42 in. 100 Ah Battery Electric Riding Zero Turn Mower

I loved the idea of going battery powered. Unfortunately this mower was faulty right from the start. The blades would shut off about 15 minutes into mowing. Ended up returning the mower and buying a gas powered ZTR.

We have just hit the one year mark with our Zero Turn Ryobi. What started out as a great product has, within one year, turned into a costly paper weight. The charge indicator is never accurate, and the mower will randomly shut off well before the 20% and try to throw you off the mower. It also never starts at 100%, usually 70%. What was once a one charge now around my acre of land now takes several charges. Today I got 11 minutes. ELEVEN MINUTES. So that’s just fantastic. Ryobi must assume that all I want to do is charge and mow my lawn for several days at a time. (For reference no, I want to get it done and over with in one go, thanks). We have been in contact with Ryobi’s warranty department which has offered several ideas but no solutions. FYI the battery is only warrantied for one year because they know it’s trash. We have contacted the local mower place to have them check it out only to be told do not bother bringing it in because Ryobi will not tell them how to service this product! Well played Ryobi on putting a product to market with no true warranty services or help.

I bought this mower to replace my Troy Built 54" zero turn with a steering wheel. The engine blew and was too expensive to fix. I initially ordered the 54" Ryobi 115Ah model but it was lost during shipment. Since my 2.6 acre lot had not been mowed in over 4 weeks I cancelled the online order and I went down to my local Home Depot and bought this 42" 100 Ah model and have no regrets. It was rather difficult switching from a steering wheel to levers but I got a handle on it after a couple of hours. I mowed the 2.6 acres on a single charge today with 10% battery life left. Keep in mind that this is only my second mow with this machine so I am still a novice and my yard doesn't have one square foot of level, flat ground.

I was hopeful that the R&D for this mower was true but it definitely has a long way to go. We got the 100ah because it cuts 3 acres as they stated on the specs. Less than a year and it takes multiple charge ups just to cut less than 1.5acres. The "3 acres" must be for thin grass with new blades every time. If I knew it would take me multiple days to cut my grass with this thing I wouldn't have purchased. This product has disappointed me. I expected reduced battery stamina but it's ridiculous how quick it depletes. It's basically a fancy go-cart that doesn't go fast. 1/10 recommendation. If you have a typical quarter acre lot in a subdivision itll probably be fine. If you have a real lawn look elsewhere. Do better Ryobi.

I just bought this mower and used it three times on my front lawn, which is made up of St Augustine grass). The third mow the mower completely stopped and wouldn’t move. I look underneath and the blade is completely bent toward the ground. I have three people life it up and put it in my garage thinking I’ll just buy a new replacement blade. The replacement blades come and we try to take off the blade only the right blade’s bolt is tightened so tight that it’s impossible to get it off. Now I’m sitting here with a 4K zero turn lawn mower that doesn’t work. I feel like this was the worst Purchase I’ve ever made at Home Depot and a total piece of crap that Ryobi built. I’ve tried calling Ryobi but they are off after 5 pm on Fridays and closed during the weekends. I’m so aggravated I can’t see straight right now. What do I do with a 3 week old lawn mower that doesn’t work Ryobi????

Mower was simple to finish setting up. It is beautiful. It cuts very well. It is smooth, quiet, and powerful. I highly recommend it.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I purchased this mower about a month ago and love it so far. I have about 3 hours on it. It rides and cuts very well. I hope the battery holds up on this one. My last 480e started to degrade rapidly in the battery department after 2 years!

