Ryobi cordless drills

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biskit

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3 Jan 2016
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I have 4 drills 2 I've taken to Power Tools (local repair man) to see if he can't sort them :( is it worth buying a new Ryobi, :?: or are there better options for me to consider. :?: I tried DeWalt before and did'nt like. Any good reports, what do you think. :?
 
I think it pretty much all comes down to personal preference. You'll find a lot of people disagree on this.

As such, I can't tell you what to get. But I can give a little run down on my experiences.

At home, my mainly used cordless tools are Ryobi. I have the older ones. I do like these, they have lasted me a good while and been used regularly. The batteries are now about knackered which brings me onto my main gripe; the price of the batteries. Yes, they can work on multiple tools but I find the cost hard to swallow when LiOn prices should be much lower by now with the advances in technology and the increasing use of them.

At work I use Makita LXT. They have lasted nearly 6 years and been very well used by students (I work in a construction college) whom give them a good bashing seems as they are not theirs to worry about. The original black and white ones have lasted well but the newer green ones, 6 of them, have all failed within 2 years with less use than the others (3 of them failed within 4 months). I know they are supposed to be internally the same but they certainly don't perform like they are. Seem to have less power and overheat much easier.

I have used Dewalt and personally don't rate them very highly at all. I think they are over priced for what they are.

For home I'm looking at some Erbauer 10.8v ones. Pretty cheap (screwfix onw brand cleverly disguised), batteries are MUCH cheaper but still last surprisingly long and they perform almost as well as the 18v ones.

Well, that's my input anyway.
 
I was sucked into the idea of the one + range, not being a tradesman and knowing Ryobi of old was a respectable brand I thought it'd be ok. My wife thought it'd be a good idea as she wouldn't be stuck for present ideas either.

I had two chargers fail on me and because of that I can't rate them. When I get round to it I'm going to replace them with Bosch.

I have a drill driver, impact driver and SDS, the drills perform fine and the 4ah batteries are awesome, iys the failure of the chargers that ruins my faith in the brand.
 
The batteries didn't last very long on my last Ryobi so I won't be buying another. Same with AEG.
 
I've got a lot of Ryobi kit and never had a problem. I do have the 6 battery charger. Damo did you have the small chargers that sit on the batteries or did you have the single fast chargers.


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been using Ryobi for years and they do get used a lot, I have had an old NiCad charger fail and the switch go a drill.

The Li-ion batteries are excellent and charge quickly, in addition the choice of tools are excellent

Was In Australia 2014, they have a greater choice of tooling than we do (picked up a cordless router which is brilliant for hinge recessing) apparently Bunnings are coming to the UK soon so may have the same choice as Aus

If I were you I would stick with Ryobi
 
Just had word the two drills are repaired :) I have 2 Li-ion and 4 Nicad those I've had to flick the charger switch on to get them to re-boot.
 
I've only got the Ryobi green kit and all of my batteries are Li ion, so I can't comment on the Ni Cad but I think the kit is good quality and excellent value for money. Impact driver is brilliant and only £60 if it dies after 18months it doesn't matter. The drills are good - although the new brushless looks very exciting. The only bit of kit that I've got that I don't think is great is their original green jigsaw, but that has now been replaced and the new one gets good reviews.

Did you know the impact driver has a higher torque rating than the Maktia options!

I was fitting a new shelf in a kitchen cupbaord yesterday and needed a right angle drill. Fortunately I have one in my Ryobi kit, it was about £40. If I 'd have gone for Dewalt or Makita then it would have been £150 and I wouldn't have one. I'm sure if you're a pro you might be tempted by the "professional" brands, but I see quite a few trades and I've seen more Ryobi kit appearing.
 
I've got 4 drills,saw,caulking gun,drywall cutter,radio just given Disco chicken (duck) my not wanted 4" grinder. So I do want an extra li-ion may get a couple of small ones. :wink:
 
I've got 4 small Li Ion batteries and two of the 4ah ones. I always find myself grabbing the small ones as there just less weight to be dealing with. It would be different if I was going to be onsite all day but in the workshop and around the house the small ones are great.
 

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