy.

I have noticed and many folks on Facebook and other forums online have mentioned that the battery doesn’t fully charge on the first try after putting some hours on the mower.  It seems to sit at 70% then I need to unplug and then plug back up the charger.  I suspect I have a battery going bad on me, but I haven’t had any real issue yet and my cutting time hasn’t really diminished much if any.

I am concerned about the replacement costs of the batteries when they need to be replaced.  If I replace all the batteries at the same time I think I am looking a several hundred dollars.  That is if I can find replacement parts as they seem to be out of stock at Home Depot often. Though from what I have read on several groups on Facebook, replacement batteries are available, just not the OEM batteries.

The mower seems really durable and components stand up the cutting tasks I put it through with no issue.  I don’t baby the mower, but I don’t abuse it either, and it has worked well for me.  The maintenance is pretty much non-existent, but I do blow off the mower deck after each use, replace the blades once a year, and scrape out the mower deck.  I do leave the mower plugged in pretty much all the time as the manual suggests.

 

What I Like

• excellent cut
• long-lasting batteries
• time savings from zero-turn capability
• little to no maintenance

What I Dislike

• grass collects behind the mulch cover
• the ride is a little stiff over rough terrain
• cost of battery replacement and availability

 

Overall I am very pleased with this mower and have recommended it and reviewed it in Home Depot.  I would recommend this mower to anyone who is looking to jump from a gas lawn tractor to battery powered lawn mower or zero turn.  It really is a great mower and I have enjoyed it tremendously.

 

So are RYOBI battery lawn mowers any good?

Yes,RYOBI battery powered lawn mowers are good lawn mowers,  and I would recommend them to anyone who was looking for a new mower either push, self-propelled, or a rider.  RYOBI makes quality tools for both indoors and outdoors, and I have many of both, and when I need a replacement I will be buying another RYOBI mower.  Go check the RYOBI mowers and pick one up for yourself, I don’t think you will regret the decision.