Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Ryobi). This thread is read-only.
The mower has been pretty much flawless since taking it off the shipping pallet. It has had two issues. At eleven months, one of the batteries developed a weak cell that finally failed to the point the charger would not charge the mower. Troubleshooting with Ryobi support identified the problem and a replacement battery was delivered the next day. Mower was down for three days total and it runs like new at four years. The second issue was a broken charging door spring about two years in. Ryobi support had one in the mail the next day, but I replaced it with a pair of rare earth magnets glued in place. Never did put the replacement spring in. The biggest thing about this mower, besides the ease of use, quiet mowing, and lack of maintenance; is the low cost of operation. I have been paying $0.13/KWH from our utility for electricity. Because it was so new to me, I made something of a hobby with this mower and I record every usage and storage charge and the parameters of that use in a spread sheet. After 48 months, 200 mows, and 134 hours of use, the mower has cost $33.50 in electricity, or $0.25/hr. to run. Compare that with the cost of operation of a comparable ICE mower. Gas was $2.50/gal. when I bought this mower and is currently $4.07/gal. with a high so far of $5.10/gal. My records show the RM480e has saved me over $465.00 in just operational (fuel) cost over the 48 months. If you add in the cost of having the mower plugged in all winter (4 months for me), the total cost of electricity $38.66. Yes, 16 months of storage cost $5.16 total. That still makes the RM480e waaaaaay cheaper to run than an ICE mower. Could you run a comparable gas mower for 133 hours on $38.66? Another way to look at it is that this mower has cost me $0.80/month to own and run. The only maintenance is a yearly deck cleaning and blade sharpening. No oil, fluids, filters, belts, or spark plugs to replace. By the time the batteries wear out, the mower will have easily saved enough money to pay for new ones. Right now, I could replace all four batteries for $640. The batteries still power the mower for over two hours as originally specified and it still mulch mows better than my neighbor’s $3,400 Toro Timecutter zero turn. I added a fold down tailgate to carry a trash can for yard work and the mower easily tows a fully loaded 7 cu.ft. four wheel dump cart. Looking forward to the next four years.
I neglected to include that this mower has been anywhere from 10 times to 18 times less expensive to run than a comparable ICE mower.
57 months, 229 mows, 152 hours, 2,083 charge cycles and the gas & maintenance savings have paid for a new set of 100 ahr. batteries.
That’s great to hear. It will take some time, but eventually battery operated equipment will begin to supplant gas.
Thinking of getting a 13″ mower and later 16″ one for my business. It’s just me and these days don’t scale up beyond a certain point and no need for standard 21″ battery mower.
i have the bigger blower and regular 18 v. weedeater.