Thread: Sliding Drop Saw - Ryobi double price of Ozito... why?

Ryobi is a Hong Kong based worldwide conglomerate, you can only purchase Ryobi products in Australia and NZ via Bunnings.

Ozito is Bunnings house brand and as far as I understand it, is an abbreviation of two words, Aussie Tools, or Ozi tools to end up with Ozito.

If you own the house brand, obviously you are chopping out the middle man, so to speak.

Regardless, if you do a search of the forum you will find several threads on mitre saws, some quite recent. After reading these you should have a clearer idea of what is what and maybe a clearer idea of what you should or may purchase.

Getting back to your question, scrutinise the specification sheets of both mitre saws, you will start to see some differences, the most startling of which is power. The Ozito has 1600W whilst the Ryobi has 2000W. There are other more subtle differences in favour of the Ryobi, but in the main, not that many.

Mick.

Ozito tools are cheaply made and many shortcuts are taken. You may find that the plattern doesn't square up with the fence on both sides and the sliding parts have either play or flex. The blade will definitely be on the rough side. The low price reflects this.

Ryobi tools, on the other hand, are cheaply made and many shortcuts are taken. The higher price... doesn't represent a comparable improvement.

To put it in perspective, for twice the price you get about 20% better quality from Ryobi, but go up to $500 and you can pick up an AEG with more capacity and easily a tenfold improvement in every aspect of use; plus a stand.

However, you have already said that you're on a budget so I would go for the Ozito, but immediately replace the blade with a thin kerf Irwin. You will need to spend time setting up the fence and getting perfectly square cuts from one side of the blade. If you picked up a good one it will also cut square on the other side but don't take it for granted and simply accept that this is an expected drawback of a cheaper machine. You may need to check for square on a regular basis.

If you use the saw a lot; after a couple of years it will either burn out or the bearings will fail or something equally terminal will happen; at that point you will have gained sufficient experience to enable you to make an informed decision on your next saw; either to buy a much better quality tool (AEG, Makita, DeWalt or Hitachi) or stick with another cheapy but with the knowledge of how to get the best out of it.

Because Ozito is rubbish Ryobi is not far behind these days

If you do a lot of wood work, I would consider staying away from both brands.

Originally Posted by FurryMoses

I'd like to buy a sliding drop saw (mitre saw).
Having very little budget in this case, I was happy to find an Ozito for $179 and then a Ryobi for $329

See this comparison - Compare | Bunnings Warehouse,

I do a lot of woodwork on weekends and plan to for a very long time. Not professional, but I care for accuracy and a tool making the job easy.
I wouldn't mind stretching the budget from bottom of the barrel ($179) to maybe $300 to get a better quality (eg more accurate, longer lasting).

But I have difficult grasping how much better a Ryobi could be, considering both these tools are "DIY only" or "non commerical"

I mean how exactly do I justify paying *almost double* for the Ryobi here?

I'm leaning toward the idea that Ryobi are price gauging in Oz - Ryobi Slide Compound Mitre Saw 2000W 254mm | Bunnings Warehouse (The NZ dollar should make this item more expensive, not less)

Does anyone have a detailed, reasonably fair reason why I would pay double for a Ryobi in this case. What precisely would be better (mechanics/build/steel)...?

Do you really need a sliding mitre saw?
do you really need the ability to do compound cuts?

Usually you get more saw for your $ with non sliders.

as for the difference in cost between the Ozito and Ryobi ...
I don't believe anyone costs these sorts of tools on the basis of cost of production + small margin -- sale price is all about what the market will bear and where the brand is positioned in that market.

If you are doing ... "a lot of woodwork" ... you might want to consider better brand/quality.

Do some checking on brand history tho ... Most "brands" are just, long gone companies - that get the name jammed on a product from china or wherever.

... no different to the spanners being sold here as sidchrome ... and something else overseas.


I went through the ... which, cheap sliding mitre saw ... a while back, for occaisional use.

... and nearly bought an aeg from bunnings ... but a recent aeg belt sander purchase - proved I was wise not to buy the saw ..


Eventually I decided the, DIY Bosch on special with the stand, is probably the start point for a cheap, slider mitre saw.


... but what would I know ?, coz I ended up with one of these.




Its not real flash,
doesnt pretend to be a euro brand,
has some real rough edges,
throws sawdust in every direction but the bag,
and is woefully loud,

... but its still going, and even cuts accurate - as the young fella who sold it to me said it would ... So I figgered I have got my moneys worth.


I just wish ol mate was selling his old Modway radial arm saw at the time ... instead of this week ..

Originally Posted by Chief Tiff

... either to buy a much better quality tool (AEG, Makita, DeWalt or Hitachi) or stick with another cheapy but with the knowledge of how to get the best out of it.

AEG, Royobi, Milwaukee and Rigid are all made by a Hong Kong company Techtronic industries. The quality is no longer there. It appears that they are still trading off their names and all somewhat overpriced.

John

Depends what you want to use it for. The 10" Ryobi slider I have is good for docking wood for framing and rough cutting before further work but if you are looking for precision, forget it. The indent for (say) 90 degrees is only approximate so that I need to use a set square to set the blade accurately.

Originally Posted by FurryMoses

I do a lot of woodwork on weekends and plan to for a very long time. Not professional, but I care for accuracy and a tool making the job easy.
I wouldn't mind stretching the budget from bottom of the barrel ($179) to maybe $300 to get a better quality (eg more accurate, longer lasting).

But I have difficult grasping how much better a Ryobi could be, considering both these tools are "DIY only" or "non commerical"

Hi FurryMoses
I was given a Ryobi 10" SCMS for a fathers day present 5 or 6 years ago. I could never trust the accuracy and was forever checking and resetting for square. I upgraded the blade and this improved it a lot, but there was no way I could take out the blade wobble. It was ok for stud work and landscaping. I sold the unit to a formite and I think it is out west somewhere being used as a firewood cutter.

If as you say you want to do wood work for the long term and you value accuracy, then spring for a SCMS from a proper tradie tool store. I have a 10" DeWalt I brought from Sydney Tools but the Makita or Milwaukee would do as well.

TT

If you are not in any hurry find out when Techtronic is having there aniual sale and you can get a real good deal on a Ryobe, Milwaukee or an AEG for a lot less than the Ozito the sale is on once a year I just cant remember when but turn up there with a couple hundred and you will go home with a boot full of gear you didnt even plan to buy as well as what you went for.

Interesting that Ozito carry a longer warranty than most others.

The reason for the long warranty is that they cost so little to produce it is nothing to give out a replacement to those who bother to claim

and it costs less to replace 10% of the items sold than it would to improve manufacturing QC to reduce the replacement rate to less than 1%

also the long "warranty" is intended to instill confidence to first time buyers, who might only use the saw 10 times per year

I have an Ozito Rotary hammer drill and a 1050W corded drill. Can't fault the performance of either.

I have a Ryobi 18V Li ion cordless and a 71/4 inch Ryobi 240V circular saw. Can't fault them either.

HOWEVER I would not buy either brand of tool where accuracy was required. O drop saw or SCMS for
construction work with either brand would be fine, but if you are going to make, say, fine furniture or
spiphphy wooden boxes then forget theses brands. Not worth the frustration!!