Owned one week.Used in Queensland Australia Give this machine 4 out of 5 1. Does not cut nearly as well as my 20 year old husqvarna, tends to chew the grass rather than cut cleanly. Possibly swing blades rather than straight bar blades may overcome this problem.For this reason alone,I do not believe I will retain it 2.I accept that it is designed primarily for the USA market especially when it comes to complying with safety regulations, but the blades switching off when reversing,then having to go through a procedure each time to cut when reversing of re-activating the blades is a definite pain and a no no. 3. Build quality is very good 4. Seems like a somewhat top heavy sitting position, likened to sitting on top of a car rather than in it.Height adjustable steering may improve this 5. Length of Grass discharge chute excessive and not warranted. 6. Deck wheel axles with grease nipples would be a positive move.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I've been able to mow my acre lot with trees and hills and it still has 50% battery. Also mowed my neighbors lot that had grown to 6 - 10 in high, and it still had 25% battery left. Quiet and mows great.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] No longer need to deal with the issues of gas engines... And night mowing is a plus

This is my first ever online review and I very much hope to be able to change my recommendation when I can actually use the product. I was very excited to receive my mower as I had done extensive research prior to purchasing the product. Upon receiving it and putting the mower together I realized that my order included no charger (It is listed as including a charger). For a completely electric product this is of course a huge issue. After talking directly with 4 different people at Ryobi I was told that they are on back order on chargers and wouldn't be getting them in for several more weeks at least and there was no other option besides calling Home Depot directly and seeing if they had one. After calling Home Depot, I was told they have nothing to do with this process and that my only option would be to purchase another $4000+ mower and process a return for my current mower. All this by a representative that was mildly rude and disinterested in my issue from the beginning. I am super disappointed in the whole process because the mower itself looks and feels great but is completely unusable currently as we approach winter and I need to get a mow in on my more than 2 acres of new property. Perhaps it is asking too much for one of these companies to get creative and find a way to validate my $4200 purchase by providing a critical piece of the product I should have had the entire time. Hopefully this does not happen to you and the many positive reviews I read on the product gave me confidence in making this purchase, but if it does happen I would most certainly not expect a quick result out of it. Very disappointed with Home Depot in this as I have spent thousands and thousands of dollars over the last couple years and there is are other places to shop down the street.

I was a little hesitant at first because I've always been a gas guy. After looking at the pros and cons and seeing all of the positive reviews, I gave one a test drive and loved it. I've only had the mower for 3 months now but I have consistently mowed twice per week since I purchased it. It is literally one of the toughest mowers I've ever owned. Its cut is consistent and the battery holds up wonderfully. We have a fire pit with stones around it and my son decided to move one of the stones into the grass to hold his phone while he made a video and of course left the stone there. My wife was mowing and ran right over the stone. The blade hit the stone and the mower instantly shut off the blades. One of the blades was ruined so we had to replace it but that was it. The drive motor for the blade didn't skip a beat, it's as good as new. There is so much less maintenance to do, no gas to buy, no fiddling with the engine to get it to run. You won't be disappointed. This IS the future.

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.

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

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.

This mower is great! I mowed my half acre of lawn in 20 minutes using only 50% charge. I have a corner lot with slope and lots of trees. I'm happy not messing with Gas, oil and belts. Great mower for the price.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I have no other experience with ZT mowers. I retired a 25 year old Hechinger tractor so anything would have been night and day. However, it has been great so far. I’ve used it only about 5 times and for me it was easy to learn. I really just hopped on and started mowing. The steering wasn’t an issue coming from a tractor with a steering wheel. It has few nice compartments and cup holders on the sides. It’s comfortable. A little bumpy on my rough lawn but they don’t have a suspension so if your lawn is rough like mine you’ll obviously feel the bumps. I got the bagging kit and changing out the blades was relatively easy. A little time consuming but pretty cut and dry. I love just unplugging it and going. No gas, no oil, it is really a nice change. The battery life meter is a little weird. Sometimes I unplug it and it starts at 70% but other times it’s at 100% and today it started at 70%, I cut my front lawn and it was at 50%. Turned it off to empty the bags and get something from the garage. Maybe 10 mins and when I turned it back on it was at 60%. Odd but no big deal I guess. Overall I am really happy with it and I hope to get many good years of mowing. Oh yeah, it cuts very well and even too.

