5 Ryobi Outdoor Tools To Help Around The Home This Fall

Ryobi has pushed itself into the innovation game for outdoor lawn power tools. Just in 2024, the tool company has come out with several tools for your home and yard. With that said, the tools that you use tend to vary as the seasons change. For example, you're not going to use a snow blower in the summer, and you more than likely aren't mowing your yard in the winter.

With fall approaching, studies have shown that dead leaves can be better for your soil — however, if your yard becomes covered in wet leaves, it could cause more weeds to show up in the spring and even kill your grass. With that said, Ryobi has a few tools that will come in handy when dealing with leaves and more. Based on a variety of user comments and ratings, along with professional reviews from reputable publications, here are five Ryobi outdoor tools to assist you with your fall chores around the home. A more in-depth explanation of our methodology can be found at the bottom of this article.

Starting off, this Ryobi tool is not included in one of the tool company's battery systems. However, after the exhausting task of cutting down trees, you'll probably welcome a tool that can make the rest of your task easy. The 5-Ton 15 Amp Horizontal Electric Log Splitter can chop logs 20 inches in length and 10 inches in diameter with a splitting force of 5 tons. Though this tool isn't light, weighing 104 pounds, it does come with durable wheels, making it easier to pull out to your wood-splitting section of the yard. However, be aware that it is corded, so you'll either need a long and powerful extension cord to reach the house or a Ryobi generator.

In terms of reviews, this long splitter received a 4.4 out of five-star rating. Most were very happy with the tool and excited to have an electric version — gas-powered tools usually need a lot of maintenance, whereas an electric one does not. A few did state that the log splitter had trouble with bigger pieces of wood or really hard wood, but if you give the tool a bit of assistance by starting the split or cutting them into smaller pieces with one of Ryobi's top-rated chainsaws, it should help get the job done easier. With these reviews and at the price of only $299, it is the more affordable option compared to the 40V HP Brushless 12-Ton Kinetic Log Splitter.

Heading into the fall season, leaves start changing colors, which means they're going to drop soon after. Instead of spending hours raking and bagging leaves, why not use a tool to cut your chore time in half and save your bags? One of several 40V innovative yard tools, the Ryobi's 40V Vac Attack Cordless Battery Leaf Vacuum/Mulcher is a two-in-one tool that picks up your leaves and then grinds them down. You can pick up this tool from Ryobi's website and Home Depot for $129.

Though not a hands-on intensive review, Pro Tool Reviews did have many positive comments on the tool's specs. They mention that the 16:1 ratio for bagging leaves was better than the review they did on the Makita counterpart, which was only 10:1. This means that for every 16 bags of leaves you would pick up by hand, the Ryobi vacuum/mulcher can cut that down to one. They were also impressed that Ryobi placed wheels at the bottom of the tube, releasing the weight off your arms and back.

We do want to point out a note we found on a discussion forum regarding the use of the tool, though. Many people stated that the tool worked great on dry leaves, but it wasn't as useful with wet leaves. Just keep that into consideration regarding the typical fall weather in your area.

Even if you already own a leaf blower, sometimes having a compact, easy-to-handle blower can be convenient. With a 4.7 out of five-star rating from over 650 buyers, the 18V ONE+ Brushless Compact Blower for $99 at Home Depot is a handy tool for when you just need to clear leaves from your truck bed or clear the path up to your front door. Compared to Ryobi's cheaper Workshop Blower for $60, this one offers 55% more power with 220 CFM and 140 mph capacity. Additionally, it comes with six different accessories such as extension tubes and a speed tip.

Pro Tool Reviews was instantly impressed with the tool right out of the box. They liked the way the pistol grip fit in the hand and how lightweight it was. The review even stated that this compact blower gave some of Ryobi's standard sized blowers a run for their money. With that said, if you do not have a large yard or don't find yourself needing a larger blower, this tool may be the best size for you and your fall time chores.

Unless you have a treeless yard, a chainsaw can be a good tool to have in your arsenal. When the leaves start falling, you can see where you need to trim your trees as well as cut for firewood. At the retail price of $199, the 18V ONE+ Whisper Series 12-inch Chainsaw is the largest bar and chain size within Ryobi's 18V ONE+ battery system. This size allows for up to a 10-inch maximum cut diameter.

This Whisper Series chainsaw got a 4.5 out of five-star rating from over 270 reviewers on Home Depot. Many stated that they were happy with how well the tool did the job. One of the more notable reviews, though, comes from a 59-year-old woman who had never picked up a chainsaw before. She bought this one to remove a fallen tree from her deck and was happy with how user-friendly and lightweight it was — this tool only weighs 8.7 pounds.

However, there are a couple of negative reviews concerning the chain slipping off or getting jammed. Though these reviews are few and far between, if this happens to you, we suggest reaching out to Ryobi's customer support for assistance due to it having a three-year limited warranty. Any attempt to fix it yourself may void the warranty.

Though winter is still a few months away, in the northern states, there's a good chance you'll still see some snow in the fall and a few Ryobi winter tools can help with that. One of them is the 18V ONE+ 10-inch Electric Snow Shovel, which will run you $169 at Home Depot — at that price point, it also comes with a 4.0 Ah battery and charger. This tool is great for lighter snow accumulations up to 6 inches and clearing off your pathways and decks. However, because of its smaller capacity compared to Ryobi's much larger and more expensive snowblower options, like the 40V Whisper Series 24 Inch 2-Stage Electric Snowblower, it shouldn't be used for heavy-duty jobs like clearing a snow bank at the end of your driveway.

With that said, this tool may still have a place in your fall tool collection. According to Ryobi, it can throw up to 20 feet of snow for up to 20 minutes using a fully charged 4.0 Ah battery. It also received a 4.2 out of five-star rating from over 300 users. Within the written reviews, many were pleasantly surprised by how powerful and easy to use this little machine is. One reviewer even called it the little machine that did.

Ryobi has many landscaping tools to choose from, and the ones featured in this article were selected based on a variety of different reviews. We examined ratings and reviews from consumers who purchased the tools to use around their homes. Not only did we look at positive written reviews, but we also read through negative comments to make sure there was nothing egregious to be concerned about. For example, some were not happy with the vacuum/mulcher due to the fact that it doesn't work as well with wet leaves, but other users felt it still deserved a place in their home tool collection.

Additionally, we took into consideration professional reviews from Pro Tool Reviews, a reputable review publication. This publication is trusted to honestly review products, and in the many articles this writer has read by them, we at SlashGear also trust their insight regarding power tool recommendations.