Ryobi has expanded their line of 18V cordless outdoor power tools with a new oscillating garden hoe.
Described as “the industry’s first 18V garden hoe,” the new Ryobi tool is designed for cultivating and maintaining garden and flower beds.
Ryobi says the cordless garden hoe can be used for harvesting small crops, maintaining flower beds, and other tasks a manual tool would normally be used for. Its main purposes will be cultivating soil and weeding.
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The cordless hoe has a 6.5″ wide and 3.5″ tall grooved blade and a 31″ shaft.
Ryobi says the garden hoe can “cover up to 150 square feet per charge” when used with a PBP006 2.0Ah battery.
- 6.5″ wide x 3.5″ tall blade
- 31″ shaft
- 350 blade head oscillations per minute
- Weighs 6.9 lbs (tool-only)
Price: $149 tool-only (P29013BTL), $199 with battery and charger (P29130)
AlexK
Using hand tools as well as my hands in soil when gardening, makes me feel a connection to life and its unending miracles. I feel this would be some degree of separation so I wouldn’t want it for myself now. If I get too arthritic or infirm, maybe I would get this. I’d really like to try it out. I can’t image it being strong enough to do much, but maybe it can.
Bonnie
I can see the market, though this definitely seems to be over-complicating a thing that works well and simply. Maybe if you’re cultivating/tilling a small pea-patch kinda garden and don’t quite want a small rototiller.
To me that head looks pretty anemic and will probably wear out fast or bend/break and need replacing. Especially all those bolts down in the dirt seem likely to rust out or get mangled.
Travis
I like Ryobis innovation but this thing is a fail. Creating a solution to a non problem
Travis
Also this is a $60 tool the way it looks
Bill
I couldn’t locate this garden hoe on Ryobi’s website, but there is a video of it in use on HD’s site.
Potato
I was thinking maybe this would be good for older users to reduce physical effort, but watching the video looked like just as much effort to hold it steady as the amount of work the tool outputs. Seems kind of silly at first glance.
Ct451
There are so many rotary cultivators of all sizes I don’t see this going anywhere. Ryobi themselves have a bunch of models. Its design lends itself to being abused by forcing to do more than it can handle. You will inevitably use it as a manual hoe and bust it.
Mark M.
If you have a garden so small as to use this thing, IDK why you wouldn’t just do it by hand/manually. Hard pass. Also, it’s not worth the semantic argument but using the word “oscillating” in their description makes me thing it moves side-to-side. But in the photos it appears it’s a front-back motion, which to me is reciprocating.
Bonnie
Reciprocating would be in-and-out motion to me, while this is rotating on a fixed pivot point.
Mark M.
Good point but I don’t think it’s rotating, necessarily. Some kind of jittery action is my guess.
Adam
Lets triple/quadruple the weight of the tool, still have you carry it the same way, providing little over all benefit if any. Great evolution there
This is definitely not the wheel 2.0
fred
Kudos to Ryobi for trying to innovate. I’m a fan of trying new tools – but would pass on this one even if the battery platform was in my wheelhouse. I’m not sure that I see the point of this tool or how the motion and power provided by the motor would do any serious work (like cutting through heavy weed roots or cultivating compacted soil.) I am still open to the concept – and may look at the HD webpage for this tool (if it still exists a year from now) to see how folks rate it. I’m guessing that they may sell some ahead of the gardening – Morther’s Day – Father’s Day sales season.
Meanwhile I’ll keep using my 3-tined cultivator – or my wife’s favorite (Wilkinson Sword brand) Swoe
Here is Lee Valley’s version:
https://www.leevalley.com/en-us/shop/garden/garden-care/hoes/44723-lee-valley-swoe?item=PD215
Ted
Insightful! Thanks Fred!!!
Saulac
I like the concept. Same way with how sod cutters work. But think this is too light duty to actually worth it. 350 OPM is about 1/10 of the speed of typical reciprocal saws.
I know a guy that do have lot of tools, but only the absolute cheapest version of every tools. Oftentimes, he said he need to find a way to do something, and I mentioned a tool that would help, only to have him say that he already have a tool like that and it does not work. Then proceed to tell/show me the absolute worst version of said tools.
