When working on a smaller construction or repair project, you can get away with mixing concrete by hand in a wheelbarrow or other container, but you might wear yourself out if you need to mix something like 80 pounds or more. A cement mixer not only takes the labor out of making concrete, but it's also faster and can produce more of a consistent blend, especially if you're hand mixing a lot at once.
Ryobi is one of the tool and outdoor equipment brands that offers a cement mixer and, while the company
isn't giving it away, it's still priced reasonably enough that it's practical to add one to your tool shed — even if you're just a DIY-er and not a professional. Ryobi's Concrete Mixer isn't an industrial-sized barrel that needs to be mounted on a truck — it has a 5 cubic-foot listed capacity. (You shouldn't fill mixers completely, so consider its capacity a little smaller than that.) You won't be building a parking lot with that much concrete, but it's certainly enough for small to medium jobs. According to one Ryobi customer, "it can EASILY mix two 60-pound bags of concrete at a time." That's enough to repair or replace a sidewalk slab or porch step, and of course you can keep refilling it for larger pieces.
The Ryobi Portable Cement Mixer is powered by a ½-horsepower direct drive motor that runs on electricity, using a standard three-prong plug for 120V circuits. Built with steel, it's durable enough for rougher job sites. The tilting/pivoting drum is integrated with a wheeled stand that you can move to where needed. After your concrete dries, you can touch up any rough patches with Ryobi's USB Lithium Detail Scrubber — one of the brand's useful cleaning tools that aren't as well-known.
Read more: 6 Ryobi Tools You Should Avoid (According To Users)
There's Only One Place Ryobi's Concrete Mixer Is Currently Available
Many Ryobi products can be purchased directly from Ryobi or elsewhere online from retailers like Amazon and Walmart, but certain items are sold exclusively by Home Depot. This includes the Ryobi Concrete Mixer — you currently won't find it anywhere else, unless it's perhaps a pre-owned one on Facebook Marketplace or another secondhand platform. Even if you try to purchase the mixer directly from Ryobi through its online product page, you'll be redirected to Home Depot's website after adding it to your cart. If you could cut out the middleman, though, it still wouldn't be any cheaper to buy the Ryobi product directly.
Home Depot sells the Ryobi Portable Cement Mixer (product code RMX001) for $349 — the same list price found on Ryobi's website. At that cost, the mixer's price falls somewhere lower than Yardmax's same-sized model but higher than lesser-known brands such as Oarlike. It can be purchased in-store if it's in stock, or you can order online and either pick it up from a local brick-and-mortar location or have it delivered, depending on availability where you are. Ryobi's Portable Concrete Mixer is backed by a three-year manufacturer's warranty.
Everything but the cement is included with the purchase: the mixer and mixing tines, 5 cubic-feet barrel, stand assembly wheels, and necessary tools for assembly. Fortunately, Quickrete concrete mix is easy to come by, and you're not limited to Home Depot if you need to pick some up. But if you're perusing its aisles or webpages for other equipment in addition to Ryobi's portable concrete mixer, Home Depot sells top-rated Ryobi tools of all kinds, including some that, like the mixer, are exclusively available from the retailer.
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