Brushless Update Gives Ryobi’s 18V Pruning Shears A Greater Cutting Capacity
Not everyone enjoys the process of trimming trees. In our area, crepe myrtles require regular maintenance during the two primary growing seasons. Any time you can substitute a nice battery-powered tool for a manual one—you make those chores easier. The Ryobi 18V brushless pruning shears improve the brand’s existing cordless pruner with an updated motor and more capacity. We cover the new features of this tool to see how well it compares to the original as well as others.
Ryobi 18V Brushless Pruning Shears: The Big Deal
The Ryobi 18V brushless doesn’t just update a manual tool—it also updates their P2504. No matter what, this tool should make for a significant improvement over hand pruning. The tool features 2-inch cutting blades in a bypass design—matching what you typically find with a pair of hand shears. Of course, now the 18V brushless motor drives those blades, eliminating the effort required when cutting.
And what can you cut? The Ryobi 18V brushless shears cut up to 1-inch branches. That’s a 1/4-inch improvement over the brushed Ryobi P2540VNM pruning shears. The 1-inch capacity should help when cutting those larger branches. Whether you simply waited too long or perhaps you’re just settling into a new home, it’s not hard to find branches 1-inch thick that need trimming.
Using the Ryobi Battery-Powered Brushless Shears
To start cutting branches, you squeeze the safety “lock-out trigger” while squeezing the switch trigger. This also opens the blade if it’s closed. The tool functions such that squeezing the trigger opens the blade while releasing it closes the blade.
The action feels very intuitive (we tried it).
With the blade opened, bring the tool to the branch and squeeze the trigger to close the blades completely. The blades will stay closed until you release the trigger to reset the tool.
Tool-free Removable Blade
One thing we really like about this tool includes the ability to remove the blades without having to reach for another tool. We don’t like having to have tools for our tools when we can help it! For reference, the Milwaukee M12 brushless pruning shears and the DeWalt 20V cordless pruner both require tools to remove or change the blades.
You can remove the blades for either replacement or sharpening. With how small they are, sharpening should prove an easy task and well worth your time. Currently, we don’t see anywhere that sells replacement blades, unfortunately—so sharpening may play a key role.
Additional Features
- LED work light located underneath the blades helps you see in low-light conditions
- Soft-grip handle
Ryobi 18V Brushless Pruning Shears Price
These pruning shears retail for $179 for the bare tool. There’s also a kit option that includes a 2Ah battery and a charger for $209. For just $30 more, the kit makes a lot of sense. Like with all Ryobi products, you can find both versions exclusively at The Home Depot. Ryobi also backs your purchase with a 3-year warranty.
Looking for the bare tool? Get it here .
Specifications
- Model: Ryobi P2505BTLVNM (bare) / P2550VNM (kit)
- Length: 11.5 in
- Width: 2 in
- Weight: 1.8 lbs.
- Blade length: 2 in
- Max cutting capacity: 1 in
- Voltage: 18V
