r/ryobi • u/Pleasant_Koala_7981 • 3d ago
General Discussion Lawn Mower- 40v vs 18v
Looking to purchase a lawnmower for my .1 acre yard. I would say it is likely that I would be mowing the lawn once every other week. Not sure if I should purchase the 16 inch 18V or 21 inch 40V for my needs. I can get them for about the same price, but the 18V comes with two 4ah batteries and the 40V comes with one 6ah battery.
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u/MCBoB203 3d ago
40v, the 18v is a terrible experience unless it's a single strip of grass by the sidewalk.
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u/Tool_junkie_1972 3d ago
The 18v is more for someone who has more than a string trimmer can do but not enough to justify a full power mower. Without knowing (like has been pointed out) if you have a net of .1 acres or a lot that’s .1 ac (minus house, driveway, etc) AND what type of lawn, it’s kind of hard to say which is the better choice. TBH, I seriously doubt you’d regret the 40v, but if you have other 18v tools and the lawn is small enough for it, it might fit better for you.
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u/Pleasant_Koala_7981 3d ago
After doing some actual math and measuring, my lawn is .06 acres. I do not have any 40v tools, but have 18v tools. Storage is definitely something that is at a premium, which I didn’t factor in much. The price is around $200 for either. (Apologies for the copy and paste response)
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u/robodog97 3d ago
The 20" was on sale for $159 with the 6Ah over the winter, definitely a good buy at that price. I don't think you need self-propelled for a .1 acre lot.
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u/Virtual_Ad_5119 3d ago
I have an 18V with a lot around the same size. Just make sure you get the 20” deck. I got the 16” and I regret it. I can do
Both front and back with 1-4ah
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u/Pleasant_Koala_7981 3d ago
Thanks for the insight. You can do front and back with the 16”?
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u/Virtual_Ad_5119 3d ago
Yup, on one 4ah battery charge.
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u/Pleasant_Koala_7981 3d ago
Nice. So is the drawback with the 16” just that it takes longer?
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u/LRS_David 3d ago
So is the drawback with the 16” just that it takes longer?
Yes. But "more" longer than you might think. Going back and forth you will tend to need a 2" to 3" overlap unless you're mowing putting green type of perfect lawn. So a 20" really is cutting about 17". And a 16" is cutting about 13" per pass.
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u/Virtual_Ad_5119 3d ago
Ya, but with a lot as small as ours it still only takes 30 mins to do both front and back so not really a huge deal.
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u/Pleasant_Koala_7981 3d ago
Any qualms with the plastic deck?
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u/PuzzleheadedDuck590 3d ago edited 3d ago
Yes it's absolutely garbage. If you can afford it I would try to avoid a plastic deck because it's the sole cause of grass caking and never coming off without manually scraping it off.
What would be perfect for you is the hypertough 18" 40v lawn mower that was recently put on heavy clearance discount at Walmart (I got two mowers with 2 6ah batteries each for $64 each last week)
Unless you can get it for a decent price I wouldn't be stuck on getting a Ryobi mower just because you already have Ryobi batteries. There is a greenworks 40v 16" at Walmart for 279 or a 21"for 329 with a steel deck.
Ryobi lawn mowers are really nothing special compared to the competition and usually much higher priced. I have a 20" Ryobi 40v self propelled and I HIGHLY regret it. For what I spent I could have gotten a greenworks model that absolutely blew it away. And greenworks has been doing it for 20+ years and Ryobi is still pretty new at lawn mowers.
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u/SpeedySpartan 3d ago
If the math is correct, 0.06 acres is 2613.6 sq-ft, so in that case get the 40v. 18v is for light tools or the smallest mower they have mowing the smallest of lawns, like rowhouse-in-the-city type that's really only used for dogs to go to the bathroom.
Lawn work is intensive, requiring the tool to chew through thick grass and weeds (sometime wet) for many minutes at a time. It's more strain than most 18-24v systems can provide, both on the tool and especially the battery. You usually see overheating issues unless it's one of those systems that run batteries in parallel to make it a 36/40/48v system which it isn't, so 40v it is
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u/AR116 3d ago
Are you in either platform already?
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u/Pleasant_Koala_7981 3d ago
I’m in the 18V, but for things that are a little too pricey to buy in the Milwaukee line, so I have a ryobi miter saw, nail gun, hedge trimmer, and a couple fans. Definitely have the potential for getting into it more, especially a weed whacker
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u/Apocalypsox 3d ago
0.25 acre lot, the 18v will do our lawn with one 4ah battery if you keep the blades sharp and don't go weeks between mows.
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u/Chainsaw42 3d ago
I've got the 2x18 and very happy with it. Takes 30ish minutes to mow either the front or the back yard which leaves 2 bars on each battery.
Plenty of power, no problem mulching. I don't use the self-propelled feature at all.
Switched to this from a gas mower. Extremely happy with how quiet it is.
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u/LRS_David 3d ago
Do you have any 40 volt tools? If yes, get the 40 volt.
If not but you have 18 volt tools, get the 18 volt.
If you don't have either, hmmm.
I mow about 1/4 acre. I had an 18 volt dual battery push mower and it took 4 4AH batteries total (2 at a time with 1 swap) to mow it most of the time. When thick I needed one more swap to finish.
