Thread: 18v drills, why so many choices

I agree - the choices provided are simply not the ones I have ever needed or wanted.

My requirements have for some time been,
- charger and spare battery
- a high torque, non-impact drill with decent speed range - weight not important
- a lightweight, non-impact drill with decent speed range - torque not important

What they should offer are deals like this
- any 2 power tools and charger = x% discount
- any 3 power tools and charger = y% discount
- any 4 power tools and charger = z% discount
etc.

Another who agrees with being too many but it it what it is.
Do you want to hang it off a nailbag like I do? If so your choice has just been culled to a very few. That feature alone was a must for me and it narrowed the field down to Makita & Milwaukee. When I finally went Makita then wondered if I should have gone Milwaukee as the US tradies seem to think the sun shines out of them. I had no reason to doubt but these forums sometimes put doubt in us.
Understand your needs and get what suits them.

Guess i just wanted to have a whinge,

on one level it's just a drill,
on the other it's buying into a system and will limit my choice of other battery tools....

i was at bunnings and kept going back to the ryobi because they have a laminate trimmer and a caulking gum in their range......

just waiting to see a deal so good it makes up my mind for me

DO NOT get a Milwaukee Fuel. My local tool repairer has bucket loads (i.e literally dozens) of failed Fuel motors from a variety of Milwaukee brushless tools. Actually, he rather likes the company, as it pays him a bonus on the warranty repair if he diagnoses the problem on the day of the tool coming in for repair. The actual repair invariably necessitates swapping out the entire motor assembly. OK for warranty repairs, but expensive for a tool ex warranty I should imagine.

If you want an inexpensive, reliable tool then buy a Makita. Legions of tradies (in the millions I suspect) use them every day around the globe. Cordless is Makita's particular forte. Whilst here have been some dogs produced over the years, they're sill more reliable than most, and pretty solid performers too. At a reasonable price. Likewise, Hitachi-Koki make a rather crude but extensive range of value-priced cordless trade tools too.

In my opinion, the current state of the art in cordless tools are Metabo's rather small but extremely well designed and made range. The best batteries available, with the longest runtime and best warranty too. So well-made in fact that even Mafell (makers of arguably the world's best & indisputably most expensive tradesman's tools) chose Metabo as supplier of their latest range of cordless drills & saws rather than develop their own. But they're not cheap. Quality seldom if ever is.

I have to say that I am quite happy with my recent Ryobi stuff. As it's purely for hobby use I'm not under time pressure, so saving a few extra seconds, or a tool that can withstand being smoked a few times when forced to do a job that's beyond it (or because I don't know what I'm doing) are not really on my list.

On the other hand, at the time Ryobi had the (IMHO) best cordless 18 gauge nailer, which was one of those 'gee, I must have one of those' tools for me.

So for me it was a case of manning up and realising that being able to afford a wider variety of toys tools was more important to me than packing a trade status symbol or proxy crotch bulge.

I recently purchased the Ryobi cordless circular saw, and I was quite pleased with its performance - happily powered through 35mm thick chipboard with laminate sheet on both faces, so it's certainly not a dinky little thing.

And that's my position on cordless tools; there's just too much development going on to consider them anything but 'disposable the next time battery sizes/types get upgraded' (unlike my 30 year old Makita 5900B saw or 650 watt Bosch impact drill, which are still going strong). Yes, my original 9 volt NiCd Makita still works, but who's going to spend $90 on a battery pack for that these days?

thanks everyone,
going cheaper for the drill and driver,
can always upgrade next time if i need to go pro

Is the stuffed battery on your AEG the same as the current model? I went orange a couple of years ago and swear by them. I still only use the two 2-½Ah batteries that came with my combo but have added the circular saw and the new interchangeable head thingy as well as a couple of corded tools. 6 year tool warranty with 3 year warranty on the batteries sold it for me.

Ryobi and I don't get on very well, it is highly unlikely I will ever purchase another Ryobi tool, to be frank I'd rather buy Ozito.

Two Ryobi items bought in the last 12 months, two returned within 48hrs.

That is the risk with Ryobi/Ozito. You have probably found that there is only one supplier, so it is unlikely you will be able to talk your way to a lower than sticker price.

We are lucky to have choice - perhaps that is a problem.

I bought a Makita drill 4 or 5 years ago, so have bought additional items including garden tools. I have multiple chargers, one in the car and one at home. The price of batteries I recon has come down, but the battery power has gone up. If you buy a tool (not charger) from overseas it will be compatible and work here.

Ryobi is AEG is Ridgid is Milwakee. Same basic tools: same manufacturer (TTI Industries out of Hong Kong).

Whether you buy cheaply or expensively the main difference between these tool families is in the colour of the casing.

AEG/Ridgid are very often the same tool, just with a different nameplate - Ridgid is the in-house tool brand of Home Depot in the US, hence the orange colour of AEG. So AEG is to Home Depot as Ozito is to Bunnings or Kobalt is to Masters (Lowes).

However, we only get six years warranty here on AEG; for Ridgid it's a lifetime service agreement - free batteries, free normal wear items (brushes, chucks, motors etc) and free servicing for the life of the tool.

Originally Posted by Lappa

Two Ryobi items bought in the last 12 months, two returned within 48hrs.

I bought a Ryobi strimmer from Bunnings quite a few years ago. Should've known better....

POS failed in less than an hour! Returned to Bunnings the next day, who kept me waiting over a month before announcing that there was no warranty repair applicable as the tool "had been abused". I threw it at him, & suggested that if he wanted to know what abuse means that I could show him an uncomfortable orifice in his anatomy into which I could insert said tool.

Funny thing is.... the Viking strimmer I replaced it with is still strong going some 10?? years later. Similar price too if memory serves me well.

Needless to say I haven't been near a Bunnings store since, & wouldn't touch a Ryobi tool even if paid to do so.

Like all cheap tools (and even some of the pricey ones), you have to pick and choose. I'd probably never buy a Ryobi biscuit jointer, but I can't really say if the extra $250 on the Makita was well spent or not. Again, my Ozito rotary hammer ($79) has done sterling service, and it sure beats paying $700 for a Hilti or even $400 for a Hitachi. My Ozito palm sander was total rubbish, though.

I first started with a Ryobi many years ago, I was always disappointed, never had much guts, batteries didn't last or hold a charge. Thinking that the cheapies would fill my limited needs I "upgraded" to a large GMC, the one with about 1000 extra drill drivers and the like. It was the same poor performance as the earlier Ryobi. Many years passed without a cordless and I relied on a battery powered $20 Bunnings job.

With a few extra jobs to do around the house I ended up picking up two of the 18v Protool drills that were on runout. Very happy with the quality, plenty of power for my needs, the batteries are still on their first charge and ready to go when I pick them up.

The one thing that did concern me is the limited, and expensive range of compatible Festool cordless tools.

I'm not for a moment regretting the purchase but if it wasn't such a good buy I would have headed down the Makia range due to the flexibility. There are plenty of cheap skins that pop up on Gumtree and provided you have the batteries and charger I could see this as being really handy in the workshop.