Ridgid cordless tools

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mxs said:
It's 12V piddly toy .... Milwaukee or not, 12V is 12V ... I'd use it to drill holes for shelves in my cabinet, as far as I'd go .... 8mm hole into sheet metal? Don't think so ...
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I mean it did do it, just had to use it like a screwdriver to tear away the chip on the other side ahahaha.

This past semester at school I did a lot of drilling and tapping aluminum with the drill. I'm only talking M3 and M4 taps, but it worked great even when doing blind taps.

Ash said:
That M12 linked above is a lightweight screwdriver, rated at 100 inch pounds. It's not a drill, so you're probably using it outside of its intended design. The 3/8th M12 drill that I've got is rated at 275 inch pounds and it works great, and there's a brushless M12 drill rated at 325 inch pounds if you need more. But if I'm driving screws into lumber I use the M12 impact driver. Love that thing!
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I have the same drill as you, the one rated for 275 in-lbs. Thats the one I was talking about smoking. (assuming thats what you were referencing)

I was actually looking at the M12 Fuel stuff, but they are like 75% of the price of the M18 Fuel, so I'll probably pick up some M18 next.
 
I've got four M12 tools, so I've bought into that battery ecosystem. If I need anything bigger I've got corded drills, jigsaws and circular saws. I am somewhat tempted by the M18 string grass trimmer though. If I had started my collection with the string trimmer I could see going with M18 for the other tools too, but they're really a lot more than I ever really need.
 
Ash said:
That M12 linked above is a lightweight screwdriver, rated at 100 inch pounds. It's not a drill, so you're probably using it outside of its intended design. The 3/8th M12 drill that I've got is rated at 275 inch pounds and it works great, and there's a brushless M12 drill rated at 325 inch pounds if you need more. But if I'm driving screws into lumber I use the M12 impact driver. Love that thing!

The energy density of the lithium battery packs continues to get better and better. The cheapo batteries that came with my drill and impact driver kit were 1.5 A/hr each, but they now have 3.0 A/hr batteries in the same compact form factor, or up to 6.0 A/hr in the larger extended form factor.
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It's true about the density, somewhat .. although it's not that they exactly make the same weight and volume have more power. The battery is heavier, and the volume has increased, just not twice .... more importantly though, there's no replacement for volts ... bigger pack means that it can run longer, but it does nothing as far as higher power of the setup, because the cells will simply not give more than certain given max amperage per cell controlled by BMS, so the only way to quickly get more power (by the manufacturer) is to increase number of cells in series in the pack which in this case means bigger tool factor, like M18 etc.

It's a good combo in my opinion, just not the best to drill 8mm holes into sheet metal .... that's all.
 
Yeah, on the energy density thing I just meant to imply that newer generations of lithium battery packs should generally last longer before requiring a recharge than their predecessors, not that they're more powerful. The 1.5 A/hr packs I have are fine for the drill, but are marginal for the hackzall. The 3.0 A/hr packs would be a lot better.
 
FWIW a buddy, a tool freak, showed me his cordless Milwaukee leaf blower and Milwaukee cordless vacuum. Super performance but hey use a high capacity 18 volt battery.
 
I believe the Rigid stuff is just rehashed Ryobi stuff.

Ryobi was a mid grade brand. Good enough for the average homeowner but not serious enough for the job site.

I don't worry about battery warranty. I'm happy when it wears out in 3 years so I can buy all new stuff.

Price of quality cordless from the major brands is actually quite reasonable for what you get.
 
Ridgid is made by TTI, who also makes Milwaukee, AEG, and Ryobi. Ridgid is essentially AEG rebranded for Home Depot/North America.
 
Lunatic said:
Ridgid is made by TTI, who also makes Milwaukee, AEG, and Ryobi. Ridgid is essentially AEG rebranded for Home Depot/North America.
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good to know, never heard of, but looked up AEG, their tools look like Rigids alright.


So I take it the pecking order is

Ryobi
Rigid
Milwaukee

in terms of quality from lowest to highest?
 
SunnY S said:
good to know, never heard of, but looked up AEG, their tools look like Rigids alright.


So I take it the pecking order is

Ryobi
Rigid
Milwaukee

in terms of quality from lowest to highest?
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Generally yes, although there are strange exceptions to that pecking order (eg. both ridgid and Milwaukee have cordless fans, the Ridgid has a number of superior features and costs less). They also keep some tools in a single line (eg. Ridgid has cordless nail guns).
 
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