The sears 19.2v craftsman sets have proved to be the cheapest and most reliable sets from my experience. I'm no pro but they survived a 7 years of restoration on a victorian house I foolishly bought. I can really see the quality difference to the pro setups Milwaukee / Bosch my pro buddies use. For 1/4 the cost my weekend warrior needs will never justify the cost delta. BTW Craftsman always runs some crazy cheap deals around Christmas.
Yeah, I forgot Bosch. Their corded tools are made by Bosch, but they buy cordless tools from the same company that does Craftsman's cordless things. But Bosch isn't a big player in the cordless market. My only complaint (minor) from the Craftsman stuff I've had is that the two speeds on the drill are too widely spaced. Low speed is super slow and high speed is too fast. Low speed kept snapping off drywall screws in studs, and high speed didn't have enough torque to drive them in. That was a decade ago, though. Might not be an issue now.
I'll preface this by saying I abuse drills. If they won't do what I want, they get replaced. 6" hole saws and 4" #14 screws into aluminum and steel are very hard on a drill, but that's what I expect them to do every day. If I get a year out of one, I call it a win.
In the last 2 year, I've bought 6 drills. 2 Makita, 2 Hitachi, 2 Rigid.
The Makita is a decent drill, their batteries suck. At 100 a pop, they should be more durable. After having 4 fail in 6 months, the drills went in the trash. I don't have time to be sending batteries back or run down to buy another one. Next!
The Makita drills had replaced two older Hitachis, they were heavy, but worked well so I tried two newer Hitachis. They were absolute junk. Weak, long charge times, short run times, both failed within 6 months one smoke motor, one broken gear set. Off to the trash they went.
Next up were two Rigid drills. They are 3 months old and are holding up fairly well. They have a electronic torque limit that kicks in too much, but it does seem to be saving the motor, battery and gear assembly. Battery life is pretty decent. I did have one charger die after a week, but HD replaced it with no questions. If they last a year I'll be happy and buy two more.
My house drill is a Hitachi. It's a pretty good drill. It's done everything I've ever asked it to, but it leads a pampered life.
In the past, I've use most manufacturers drills.
DeWalts sucked. Lousy chucks that wouldn't hold, gear sets made out of spun glass. They are on perma-ban. My last one took a flight off of a 40' extension ladder. Never again.
Bosh drills seem to love to eat switches. Good speed and torque, but switches would last months rather than years. That's been a while ago, so things may have changed.
The Ryobi stuff I had never failed, but they were slow, fairly weak, and are pretty cludgy. They are still better than DeWalt. I will say they have come a long way since I owned one and I looked at them pretty hard before I bought the Rigids. They are probably great for 95% of drill owners and if the Rigids puke, they may be next on the list.
curtis73 wrote: This all gets murked up, but I'll try to make some sense out of it. They all are basically made by one of two these days. That is not to say they're all the same, but the illusion of choice is a bit fun to walk through. I worked for Home Depot repair for a few years and I've seen them all, fixed them all, played with them all. For years, the real go-to was Milwaukee. They are still one of the best, but they have been bought by Dewalt. The whole kit and caboodle was bought up by Ridgid a few years ago along with Black and Decker. So under one hypothetical roof you have B&D, Ryobi, Homelite, Dewalt, Ridgid, and Milwaukee, and I would put them in that order of quality. Of all of those, I sill prefer the Milwaukee for overall quality. But... I personally own Ridgid. Their batteries suck, but the lifetime warranty is truly as good as it gets in the industry *as long as you register your tools.* If you don't, you don't get squat. I probably gave away $20,000 worth of inventory to Ridgid customes who brought in a tool for repair. Sometimes I repaired, but most of the time it was just a new one off the shelf. Ridgid guts are actual metal and soldered wire. Step down below Dewalt and you get plastic planetary gears and crimp connectors on the wires inside. I would still place Milwaukee above Ridgid in quality, but they have a flat 2- or 5-year warranty, which is what keeps me a Ridgid customer. My absolute only complaint about the Ridgid kit I have is that the sawzall doesn't have a very long stroke. Its plenty powerful, but the stroke is pathetic. The Hitatchi stuff is very good. I rarely saw them in for repair, but they also don't sell nearly as well so there aren't many out there compared to Ridgid. When they did come in, it was usually because of a bad trigger/switch or because the motor fried, but it was pretty rare. I usually advised Hitatchi customers to frequently blow out the vents with compressed air. They way they're vented sucks a lot of junk into the motors and they overheat.
