Posted: 5/3/2002 11:55:53 AM EDT
| I'm talking about the drill/driver 18v for a hundred bucks. Is it worth it? Anybody have experience with Ryobi tools? Thanks guys. |
| I have a ryobi gas weed whacker, no complaints. I just bought a B&D Firestorm 18V, they are offering a 20.00 rebate till June I think. It's a great drill, it not a dewalt , but it was not 250.00 either. Unless you are a contractor a dewalt is overkill for the homehandy man. The 18V firestorm cost me 89.00 after rebate. |
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Their cordless drills are about the best you're going to find, you won't be sorry. I've pretty much switched to nothing but Ryobi and Milwaukee tools for a decade or two (Blackhawk & Pre-Ridco Ridgids are great where applicable - IF you can find them). DeWalt makes rugged, reliable, and accurate tools too (although they're getting weird lately). |
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Quoted: Their cordless drills are about the best you're going to find, you won't be sorry. I've pretty much switched to nothing but Ryobi and Milwaukee tools for a decade or two (Blackhawk & Pre-Ridco Ridgids are great where applicable - IF you can find them). DeWalt makes rugged, reliable, and accurate tools too (although they're getting weird lately). I have alot of RIGID woodworking & shop tools. They are my 2nd choice when I can't afford Milwaukee or DeFault. I like Makita coldless drills. |
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You can get an Dewalt 18v drill with 2 batteries and a case for $135 from Tool King. [url]http://www.toolking.com/shop/view.asp?ID=223[/url] It's factory reconditioned but I've bought several reconditioned tools from them and had no problems. It has a one year Dewalt warranty, just in case. Oh yeah, free shipping too. |
| When I bought my house last fall I went out and bought a Ryobi 18 volt combination tool set (cordless drill/driver, reciprocating saw, circular saw, flashlight, case). Paid $200 for it and think I got a good bargain. The stuff may or may not be contractor grade but for home use it is good stuff. |
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Quoted: ...snip... Dewalt is made by Black and Decker.... It's just that, a glorified Black and Decker... Yes, Dewalt is owned by B&D, but the Dewalt tools I've used and/or owned are far from being glorified B&D models. I'm a cabinetmaker and I use my tools daily to make a living. I don't just shine them up and hang them on the pegboard in the garage to look pretty. I've got a Dewalt biscuit joiner that has taken several tumbles off my bench in the five or six years I've had it. Nothing broken and still accurate. Same thing with my Dewalt jigsaw. I've also got a Dewalt laminate router that has given me no problems since I've owned it. I don't like the height adjustment on it, but since I mainly use it to trim laminate edges and scribe countertops to walls, it's no big deal. I had a Dewalt drill/driver that I was happy with until somebody ripped it off at a job site. I also have Makita and Porter-Cable tools. I've broken two different bases on my Makita 3 hp plunge router. Not from abuse; the bases are made from crappy pot metal. Two of my drills are Makitas and they've given me good service. I've also got a couple of Porter-Cable routers and those things are tough and dependable. Why is Hitachi so far down on your list? I had a Hitachi sliding miter saw a few years ago (until it was stolen, too) that was great. I replaced it with a Makita that has so much flex in the slide that it's useless for precision trim work. I've also used a planer/jointer and a resaw bandsaw, both made by Hitachi and both were great tools. I like Milwaukee drills and, of course, the Sawz-all. I don't know much about their other tools. Delta used to be good, but they've really gone downhill since the Rockwell days. I agree that Craftsman power tools are the bottom of the barrel. |
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[b]rainman[/b], I've had that same 18 volt $99.95 Home Depot special for about 6 months now, and really like it. Haven't put a lot of use or abuse on it, but it seems to be very well screwed together. It could be a little smaller for some jobs — The extra length of the 2-speed gearbox makes getting in tight corners a tad difficult sometimes. I've had very good luck with an earlier corded Ryobi drill/driver, and bought this one based on the apparent value — seems to be much better put together than anything else you can get for the same money. However, Ryobi's top product line stops just about where Makita's, DeWalt's and Milwaukee's start, so either of those other three brands are probably better yet — if you want to pay the extra for them. Incidentally, Ryobi just recently bought out Homelite (which was briefly owned by John Deere). Not sure how this will affect their gas-powered product line. |
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One good power tool I've had experience with is the Milwaukee circular saw. We had one at a company where I used to work, which was purchased specifically for cutting [b]ALUMINUM[/b]. We used to rip 12 foot long sheets of 3/4" thick inch 6061 aluminum into strips about 12 inches wide, then stack those 2 layers thick and cut them into short rectangles. We also rough-cut irregular "boomerang" shapes out of 3/8" plate, plunging straight downward into the center of the sheet. OSHA would've had a field day if they saw us in action. When new, the Milwaukee gave off a bad "overheating" smell. But I showed it no mercy (It wasn't MY saw!) and it was still going strong 5 years later when I switched jobs. Everybody used to hate that sawing, except me. I'd put on goggles, dust mask and double hearing protection, wire back the blade guard, and go at it. I sort of enjoyed the brutality of it. We used standard carbide wood-cutting blades, lubricated with spray furniture polish. Used to go through a lot of blades, though I kept on using them until 3 or 4 teeth had flown off. I never liked the saw's aluminum "shoe" (which was sticky sliding on other aluminum in our application) and the saw's depth adjustment was a bit fiddly, but that was one tough SOB. Oh yeah: Craftsman power tools suck. |