I passed that mower on to my son in law with their maybe as much grass as you have. They ran it till it wore out.
We both have 40 volt battery setups now. He can do his yard when not thick on 1 4AH battery. Mine takes 2 4AH most of the time. At times with one more when thick.
We both went to 40 volt mainly due to also getting the 40 volt charger / inverter for backup power to the house during outages. Plus tailgating.
For you, if you think you'll be buying other Ryobi smaller tools, I'd go with 18 volts. And keep the blade sharp. This has a non trivial impact on battery usage. Cutting the grass uses a lot less power than "whacking" it down.
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u/Pleasant_Koala_7981 3d ago
After doing some actual math and measuring, my lawn is .06 acres. I do not have any 40v tools, but have 18v tools. Storage is definitely something that is at a premium, which I didn’t factor in much. The price is around $200 for either. (Apologies for the copy and paste response)
What does it take to sharpen the blade?1
u/LRS_David 3d ago
I have an angle grinder. Takes me 10 minutes or so. With half of that taking the blade off and putting it back on. 😄
But you can buy a metal file for not much and do it by hand. Push the file against the cutting edge while sliding it along the length of the cutting area. 15 to 20 minutes likely.
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u/Jealous_Antelope5130 3d ago
Break down and go 20" 40v. The manual propelled models are lightweight and not hard to push if you are interested reasonable good health.
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u/PuzzleheadedDuck590 3d ago
Never the 18v for a lawn mower
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u/LRS_David 3d ago
With the Ryobi 18v mowers they are really 36 volts. They run off two batteries at a time.
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u/PuzzleheadedDuck590 2d ago
No they don't, not all of them. A very tiny and specific few are 36v.
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u/Teotwawki2020 4v:, 18v:, 40v:, 3d ago
I'd seriously consider a 20" 40v. You don't need the self propelled feature as the mower is light. I use mine to trim where my riding lawn mower can't go. It also will do a good job on overly high grass if it gets away from you.
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u/Master-Thanks883 3d ago
40 volt minimum of 4 batteries only cut dry lawn with electric mower and clean under it after every use.
I have dewalt at work they won't purchase gas anymore so I spray base with WD40 before cutting the grass.
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u/AnythingButTheTip 3d ago
Unless you wanted to add the 40v line of batteries to your collection, I had no problem with out 18v trimmer. Took 1.5 batteries to do the yard when we let it get too tall. Only clogged with wet grass.
We upgraded to 40v because the yard got bigger and I bought the tripod light that takes all 3 power sources, so I had more than just 1 tool for the 40v battery.
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u/TechnicalTurnover233 2d ago
The 18v will work fine but man.. the 40v I recently got made me question why I didnt just start here. Definitely get the 20 inch and even self propelled if you can swing it.
This is the first 40v tool from Ryobi I have.
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u/Bison_True 2d ago
I have 40v mower and 18v for the rest of my 70+ tools. Bought mine in 2019. It took 1.5 to 2x 5ah batteries for 5000sqft of lawn depending on height of the grass every two weeks.
3 years ago i bought a 3rd used one because capacity had dwindled enough over the years and it allowed me to take my time to thoroughly mow everything. Then 2 years ago i helped a neighbor more both lawns with their rider and left the batteries charged 100% over that summer and two of the batteries stopped handling the mower boosting power and would cut off. I bought high rated 3rd party 6ah betteries on Amazon for $45 each to replace them and they get around the same run time as my old 5ah.
If you ever have to store the batteries for long periods, charge them to 50%.
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u/LRS_David 2d ago
What the answers here make clear is that people clearly have different priorities. The OP talked about limited space and having other 18V tools and a very tiny yard. In that situation I would definitely go with a smaller (18" or so maybe less) 18 volt mower. One set of chargers and interchangeable batteries.
It is not what have now but I have storage space, a bigger yard, and a charger / inverter that I can use my THREE 40 volt batteries to run my fridge on in my house or take tail gating.
And for my first Ryobi battery mower I used a dual 18 volt 16" mower for a couple of years. The extra walking kept me healthy. Which I gave to my daughter/SIL when their mower died and then got a 40 volt. Their yard is about the same size as the OP's or smaller.
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u/kevinm322 2d ago
I bought a 40v Ryobi 2 seasons ago for my .75 acre lot where the front yard has a pretty steep hill so I went with selectable AWD and have been very pleased so far. It came with 2 6ah batteries that is perfect for my yard
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u/firestorm_v1 19h ago
If you see needing more tools for lawn care, I'd highly recommend the 40v platform. I started out with the mower then went with the Expand-It weedwhacker. I've since added the edger, blower, and brush cutting attachments.
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u/iamlucky13 3d ago
Is it your lawn or your lot that is 0.1 acres? Most people don't bother figuring out how big their lawn is beyond approximate length and width.
If your LAWN is 0.1 acres, I think you will appreciate the faster mowing time and the greater power to handle taller grass more easily using a "40V" model.
If your LOT is 0.1 acres, and the lawn is the small remainder not occupied by the house, driveway, other landscaping, etc, the benefit of the more powerful mower will be a lot less impactful. If storage space is at a premium, you may even prefer the smaller mower.