Ryobi R36XLMW26

Good width 46cm makes easy work of larger lawns, very easy self propelled speed adjustment, easily climbs hills, easy height adjustment, cuts and catches very well. Great control functionality and simple control over propelling function. Upgraded from a smaller standard battery mower and its a massive improvement. Highly recommended.

Ryobi self-propelled cordless mower too weak – I bought this Ryobi mower kit in Feb '25 along with a second 36V 6VA (approx. 216 Watt-Hours) battery because I wanted the power boost feature that only works if two batteries are installed. I also bought an extra charger because an empty Ryobi 6VA battery takes about 72 minutes to charge. Almost three hours is too long to wait to recharge two batteries sequentially. The day after purchasing I unpacked it, charged the batteries and attempted to mow part of our lawn. I quickly discovered that the mower wouldn't proceed on the two lowest height settings (25mm and 30mm) even though our grass was mown only two weeks previously. The back wheels just skidded on the grass and couldn't move the mower. Attempting to push the mower just caused it to dig in. The reason seems to be that the bottom edge of the mower around the cutting chamber protrudes and it is square-edged so it can't slide over grass that actually needs mowing. I am not prepared to mow twice in order to get the height I need!

The self-propelling wheels have other issues too: There is a delay between pushing down the lever and the wheels starting to rotate. They appear to be geared inside the rims and driven by small motors which can be heard being forced at high RPM when the mower is pushed. The very big downside to that permanently engaged arrangement is that it makes the mower extremely difficult to push or pull! I'm strong and can easily push, pull and steer my old, similar size, heavier, petrol mower over all sorts of growth, but the gearing in the Ryobi's wheels and the heaviness of the mower make it impossible to do any sort of push-pull mowing, steer when you're parallel to a fence, or turn at the end of a run to go back. The steering difficulty is not enhanced by the design of the handle. The locking and height adjustment toggles stick out and can catch on hedges, fencing, etc. I selected this kit after comparison shopping and I am gutted that it is so lacking.

The mulching plug works OK. There is no option for just ejecting cut grass. I did not test the catcher which consists of a fabric bag streched on a wire frame that replaces the mulching plug. The mower will not run without one of those accessories fitted. Height adjustment is different to all previous mowers I've had - you have to push a latch button on the top, bend over, and lift or lower the entire weight of the mower without any mechanical advantage - not good for bad backs! The battery indicator in the handle was telling me I still had a full charge after my intermittent test run over about an hour and a half, but the batteries took about 20 minutes to charge, suggesting they were actually at about 70%. The test area was only about 120 square metres on the 35mm setting, looked patchy, and was less than 20% of the 735 sq mtrs claimed for a single 6VA battery, way off Ryobi's claimed power efficiency. Lastly, the dates I spotted on various parts of the kit span from 2020 to 2023 which was a bit of a surprise.

At $899 for the mower, $299 for a second 6VA battery and $179 for a second charger the total spend was $1,377 which IMHO is way too much for a power-hungry, heavy machine that has so many issues. Maybe a future model will be better. This one's going back.

Not cutting – We bought this mower yesterday and went to mow lawn today, it’s not cutting the grass. Have tried putting it down to lowest level then adjusting still nothing. Very disappointing. Could anyone give us suggestions as to why it’s not cutting.

A good battery mower option – This was a replacement mower for a previously purchased R36XLMW16 which had height adjustment issues. I have only used it twice to mow our lawns but so far, I am very pleased with how it has performed. I have only used the self-propelled part for short periods as I prefer to push the mower for exercise, but the self-propelled part seems to work well albeit as other reviews have pointed out, there are a few seconds delay before the self-propelled part kicks in.

The mower feels solid, well-built and the height adjustment on this model seems to be working well. I have only used the mulching option so far and on a higher cutting level as it is summertime, and I prefer the lawns longer during times of less rain. It's mulching option using the mulching plug, works very well. The last mow I did, I didn't use the self-propelled option, and it only used 1 bar of the battery.

Overall, I am very happy with it so far.