LOUDLY BLOWING your leaves regularly is a sure fire way to make enemies of noise-sensitive neighbours, but the Ryobi 36V Cordless Leaf Blower has been designed to be whisper quiet – are we're putting it to the test.
Leaf blowers by their very nature are noisy beasts. The combination of motor and fan to suck in the air outside the machine and turn it into a working jet to direct leaves and other materials into manageable piles is always going to be boisterous.
However, the Ryobi 36V Cordless Leaf Blower is the latest in the manufacturer’s Whisper series of blowers, which goes about its business in more hushed tones, using the manufacturer’s Whisper Fan Technology, to turn down the decibels.
On the subject of decibels, the Ryobi operates at 78.6 decibels of sound pressure, that’s a measure of the level of noise that we hear.
In comparison, a petrol-powered leaf blower will average around 90 decibels, so that’s a significant difference if stealth is important to you when you’re going about your Autumnal clean up.
Here’s a blow-by-blow account of how we found working with the Ryobi’s new garden tool and whether working in Whisper mode impacted the performance of the machine so that we could retire the rake for good.
- Ryobi 36V Cordless Leaf Blower £179.99 from Ryobi – buy here
Overall rating: 4/5
Pros
- Impressive air speed
- Quiet in operation
- Excellent ergonomics
Cons
- Heavy in hand
- Not a budget option
- Ryobi 36V Cordless Leaf Blower £179.99 from Ryobi – buy here
Ryobi 36V Whisper Leaf Blower review: the comfort factor
Leaf blowers are one of those tools that are used for an extended period of time and rely solely on the user to operate, for this reason they have to feel good in hand and have sound working ergonomics if you’re going to avoid aching arms by the time you come to put the tool back in the shed.
Once the battery is slotted in behind the handle and over the air intake, the Ryobi is well-balanced and automatically creates a good working angle with the ground, making it easy to work with the classic side-to-side sweeping motion to clear up leaves, without it feeling too much like a workout.
The variable speed trigger is just sensitive enough and is easy to operate with just an index finger while still maintaining a very good grasp on the moulded handle, while the cruise control is within a thumb’s reach if you’re happy with and want to stick at the operating air speed and don’t want to keep holding the trigger down.
Also, just a thumb stretch away is the turbo boost button, which instantly kicks the blower into high gear in terms of air volume and speed so that you can blast away stubborn piles of wet leaves or heavier materials, like fallen fruit.
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Ryobi 36V Whisper Leaf Blower review: noise levels
Undeniably, leaf blowers are one of the noisiest motorised garden tools and as the unit’s name suggests, one of the biggest selling points of the Ryobi is its quiet operation.
As previously mentioned, it’s 78.6 decibels of sound pressure is certainly quieter than most petrol blowers. And it beats most battery-operated models too. For example, the new EGO Power+ LB7650E operates at 83 decibels, while the Husqvarna 525iB has a noise level of almost 98 decibels.
So, you could potentially have a conversation while the tool is in operation, but who really needs to do this? And unless you have particularly sensitive hearing or like to do your garden clear ups in the middle of the night, quiet operation isn’t usually the most important metric when it comes to purchasing a leaf blower.
Sure, it’s nice to know that you won’t be offending the neighbours or waking up napping new borns, but we’re not sure this is such a huge selling point.
- Ryobi 36V Cordless Leaf Blower £179.99 from Ryobi – buy here
Ryobi 36V Whisper Leaf Blower review: performance
What we really wanted to know was whether the quiet operation had any impact on how good the tool is at its core task and we can happily report that it doesn’t.
The 36V brushless motor and huge air intake combine to force even more air down the working tube to produce an air volume of 20.67m3 per minute and an air speed of 306km per hour.
It’s airspeed that lifts the leaves and air volume that ultimately blows them away and the Ryobi’s numbers are hugely impressive and in our recent round up of leaf blowers, the Ryobi was only second to a back-pack blower in being the most powerful blower on test.
This power is harnessed well by the overall design of the machine and its tapered blowing nozzle focussed the airflow on clumps of wet leaves and tangled twig piles to break them up and get them moving.
There’s plenty of precision available from the machine too, which makes clearing hard landscaping areas like driveways a doddle and the variable air speed allows the operator to skim the top layer of leaves from gravel and wood chip paths, without scattering the path material everywhere too.
Ryobi 36V Whisper Leaf Blower review: the battery platform
The Max Power battery platform ranges from the entry level 36V 2.0AH (£121.99) Lithium+ Battery through 4.0AH (£139.99), 5.0AH (£149.99) and 6.0AH (£169.99) versions with the 36V Max power 6A Fast Charger costing £73.99.
So, you need to add, at least, £195.98 to the cost of the bare tool before you can start to blow. The batteries are interchangeable with other products in the Max Power range, like Hedge Trimmers, Chainsaws and Lawnmowers, so you can expand your garden armoury without having to spend even more money.
We got just over an hour of working time from the 5Ah Ryobi battery that our tool was fitted with, working at varied speeds and we liked the four-stage fuel gauge which shows the battery’s remaining juice going from 100% to 75% to 50% to 25%, so you can prioritise work tasks with time.
Once the battery was exhausted, we were back at full charge and ready to blow again in under half an hour, so you can enjoy plenty of working time without the frustrations of constantly having to stop and recharge the battery.
Ryobi 36V Whisper Leaf Blower review: the verdict
One of the clear advantages of this Ryobi tool is the fact that you won’t need to don ear defenders every time you use it and the neighbours will certainly thank you for using it, but it’s not the selling point that most impressed us.
What we were blown away with was the machine’s targeted power, delivered by the double act of an efficient motor and generous air intake.
Ergonomically sound, the blower is on the heavy side, however it packs such a punch that it will probably halve the time it takes to get through your Autumnal workload in the garden, whether that’s staying on top of the latest windfall of leaves or moving other garden debris effortlessly towards the compost or rubbish heap.
This is all underpinned with an efficient Lithium battery platform that provides plenty of working time so that even larger gardens can be maintained on one charge without having to prolong the process with repeated charges.
Forget whispering, there’s a lot to shout about when it comes to the Ryobi Leaf Blower.
Where to buy the Ryobi 36V Leaf Blower
This Ryobi model can only be tracked down at a couple of retailers, and our top pics are:
- Ryobi
- Amazon
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