Ryobi cordless leaf blower review: The best budget pick that actually delivers.
This review is part of my product reviews series, where I share the nitty gritty on tools and appliances that I use regularly and give you my personal insight on. When you read this one, why not pop over to the product reviews page and look at the others. Let me know if any of them are helpful.
Towel storage for small bathrooms
If you’re anything like me, you want a leaf blower that gets the job done without giving you a headache (literally and financially). After spending what felt like months researching different battery-powered blowers and watching way too many YouTube channel reviews, I can confidently say the Ryobi Cordless Leaf Blower is hands-down the best budget cordless leaf blower on the market today.
And no, this isn’t just hype — I put this cordless blower through some serious tests to see how it coped and was genuinely impressed.
How I tested the cordless leaf blower
I ran the Ryobi through five simple but telling tests to see how it holds up in real-world conditions, not just what the box says. Here’s what I looked at:
- Run time on both high and lower settings
- Ability to move wet leaves, grass clippings, and hard surfaces
- Noise level (because no one wants to annoy the entire neighbourhood)
- Ease of use, including weight, grip, and control
- Manoeuvrability – this is the compact model so I wanted to test if it was lightweight and easy to carry.
Power & Performance
This Ryobi model uses an 18V battery system — and while that might sound underwhelming next to a 60V blower, don’t let the numbers fool you. It delivers a solid volume of air (aka cubic feet per minute) with a surprisingly high speed. The turbo button gives a nice boost for short bursts of extra power, perfect for when those wet leaves cling like they’ve got something to prove.
The brushless motor is a game-changer, too. It’s efficient, long-lasting, and gives this blower more kick than you’d expect from something in this price range.
Battery Life & Charging
We tested the Ryobi using a 4.0Ah battery, and under normal use, I got around 20 minutes of run time on a full charge — impressive for a battery-powered leaf blower at this price point, but possibly not quite long enough to get everything you want done so you need spares.
For larger yards or leaf-heavy seasons, you may want to keep more than one extra battery on hand. I of course had let all my other Ryobi batteries run out so had to wait to recharge! The good news? It’s part of Ryobi’s ONE+ battery system, so it works with your hedge trimmer, lawn mower, and other hand tools in their lineup. Fewer chargers = less clutter. I use these batteries in my favourite Ryobi drill so should really have them charged and ready to go at all times for my DIY projects.
Noise Levels
Compared to the petrol or diesel-powered leaf blowers, the Ryobi is super-quiet. It’s ideal if you’ve got small gardens or live in a neighbourhood where much noise equals many complaints, but it’s worth noting that it’s not silent, so your neighbours still aren’t going to love you if you use this outside their bedroom window at 6am!
Ease of use
The Ryobi is lightweight, intuitive, and doesn’t require spark plugs, extension cords, or a YouTube tutorial to start. It’s the kind of tool you’ll actually want to grab instead of avoiding because it feels like too much work ( and we all have a few of them right – electric tile cutter, I’m looking at you!!).
Extras: You can buy a shoulder strap that adds comfort for longer sessions but its honestly very lightweight.
📏 Best For…
- Small yards and small gardens
- Anyone looking for a good option under £150
- Anyone who already owns Ryobi power tools
- Quick cleanup of hard surfaces, dry leaves, and grass clippings
Are there any negatives?
As I hadn’t ever used a leaf blower before, I didn’t have anything to compare it to, but being really honest, I kind of expected the battery to last for hours, like my lovely drill does. It makes sense why it doesn’t as it’s chucking out a lot more energy blowing piles of leaves than making little holes in walls but as a habitual non-charger of batteries, it stopped play during my testing to recharge the spare battery so just bear that in mind and prep your spares!
Top tips for the Ryobi cordless leaf blower
Look out for the locking joints when you build the blower as they make connecting the bits simple and adds strength once in use.
Choose the end fixing that’s best suited to the task at hand – there’s a round tubular end or a vacuum shaped one which concentrates the blowing action in a smaller area, better for precision.
Use the most powerful battery you have. I had an old weaker one (2Ah) that I bought for the drill a while ago and that ran out very quickly – so you need to be using the 4Ah minimum really. As you can see from the image above
Would I recommend this Ryobi cordless leaf blower?
Absolutely. For the price, Ryobi offers one of the best cordless leaf blowers you can buy right now. It’s not a backpack blower or a leaf blower vacuum, but it doesn’t need to be. This cordless model gives you just enough muscle for weekend yard warriors without the headache of a petrol-powered blower or the limitations of a corded electric blower.
So if you’ve been debating which battery-powered blower to add to your lineup, the Ryobi is a great value contender with solid performance and serious convenience (if you have a spare battery).
The main reason I think people love these cordless leaf blowers is that they save much time vs manual clearing, offer high power through advanced electric motors, and work for those managing large areas as well as those wanting the highest speed, wide nozzle airflow, and strong air volume performance.
Read more product reviews and don’t miss my review of the Leresar Evol 3 robot vacuum.
