Been using Ryobi for many years and have a good collection of there tools (drill, impact, multitool, saws all, 6-1/2" saw, blower and weed eater).

Building some cabinets/drawers for the garage with my son, whom we bought Makita drill/impact for Christmas 4-years ago b/c of his school major (architectural science/woodworking). I used his drill and impact and was just blown away by the difference in power and speed. He has the basic 18V tools and it made my Ryobi's feel like toys.

We've got several projects outline in the house he's going to help with and I'm thinking of switching to Makita for compatibility with his stuff. I know DeWalt and Milwaukee are also highly regarded. Also noticed some of the higher end more costly tools in those line ups are also clearly better than their budget versions.

I do a lot of stuff around the house and help family all the time with projects. It's going to probably cost quite a bit to replace all my Ryobi, but I feel like I'll be a lot more satisfied. Probably $5-$7 for drill, impact, multi-tool and saws all). I know about the Home Depot sale, but those bundle packages for Makita and DeWalt are the "lower end" versions of their line up.

My Ryobi Drill and Impact are about 10-years old and I know they have new brushless models that are supposed to be better.

I would also keep my Ryobi yard tools (blower and weed eater) as I can do the whole yard on one 4aH battery.

I wouldn't do it all at once. If your impact and drill are 10 years old, I would venture a guess that newer Ryobi tools ARE much more powerful as they just seem to be going that direction, but the major brands are all probably in the same boat..

If you're going to make a switch, I would buy the same brand as you got your son so that if you work together you'll have the convenience of being able to share tools/batteries easier. Keep an eye out during the season and get a new impact/drill set. If you like those and you actually find your multitool lacking in power, keep an eye out for a sale on the Makita version of that.

I don't think it makes sense to spend all the money right away to replace tools that are still working for you. Upgrade as you find good deals on them.

Tangent of the OP, but if you were just starting over, which brand would you go with?

I have 10 year old dewalt drill and a couple batteries, but that's really it for battery platform. All my other tools are chorded....Miter saw, circle saw, jig saw, sander, etc.

My wife wants to make some wooden Christmas decorations which would be much easier to cut out with a router. I'd like to take advantage of some of the Black Friday deals so I'm curious if I should just do the Dewalt batteries to get the router free or switch to Milwaukee and get the drill combo and get the free router....

Honestly, you'll be fine with both. I think Milwaukee has a better lineup of specialty trade tools like ratchets and plumbing tools and whatnot (though Dewalt is catching up) but they're not all in the same battery system. Many tools that don't require as much raw power use M12 batteries, so there isn't as much of an advantage.

Dewalt is catching up in variety and they seem to be making everything 20V max compatible going forward. They definitely have cordless rough carpentry tools that are pretty nice already.

Choose wisely, if you go with Yellow, you must shun all members of the Red tribe, and vice versa.

htxag09 said:

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Tangent of the OP, but if you were just starting over, which brand would you go with?

I have 10 year old dewalt drill and a couple batteries, but that's really it for battery platform. All my other tools are chorded....Miter saw, circle saw, jig saw, sander, etc.

My wife wants to make some wooden Christmas decorations which would be much easier to cut out with a router. I'd like to take advantage of some of the Black Friday deals so I'm curious if I should just do the Dewalt batteries to get the router free or switch to Milwaukee and get the drill combo and get the free router....

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For a router it seems like that needs a lot of speed, not so much power for the less dense hardwoods you'd be using. I always felt that a corded router would be a much better option. But I'm not an expert on those. My son is a lot more knowledgeable and he elected to get a Makita corded router vs the 18v option.

Any one of the DeWalt plug ins with the plunge base would be a good choice.

Also, the router is going to make a huge mess compared to a jig-saw for cutting things up.

Do the jig saw first, then router the edges if that's what you're after.

EDIT TO add
https://www.reddit.com/r/BeginnerWoodWorking/comments/t0btq1/corded_vs_cordless_router/

seems like cordless for job site's is nice, but corded for a shop where an outlet is always close bye.

I got suckered into Home Depot Ryobi deals long ago, so appreciate your revelation and will be watching for the referral winner of those other brands.

