Is this a good buy?

[Tdog]

There is an ad in the paper by the orange big box store for a Ryobi 18-volt 'starter kit'. The kit consists of a drill, 5.5" circular saw, flashlight, & a 'free sander'. I'm down to one cordless drill & was thinking about buying one anyway. This sounds like a good deal.
Seems almost too good a deal.
Any thoughts?

thanks,

Jack

 

[frank_f15]

There is an ad in the paper by the orange big box store for a Ryobi 18-volt 'starter kit'. The kit consists of a drill, 5.5" circular saw, flashlight, & a 'free sander'. I'm down to one cordless drill & was thinking about buying one anyway. This sounds like a good deal.
Seems almost too good a deal.
Any thoughts?

thanks,

Jack

What is the price?

 

[shvl73]

This has been hashed over before with some saying Ryobi was basically junk. My experience has been good. I have an 18v tool set that has served me well. So well in fact that this past christmas HD had them on sale and I had the option of getting 2 new batteries for $29 or a new drill with battery for the same $. I opted for the drill thinking the drill may wear out. Not so. The original drill still works fine. I've yet to try the new one. The recipro saw is ok, doesn't have the power of a corded unit (no suprise), the cordless circular saw is real handy and the flashlight is powerfull and handy with the angled head. I paid $199 for those and still feel it was a bargain. They've since come down in price. For pro use, step up to another brand.

 

[Tractors4u]

I bought an 18v Ryobi drill and saw kit 6 or 7 years ago and it served me well until it was stolen out of the toolbox of my truck. I went and bought another set, this time it came with the recip saw, flash light and vacuum. They are not the quality of DeWalt or Makita but they are NOT junk. The 18v batteries are about $20 each and can be bought at the big box stores. You can also add which ever tools you need. My wife bought me the cordless chain saw and I keep it on my Polaris Ranger for the occasional limb trim along the trail. For the low price they ask for the Ryobi, you can't beat them.

 

[hazmat]

There is an ad in the paper by the orange big box store for a Ryobi 18-volt 'starter kit'. The kit consists of a drill, 5.5" circular saw, flashlight, & a 'free sander'. I'm down to one cordless drill & was thinking about buying one anyway. This sounds like a good deal.
Seems almost too good a deal.
Any thoughts?

thanks,

Jack

I have the expanded version of that set. My 12 year old makita drill was finally giving up the ghost & I was contemplating a couple other tools. I picked up the 10 piece - drill, right angle drill, circ saw, jig saw, recip saw, light, sander, vac, chainsaw & impact driver for ~$300. It came with a rebate for a free adder tool so I picked up a cordless miter saw ($99 value).

For $300 I can't really complain. The feel/balance isn't as nice as the dewalts, makitas or bosch tools, & they don't seem as powerfull, but the dewalt set would have cost me $900 (and no cordless miter saw - -which is surprisingly handy - will cut a 2x6 at 90deg). My biggest complaint - the saws have a safety trigger, you have to depress a button with one finger to pull the trigger. It is very annoying, especially on the sawsall. The circ saw fence isn't square with the blade - hard to run it along a straight edge. I love the impact driver. Drills are OK. Batteries don't seem to last too long, but they are dirt cheap to replace/expand collection $39 for 2. I have 4 total, may buy 2 more.

Overall - I'd say you get 50-60% of the tool for 30% of the price. If/when these wear out, I'll probably replace them with better, but doubt I'll poney up $900 for a big set. If I were relying on these tools to make money, I'd have gone for the better quality. All of the tools are a cordless version of a corded tool I already have. So I was really just buying convenience.

 

[Tdog]

Duh! Oh yeah, the price. $99.

Am I correct in assuming that I can add Ryobi tools to this set as long as they are 18-v?

Thanks all for your help. This sounds like what I will do.

Jack

 

[Tractors4u]

Yes the other Ryobi tools are 18v and they work with the starter kit.

 

[shvl73]

A bonus about the extra drill I bought was an extra charger. If you only have one charger you can easily run out of charged batteries. The two batteries for $39 is a good deal but, I'm waiting to see if there is another Christmas special.

 

[California]

I really like the Ryobi kit I bought a few weeks ago. It's better than I had hoped for. For tradesman use I might get more expensive stuff but for weekender or farm maintenance these tools are well worth the price.

I bought the set to tear down a small barn, and used the reciprocal saw and circular saw continually on dry, hard full-dimension rough 2x4's and 1x12 planks. Power was fine and the batteries lasted until the second one charged.

These tools have paid for themselves already. I recommend them.

 

[450EXC]

Ryobi makes two 18v drills. I would step up to the next package to get the better drill, probably comes with sawzall too. But, thats my middle name - For just a little more money.....

I have Ryobi and think they work good for the money.

Larry

 

[scott_vt]

There is an ad in the paper by the orange big box store for a Ryobi 18-volt 'starter kit'. The kit consists of a drill, 5.5" circular saw, flashlight, & a 'free sander'. I'm down to one cordless drill & was thinking about buying one anyway. This sounds like a good deal.
Seems almost too good a deal.
Any thoughts?

thanks,

Jack

Mornin Jack,
That sounds like an excellent price. Im kind of a DeWalt guy on hand power tools but I do have a Ryobi laminate trimmer that I use for inlay work etc in my wood shop and have had very good luck with it through the years !