Sleek, Silent, Fast, Very responsive. It came in a solid metal pallet which I turn into a wall guard with the charger attached. I add a picture :)

My Ryobi is a 75AH which I find more than adequate for my 1/4 acre of grass. I have previously owned two well known brand zero turn mowers. Mr Ryobi is superior to both of those. I mowed my grass and 800 feet of highway shoulder and when finished had 40% power left. I first mowed grass in ‘46 with a reel push mower, baby we have come a long way. Ryobi is a world renown manufacturer of industrial and residential products and most of us are near a Home Depot for service. I most certainly recommend this product.

[This review was collected as part of a promotion.] I have had and used this mower for about 6 weeks now. Some reviewers have complained that the battery level drops from 100% to 70% in just 5 minutes. That has been my experience, too, but I have mowing 2.75 acres with that 75%, so I am still content. I used to pull a wagon when not mowing to pick up tree limbs and transport 10 gallon potted plants, etc. When in towing only mode, I can go for hours without seeing the level ever drop below 70%. While mowing, I do use the low drive and low cutting speed settings, which definitely extends battery life. My only wish for improvement is better shocks for the operator seat. I get bounced all over the place, as my lot was former pasture and there are low ruts. Other than that, I am very happy to have a mower that always starts, runs pretty much until I am tired of mowing, pulls a yard wagon, turns on a dime letting me mow around bushes rather closely, doesn't have an exhaust and the stink associated with that, is quiet that I don't need hearing protection (my neighbors have commented on how quiet it is), and is quite fun to operate.

Overall we're very happy with this mower. We have just over one acre and can mow it with 50% battery capacity remaining when finished. It's fast, fairly easy to drive once you get used to it (our first zero-turn mower), and cuts very well. Low noise is a bonus. I'd rate it as excellent for mowing but did have two small issues: 1) my 15 yr old daughter bent the steel brake pedal bracket to the point that the lock couldn't engage: wasn't pushing in-line enough with the pedal travel I guess - her mistake - but the thickness of that bracket shouldn't allow a 15 yr old girl to easily bend it. I bent it back and seems OK. 2) the external charger appears to have a small ground fault. Popped my barn GFCI when started charging the first time, works OK when I put in a 2-to-3 prong converter plug to isolate from ground. Not a good long term solution obviously, so pursuing fix/replacement with Ryobi. And a very minor note: USB charging port is nice, but it has no cover and is mounted in a horizontal panel - will fill with dirt/dust unless you leave a cable plugged in, or put tape over it. Cover or small dummy plug on a lanyard would be improvement.

I purchased the RYOBI zero turn mower after doing EXTENSIVE research! I compared Gas Vs. Electric, Features, and upkeep. I'm VERY glad I chose to buy this one. I have since used it to mow my lawn several times, and am very pleased with it's performance. My yard consists of roughly 3.5 acres of "mowable" area, with several small hills and valleys and tree-beds scattered throughout. Not only did the mower do a great job, but at the end of cutting the entire lawn, I STILL had 35% left on the battery. Really impressive! I also purchased the optional Dual-Bagger kit to collect the grass, but have yet to use it. Primarily because the mower does such a great job of mulching so as to leave little to no grass as you mow. I also purchased a small utility trailer to connect to the back of the mower. This has been a god-send as it has allowed me to do some serious pruning and clearing of large areas in the back yard. I've been able to load up the trailer full of tools, drive them to the work-site, and when I'm done, it's just one trip back to the garage to put everything away. A huge timesaver! One last note...this mower is incredibly powerful. During my pruning, I was cutting HUGE branches off some of the large trees. I would then stack the branches into piles, tie them together with a tow-rope, and connect the other end to the back of the mower. It had POWER-TO-SPARE in hauling the large piles of branches, and it didn't even break a sweat! All in all, a very nice piece of equipment...I will get a ton of use out of it!

The electric mower is intuitive and easy to use. It quickly mows through my lot that is typically overgrown. The mower quickly recharges if I need more mowing done without killing the battery. It is faster and better than my former gas mower in almost every way.