I currently have a 18V Dewalt cordless drill. It is a good drill but will soon need new batteries.
I saw a 14V Ryobi kit at Home Depot that includes a drill, small circular saw and a flashlight. All for less than $100.
Before you ask: I do have corded power tools for heavy use. These would be convenience tools for use under appropriate circumstances.
This is about what batteries would cost for the Dewalt.
Does anybody have experience and opinions with Ryobi products.
I would consider my use moderate to heavy DIY work.
I don;t wnat to insult anybody but I'm not asking for a bunch of folks to tell me "Only buy Milwaukee" or "only by Porter-Cable" or "only buy Dewalt".
I'm just looking ofr some feedback on the Ryobi line of products.
My past experience has been good, but want to know what others think.

Thanks in advance!

 

I have had Ryobi products in the past and still have a Ryobi table saw and I would have to say that I am not a huge fan... I will not buy their stuff any more. They are cheap and work ok (for a while) but I think there are better cheap options. For example, Hitachi makes a 14v drill/light combo for less than $100.

 

I own the same kit. The drill is good lots of power plus many settings. The skill saw I'd let my 6 yr son play with it useless. The sawsall is average plus,just eats alot of battery power quickly. I hardley use the vacum the kids like it. The light is a swivel (good)
If I had to do it over again I'd up grade to heavier set or piece it out as I needed it. I also have eletric tools just wanted power and convenience.
Rated 6 out of 10
Just one mans humble opinion
Cheers Craig

 

My brother bought that set a year or so ago. It now sits in his junk pile. I use my cordless drills for work so wouldn't consider buying it. I have the 14 volt Dewalt and a 18 volt Hitachi. Buying a new drill is the way to go. You get the drill, 2 new batteries and a charger for just a few dollars more than just getting new batteries. Doesn't make since.

 

I have that set with out the vaccum. I use it around the house and take it when camping. They changed the way the blade goes into the recip saw from when I bought mine and I like it better. Used the circular saw has been good for me. Used it for all the trim work and remodeling my kitchen. Flashlight is great. The drill I'm not to happy with. Plenty of power, but the bits turn inside the chuck alot. It is smooth inside the chuck and can not grab the bits as well as others that I have used. I have seen some on job sites when I was working and asked about them. The contractors said that the main reason they bought them was if they got up and walked away, it wasn't a costly lost like others and that when they broke, Home depot would replace them. They are made by the company that makes the kits for Sears. Rating: home use 7 out of 10. Heavy work use 5 out of 10.

Tom

 

I worked for a contractor for about a year, and I had experience with both Dewalts, Ryobi's, Black and Decker, etc. Out of them all, Dewalt comes out on top. Great all around tools. Ryobi's seem to be poorly built, I would stay away from them. Dewalt is the choice, spend the extra penny and get one. It will save you from having to buy another one in 6 months.

 

I go with the Dewalt on the cordless drill. They definitely seem to have the cordless drill market wrapped up. We use Dewalt cordless drills at work and they see a hard life, and keep on going. This comes from a Milwaukee tool fan.

 

I think it was a Dewalt that the doctors used when they put the screws in the plate in my neck. I saw a bright glowing yellow. At least I hope it was the Dewalt or I'm dead and still enjoying FTE.

 

little tibit of info.
I needed to drill a hole useing a hole saw and guess what. My crafts man and Dewalt cordless chucks wherent big enough. Only the Ryobi Chuck could hold the hole saw bit. what do you know. other than that. i think the DeWalt wins in performance and reliability.

 

I've had an 18 volt ryobi cordless drill for about 3 or 4 yrs now and it has worked great, and i dont exactly take good care of it.I will be needing some batteries soon but it has been a good tool.

 

I have had several ryobi JUNK items over the last few years. The firsr was a weedeater that died with low use and NO abuse within 3 months of purchase! No one would repair, replace or even offer to fix it! The cordless drill died the second day of installing drywall in a bedroom and as above no money back, no replace, no fix, No exchange!


Buy at your own risk, It may work and most likely won't

 

Thanks VERY much for all the input. It looks like I'll pass on the Ryobi kit.
Maybe just buy new batteries for the Dewalt, or look at a different kit from Dewalt or someone else.
Quite frankly, the Black and Decker stuff appears to offer much of the same quality without the Dewalt price.
Maybe I'll go with that.

 

Brian, have you considered Ridgid? They have an industry leading 3 year warranty on their power tools that includes batteries. It's going to run you about the same price as Dewalt would but in my experience with tools it's really well worth it. Included in the 3 year warranty is the 90 day satisfaction guarentee.

I work for Home Depot so I'm not really allowed to slam Ryobi due to it being one of our products but I wouldn't recommend them. Unless you were a house wife who wanted her own drill just to hang mini blindes with.

I've talked to a lot of contractors who are begining to buy Ridgid instead of Dewalt. I don't beleive that contractors are able to use the 3 year warranty but they always tell me. "If the product wasn't superb they wouldn't put this warranty on it because they'd never make a dime always repairing them." Not only that but Black & Decker (who owns Dewalt) just purchased Porter Cable and people want to wait and see if Black & Decker downgrades one or the other to just a DIY kind of tool instead of a professional tool. So that there would be 3 stages in the B&D family; Garbage (B&D name on the tool) - DIY (mainly for weekend use) - Contractor (professional grade tool).

By the way, while I'm on the subject of tools at Home Depot. I don't know how many weeks I'm going to look at the Home Depot ad and see Husky hand tools being more expensive then Craftsman while at the same time I throw them in frustration of them breaking on me at work.

- Chris

 

cordless skill saw?? i don't think so... i wanted a cordless drill but had second thoughts cuz i don't use my drill that often and dont want to have to replace a lazy battery

i bought one of those combo sets runs on 14v.. think its a jobmate or something

i got mine with a little vacuum cleaner... they had them with flashlights, skillsaws, hedge trimmer, jigsaw.. you name it

reason i picked the vacuum cleaner cuz my girlfriend can use it to sweep up crumbs and cat hair and that keeps the battery fresh

 

B&D is NOT the same as DeWalt. Same company, different tools, different quality standards.

As for cordless drills, you're going to get what you pay for. There's no way around it. Cheap cordless drills have a plastic transmission, costlier ones have a metal transmission. That's where most of the difference in cost is, though some of the difference is in the capacity/longevity/durability of the batteries.

Another option would be to have your DeWalt batteries rebuilt. You could do it (open the batteries up and solder in new rechargeable cells), or you could send them to:

www.primecell.com (no affiliation, but I've heard good things about them)

Jason