42 in. 100 Ah Battery Electric Riding Zero Turn Mower

Juicy, mowed for 1 hour and 50 minutes on one charge.

I was diagnosed with carpal tunnel syndrome in both wrists a few years back, and it was getting harder and harder to turn the steering wheel on my John Deere lawn tractor. I had been wanting to get a zero-turn-radius mower for a while so I could push and pull the steering bars instead of turning a steering wheel. I finally took the plunge when the Ryobi 42-inch 75 Amp-hour electric riding zero-turn mower went on sale in May 2020. It arrived on June 3 and was in perfect condition. It took me about an hour to assemble it and drive it off the shipping pallet. Learning how to steer with the push-pull bars was an adventure at first, but I got the hang of it by using the slow speed setting, as recommended by Ryobi. I have to say, I wish I'd purchased a zero-turn mower a long time ago! Once I learned how to steer my ZTR mower, it was almost a pleasure to cut my grass! I live on a corner lot, so I had to drive my old John Deere out into two roads to turn around at the end of a row. But my Ryobi ZTR mower turns on a dime and eliminates that danger. Also, the new mower has cut the time to mow my yard from about 60 minutes to about 35 minutes. I couldn't be happier with my purchase, and I would highly recommend this mower to anyone who wants to take significant minutes off the time it takes to cut the grass. The only thing that might eventually concern me is cleaning the mower deck, and it's really only a minor concern. Because the mower is electric, I can't use any water to clean the underside of the deck. I actually haven't cleaned it yet, but I'll see how it goes when the time comes. I liberally sprayed a teflon-style non-stick spray onto the underside of the deck, the blades and the discharge chute before I cut the grass the first time, and so far it seems to keep the grass from building up too much. So I really have no complaints at all about this mower. Again, if you're thinking of getting a ZTR mower, this is the one. No gas, no oil, no exhaust. Just plug it in, charge it up, and go! Well done, Ryobi!

Easy to put together and comfortable seat. Cut is clean and battery lasts longer than online reviews estimated (cut over 2 acres with 55% remaining). Super simple plug in - very happy to stop hauling 5 gal. gas cans! Three items that warrant consideration: The front end is not weighted down (no motor after all) so if the driver is lightweight it bounces on bumps and slopes; you can't start it with your foot on the brake so if you stop on a hill for any reason you are stuck there; if it has no traction (wet grass, moss, mud) it won't even try to go forward or backwards so, again, you are stuck. I slid on a hill at edge of my lawn and stopped. But I needed to keep foot on brake to avoid winding up in bushes so then it would not start and because I am lightweight it could not get enough traction to go once I got it started. Wound up pulling it out with my tractor. Best for flatter lawns and heavier drivers. And Ryobi - the sexist safety warnings on the key fob do not endear 50% of the population to your company. Yes, women mow lawns too.

Wow. This thing is amazing! Finished in 30 mins the area that my old conventional tractor took 1.5 hrs to complete. Then tackled an area I hadn't mowed since last year (lots of tall stuff) and it blew through that with no problem. Plus a little more cleanup for a total of an hour. Drove it back in the garage with 70% charge left! GOOD BYE, gas and oil!!

