Brushless tools from Harbor Freight (Hercules) vs Home Depot (Ridgid).

Hercules has 5 yr warranty on tools and 3 yr warranty on batteries.

Ridgid has Lifetime warranty supposedly but is a lifetime "service" agreement and a 3 yr limited warranty on power tools.

Prices are pretty comparable with Hercules maybe being slightly cheaper than Rigid, but Rigid definitely has a wider selection of tools.

What say you, OB?

Edit: Ridgid sp

No experience with the HF line but very happy with Rigid! I have a bunch of their tools. I'm also not the guy that uses them every weekend… more like mostly during deer season and other misc projects.

Good luck!

I probably should have put that in the OP.

I'm not a heavy user. Weekend projects, repairs, etc.

If you're a heavy user, there are some better options but I've never been disappointed with any of my stuff.

I own a couple of corded rigid tools and they have been outstanding. Can't comment much on their cordless tools.

However the quality at HF has improved (I'm not giving up my dewalt tools anytime soon).

HF has its place on our farm. One time use and cheap grinders for my oldest as he's learning to weld is great. But when it comes time for precision/serious projects I'm going with my dewalt stuff.

there is a dude on instagram (mastering mayhem) that test all kinds of tools and hercules can hang.

tsuag10 said:

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Ridgid has Lifetime warranty supposedly but is a lifetime "service" agreement and a 3 yr limited warranty on power tools.

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I've had Ridgid replace several batteries and a cordless drill that were 10+ years old. Trigger stopped working on the drill so I took it to Empire Tool in Houston who does warranty work for Ridgid. I just dropped off the tool and wait for Ridgid to send a replacement once Empire has time to look it over and send it in. If you go with Ridgid, just make sure to register them as soon as you purchase. And don't bring anything to HD for returns, have yet to find a store that knows how to do Ridgid returns/warranty

I haven't purchased a battery in over 15 years with Ridgid. I've had four batteries replaced with the warranty without issue. This reminds me I have two I need to send in. The battery replacement warranty has saved me $500+ over the years.

I've had the same drill, hammer drill, jigsaw, and sander for 15+ years of around the house jobs.

Brushless is brushless for the weekend warrior not much different. I have ridgid, ryobi, and milwaukee. I like the posters above have used the ridgid lifetime battery warranty and it was easy for that alone I vote Ridgid as my most used tools and I have no worries if something happens as they are easy to work with online for warranty work. (only had to use it for 1 battery in the 4 years I have owned them)

Project Farm YouTube tool reviews are top notch.

He has objective measuring criteria, usually destructive testing with repeated heavy use so you can see expected tool life.

Anything from chainsaws to vinyl gloves to extension cords to power tools.

Here is his review on angle grinders.

We are very heavily invested in Ridgid. The battery replacements alone have paid for the tool sets. Also a couple drill and driver replacements were an additional bonus.

Getting the service can be time consuming, so that is a down side. We have redundancy in almost everything, so that's not much of an issue for us.

So the lag sounds unfortunate? All except for one lithium battery failure, the tools were over five years old at time of failure. If that was a Makita, you would have been entirely on your own, so it's a win in my book.

I used Makita or Craftsman cordless tools back in the late 80's and 90's. If it didn't break in the first year, I wound up having to just replace it. The batteries usually lasted about 14 months...

Dirty-8-thirty Ag said:

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Apache said:

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Not my father in law. He has gone rogue and has tools from every different brand. It's a nightmare. He has dewalt, makita, craftsman, ridgid, Ryobi and others I've never heard of.

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Same with my dad. I'm 100% ryobi. I love all their other things especially fans and battery inverters.

If you don't have any particular tools yet, I'd highly recommend looking at flex and their stacked lithium. Lifetime warranties

Gotten outstanding reviews by the tool channels including project farm.

Sold at Lowe's

I'll guess I'll be the odd man out and say I'm pretty impressed with the Hercules tools I own.

Yes, for years I bought 'el cheapo' tools at Harbor Freight, primarily to give to the guys I had working for me on the shop floor who were rough on everything and who could probably tear up an anvil. And, I guess they were 'good enough'. When they failed I'd just replace them.

But, after I bought my first Hercules cordless drill for personal use I was sold. It's very solid and well made. I've been adding tools in the Hercules line ever since and haven't yet been disappointed.

Just my $.02.

All I know is I miss those old Rigid Tool calendars from the 80s. Pretty sure we'll never see them again.

kyledr04 said:

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Dirty-8-thirty Ag said:

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Apache said:

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Not my father in law. He has gone rogue and has tools from every different brand. It's a nightmare. He has dewalt, makita, craftsman, ridgid, Ryobi and others I've never heard of.

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Same with my dad. I'm 100% ryobi. I love all their other things especially fans and battery inverters.

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I am 100% Dewalt. It's so nice having all my batteries that will work on all of my different tools. Haven't bought a single one of them either, between wedding gifts and the WellDone program at work, I have built up quite the DeWalt collection. Lights/speakers/fans/heated jackets. I'm in too deep to ever switch now. Dewalt for life ese.

McInnis said:

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All I know is I miss those old Rigid Tool calendars from the 80s. Pretty sure we'll never see them again.

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Those were the 'classy' calendars. Some of the other tool and industrial supply companies put out calendars and the photos on those would peel the paint off of a tool room wall!

And no, we'll never, never, never see those again.

I'm personally a Milwaukee guy. I use my tools nearly daily at the ranch and for work. But I also own some legacy Ryobi tools that re OVER 20 years old and they still work fine. If that's not an endorsement, I don't know what is. I've had one failure in a Milwaukee tool. It was my impact wrench. It does not get used extensively and it died because I left it in direct sunlight for a few hours. It was out of warranty. I sent it in. They told me it would be 150 to fix it. So I bought a new one. Still sore about it but I'm invested in the system so whatever. I still like to think they are the "best" but….

I think any of the brands are all about the same these days.
I broke a DeWalt drill in half in my hand. So, I don't know. Now that I look back my cheapie Ryobi has been the most problem free. The damn batteries are 20 years old and still working. lol.

McInnis said:

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All I know is I miss those old Rigid Tool calendars from the 80s. Pretty sure we'll never see them again.

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same here. my dad was a shop teacher for years.......there also used to be a spittoon next to every welder too

McInnis said:

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All I know is I miss those old Rigid Tool calendars from the 80s. Pretty sure we'll never see them again.

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My dad still has a Snap On calendar from 1983 hanging on his toolbox. She's aged well.

If anyone hasn't discovered them yet, there is a wonder selection of battery adapters available now that allows you to use modern batteries with either older tools that came with NiCad batteries or across brands.

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=batter+adapter+for+cordless+tools&crid=M4WHPBIOC5YV&sprefix=batter+adapter+for+cordless+tools%2Caps%2C191&ref=nb_sb_noss


Has given new life to a number of tools I either inherited or outlived their batteries.

I have several of the Hercules tools now. They have performed as well as or better than the other "name" brands I have owned.

I used the band saw to "clean up" some Ford and Chevy 1 ton axles and the 2" DOM tubing I used for my 3-link suspension prior to installing them on my JK. Other than having to replace the blade once, it held up well. I used it yesterday to cut a bunch of angle iron I am using to reinforce my trailer. I also used their angle grinder in all the prior applications, and many others on the Jeep and around the ranch, without issue.

For 1.5 years of use, the Hercules tools have held up well, and are still under warranty.