Ryobi 40V HP Brushless Rear Tine Tiller Review

[@EVAkuraArmor]

I got seriously lucky and found two floor units in the very back of the garden department at Home Depot that had sale tags on them for $850. I took a picture of them and went up to the customer service aisle and asked them to get me down a boxed unit. Once it arrived, they rang it up at $1599. I showed them the picture, and they sent an associate to pull those tags and bring them back. Needless to say, they had to honor their mistake (it took two managers to approve the sale). After my military discount, I ended up paying $689.11! So looking forward to our garden this year :)

[@NeoKailthas]

Haha way to go 🎉

[@MeganGerwick]

How’s it running a year later?

[@EVAkuraArmor]

@@MeganGerwick It is running just the same as when I purchased it... but I will say that Ryobi really dropped the ball on a part that is meant to fail. The shear pin for the tillers is meant to fail before serious damage occurs in the drive mechanism, however, they don't have a replacement part for this item. Look at the exploded diagram and notice that the part is shown, but no reference number is listed. I spend hours with customer support before I finally got a resolution. This was last year, so hopefully they have it figured out now.

[@Huckleberry52]

Man they must suck cause in 2024 WITH four batteries they only cost 899. Not 1600??

[@stvsanders]

Just bought mine on sale at Home Depot with four batteries and two chargers with the tiller for $499. Crazy!

[@gauldenj1]

I enjoy reading the articles on your website, I just wish you guys made more video content. IMO seeing a tool perform is more informative than reading about someone’s experience. Thanks for the content you put out though

[@jmacd8817]

We just got one. A few points: I agree with many of the Home Depot site/reviews. It has shear pins on the tines, and if you hit something hard, they will break. And Ryobi doesnt seem to offer them. I got a bag of 10, 2" clevis pins, (with multiple holes to minimize chance of damaging the tiller. Easier to replace clips than the trans) It NEEDS all the weight you can fit in the bin. Its heavy, but will still buck and bounce without. I used river stone for more weight than sand. Im in Central Texas, with clay and stoney soil, and it performed pretty well. I got maybe 750 ft^2 on all 4 batteries. Maybe 45 minutes of continuous work. One other note about the bouncing: if its big enough, it will pop one of the batteries loose, and it will stop. Sadly, it has no "neutral" setting, so you either drag the machine, and force the tires to roll and skid, or you need power to propel it. The tines have only one speed: full speed. A slower tine speed could help mitigate bouncing, and reduce the chance of breaking pins. We got ours for $999, then got a HD credit card for another $100 off, so i cant complain about the price. Its cheaper than most rear tine tillers. If you want to buy extra batteries, they are $200 !la piece, and it can take 4.... Lastly, as of late January, 2024, it looks like Ryobi is discontinuing the machine. You might find them at further reduced prices.

[@wildbill23c]

It does have neutral....kind of...you have to pull the pins out of the wheels and move the pins to a different set of holes which puts it into freewheel mode so you can roll it around, but who the hell wants to do that nonsense, just a disconnect on the motor/transmission would have easily taken care of that LOL. Hmm, that must be why I only paid $409 for my tiller about a week ago, if its being discontinued, that also explains the reason they claimed the one that was shipped to me was damaged and was sent back to the manufacturer and wanted me to cancel my order and re-order it, I said no, send me another tiller because its already paid for and I have already made payments on the card for it so send me what I ordered. We shall see, fingers crossed that I get my tiller.

[@lukelawrence8952]

I just ordered one for 488 dollars. The batteries alone are worth that.

[@wildbill23c]

For sure, I looked the last time I was at Home Depot and each battery is $200....so for $488 that's a great deal, throw the tiller away if you have to HAHA!! Or think of it as you bought the batteries and got a free tool LOL.

[@davidj.jorgensen4828]

Did those A / 2 batteries till that patch / I don’t remember hearing how much area U can til per charge. ? ?

[@CapitanFantasma1776]

Thanks! I'm thinking of getting it!~

[@rodpotts2666]

That’s crazy! I think Ryobi is serious!

[@wayneholmes8000]

I just bought one and the speed control switch was broke of where can I buy a new switch any ideas? Thank you and I loved your video.

[@jaycounts4717]

At 2:10 , he looks like he's pushing hard....isn't it supposed to be self propelled?

[@Pro1er]

I was going to comment on that too, he doesn't know how to use a tiller.

[@bizizbizbam8209]

It burns the battery up when you use self propelled

[@jaycounts4717]

Maybe, but the self propelled is engaged because you can see the wheels driving.@@bizizbizbam8209

[@wildbill23c]

I noticed that too, not sure what the heck he thought he was accomplishing by pushing on it like that...roto-tilling is a slow process to begin with, and pushing/forcing the tiller isn't going to help LOL.