That said, I agree with keeping some of the R-tools ... if they work, no shopping needed for replacements until the batteries grow old (4-6 years).
You set my hat for going another direction in replacing R-tools that suck = circular saw, chain saw, etc.
For now the grass blower, weed eater, drills, brush wacker saw-fish are A-OK.
Wish I had only purchased the 5-6amp batts, just sayin'

TMI: I have always loved the Ron Popeil-esque invenstion Black & Decker gives us, so many bright ideas that fill our home BUT then they move on, leaving us with no way to replace parts nor even batteries. Thus, we avoid them unless it's a gotta-have-it, disposable household item, e.g. https://rebrand.ly/aikb14x

I was a Ryobi person until a couple of years ago when we started getting a few Craftsman rechargeable power tools gifted to us. Slowly acquired more and have been really happy with them.

This is one of the most confusing thing I've ever done.

The number of options is nuts. Mikita has 14 different drill/hammer drills and 32 impacts!

I have Makita "stuff" and like it.
But I wanted an electric Pex clamp tool and Ryobi had one. There is an adapter can get that will run all your Ryobi tools with Makita batteries.

agracer said:

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This is one of the most confusing thing I've ever done.

The number of options is nuts. Mikita has 14 different drill/hammer drills and 32 impacts!

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Honestly, I would just go to acmetools.com and take a look at their deals. Find a combo set for the amount of money that you're willing to spend and pull the trigger. There are usually deals that will give you an extra battery, which is nice to have if you plan on buying more tools from the same system.

Someone else can tell you from experience, but if you got your son a set from their 18V line, then you'll very likely be very happy with them as well. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Unless you're on your tools all day every day, picking the wrong model impact in one of the mainstream brands isn't going to adversely affect your quality of life significantly.

TMoney2007 said:

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agracer said:

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This is one of the most confusing thing I've ever done.

The number of options is nuts. Mikita has 14 different drill/hammer drills and 32 impacts!

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Honestly, I would just go to acmetools.com and take a look at their deals. Find a combo set for the amount of money that you're willing to spend and pull the trigger. There are usually deals that will give you an extra battery, which is nice to have if you plan on buying more tools from the same system.

Someone else can tell you from experience, but if you got your son a set from their 18V line, then you'll very likely be very happy with them as well. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Unless you're on your tools all day every day, picking the wrong model impact in one of the mainstream brands isn't going to adversely affect your quality of life significantly.

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I mean the old tools don't affect the quality of my life either...I just want new tools!

I'm an engineer so I over analyze things to the Nth degree. I just want to spend my money wisely and get the best value I can for the money. I don't want to pay $279 for a combo kit, when the $299 kit gives me a better drill or impact.

Go to a store with a TTI rep working there and ask to try one of their latest Ryobi tools. You might find it's better just to upgrade within Ryobi. If your tools are 10 years old that likely multiple generations old.

Howdy. I have top of the line FESTOOL tools. They are made in Germany. Wonderful tools to use. Buuuuuut, I also have a complementary set of newer RYOBI HP+ tools. I am also happy with those. I concur on giving the Ryobi HP + "brush-less" a try. I also have Milwaukee but I have had too many battery failures so I do not recommend. I have learned how to replace the individual 18650 cells inside to keep those in operation.

Seems like a lot of tool reviews for drills/driver and hammer drill/drivers do not like the Makita versions as much as DeWalt or Milwaukee.

agracer said:

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TMoney2007 said:

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agracer said:

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This is one of the most confusing thing I've ever done.

The number of options is nuts. Mikita has 14 different drill/hammer drills and 32 impacts!

---

Honestly, I would just go to acmetools.com and take a look at their deals. Find a combo set for the amount of money that you're willing to spend and pull the trigger. There are usually deals that will give you an extra battery, which is nice to have if you plan on buying more tools from the same system.

Someone else can tell you from experience, but if you got your son a set from their 18V line, then you'll very likely be very happy with them as well. Don't let perfect be the enemy of good. Unless you're on your tools all day every day, picking the wrong model impact in one of the mainstream brands isn't going to adversely affect your quality of life significantly.

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I mean the old tools don't affect the quality of my life either...I just want new tools!

I'm an engineer so I over analyze things to the Nth degree. I just want to spend my money wisely and get the best value I can for the money. I don't want to pay $279 for a combo kit, when the $299 kit gives me a better drill or impact.

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I too suffer from analysis paralysis... I actively fight it.

agracer said:

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Seems like a lot of tool reviews for drills/driver and hammer drill/drivers do not like the Makita versions as much as DeWalt or Milwaukee.

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I think its alot about preference. I have both the Dewalt Atomic impact and the Makita XDT16 impact. I like the feel of the Makita better. It operates smoother and has the same or better power.

Marvin_Zindler said:

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agracer said:

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Seems like a lot of tool reviews for drills/driver and hammer drill/drivers do not like the Makita versions as much as DeWalt or Milwaukee.

