Cordless drill/drivers

[Skyco]

I have a bunch of the Ryobi stuff and have been very satisified. I recently bought one of their new lithium batteries as most of my old nicads were dying from heavy use. Wow that lithium is fantastic, it better be cause it costs a whole lot more than the nicads and I had to buy a new charger for it too. I ended up getting their 6 position charger- it keeps them all topped off, in any mix of lithium or nicad, and ready to go- sweet:thumbsup:

Be aware the Ryobi 18V stuff is exclusive to Home Depot so no deals are generally available anywhere else..

 

[Dargo]

I have a bunch of the Ryobi stuff and have been very satisified. I recently bought one of their new lithium batteries as most of my old nicads were dying from heavy use. Wow that lithium is fantastic, it better be cause it costs a whole lot more than the nicads and I had to buy a new charger for it too. I ended up getting their 6 position charger- it keeps them all topped off, in any mix of lithium or nicad, and ready to go- sweet:thumbsup:

Be aware the Ryobi 18V stuff is exclusive to Home Depot so no deals are generally available anywhere else..

I've been pleasantly surprised with my "cheapo" (relative term - nothing is cheap) 'factory reconditioned' Ryobi 18v complete set I bought. It came with the sawsall, circular saw, drill/screw gun and 2 full sized 18v batteries and 1 half size 18v battery. All batteries are lithium ion. I didn't want to take my expensive DeWalt and Milwaukee stuff out when rebuilding the dock on my lake. I like the Ryobi 18v stuff.

When I was putting a new deck on my 15' 12 ton equipment trailer, the 18v Ryobi would not shoot the self tapping screws through the 2X8 boards (well, it did do the boards) and 3/8" channel under each board. That steel channel was just too much for it. To be fair, my 18v DeWalt or Porter Cable screw guns wouldn't do it either. I discovered that my 36v DeWalt was literally stronger than my corded Milwaukee 1/2" drill! The corded drill would simply run out of power once it started cutting it's own threads in the 3/8" channel where the 36v DeWalt would keep going no problem as long as I had it on the lowest of the 3 speeds. It would start in the 2nd speed but run out of power and I had to stop, flip it to the low speed, and then finish setting the screws.

Did I mention my hands are sore after doing a hundred or so of those? The self drilling/tapping screws were far better than drilling pilot holes and then using the torx self tapping screws. Apparently when you drill through wood and then steel you stop any air from cooling the drill bit and it gets smoked after about 2 holes. That got old fast and the local contractor warehouse said they couldn't warrant any more after I killed 2 of the $25 bits in an hour. They said I'd need to need to remove the boards and drill through the steel and then line the boards up with the holes I'd drilled. That was going to be almost impossible.

 

[jimmyj]

Apparently you can recharge or reset the batteries. My neighbor sent away for instructions and it has worked so far. I don't remember the exact science but you get a charged battery that is more powerful than the one you want to fix. You "tap" the positive from the bigger battery on the postive of yours every couple of seconds for 30 seconds and somehow it fixes it.

THESE INSTRUCTIONS may not be right, so do your checking before you try anything. I saw it with my own eyes and it worked. That was a couple of months ago and the batteries are still going so?????

 

[HCJtractor]

If you use yours like mine and drive a lot of screws, and drill fewer holes, the best tool is the little impact driver, such as the Hitachi or Dewalt 18 volt. The impact driver is lots smaller, lighter, more ergonomic and will flat out drive twice the screws faster and better than a drill/driver. The bit does not tend to slip like it does on a drill/driver. It also drills just fine for the occasional drill use (but needs the quick attach style bits as it does not have a chuck) Really, I need both, a drill/driver for drilling, and a impact driver for screws. I use my impact driver about 90 percent of the time, and it works unbelievable better than a drill, and is half the weight, and has twice the battery life, and the quick change stye bits are nice.

 

[Bartcephus]

I replaced a stolen 18V set DeWalt set. The new set did not have the plastic formed case, it came with a "contractor's bag." It also had one of those impact drivers. I had never used one before, but those things are flat out AWESOME. The 1/2" drill/hammer drill now has three ranges on the gearbox. (Old one had two.) The reciprocating saw has a quick chuck lever for blades and the Trim saw has a cast foot plate instead of a pressed one. I've never been disapointed in my DeWalt Cordless stuff. Doing without them for almost a year before replacing them was tough. I had even purchased replacement batteries before they were stolen. Now I'm back down to two working batteries, but the new chargers have a conditioning feature.

 

[timswi]

What kind of usage are we talking about? Construction work or hanging a picture occasionally? I was faced with the same dilemma last year (how can 2 batteries cost more than 2 batteries + a brand new drill?). For around the house, I got a Ryobi set that included a trim saw, sawzall, light, and drill/driver for $120 at Home Depot. I've been very pleased with it for my needs, I think you are gonna find that cordless tools have improved quite a bit in the last 10 years.

That's what I've been buying too. Have had great luck with Ryobi. And I don't feel too bad if I drop the drill from a 20ft ladder. For the price, I can just get a whole other set for half the price of a Dewalt.

I tried a Skil and Milwakee sets a couple of years ago when my drill finally gave out. For the price difference I wasn't impressed. Took them back and got another Ryobi 18v kit for $120 on sale.

 

[MicroPilot]

...i don't know about you guys but i can't imagine not having one at all. what did we do before cordless drills?

 

[jpm]

make sure you get the 18 v li set. the batterys last much longer and you can buy other tools to work with them

 

[gregsons]

2 years ago i bought a milwalkee w/ 2 batteries and charger. cost a little more but worth every dime.. RAVE RAVE RAVE!!!! oh Made in the good ole USA!!

 

[Redgoatea]

My dad and I have drill competitions all the time against each other. He with his 1 yr old 18v Ryobi impact and me with my 10 yr. old 18v Bosch. He swears he's gonna beat me one of these days but it hasn't happened yet. Granted I paid $200 for my drill but it's never let me down and I've never had a problem with it. Batteries are still going strong, the trick is to NEVER leave them in the charger for longer than it takes to charge them. Ryobi makes some decent stuff I buy it for my occasional use things. But I've had that Bosch all these years and he's gone through three or four Ryobis, DeWalts, and Milwaukees in the same time. It's worth my time and effort to spend a little extra cause tools only break when you need them most and I hate stopping a project just cause some cheap drill crapped out.