Oh man, this is awesome! Thank you!
I also had no idea Ridgid had such a warranty, I will look very closely at those.
We only sell crappy DeWalts at work, and at a huge markup compared to Home Despot.
I've had the Ryobi stuff for years. The tools are marginal but functional, and cheap. The old NiCad batteries sucked. If you have Ryobi, on Black Friday you want to pick up the P122 battery kit, two of the huge Li-Ions. I use them on the reciprocating saw for yard trimming and they kick butt. They go on sale for $100/2pk about twice a year.
Rigid, because the warranty is great. I have yet to have one fail yet though... They also seem well made and don't feel chincey...
I had a Hitachi 14 volt for the last 8 years as my only drill. Never let me down, but battery life was always weak. Batteries finally died, and I replaced with a full porter cable 18 volt set. Nicest drill I've ever owned. Sawzall is fantastic. The flashlight is meh. Impact driver kind of weak, but does the job as long as its pretty light duty. Think valve covers and fenders, not lug nuts and control arms. The cordless circular was used once. It blows.
I've had very good luck with my Makita LXT's- I'm hard on them, very hard, but they have performed very well for 5 years. Finally had a battery die, and yes, the cost of replacement has me choking a bit. Thinking about buying another tool just for the batteries- thing with cordless is, you are really invested in the "system" once you buy. Wish there was a common battery mount so you could actually buy the tool you want rather than investing in the whole system.
Home Depot has the Ryobi 18v driller/impact combo for $99. The equivalent Rigid set is $199.
Which to buy?
If you can't be bothered to go through the hoops to register the Rigid stuff, Ryobi.
Just remember that you're buying into a whole range of tools. You'll want to share batteries across multiple tools, so look at everything that's available. The Ryobi One stuff is pretty strong this way. Dunno about Rigid, I only have one of their tools but I remember the registration process being a real PITA.
Take a look at the quality of the batteries being offered as well. I haven't been looking at the specific deals out there (I'm set for that sort of tool), but I know that Ryobi doesn't always put their best batteries in their combo deals.
And if you want a tool with some real balls, plug it into the wall or an air hose.
I have Ridgid. Registration took 5 minutes. It seemed like a worthwhile thing to do to get a lifetime warranty.
Nothing lasts in our shop at work like Ridgid cordless tools.
Maybe they've changed the process, I had to mail things in as well as register online, and within a relatively narrow window.
ryobi is for homeowners.
i got pissed at dewalt a few years ago after being their biggest fan due to newer batteries failing regularly and tools not lasting for professional work. i went and bought the 18v porter cable kit at lowes as well as the oscillating motherfunction tool, an extra impact, and angle grinder. the batteries last as long as the dewalts in the impacts, and they are nice quality. the angle grinder is awesome. the drills are OK not as good feeling as dewalt but they're also still going and i carry 4 dead dewalts around with me for some reason. the circ and recip saws are certainly not as powerful but do well with sharp blades. it's also impossible to go wrong with a corded recip saw for junkyard work.
ridgid stuff always had problems with battery life for use as well as dying permanently with me, i gave all that to my dad as he had some. the tools are nice but i would never buy again due to the battery problems i had.
I am a little surprised at the Ryobi love in this thread.
They are crap.
But, they are cheap, so I guess that wins them a few points.
Let me clarify...
You never explained your usage.
For homeowner and/or occasional use, Ryobis are perfectly serviceable.
But I work tools hard, and expect them to work hard for me. I am willing to pay more, because I want them to last.
If you've never dropped a tool off a roof onto concrete, driven 1000 screws at once, cut 500 2x4s in a row, or used a cordless hammer drill to chisel though a poured concrete wall, then you do not need what I need.
I buy Makita. Anything else I buy, I expect to throw away quickly.