In May 2018, I purchased the Ryobi Riding Mower, as we had just purchased a home with a large yard and I am very into the whole electric thing. I do not own anything gas powered. My car, lawn mower, bike, tools, etc. are all electric. I hate dealing with gas and oil and spark plugs and belts. Yada, yada, yada. The convenience of electric is so incredible and nowadays, they are more than powerful enough for all of your needs. At the time I purchased the Riding Mower, I was looking for a Zero Turn, but it didn't exist (yet). April 2019 rolls around and sure enough, Ryobi came out with a Zero Turn Electric Riding Mower... so I bought a 2nd Mower. lol. I ended up selling the Riding Mower at a minor loss, but in the end, it was well worth it as I got the product I ultimately wanted. I like to think of the loss I took on the Riding Mower as my rental fee for that first year. Regardless, the fact that I owned a Ryobi electric Riding Mower for a year and then spent several thousand on a 2nd one is a testament to the product line. The Zero Turn Mower is fantastic... all of the things I had hoped for. As with any Zero Turn, it takes a mow or two to get the hang of driving it, but after that, it's second nature. The machine itself is built very well. It comes delivered on a steel pallet and there is minor assembly (attaching the handles and seat). My only gripe with the construction is that the sides are made of plastic. Sometimes, when sitting down and getting situated on the mower, I will use my hand to lower myself down. The only place to put your hand is on the plastic part, which you can feel bend a little bit. If it were all metal construction, I could easily lean on it without fear of breaking anything. Other that that... the machine feels very solid and performs very well. I am able to zip back and forth around my lawn and cut with ease and my lawn looks amazing. No missed spots or weird patches. I make a point not to cut wet grass, as is just good practice with any electric mower. I do have an ongoing issue with the battery meter. After my first few mows, the meter stopped showing 100% when fully charged. It would top out at 70%. I called Ryobi, as they said it was probably just the gauge and they shipped me out a new gauge. I swapped it out and initially, it read 100%. Sure enough, after the first mow, it topped out at 70% again. At this point, Winter was coming, so I packed it away for the Winter (plugged in) and planned to revisit it in the Spring. Spring came and it was doing the same thing. Since the battery warranty is only 1 year (the rest of the unit carries a 3 year warranty), I wanted to get this addressed ASAP, as I feared it was a battery issue. I called Ryobi back and they referred me to a local service center, who came and picked the unit up from me for evaluation. Upon inspection, they said they couldn't find anything wrong with the batteries, and acknowledged that the gauge was sporadic. They ultimately replaced the charger for me (I think they just wanted to be able to say they did SOMETHING). Sure enough, the problem persisted. I ultimately stumbled upon an online forum where other people were reporting the same exact thing. It appears that the gauge just isn't very accurate, but doesn't ultimately affect the battery. When I'm done mowing, my mower will say 25% remaining. I let it sit outside while I trim and then come back to it to blow it off with the leaf blower before putting it back and plugging it in. When I come back to it, it then reads 45-55%. Clearly, the gauge just can't get a real-time, accurate read on the true battery status. That part was very frustrating, but in the end, it doesn't really affect the actual performance of this machine, so I can look past it as long as I know that I didn't get bad batteries. I've never run out of juice while mowing, so that's ultimately all I care about. I don't really use the lights or the phone charger, so I can't really comment on those, although I tested both and they both seemed to work as they should. I have tried hooking a small tow cart (8 cubic feet) up to the hitch mount in the back and was able to tow that around without any issues. I towed stuff back and forth from the garage to the shed and even sat my wife in the back and pulled her around without any issues. I also ended up buying the bagger for this unit, which I am also very happy with (the bagger isn't perfect, but works as it should - please see my detailed review on the bagger page for more details). Overall, I would definitely purchase this unit again and wouldn't have any problems recommending it to a friend. I really enjoy the ease and freedom of electric. Obviously, this wouldn't be good for commercial use, as you would definitely run out of juice after 2 or 3 jobs... but for standard homeowner use of an acre or so, it's perfect.

Great mower. Very fast cuts well. Broken compartment doors. Due to shipping. Ryobi sent new ones they were easy to replace. [This review was collected as part of a promotion.]

This tractor makes mowing fun. Not to mention there are no fumes and it is not noisy. It's just fun to ride around the yard and the dogs all love it. Such a versatile tractor. My new girl toy.

The mower has worked well cutting the grass smooth and sharp. The small battery lasts cutting our one acre lawn. There are 15 trees to work around with no problem, requiring much less work with he weed whacker. The mower is so much fun to ride that my wife has assumed all the cutting chores (Happy Father's Day!)

Have used the Ryobi electric riding mower for a month and are very happy, so far... cut is smooth and even, ride is comfortable and the charge ( with the smaller battery) lasts for the entire acre we need to cut. We have twenty trees to trim around and the zero-turn mower cuts clean and has eliminated the need to use the weed wacker. We ordered the mower on a Monday, were told by HD we would have it in 2-3 weeks, and it was delivered that Friday. It is so much fun to ride that my wife has taken over all the mowing responsibilities (Happy Father's Day!)

I have had this mower for two weeks now and I could not be happier with it. I mow about 1 acre, so no range issue. The cut is equal or better than my previous zero turn and gets the job quicker with no gas/oil to deal with. Not breathing exhaust is a bonus.