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I would say I am an intermediate DIYer and need to upgrade my drill and purchase an impact driver. A mate recommended Ryobi as a good balance between performance and cost for non-trade people. Thoughts?
Ryobi any good for power tools?
- Thread starter rubberduck
- Start date
Associate
Yep they are considered good. They do the One+ range which means you can use the same battery/charger on a whole lot of tools.
Caporegime
They're fine, ive got one of the One+ drill drivers.
Soldato
I have one of their cordless drill/hammer drill/screwdrivers which I’ve been using and abusing for over a decade. The original battery has only just died on me.
Very good VFM hobby/DIY use.
Very good VFM hobby/DIY use.
All of which are quite a bit more in money terms.
Not really. The ryobi stuff seems quite expensive compared to the twin packs available, ryobi impact driver + drill + batteries actually is more expensive than some of the twin packs from those names I listed.
Associate
I have an impact driver and some garden tools and they all have lasted for a couple of years so far.
Associate
Have a look at toolden, they have a makita impact for £55, travis perkins always have deals on.
Cheapest place i been to for battery and charger is anglia tool centre.
Buy once not twice.
Cheapest place i been to for battery and charger is anglia tool centre.
Buy once not twice.
Soldato
They are pretty good for an average user. Some of their tools are good. Their air nailer is so quiet and performs well.
Soldato
I have a drill, strimmer and hedge trimmer that all use the same batteries. I rate them.
Man of Honour
Ryobi products are fine. I don't find them as well balanced as DeWalt though, so I don't often buy them.
Soldato
I always find they feel a little cheaper in the hand too, although i used the 18b router and that felt better than an older model SDS drill so maybe they've improved in recent years.
@200sols Whilst that's true and i find Ryobi batteries to be expensive. Once you're in, the tools are hugely cheaper. The Orbital sander is about £50 vs £150 for the dewalt, beyond the initial drill/impact any additional tools cost a lot more than the Ryobi equivalents.
Love my Ryobi tools. Bought them when I moved into our house 4 years ago and have been using them every week for extensive renovations.
Strangely enough I actually bought them off the back of the fact that my electrician had a Makita impact driver (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Makita-DT01W-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-Impact/dp/B004HEY0BU) while I was using a old corded drill.
That thing was a BEAST and I was just like "I want one of those!" - then I looked at the price
So I looked around for impact drivers and ended up buying a starter kit from Ryobi that came with:
1 x impact driver
1 x drill
1 x battery circular saw
2 x 1.3amh battery
1 x regular charger
Different tools use up more power. Using just the drill and the impact driver (pretty standard combination for drilling pilot holes then screwing something in) meant that I could easily run out of juice before the end of the day. The regular charger just doesn't charge anything fast enough (during the day) to make it worthwhile. So it did mean I stopped short some days - but this was usually a welcome rest and good excuse to stop.
If I used the circular saw as well that would quickly drain a battery, so my second purchase was actually a corded Ryobi circular saw.
After that, bigger jobs on the house meant that I needed the batteries to easily last the full day. So I bought a 4amh battery and fast charger. Massively increased my productivity at the cost of the tools being a little more cumbersome (the 4amh batter is easily 2/3 times the weight of the 1.3amh one so can make tools a little tiresome to use if doing overhead work.
I'd say that's the only problem with the one+ range. While I've had loads of use out of my tools I do find myself wanting some lightweight tools with newer/longer lasting/smaller batteries which I don't think will happen with the one+ range.
Since then I've bought a hedge trimmer (brilliant but NEEDS a 4amh battery to be able to do my hedge) and an orbital sander (again this absolutely NEEDS the 4amh battery and as such I might be buying another one)
OH! Also! It's super handy that both my neighbours have Ryobi tools as well. Because they're the go to for a lot of DIYers it's really handy to be able to borrow another drill or battery on the odd occasion that I just need to get stuff done
Strangely enough I actually bought them off the back of the fact that my electrician had a Makita impact driver (https://www.amazon.co.uk/Makita-DT01W-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-Impact/dp/B004HEY0BU) while I was using a old corded drill.