That said, what do I have if I fashion a mini/micro version of this “hoe blade” to fit into an oscillating tool? A handheld powered hoe? Modified the cutting part of the “hoe blade” further into cutting/scrapping/abrasive…Do I get a new “class” of oscillating tool? Note how the “hoe blade”, for the lack of better words, would change how the blade contact the work piece, like circular sander vs surface conditioning tool.
MM
As others have said it’s great that Ryobi is being innovative. However I also agree with the skeptics, I don’t think this tool is going to be of much value. Even if it does work it’s several times the weight of a manual hoe, so if you can’t use a normal hoe due to physical condition, arthritis, age, etc, I don’t see how this will be much better. You’re also having to hold all that weight out in front of you, unlike a normal hoe there’s no long handle which provides some balance for the weight of the head.
I am a believer in high quality traditional garden tools. There is a time and a place for power OPE, but I don’t think this is it. And if a power cultivation tool is justified I think there much more capable options out there.
TonyT
If I still had a garden, I’d be more interested in the Ryobi compact cultivator:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-ONE-18V-Cordless-Compact-Battery-Cultivator-Tool-Only-P2909BTL/320454549
but I think $120 is too much (unless it works REALLY well and I was sure I’d be using it often).
Adam
I do like stirrup style hoes (the “Hula Hoe” is my preferred brand) well enough to have bought a long-handled one for standup use, and a short handled one for raised beds and tight quarters. It’s a really great forward-back action to cut off plants below the soil line without too much disruption of the soil web.
This has a similar shaped head, and I suppose the oscillating action could could be helpful to those with wrist or shoulder infirmities. In general, though, the small cross section and sharp edges provide very minimal resistance to use even in previously-undisturbed soils, so this may be a bit of a solution in search of a problem.
Dustin
I thought this was an April fool’s add at first glance.
Kevin
For good or ill, this is something Ryobi does all the time. They try new things. Sometimes it works, often it doesn’t.
Joe H
I thought this was a late April Fools day joke at first for a moment.
Harrison
“I’ll take ‘Future e-waste’ for 200, Alex.”
Andy
The video of it in operation does *not* make it look very fun to use, ha ha. “Do you enjoy the feeling of hitting a stud with the tip of your recip saw? Then you’ll love the kick of this powered hoe!”
Jared
I just watched the video too, because I couldn’t wrap my head around how it was supposed to work. After the video… I still don’t get it.
It looks to shake the whole tool as it oscillates the blade. I’m also not convinced it could handle the forces if you tried to bear down on it to dig into harder soil. Plus it’s heavy and looks hard to be precise.
Mike
This is a solution looking for a problem – like shaving with CCTV instead of a mirror.
Jack S
Kudos to Ryobi for giving the idea a shot, but it doesn’t appear to be a practical solution after watching the video: 1) Soil must be loose; 2) Significant “jerkiness” of the tool; and, 3) It cuts the weed just below the surface which leaves the root and literally guarantees the weed will return. Many years ago I thought removing the weed above or just beneath the surface was sufficient, but learned that lesson the hard way. It seems that those who purchase this product will find that out soon enough. Nowadays, my weeds are fairly under control and I find the Fiskars 4-prong stand-up weed puller and a backpack sprayer very useful.
Daniel
One hundred and fifty square feet per charge? I’m not sure how much the average person needs to cultivate but that’s just over 12’X12′; not exactly ground breaking, pardon the pun.
Don+Julio
Am I the only one who first thought the headline read “Cordless Oscillating Garden Hose?”
Maybe next year? One can only hope.
Rx9
I could swear I’ve seen this kind of thing before as a Sears-era Craftsman trimmer attachment. It’s niche for sure, but I suppose someone would use it.
kri
pro version from pellenc french think they are specialied in winerys in the us market
https://www.pellenc.com/en-gb/our-products/from-the-vineyard-to-the-winery/vine-growing/battery-power-tools/cultivion-alpha