Ryobi One+ Cordless 33cm Lawnmower Review
A little short on battery life, but a quality lawn mower.
Verdict
What should be a really good mower is let down by its battery life. The Ryobi One+ Cordless has it all – a 33cm cutting width, collapsable grass box, and a design that allows it to cut right up to the edge as you manoeuvre around walls and plant pots – but the fact I had to recharge it halfway through mowing an average lawn means it’s hard to recommend unless you have existing One+ batteries you can use.
Pros
- Compatible with ONE+ batteries
- Cuts right to the edge
- Light
Cons
- Poor battery life
Key Features
- Battery lifeI found the battery life was poor on this model, and we had to recharge halfway through cutting my test lawn.
- Cutting widthThis lawn mower has an cutting width of 33cm, so is ideally suited to smaller lawns.
Introduction
Ryobi’s One+ Cordless 33cm 18V Lawnmower is available on its own, but mine came in a pack with the One+ Cordless 25cm Grass Trimmer and a single battery to use between the two tools.
It’s a nice looking mower with a decent cutting width and a clean cut, but provides some of the worst battery life that I’ve seen from a rechargeable mower.
Design and features
- Looks good
- Collapsable grass box
- 33cm cutting width
The Ryobi One+ Cordless 33cm Lawnmower is fairly standard with four wheels, a handle, spinning blade underneath and a grass box on the back, but its batteries are more interesting. They’re more than the standard black rectangle, with a stem that clunks securely into the mower in a way that looks upside-down if you view the lawnmower from the front.
They’re part of the One+ system, meaning the batteries can be used in all other One+ tools you buy, such as grass trimmers, car polishers, cordless drills and more. Ryobi claims there are more than 200 tools in the One+ family.
On the outside, it’s a good-looking machine, the Ryobi colour scheme of lurid green and black is attractive, if that’s what you look for in your tools, and is broken by the bright red of a jumper-style key that’s required to get the mower going.
The 33cm cutting width is wide enough for a suburban lawn, the unit isn’t too heavy and is easily carried using the built-in handle, and the grass collection box collapses for storage.
Performance
- Battery life not good
- Cuts cleanly
- Cuts close to edges
There’s a big problem with the Ryobi One+ Cordless 33cm Lawnmower I used, and that’s the battery life. Ryobi says it should be good enough to cut a 200m2 lawn, which is on the small side but seems reasonable for the bundled 4Ah battery I was provided with.
However, in my testing, it only managed half that. The grass on my test lawn hadn’t been cut for about two weeks, thanks to the great British weather, but wasn’t particularly long, yet the Ryobi One+ Cordless 33cm Lawnmower ran out of juice halfway through the job. Following a recharge, it lasted almost exactly the same amount of time when I put it to work finishing off the lawn.
There are larger batteries available (5Ah and 9Ah) to extend cutting time, but that involves additional expense. If you’ve already got Ryobi tools and have existing One+ batteries, then you can reuse these here to extend battery life.
The One+ cuts the grass very well. It left the lawn looking neatly trimmed, and picked up the cuttings effectively.
There are five height options between 25 and 65mm, and the lawn mower cuts closely to the edges, meaning you’re left with less of a tuft when mowing near walls that you’ll have to come back later with a trimmer to deal with. It also feels powerful, cutting longer grass as hungrily as it does the shorter stuff, and not minding when asked to munch through some taller weeds.
This is a shame, as the One+ cuts the grass very well. It left the lawn looking neatly trimmed, and picked up the cuttings effectively.
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Should you buy it?
You’ve already got Ryobi One+ products and have spare batteries: You can increase battery life and usefulness by reusing your existing batteries.
You want the best endurance out of your mower: If you want a mower that can cut for longer, look elsewhere.
Final Thoughts
If it weren’t for the short battery life, this would be a really good mower. Here, having an extra power cell goes from being something that’s nice to have into a necessity.
If you don’t have existing Ryobi products, then something like the Stihl RMA 235, or another model from our guide to the best cordless lawnmowers, will be more suitable. If you do have One+ products already, then this lawn mower is a good buy, as you can reuse your existing batteries and enjoy the quality cut that list mower offers smaller lawns.
How we test
We test every grass trimmer we review thoroughly over an extended period of time. We use standard tests to compare features properly. We’ll always tell you what we find. We never, ever, accept money to review a product.
Find out more about how we test in our ethics policy.
Used as our main trimmer for the review period
Used on a variety of grass lengths and weeds to see how well the mower cuts
Tested to see how easy the trimmer is to carry, use and store
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FAQs
It has a 33cm blade, so this lawn mower is best suited to smaller gardens.
Cutting height is adjustable between 25mm and 65mm.
Full specs
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Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
