Originally Posted by
singlesline
Yeah, I paid $250 for a 20" brushless ryobi a while back and it has been pretty solid. New version is a little more expensive but has supposedly been improved and still goes on sale for close to that price fairly often.
It is a joy to use on my small yard. Easy to push (no need to for propulsion). Fairly quiet. No faffing with a gas motor. Can easily get 2 or 3 mows per charge with the 6ah battery.
That said, I could see upgrading to a nicer mower if I wanted to be super anal about my lawn for 2 (sort of related) reasons:
1. It just doesn't have a lot of suction. Isn't as good at making sure everything gets lifted up for an even cut, can't pick up leaves as well as a big gas mower, etc.
2. It doesn't mulch super well. Clippings stay a bit too big which makes you want to bag more often. Mulching over leaves in the fall gives you pretty huge chunks. Etc.
I think a finned mulching blade would help, but I haven't found anyone who makes one that fits this mower. Would eat up some battery life, but even if I doubled the size of my yard, I think I'd still be well within single-battery range.
Might also help if I could force it to just run the motor on "high" the whole time...but it only does that if it is cutting something thick and starts to bog down.
I've heard the Toro 60v products can be good if you're looking to maximize cut quality.