3 more must-have Ryobi tools you can't find at Home Depot

Walking into Home Depot usually gives you the feeling that you've seen every cordless tool Ryobi makes. Ryobi has a deal to only sell its tools at Home Depot in the United States, so it's hard to find them anywhere else. The thing is that other regions get heavy yard equipment that never touches domestic shelves, and some of it is amazing and worth the money.

This chainsaw handles timber that wears down smaller models

You just need to watch the weight and kickback risk

The Ryobi 36V HP Brushless 20" Chainsaw is the largest cordless chainsaw Ryobi has in New Zealand. This thing is made for big jobs. You can get it from Ryobi's official site for NZ$1,099. It's built to handle work you'd typically need a 50cc petrol saw for, like dropping big trees or slicing through thick logs.

It's got a 36V HP brushless motor paired with a big 8Ah battery. The chain spins at 25 meters per second around a 508mm bar. The saw cuts through material up to 500mm wide.

This one doesn't seem to be sold in the US at all, so don't expect to see it at Home Depot. The company mentioned on its page that it handles tough Australian hardwoods like red gum, jarrah, and ironbark. Those timbers wear out weaker saws pretty fast, so it makes sense that Ryobi would build such a powerful chainsaw.

Still, if you're looking at this saw because of Ryobi's "petrol-equivalent" marketing, you're gonna want to check the fine print. That claim comes from a peak torque comparison with a standard 50cc petrol saw. It doesn't reflect actual cutting speed or how the saw holds up during long, heavy use. If you use it yourself in tough conditions, you might get a different result.

Then there's the question of handling a saw this big. It weighs 13.2 pounds (6kg) without the battery, has a long 20-inch bar, and runs at 105.4 dB(A). That makes it tiring to use, and it carries more kickback risk than smaller saws.

Ryobi added a few features to help with that. A mechanical chain brake stops the chain right away if the saw suddenly kicks back. That can save a limb or a life, so that's important to have.

It has dual bar studs and a captive nut system to hold the bar in place, so hardware doesn't go missing when you do field maintenance. Metal bucking spikes on the body bite into the log and give you a firm pivot point during deep cuts. There's also a built-in felling line on the housing to help you line up notch cuts accurately when dropping trees.

You can clean up garden waste quietly

It comes with a nice drum design

The Ryobi 36V MAX POWER Cordless Brushless Shredder is Ryobi's first battery-powered garden shredder, sold in the UK and Europe as a bare tool for 499.99. Instead of fast-spinning blades like many cheaper shredders use, this one has a slow-turning drum that crushes and shears branches against an adjustable plate inside the machine.

The drum takes branches up to 40mm thick. It pulls material in on its own with a two-speed self-feed system that adjusts based on what you're putting in. So it can handle fresh green growth or tougher dry wood. If something jams, it has an auto-reverse function that will spin the drum backward to clear the blockage without you reaching into the chute. Reaching in there is always dangerous, so it's nice to have a way around it.

Going cordless is the big bonus to this tool. The shredder sits on a metal frame with large wheels, so you can roll it around the garden or forest and shred branches right where they fall instead of dragging them across the yard.

It comes with a 55-liter collection bin that doubles as a storage tub for the shredder body when it's not in use, which helps if your shed or garage space is tight.

The price is the sticking point here. The tool doesn't come with batteries or a charger, so you'll need to add that cost on top of the price. Ryobi rates runtime at about 25 minutes with a 2.0Ah battery and roughly 63 minutes with a 5.0Ah pack.

Traditional blade shredders are loud and need regular blade sharpening. They can also throw material back through the chute with some force. This drum-based Whisper Series machine runs at just 84.4 dB(A). It has no blades to maintain and feeds itself. If you do regular garden maintenance and want something quiet and low-hassle, the higher upfront cost is worth it.

You can dig fence post holes without hiring another person

The built-in sensors keep the handles from twisting your wrists

The Ryobi 36V HP Brushless Post Hole Digger is a one-person cordless earth auger sold for AU$699, and it comes with a 6Ah battery and a 4A fast charger. It's meant to replace manual post hole diggers and the clunky two-person petrol augers. The brushless motor drives a 200mm steel auger bit to dig holes up to 400mm deep.

Ryobi rates it at up to 72 holes per charge in normal soil conditions. That should cover most fencing, gate, or decking jobs.

Kickback is the biggest safety worry with any powered auger. If the spinning bit hits a rock, root, or dense clay layer and suddenly locks up, the handles can whip around and hurt your hands or body. Ryobi gets around this with an electronic anti-kickback system that cuts power to the motor within a fraction of a second if sensors pick up a sudden stall.

When it triggers, an indicator on the control panel tells you the safety system has stepped in.

The digger has two forward speed settings and a reverse mode. Low speed gives you maximum torque for breaking through hard ground. Reverse helps you pull the bit free when it's stuck in heavy clay or compacted soil. The wide steel frame handle spreads the 33.1-pound (15kg) weight across your upper body instead of concentrating it in your hands. The powerhead also accepts different bit diameters and uses a quick-release pin, so swapping bits and packing the tool away is simple.

Sometimes the better buy isn't at Home Depot

Home Depot is convenient, and there are plenty of stores nationwide, so it's hard to argue that importing outdoor equipment always makes sense. The issue is that hardware store options leave a massive gap if you run a rural property or tackle heavy clearing work without gas. Sometimes it's worth going out of your way to shop online instead of in a store.