I know this pops up every once in a while.
Recommendations/reviews on different brands/models of electric cordless tool sets? Want something good that I can use the same battery packs for. Doesn't need to be top quality. This will just be basic home handy work.
Want basic drill and impact driver. Probably add circular saw and leaf blower (for deck and garage) in short order.
Ideally a brand I can buy at Lowe's.
I use Ryobi, with many tools and a few house "things." I would do it again, but that is HD rather than Lowes.
Bauer from hammer store.
For the brands sold at Home Depot or Lowe's I'm not really sure there's much to choose from between the major brands. They're all made in the same factories at the same quality levels. I use Milwaukee because they seem to have the broadest array of tools available, but all the brands cover the basics that you listed.
Ryobi, despite their awful color scheme, are probably what you're looking for. They literally have a tool for everything second only to Makita and their pricepoint and quality are right in line general/heavy home use.
Harbor freight brands have jumped in quality enormously over the last ~4 years and I would give them a look.
Brands like Milwaukee and Makita are wonderful, but to be frank you may be overpaying for their quality and work capacity for home projects.
Whatever you can get the best deal on with a bundle around Black Friday. I think they're all pretty much acceptible at worst at this point.
For a homeowner like myself, I'd probably be looking at Rigid, Bauer, Ryobi, and DeWalt, but there is not a real reason for looking at those. I currently have DeWalt and Milwaukee tools, because they were gifted to me. I like them both, I like the Milwaukee better only because it has a bigger battery - easily rectified with the DeWalt by buying a bigger battery - but I have no real need for it, I just want it.
Ryobi or Bauer would be my choices here. There is not an equivalent brand at Lowes for the perfomance per dollar that either of those brands give you. Another thing to look at is how long has that battery platform remained the same? Bauer has had the same battery since it's launch roughly 5 years ago, Ryobi has had the same interface since the 90's. These aren't going to change anytime soon and leave you with old batteries that won't work in new tools *cough* Dewalt *cough*
I bought a Dewalt drill and driver set a few years ago. 2 months later, my BIL gave me a Makita 5 pc set with only one battery. Long story short, he ordered that set but the hammer drill wouldn't work in hammer mode. After some issues with customer service, they sent him a brand new set and told him to keep the 1st one. He kept the spare batteries from it for himself, but I'm not complaining.
I'm fine with brands available at HD, Ace, or any other common chain. Lowe's is just the most generally convenient for me. It's the difference between a 5 minute drive for stuff or a 15 minute drive.
Milwaukee, good stuff.
Milwaukee is overkill for home projects, but their black and red color scheme has me coming back to them every time :)
Milwaukee is owned by the same parent company as Ryobi, do with that info as you will.
I'd get Ryobi kit. Their batteries aren't my favorite design (little on the chunky side), but their tools are affordable without being crap and Home Depot has a sale on their tools often.
I have had Milwaukee for a long time and I use them heavily. But the switches on the drills are garbage. I have returned four of them for warranty and one of the new replacements is now failing.
I have new green and older "blue" Ryobi and they all use the same battery.
you can find old blue Ryobi at yard sales and swap meets for close to nothing
you do need to make sure you older charger will do Lithium batteries.
Sounding strongly like Ryobi is most likely to be the droids I'm looking for.
I see there is a difference between the One+ and the One+ HP line, and that latter is probably prefereable. Looks like they share batteries though...
Beer Baron said:Sounding strongly like Ryobi is most likely to be the droids I'm looking for.
I see there is a difference between the One+ and the One+ HP line, and that latter is probably prefereable. Looks like they share batteries though...
"HP" is just marketing BS to say it's the latest brushless and high amperage battery tech much like Milwaukee's FUEL branding. "One+" is the latest generation of their 18v battery platform. I used to design Ryobi lawnmowers and I couldn't keep their marketing words straight.
In reply to RacetruckRon :
So, is it not worth buying the nicer HP stuff over the regular?
I really like the Ryobi stuff I have. It is not the best stuff you can buy but for the price and selection of tools I don't think you can beat it. If you are willing to go refurbished check out this website. I have bought a few things and they work as good as new.
In reply to Beer Baron :
You likely won't notice a difference for what you are looking for in tools. Those sorts of difference come out when you do a Project Farm style comparison and pair the right high output battery with the One+ HP tool.
Direct Tool Factory Outlet is Techtronic Industries (parent corp for Milwaukee and Ryobi) brick and mortar store. You can find great discounts here on new tools as well as refurbished and cosmetic defect tools super cheap, sometimes even cheaper than TTI employee prices.
edit: Chris beat me on the DTFO link
GIRTHQUAKE said:Ryobi, despite their awful color scheme, are probably what you're looking for. They literally have a tool for everything second only to Makita and their pricepoint and quality are right in line general/heavy home use.
Harbor freight brands have jumped in quality enormously over the last ~4 years and I would give them a look.
Brands like Milwaukee and Makita are wonderful, but to be frank you may be overpaying for their quality and work capacity for home projects.
I'm going on 20 years ( I think) with my Milwaukee stuff. One battery is pretty short lived while the other seems to last many hours of use.
Prior to that I had a Dewalt set. And those batteries have been replaced and now the replacements are only good for a short time. I don't want to pay $50 for a fresh battery. But without them those perfectly good tools are just worthless.
+1 on the Ryobi 18V.
I've been very pleased with the set I picked up, and I've slowly added more tools and batteries as my needs and budget allow.
I don't know about Worx's battery system but just read about their Switchdriver in Popular Mechanics.
It could've been a paid advertisement but OP mentioned "basic drill and impact driver." Anyone here used one?
In reply to j_tso :
I haven't used one but looking at the specs that is just an awkward, underpowered driver with a rotating 2-tool head. No drill chuck and no impact function.
I have used hitachi, porter cable, dewalt, and now ryobi cordless tools in a heavy homeowner manner.
Rhe ryobi is hands down the best stuff ive had. I am glad i drank the kool-aid.
There are basically four levels of quality. As a carpenter who used to be a warranty repair tech for HD, I've come across a ton of time with all of these tools.
Top notch: Milwaukee. I never saw one in for warranty repair.
Mid-level: Ridgid, Dewalt, Makita, Craftsman. Of these four, Ridgid has a lifetime warranty on some of their tools. Important to note: All of these (except Makita) are now under one umbrella owned by HD. Still independent manufacturing, but they are starting to get homologized
Meh: Ryobi. Endless number of tools ranging from very useful to the ridiculous. Only one on this list that I know has a blower tool
Eww, but not awful: Hammer store. They're getting better really fast, but they aren't "there" yet. Battery life is the key problem I've had with them. They don't hold a charge and get failing cells frequently. The problem is, you use it three times for a year then realize that the battery is toast. By then, HF has changed suppliers four times and that battery is no longer available. I would give them a few years to settle in and I think they'll be great. At least the brands above have all settled on a battery design that hasn't changed in 15 years.
I personally have Ridgid at home and at work. They are powerhouses. I wish I could have afforded Milwaukee but the grant I got would have meant I would have half of the tools I was able to afford with Ridgid.
Another tip.... Don't get the Black Friday version at the box store. Their Black Friday stuff is all outsourced, including most tools. Ridgid will send specs to a random, cheaper manufacturing third party to make them cheaper. You can always tell because the box says something like "Black Friday" printed directly on the cardboard. If they're having a sale and it says black friday on the pricetag, great, but make sure the box doesn't say "special buy" or something. If it says "special buy" it might as well say "assembled by a third party that doesn't know what they're doing."
If it says this, pass:
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