Ryobi ONE+ Cordless Blower Review

Written by: - Landscape Gardener
Reader rating

The Ryobi ONE+ Cordless Leaf Blower took me by surprise – although not designed to be a high-end model, it performed even better than some of the more expensive blowers I tested. It’s powerful, lightweight, and does what it promises. If you’re willing to spend a little more on a larger battery, then this is a tool that would work for gardens of all sizes.

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Tested

Ryobi ONE+ Cordless Blower[ SAVE 4% ]

Ryobi ONE+ Cordless Blower Review
Overall Score 4.9
Ease of Assembly
5
Design
5
Performance
5
Ease of Use
5
Power
4
Safety
5
Value for Money
5
Blower Speed
245 km/h
Weight
1.6kg
Battery Included
No
Noise
92.5dB

Known for producing innovative power and garden tools at affordable prices, Ryobi is a brand that I’ve used a few times in the past. I recently reviewed their ONE+ Cordless Strimmer and was impressed with some of its unique features, so I was looking forward to giving their ONE+ Cordless Blower a good workout around my garden.

How I Tested

Just like the Makita blower I tested, Ryobi’s ONE+ Cordless Blower isn’t actually designed for leaves. Instead, according to Ryobi, this blower is primarily for sweeping hard surfaces, such as driveways, decks, and patios. While the brand does also acknowledge that the tool can be used for leaves, this did leave me questioning how effective it would actually be around the garden.

So, to find out, I decided to first use the blower to clear some of the many fallen leaves around my garden. After that, I intended to try it out on my driveway, which is the only hard surface I have on my farm. Both my lawn and my driveway end up covered in a dense blanket of leaves each autumn, so I was hopeful that this blower would help me to clear that all away.

Ease of Assembly

5

The best cordless leaf blowers I reviewed required minimal assembly, and, thankfully, the Ryobi was the same – assembly took less than a minute. All I needed to do was attach the nozzle. This comes in two parts, so just click everything together, insert the battery, and you’ll be ready to start blowing!

Design

5

Ryobi-ONE+-Cordless-Blower-Review-design

Just like Ryobi’s other ONE+ tools, the cordless blower boasts a bright, lime green body. For people who are familiar with the brand, this makes it instantly recognisable, while also adding a cheery splash of colour to a task that many find tedious.

Most of the leaf blowers I tested, from the high-end Bosch ALB 36 to the budget Einhell GE-CL, have been designed with multiple speed settings. However, the Ryobi doesn’t have that. Instead, there’s just one switch to turn the machine on and off, with only a single speed option. I wasn’t overly put off by this, since I usually tend to keep my leaf blowers on their highest setting anyway. 

The nozzle that comes with this blower is a good length. It looks slightly narrower and flatter than most other leaf blower nozzles, so I was curious to see how this would affect its performance. Something else that sets this nozzle apart is how a section of it can be detached, meaning that you have the option of using a shorter nozzle if the task you’re working on requires it.

Performance

5

Ryobi-ONE+-Cordless-Blower-Review-performance

Dry Leaves

Dry leaves on short grass is the easiest test that you can give a leaf blower and, unsurprisingly, the Ryobi coped with this just fine. It only took a few minutes to blow all of the leaves from a large area of my lawn into a neat pile, which I then scooped into a wheelbarrow and emptied into my compost bin. 

It was quite a windy day when I tested this blower, so, in addition to blowing leaves in the same direction of the wind, I also tried going the opposite way. Keep in mind that the gusts that we had up here were in the region of 80mph – while the blower definitely struggled to go against this, it still managed, which I was very impressed by.

Wet Leaves

Most of the leaf blowers that I tested, even Bosch’s high end model, struggled to shift wet leaves from long grass. As a result, I was very surprised to find that the Ryobi excelled at this. It’s easy enough to say that people shouldn’t use a leaf blower on damp leaves, but if you live in a region that experiences wet autumns, then this isn’t always possible, making this blower a very useful tool.

Hard Surfaces

Now onto clearing hard surfaces, which is exactly what this blower was designed for. As I mentioned, it was a windy weekend, so even though most of the mature trees around my driveway are spruce, the strong gusts meant that the fallen leaves from other areas of my farm quickly piled up on the drive. 