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I think its alot about preference. I have both the Dewalt Atomic impact and the Makita XDT16 impact. I like the feel of the Makita better. It operates smoother and has the same or better power.

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I wish there was a way to Demo the tools. I guess they all have 90-day return policies, but I want to buy it once and be done with it.

I got the intro dewalt kit (drill, driver, rotary, reciprocating) not only on sale, but had a 'free tool' option.
I got the free circular saw, sold it for 90% of new to my neighbor who was in the market for one, and bought the brushless version.

Major sale on this kit ($1500 value, regular price $950, on sale for $550)


https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-20V-MAX-Cordless-10-Tool-Combo-Kit-with-2-20V-2-0Ah-Batteries-Charger-and-Bag-DCK1020D2/305019378

62strat said:

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I got the intro dewalt kit (drill, driver, rotary, reciprocating) not only on sale, but had a 'free tool' option.
I got the free circular saw, sold it for 90% of new to my neighbor who was in the market for one, and bought the brushless version.

Major sale on this kit ($1500 value, regular price $950, on sale for $550)


https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-20V-MAX-Cordless-10-Tool-Combo-Kit-with-2-20V-2-0Ah-Batteries-Charger-and-Bag-DCK1020D2/305019378

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A lot of brushed stuff in that kit with small batteries. If you don't need the bench-top blower, light and vac, you'd be better off going with this kit. 2ah and 5ah power stack batters plus 2 free brushless tools.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/DEWALT-20V-MAX-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-3-Tool-Combo-Kit-with-5-0-Ah-Battery-and-1-7-Ah-Battery-DCK304E1H1/325100113

Marvin_Zindler said:

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agracer said:

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Seems like a lot of tool reviews for drills/driver and hammer drill/drivers do not like the Makita versions as much as DeWalt or Milwaukee.

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I think its alot about preference. I have both the Dewalt Atomic impact and the Makita XDT16 impact. I like the feel of the Makita better. It operates smoother and has the same or better power.

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Its marketing and to an extent, popularity. Dewalt and Milwaukee get the most looks, if you will. But its all about performance and availability. I've had Makita tools for almost 2 decades and I think they make the best saws. That's not a knock on either Dewalt or Milwaukee, but the older (2000-ish era) Dewalt batteries were problematic. Now, they are all about the same. I think Dewalt has a better multi-tool and Makita doesn't make a good worksite radio, if those things are important. Plus, there are other tool specific things you need to look for, so look carefully at the 2-3 tools you'll use the most and compare. For me, Makita is fine and I've kept going back to them when I've upgraded.

As far as Ryobi, it is a decent to good homeowner brand. I'm probably going to get their sprayer and some batteries, but I won't replace my Makita stuff. There's a place near me that sells HD returns pretty cheap. I can wait to see if they get a sprayer and they have all sorts of other Ryobi stuff.

Now that I've done some more digging, my 1/4" Impact (P236A) has almost the same specs as my son's Makita (XDT11). Maybe I was just not used to the speed of his (it ramps up a lot faster) vs mine. Once I started to pull the trigger a little more (more speed), I realized it worked just fine. I used them back to back to drive in some 3" screws to hold new shop cabinets to the wall and they were the same. So basically ID10T error on my part. Mine also has the 3-LED lights surrounding the quick release housing and the base magnet to hold stuff. The new stuff has the LED light at the foot of the tool and no magnet.

My drill, however, sucks. Its slow, heavy and only 3/8" shank. That needs to be replaced for sure.

Now it's just a matter of switching platforms and having two battery systems (Makita for tools) and Ryobi for yard stuff. Or just get the newest brush less Ryobi drill and be done with it....

Like makita an bosch but seldom any significant discount on them. Actually been using direct tool to buy refurb and blemish tools at significant discounts. Rigid for me and Ryobi for my FIL. Watch for sales and you can get up to 60% off at times. I think keeping outdoor power equipment separate is best, and ego and greenworks systems are far superior to the standard tool brand systems. And never happy when my sons DeWalt batteries are all dead because they are in the blower and you need to use he drill and impact.

I'm overall quite happy with my Dewalt power tools and lawn tools (mower, string trimmer, blower, pole saw, etc.), but if I was starting over I would definitely consider doing all Ego for my lawn equipment and Dewalt just for my power tools. I have bought a ridiculous amount of batteries, though. Kind of a fetish I have.

A good guide for power tool selection:

https://instagr.am/p/C9XlxghppCU

or this since texags intagram reel embedding is sketch

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C9XlxghppCU/