I love my Makita stuff. Part of it’s nostalgia—my dad was a carpenter and used all makita stuff, so it’s what I grew up on—but I don’t think there’s actually much difference between any of the mid/pro brands. I also have a smattering of corded HF for occasional use— like my angle grinder, sawzall, staple gun—and they’ve honestly never left me stranded. I’d say that unless there’s a glaring issue you have with your current ecosystem, there’s no real benefit to switching.
We use Ridgid tools at work. Outstanding tools. Lifetime battery warranties. Durable. I have 3 trucks outfitted with them. Drills, impacts, grinders, rotary hammer drills, circular saws, and demo saws. They guys are pretty hard on them but they handle the abuse very well.
I use Milwaukee M12 tools. Also outstanding tools. I tried Ridgid's 12v stuff first. They aren't as powerful or as durable as the Milwaukee tools. I just replaced the Hitachi 18v tools in my shop with Milwaukee M12.
M12 brings up another good option for the homeowner. Other than sinking big ass lag bolts or 3" #12 screws into pressure treaded for a whole afternoon, I use my M12 Fuel Impact exclusively over my M18 any more. The M12 has enough power to do the job and fits much better in a tool belt.
Only thing my little M12 hammer drill struggles with is 3/8 holes into 75 year old concrete or inch-plus spade bits, otherwise its pretty solid. If I am doing some big task and need the nut I will go for the M18 stuff, but recently for homeowner odds and ends my M18 impact and drill have been collecting dust.
This kit here would be an outstanding start.
Toyman has me honesty considering buying into Ridgid. Ideally I could find a ridgid 18v to (old) dewalt 18v adapter so I could keep using my old stuff, but those drills/drivers are like 10 years old so I might appreciate the upgrade anyway.
On a related note, I need to rip 3/8" - 3/4" plywood once in a while (mostly 1/2"). No more than probably 4 cuts. Would a 6.5" saw work well for this?
In reply to ProDarwin :
We use the Ridgid battery saws to cut down 1 3/4" thick wood door panels. The 4ah battery will make quite a few cuts on a charge. The 2ah battery strains a little but it will make 5-6 cuts as well. You do need a sharp blade. Dull blades kill the batteries pretty quickly.
I'm guessing you are using the 7.25" saws for that? Still that gives me plenty of confidence that the 6.5" will be totally fine for my usage. I know thats a less common size, but I think I would prefer it because of how light weight it is (and less space on the shelf).
Mainly its just chopping up material that has been swiss cheesed by the CNC and keeping the good parts to toss back on the machine.
californiamilleghia said:Cheap wise , Walmart has the HART brand , decent stuff and often on sale
most are sold without battery/charger .
I have drill, sawsall , tire inflator , weed wacker and the impact driver
Hart is basically Ryobi Tools in a white and blue disguise and is only sold at WallyWorld. All design and development is done by the same team in SC that also designs Ryobi and Ridgid power tools. Milwaukee may be under the TTI umbrella but does their own development and is a very different animal.
wvumtnbkr said:Just so y'all know, there are battery adapters to use almost any battery with any tool.
This makes it easy to start changing eco systems. I was all in on the craftsman c3 stuff over the years. All the tools work great, but batteries are crazy expensive and aren't that good anymore.
My dewalt 20v to c3 adapter means I have started buying into dewalt and can use those batteries in my craftsman stuff.
Got any links? I've had the thought of adapters for batts in my head s long time.
In reply to ProDarwin :
Correct. We are using the 7.25 saws.
I have all Dewalt and would be hard pressed to change only because of how many tools I have and batteries/chargers. I have multiple drills (3), an impact gun, recip saw, circular saw, lawn trimmer, radio, flash lights (3), 10-12 batteries and 10-12 batteries.
I date my batteries so I can track how long they last and I have some from 2011 that work OK. I tried some knockoff batteries and they sucked. They weighed about half as much too so we're genuinely junk.
Well I appreciate all the input and I decided to just stay with Ryobi. They have tools for automotive and just expanded the line, my construction stuff I need, and craft stuff for SWMBO (glue gun and soldering iron plus she wants a stick vac now)
I found a seller that buys the return pallets and sells them real cheap. He had a bunch of Milwaukee, rigid, DeWalt and Ryobi. I picked up the newest brushless reciprocating saw, oscillating tool, and 6.5" circular saw plus a 4ah HP+ battery for 110. My brother bought the newest 18v weed whacker for 15. His selection is always different so looks like weekly trips are in the foreseeable future for us.
The all worked flawlessly this weekend and I wasn't dragging extension cords everywhere so I'm happy
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