I have some Makitas that have served me well for over 15 years of hard service.
i still have my first 18v dewalt drill, and it works fine. it feel 3 stories to concrete, drove every screw and lag in the first dozen decks i built. it's 18 years old. i ran it over and pushed it into the ground once, still works.
none purchased since then still work.
i never liked the feel of makita cordless tools for some reason, i like their corded stuff though and run my belt sander, grinder, rotary hammer very hard and they keep working.
My old cordless tools are all Makita, and have been in the family for decades at this point. I really like the new Makita stuff, but the bad battery stories have me a little hesitant to buy into that ecosystem for those kinds of problems. Rigid's warranty sounds FREAKIN AWESOME though...
Does anyone know who makes Ingersoll Rand's cordless tools, or are they on their own? I'm lusting after one of their 1/2" cordless impact wrenches but don't want to end up paying that premium for the name if it's got some other brand's issues too...
MattGent wrote: I've had the Ryobi stuff for years. The tools are marginal but functional, and cheap. The old NiCad batteries sucked. If you have Ryobi, on Black Friday you want to pick up the P122 battery kit, two of the huge Li-Ions. I use them on the reciprocating saw for yard trimming and they kick butt. They go on sale for $100/2pk about twice a year.
Looks like the stores overstocked and are now clearing out the P122 battery 2 pack for $25.02 at my local store 
the P108 4ah 18v Li-Ions. Samsung cells from what I've read.
My gf got me the Ryobi kit with the circular saw, drill, flashlight and the reciprocating saw for xmas so I picked up a few 
They aren't showing up on-line as being on sale.
BTW this thread depressed me because now I have no idea which cordless drill to buy.
spitfirebill wrote: They aren't showing up on-line as being on sale. BTW this thread depressed me because now I have no idea which cordless drill to buy.
If you're referring to the drills, my apologies, I necroposted to give a heads up on the batteries.
The battery 2packs are usually online only, they brought a bunch into the stores for black Friday and are now trying to clear them out. If you go to the website it will say online only and show $99 or so. If you go into the store and there are some left, they'll be either $50.04 or $25.02 depending on store. My store had over 16 packs left at $25.02.
They may be located on the endcap or elsewhere in the store and look like this;
Resellers are flooding ebay and they're popping up on Craigs.
I'd like to hear about the reliability of recent purchases from an industrial use standpoint.
Hearing SvreX and others talk about tools that were made 15 years ago gives a great indication of what they were like if you bought them back in those days, but doesn't give a good indication of what is coming off of the production lines now.
I hate battery-powered tools. A cord is always ready to plug into an outlet. I don't have to worry about charging batteries, finding the correct charger, and throwing away the tool when the batteries die because the battery costs more than the tool. Most of my corded tools were made in the 1980's, in the USA, and still work well. Most of my cordless tools are made in China, and have been replaced time and again when the batteries crap out. Garbage!
In reply to DuctTape&Bondo:
Crap I bought them a few weeks ago at $75. They only had a couple left though. Maybe I should go back.
I'm with 1988RedT2 on the battery part . . . . My firestorm 24v kit has been AWESOME!! Except for the cost of the damn batteries. @ $60 a piece, I might as well buy corded tools and extension cords.
1988RedT2 wrote: I hate battery-powered tools. A cord is always ready to plug into an outlet. I don't have to worry about charging batteries, finding the correct charger, and throwing away the tool when the batteries die because the battery costs more than the tool. Most of my corded tools were made in the 1980's, in the USA, and still work well. Most of my cordless tools are made in China, and have been replaced time and again when the batteries crap out. Garbage!
To each his own, but for me, a good cordless drill is a godsend. I've been helping build sets for my daughter's play for past 6 weeks. I've drilled a lot of holes and driven a lot of screws with my Dewalt, and it hasn't skipped a beat. I have a corded drill, but I only get it out when I need serious power. For 99% of my use, a cordless drill is the best, most convenient tool.
Working on these sets has been an interesting look at the average guy's power tools. There are about 10-15 of us working on them, and we all bring our own tools. I'd say it's about 50% Ryobi, maybe 20% Dewalt, 20% Craftsman, and the rest are a smattering of Makita, Milwaukee, and Bosch.
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