That thing was a BEAST and I was just like "I want one of those!" - then I looked at the price
So I looked around for impact drivers and ended up buying a starter kit from Ryobi that came with:
1 x impact driver
1 x drill
1 x battery circular saw
2 x 1.3amh battery
1 x regular charger
Different tools use up more power. Using just the drill and the impact driver (pretty standard combination for drilling pilot holes then screwing something in) meant that I could easily run out of juice before the end of the day. The regular charger just doesn't charge anything fast enough (during the day) to make it worthwhile. So it did mean I stopped short some days - but this was usually a welcome rest and good excuse to stop.
If I used the circular saw as well that would quickly drain a battery, so my second purchase was actually a corded Ryobi circular saw.
After that, bigger jobs on the house meant that I needed the batteries to easily last the full day. So I bought a 4amh battery and fast charger. Massively increased my productivity at the cost of the tools being a little more cumbersome (the 4amh batter is easily 2/3 times the weight of the 1.3amh one so can make tools a little tiresome to use if doing overhead work.
I'd say that's the only problem with the one+ range. While I've had loads of use out of my tools I do find myself wanting some lightweight tools with newer/longer lasting/smaller batteries which I don't think will happen with the one+ range.
Since then I've bought a hedge trimmer (brilliant but NEEDS a 4amh battery to be able to do my hedge) and an orbital sander (again this absolutely NEEDS the 4amh battery and as such I might be buying another one)
OH! Also! It's super handy that both my neighbours have Ryobi tools as well. Because they're the go to for a lot of DIYers it's really handy to be able to borrow another drill or battery on the odd occasion that I just need to get stuff done
I've been using them for 10 years, started with the original blue ones
I now have
Circular Saw
Jigsaw
Reciprocating Saw
Palm Sander
MultiTool
SDS Drill
Impact Drive
Impact Wrench
Couple of drill drivers
Multiple batteries (5ah and 2ah)
2 chargers
Leaf blower (mrs LOVES this)
Lawnmower
Am sure there are more in the garage, can't think
The odd occasion I had a problem (multitool) it was repaired and returned quickly.
On the topic of lighter weight devices, Ryobi do a 10/12v driver, and I looked at that, but thought that if I have to have a different battery for it, then I'll see what the best is in that range, so I opted for a Bosch GSR 12v drill driver, and 12v impact and they are brilliant and I probably use these the most now.
They do a GSBxxx version, but that has hammer, and I wanted it to be lightweight, and don't use the hammer on my other drill drivers, I have the SDS for that, so settled for the GSR.
If you get a kit with a drill and 2 batteries, you can add the bare devices to it.
I now have
Circular Saw
Jigsaw
Reciprocating Saw
Palm Sander
MultiTool
SDS Drill
Impact Drive
Impact Wrench
Couple of drill drivers
Multiple batteries (5ah and 2ah)
2 chargers
Leaf blower (mrs LOVES this)
Lawnmower
Am sure there are more in the garage, can't think
The odd occasion I had a problem (multitool) it was repaired and returned quickly.
On the topic of lighter weight devices, Ryobi do a 10/12v driver, and I looked at that, but thought that if I have to have a different battery for it, then I'll see what the best is in that range, so I opted for a Bosch GSR 12v drill driver, and 12v impact and they are brilliant and I probably use these the most now.
They do a GSBxxx version, but that has hammer, and I wanted it to be lightweight, and don't use the hammer on my other drill drivers, I have the SDS for that, so settled for the GSR.
If you get a kit with a drill and 2 batteries, you can add the bare devices to it.
And there will be a reason for that.
Soldato
Yeah, but for a regular DIY'er the reasons don't really matter. It's not going to be getting used 7hours a day for years on end.
