Ryobi 40V Snow Blower Review

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Ryobi 40V Snow Blower Review

What do you think of when you think Ryobi?  Do you think Home Depot, do think power tools or maybe something else?  I know the one thing I never thought about when I heard Ryobi was snow blowers.  Not that they didn’t have one before this but it just wasn’t something I thought or at least considered, well until now.  So so let’s take a look at the Ryobi 40V Snow Blower Review.

Ryobi 40V Snow Blower Review – Overview

Tis the season for snow.  So how do you remove your snow?  A shovel, a gas-powered snow blower, a cordless snow blower or do you just hire someone?  For me, I was always that guy who never wanted a snow blower.  I loved being outside when it was snowing and just using a shovel.  It was quiet and peaceful, plus I was getting a little exercise.

As I am getting older, things have changed.  I still love the winter and being outside but it’s much harder using a snow shovel for deep snow.  So I took the plunge and started using a cordless snow blower.  Over the years we have tested a variety of snow blowers with the Ego being my favorite and the Snow Joe being the easiest to move around and work with.

I recently started using the Ryobi and I have to admit, it has surprised me.

Ryobi 40V Snow Blower Review – Features

Ryobi designed this snow blower around a brushless motor that offers a 21″ cleaning path and a 13″ clearing depth. The blower can throw snow up to 35′ away.

The snow blower is powered by 40V Ryobi batteries.

The batteries can be charged with a slide on the charging system.  One thing to note is you can only charge 1 battery at a time.

The batteries are located on the back of the snow blower and protected with a plastic cover.

The auger uses a rubber paddle which makes it quiet compared to the plastic paddles.

The chute angle is adjusted by hand and uses a simple push button to adjust up or down.

Ryobi 40V Snow Blower Review

The snow blower has two larger plastic wheels on the back making it easy to push and maneuver around.

Ryobi 40V Snow Blower Review

To move the chute left and right, there is a pull stick on the right side of the machine.  The one thing I noticed was how smooth this is to move around. The chute can be adjusted 180°.

Ryobi 40V Snow Blower Review

On the front of the machine, there is an LED light bar that does an amazing job of lighting up the area in front of you.

Ryobi 40V Snow Blower Review

On the left side of the handlebar, you can switch it from low or high mode, depending on your amount of snowfall.

Starting the snow blower is simple.  Just hold either or both of the gray bars in and then just push the start button.

Ryobi 40V Snow Blower Review

The design of the handlebar is good as it makes moving and working with the machine much more comfortable.

If you need the space when not in use, no worries.  The Ryobi snow blower handle is easy to fold up and store away.

Ryobi 40V Snow Blower Review – Performance

In regards to performance, there is a lot to love and some things I would like to see changed.

First, I love how easy and quick it was to assemble.  Second, I absolutely love the build quality and think that it rivals the Ego which is at the top of my list, so that says a lot.  I love the LED light, the smooth controls and how easy this machine goes through the snow.  Below I will talk about the performance of the snow.

One item I would like to see changed is the charger.  The charger can only charge one battery at a time.  Since it takes two batteries, I would like to have a charger that can charge two batteries.  When I am done snow blowing, I will put a battery on a charger.  However, I know I won’t think about it until the next snowfall and then I will have one charged battery and one empty battery.

Ryobi 40V Snow Blower Review

Besides the build quality and ease of operation, I absolutely love the light.  One of the brightest lights I have seen on a snow blower.  Second, I love how far this throws the snow.  Again, this throws snow just as well as the Ego snow blower.

So when it comes to performance, it’s a hit and a miss.  So for anything above an 1″, this does awesome.  Below a 1″, not a big fan but that is the case with most cordless snow blowers, not just Ryobi.

We had a 4″ snowfall and this machine rocked.  It cleaned the walks and the driveway like a champ.  It threw the snowfall and left very little on the concrete.

However our last snow, we had about a 1″ and as you can see, not too impressed.  While it threw the snow far, it left a thin layer behind.  Now, this could be because the cement was cold, it was night and the sun couldn’t melt the snow right away.  This isn’t unique to Ryobi as we have seen it with other snow blowers. If I am cleaning the walkways at night and it leaves this on the ground, it can freeze overnight and become very slippery.

So if you have larger snowfalls, the Ryobi is a champ.  If you have small snowfalls, a shovel or broom will work better.  But again, maybe those small wet snows, it will pick up much better than this lighter snow.

Ryobi 40V Snow Blower Review – Value

You can pick this snow blower up at the Home Depot for about $500 which does include a charger and two batteries.  I think for the build quality, ease of use and power, it’s worth it.  For deeper snow, it rocks.

Ryobi 40V Snow Blower Review – Final Thoughts

Overall I love this snow blower and think Ryobi hit a home run.  The quality is way above what I would expect from Ryobi.  Very easy to assemble, very smooth to operate and throws snow like a champ.  While I would still prefer a shovel for small snowfalls, this shines at larger snowfalls.  The light on the front is the best we have seen and I can’t wait for the next snowfall to give this another run.

6 COMMENTS

  1. Hello, We really liked your Ryobi snowblower review for the RY40860 (although) all of my paperwork refers to RY40806, so I don’t know what that is all about). Nevertheless, do you have any further reviews or descriptions on how to assemble the chute? As the chute on our machine keeps blowing off completely.
    The directions are very vague. We are cluless.

    Any help on your end would soooooooooooo greatly be appreciated. As it seems you have a lot of expertise.

  2. Just a quick question when we get snowfalls we always have pretty big snowbanks how does it fair with that?

    Thanks also amazing review

    • If you have large snow banks, I don’t think this single stage will work. We live in Chicago and some years we get good snow and large snow banks. It takes work to clear out the snow banks.

  3. Hello, How easily does the auger spin by hand? Out of the box its a stiff turn. And i get a vibration when it runs (expected? Not familiar). Wondering if others experience the same?

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