The leaves were a mixture of wet and dry, and the Ryobi made light work of it all. It was able to move leaves, twigs, and other light pieces of garden debris, without dislodging any of the chuckies underneath.

Ease of Use

5

Ryobi-ONE+-Cordless-Blower-Review-ease-of-use

There are a few things about this blower that make it extremely easy and comfortable to use, from its soft grip handle to its low weight of just 1.6kg. That said, if you plan on using a bigger battery to increase your blow time, then this will add to the machine’s weight, making it heavier than most of its competitors. 

So, what about the narrower nozzle – does this make it easier or harder to use the blower? At first, it felt like more of a challenge because I needed to be extra precise about where I aimed it. However, after using it for a while, I realised that this actually gave me more control over the tool. It was easier to blow the leaves to exactly where I needed them, and there were far less strays and flyaways than there were with the other blowers I tested.

Power

4

As mentioned, Ryobi’s ONE+ Cordless Blower only has one speed, which is 245km/h. Compared to other leaf blowers, this is pretty good – as an example, the Bosch, which costs significantly more than the Ryobi, has a top speed of 250km/h. The 9km/h difference isn’t really noticeable when you use both machines side by side.

Although the single speed can’t be controlled with a switch or dial, you can still decrease the machine’s power level the old fashioned way by moving back a few steps, so that you’re further away from whatever it is you’re blowing. 

When it comes to battery power, Ryobi recommends using a 4.0aH or a 5.0aH battery with this blower. My blower came without a battery, so I ended up using my Ryobi strimmer battery, which was a 2.0aH 18V. Sadly, this only gave me a continuous blowing time of just under 10 minutes, which would only really be suitable for a small garden. With a more powerful battery, I’m sure the run time would have been much more acceptable.

What really disappointed me was how the machine performed once battery power had dropped down to one bar. At this point, even though there’s still some power left in the battery, the blower won’t work properly. It’ll turn on and blow for about two seconds before cutting out. On the upside, the battery has an LED indicator that clearly shows battery life – so long as you’re aware that the blower can’t be used once it’s down to one battery bar, then you’ll be able to plan around this.

Safety

5

Ryobi-ONE+-Cordless-Blower-Review-safety

In general, cordless leaf blowers are pretty safe tools – there’s not too much that can go wrong. Still, those who are concerned will appreciate the safety stickers that Ryobi has pasted onto the main unit. 

One of those stickers advises the use of both ear and eye protection, something that I didn’t really feel was needed. As I mentioned earlier, the narrow nozzle gives you extra control – it would be very difficult for any debris to fly backwards into your face. 

At 92.5dB(A), this isn’t a particularly loud machine either. In fact, it was one of the quietest that I used (in comparison, the VonHaus was 99dB(A)). Considering that I was only able to use the leaf blower for 8-10 minute stretches, I didn’t end up using ear protection.

Value for Money

5

Now onto what would be the dealbreaker for many – does Ryobi’s ONE+ Cordless Leaf Blower offer good value for money? 

I would say a big yes – in my opinion, if provides more value for money than most of the other blowers I tested. This is mainly down to its efficacy when shifting both dry and wet leaves – there was nothing that this blower failed at, which can’t be said about the other blowers I reviewed. 

Of course, if you already own a battery-powered Ryobi ONE+ tool, then you could save a bit of money by purchasing the unit on its own. However, I would highly advise following Ryobi’s recommendation of using a 4.0aH or 5.0aH battery with this tool – the 2.0aH that I used just wasn’t enough. 

As an added bonus, this blower also comes with a two year manufacturer’s warranty, which can be extended to three years if you register online.

Overall

4.9

The Ryobi ONE+ Cordless Leaf Blower took me by surprise – although not designed to be a high-end model, it performed even better than some of the more expensive blowers I tested. It’s powerful, lightweight, and does what it promises. If you’re willing to spend a little more on a larger battery, then this is a tool that would work for gardens of all sizes.

Tested

Ryobi ONE+ Cordless Blower[ SAVE 4% ]

Ryobi ONE+ Cordless Blower Review
Overall Score 4.9
Ease of Assembly
5
Design
5
Performance
5
Ease of Use
5
Power
4
Safety
5
Value for Money
5
Blower Speed
245 km/h
Weight
1.6kg
Battery Included
No
Noise
92.5dB

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