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Personally I use this in terms of trickle-down technology. If a feature appears on a Milwaukee, it will shortly appear on A Ridgid or Ryobi soon. This was the c

Personally I use this in terms of trickle-down technology. If a feature appears on a Milwaukee, it will shortly appear on A Ridgid or Ryobi soon. This was the case for hydraulic impact drivers, that first came out on the Ridgid then Ryobi and Milwaukee soon after. But it's really about the entire tool family and how much does it fit you. Since you're not buying a single tool but more about buying the battery format. So if you need garden tools maybe down the line, check out a tool lineup that offers this, even if it's a remote possibility. All of the tools IMHO are well built and I doubt there's a huge gap in performance.

exhilaration 6y ago
Wait, you're saying that Ridgid, Ryobi and Milwaukee can share batteries and chargers?
- fragmede 6y ago
  Not sure why you're downvoted, but perhaps apropos for the maker/hardware hacker-inclined, the packs I've seen are just 18650 cells (same as used en-mass on original Teslas) inside of a 3D-(re)printable plastic shell, and some hackable electronics. #righttorepair
throwanem 6y ago
There's a pretty huge gap in durability. I had a Ryobi starter-set drill blow out its MOSFET midway through taking an Ikea bed apart. The starter-set Milwaukee M12 I replaced it with is considerably better built, notably in having a much higher-rated flyback diode and better heat sinking. As a bonus, it has a sprag clutch behind the chuck, which makes it a lot nicer to use. That said, I'd still point at Ryobi as a good place to start, or to move up from an Ikea toy or whatever. They're fine for occasional, light-duty kind of use, and they have a wide range of cheap 'n cheerful stuff that'll take the 18v One+ batteries - the drill might be dead (until I get around to resurrecting it), but I'm still getting good service out of its batteries in the $100 weed eater I use a couple times a year. (Also, that $50 Ryobi starter drill, plus a cheap rotary scrubber head off Amazon, makes a great tool for getting rid of stubborn mildew. That's the other thing I like about them: they're cheap enough that you can try dumb shit and not be too upset if it blows up on you, or not really mind running it to death if it doesn't.)

exhilaration 6y ago

Wait, you're saying that Ridgid, Ryobi and Milwaukee can share batteries and chargers?

fragmede 6y ago
Not sure why you're downvoted, but perhaps apropos for the maker/hardware hacker-inclined, the packs I've seen are just 18650 cells (same as used en-mass on original Teslas) inside of a 3D-(re)printable plastic shell, and some hackable electronics. #righttorepair

throwanem 6y ago

There's a pretty huge gap in durability. I had a Ryobi starter-set drill blow out its MOSFET midway through taking an Ikea bed apart. The starter-set Milwaukee M12 I replaced it with is considerably better built, notably in having a much higher-rated flyback diode and better heat sinking. As a bonus, it has a sprag clutch behind the chuck, which makes it a lot nicer to use. That said, I'd still point at Ryobi as a good place to start, or to move up from an Ikea toy or whatever. They're fine for occasional, light-duty kind of use, and they have a wide range of cheap 'n cheerful stuff that'll take the 18v One+ batteries - the drill might be dead (until I get around to resurrecting it), but I'm still getting good service out of its batteries in the $100 weed eater I use a couple times a year. (Also, that $50 Ryobi starter drill, plus a cheap rotary scrubber head off Amazon, makes a great tool for getting rid of stubborn mildew. That's the other thing I like about them: they're cheap enough that you can try dumb shit and not be too upset if it blows up on you, or not really mind running it to death if it doesn't.)