[@madcyborg]

Just out of curiosity with two of those batteries on the quick charger what's the wattage? The most Ardent treehugger could run the charger off a solar panel making a completely green

[@james2042]

I think it pulls like 400-500 watts

[@jaycounts4717]

The front tine non "self propelled" tillers are waaaay easier to use, they steer easier with a lot more control.

[@MurphyMcMurphster]

Definitely not easier to steer

[@Deveak]

any 40 volt battery you say? Looks kind of tight with the 6 AH, would it fit a 12 AH?

[@james2042]

Ryobi says all 40v batteries fit

[@-sol-8350]

What about heavily contacted clay soil though?

[@danielwilliams1400]

That's not ideal with any rototiller, even on a tractor. Best to run a ripper, or plow, then disc if your soil is that compacted.

[@danielwilliams1400]

You might be able to use a walk behind rototiller if you make multiple passes, but it's going to jump around a lot and put lots of stress on the machine...

[@naturestrail2296]

Dang sure won't save on gas cause when the batteries wear out they'll cost more than 20 years of gas after 5 years. That's assuming electric is completely free lol

[@matthewvanderbeek2847]

I like the idea. But this machine is to light and not heavy duty enough . Especially if u can use the batteries in your power tools. And snowblower and push mower. Batteries last u a dozzen years. Not the end of the world to buy new ones.

[@moichi2957]

This no cultivator, maybe a flower bed agitator. Shouldn't have to push that hard to make it work. Needless to say the price would get you the best gas model out there plus extras.

[@wildbill23c]

Looks like someone using it that has no clue how a roto-tiller works and no clue how to use one. Don't need to push it, its self propelled, and its slow, it isn't supposed to go fast for tilling, its a slow process.....fast is just for transport, that's where most people make their mistake in using a roto-tiller is they try to go too fast.

[@rechavoc]

Poor design! You can tell it’s very slow and sluggish and lacked responsiveness when it switched to reverse. My gas 25 year old Craftsman 6.5hp rear tine would tear that Ryobi tiller to pieces. The parts, like plastic switch heads used and other parts look cheap! like they’ll break easy. Low confidence in its capabilities and performance. I’ll wait till more gardening companies bring more electric tillers to market!

[@wildbill23c]

A roto-tiller is supposed to be slow, its used to turn the soil and pulverize clods of dirt as it goes, can't do that very fast....even the gas powered tillers are slow in the way of ground speed when you are using them correctly, which apparently by the comment section not many people know how to use a roto-tiller.

[@johnnymansbergerjr5252]

Extremely expensive... I'm guessing no one sells Used battery tillers😆🤔

[@sociopathmercenary]

$1,400 ouch

[@thesolojourney8955]

Anything Ryobi makes should be between $100-300 max because it’s only good for mild front yard and back yard work. For heavy duty work you need something gas or diesel powdered.

[@wildbill23c]

My roto-tiller is diesel powered, but its ran off the PTO of a tractor, and its 50" wide....great for large areas, but in my case I bought the Ryobi roto-tiller for tilling flower beds, which the tiller for my tractor is way too large for LOL. Most people that buy one of these battery powered tillers isn't going out and breaking new ground with it, they're just roto-tilling their garden or a flower bed that has already been established.

[@MrMetalpunx]

Yeah ryobi can go Epstein itself 1600$😂

[@matthewvanderbeek2847]

Think gas tillers are about 1200. Like that. The batteries are probably worth 400 or more. And if a person will use it on an electric push mower. Be multi purpose. Electric leaf blower. Won't need to buy batteries for those things then.

[@wildbill23c]

@@matthewvanderbeek2847 About $1500 for the Troy Bilt Pony, and $1200 for the Troy Bilt Bronco with counter rotating tines. The Troy Bilt Big Red which is the largest they have is $3400....The Pony is 16" wide, the Bronco is 18" Wide (same as the Ryobi), and the Big Red is 20" wide. The Big Red of course is going to weigh a lot more than the Ryobi, and would be a much better option for someone with a large garden, and for someone that needs to break new ground. I'd love to get a new Troy Bilt Big Red roto-tiller, but the price is ridiculous, and I don't need a roto-tiller all that often....the nice thing with Ryobi's 40V stuff is like their 18V tools, you can use those 40V batteries on other lawn/garden equipment, so its not like you bought that 1 tool and have no other uses for the batteries....compared to the $3400 gas tiller that I'd use maybe once a year and it would sit for a year, or more sometimes without any use and then have carb/starting problems when I wanted to use it again later on. I would go with the battery powered tiller for my needs....for sure though if you gotta do a lot of tilling, and do it often, get a gas one for sure.