Ryobi tools- Warranty Department gets a thumbs up (tentatively)

[69hurstolds]

My trusty old Craftsman (Sears good ol' days) hanging fluorescent drop lamp finally gave up the ghost Friday. It was a plug in deal 120 V. Been a good work horse over the years. Come to find out, 99% of the general use (aka relatively cheap) lamps nowadays are mostly battery powered LED work lamps. Thought it might be the bulb, but it turns out it was the ballast. And guess which part you can't get any longer from anywhere?

Should have spent more time on researching the replacement, but saw that Ryobi had a decent LED lamp, the P727 dual element lamp. It seemed to fit the replacement position for the old Craftsman lamp well. For an affordable price. $55 at Home Depot. I bought it Saturday, and it seemed a no-brainer since we have some other Ryobi tools around the house and already have batteries for. That's one "plus" about Ryobi tools, you can use the 18V battery pack in everything that requires 18V they sell. And I asked them since I was using the NiCd battery did it matter since they also have Lithium Ion batteries now, she told me nope, you can use any Ryobi 18V pack in anything they have, but recommend the Li-Ion for best performance. Either way, the light shouldn't blink like that on a fully charged battery.

Worked under the sink replacing a bathroom faucet for the wife as its first job. Went perfectly, tossed out almost too much light, but since you can direct the light where you need it for the most part, it did the job well without blinding me. Next up- I had to get up in the attic yesterday and fix a security camera connector. While I was on that job, the lamp just quit. WTF? I came down and swapped out the battery for a fully charged one, and it just blinked on for 1/2 a second then right off. It's LED, so there's no starter ballast. WTH? So since I just registered it the day I bought it, and it came with a 3 year warranty, I called Ryobi. Box said not to return to store, but to call them. No matter what I did, using different batteries, the lamp blinked on for 1/2 second and went off. Couldn't find the reason.

They got my information, asked me what the issue was, and then asked for my mailing address. Put me on hold for about a minute, then came back and said an order for a new lamp was put in and I should see it in 14 business days or less shipped to my door.

No quabbles, no accusations that I was doing anything wrong, no haggling or anything. Just a "please recycle the old lamp when you receive the new one." Ok. Only thing that might have been better is if they could tell me what the blinking means. Is it battery power issue? Or just fubar? I'll guess fubar since I can't find anything online or in the owners manual about it.

So we'll see what happens, but the only other time I had a company just say, ok, fine, we'll send you a new appliance to replace your broken one without any issues was Black and Decker. Had a coffee pot go bad within a month, boom! No problem. They next day'ed a new coffee pot to the door.

So, for now, thumbs up to Ryobi warranty department. I was really drawn to the Milwaukee lamps, but lessee....$55 compared to $100 or more, plus, even though Milwaukee has the interchangeable battery packs too now, I don't have any Milwaukee battery powered tools, so there's another expense. Just for a glorified flashlight.

 

[mikester]

Many years ago my wife bought me a 12V Dewalt drill as a gift. I was working on our house at that time and I was using that drill pretty much every day. Years later I went to HD to buy a couple of replacement batteries. Two batteries were over $110. On the way home my buddy that came with me said I was nuts for spending that much on two batteries when he had just purchased a Ryobi 14V set that had a drill, a trim saw, two new batteries and a new charger for something like $79 on sale. I turned around and went back to the store and returned the two Dewalt batteries. I bought the newer Ryobi 18V set for slightly more. Back when they were still dark blue.

I had that set for years. Put the drill through hell. Finally the batteries stopped holding the charge. Bought a couple more. Then the charger finally crapped out. Long after the warranty expired. Over the years I picked up their sawzall. Worked fine, still use it. Currently all my cordless stuff is Ryobi. I have a 1/2 impact, a 3/8 impact, 1/2" drill, a drill driver, the LED work light (might be the same as the one you have), three LED area lights for the house in case of a power failure, and a pretty powerfull xenon spotlight. Now I think those are LEDs. Two charger in the garage on the wall and one in the house. I have at least 8 or 9 different batteries. Guess Im a Ryobi guy now. LOL

I couldnt find my hedge trimmer last month. It was a cheap B&D that I had for at least 30 years. I think I lent it to someone that wound up keeping it. Went to HD and bought the cordless Ryobi 18V for $99. It works great. Trimmed my shrubs, cut down all the flowers. Glad I bought it.

 

[L92 OLDS]

In the builder community you are shamed for using Ryobi because it’s the bargain brand. The fit and finish is often substandard with lots of cheap plastic and compared to premium brands, performance is lacking. I give my older brother crap because he cheaps out on all the tools he buys. He swears by Ryobi tools because as a homeowner they meet his needs (and he’s a cheap bastage 😮) but I get it. In Ryobi‘s defense they are owned by the same company that makes Milwaukee tools. Its clear though that they are at completely different levels of performance and quality. I’m not necessarily brand loyal but do own a lot of Milwaukee, Dewalt, and Porter cable tools.

This guy has a good review of Ryobi

 

[tkruger]

I was on the fence about buying Ryobi or Bauer when it came time to replace my Ridged tools. Ridged and Ryobi are both made by the same parent company. I was on my third set of batteries on the batteries for life warranty. Called to get the new set and they told me the policy changed I had to go to the nearest Ridged service center that happened to be Home Depot. So I went there and they said that they only handle the initial 90 day warranties and items in stock I had to call in. So I called in and they said basically It can only be handled in person at a service center to have it sent in. So I went back to HD, they then said they could mail it in if I pre paid for the exchange to have it verified. I guess I was just fed up with this and other tool warranty issues I have had with Home Depot items in the last few years. Locally it is if we do not have it in stock to bad. Mail it in at your cost. I did not want that issue with Ryobi since it is a HD brand like Ridged is.

I went with Bauer. I know it is Harbor Freight but in the first 90 days it is a walk in walk out swap if something happens. The 5 ah batteries are only $50. Each tool I have bought to date is on par with Ryobi. Home owner DYI it they do the job.

I am glad to hear you experience was not like mine. My issues may just be in with the stores in my area or the person I happened to get on the phone.

 

[69hurstolds]

Tools are a lot like everything else. You usually get what you pay for. Ryobi uses really cheap plastic on their tools, generally speaking. I wouldn't expect one to stay together if you dropped it down the stairs. Didn't mean this to turn into "my tools are better because" thread because all I was doing was to point out that so far, no matter the quality of the tool, when stuff goes wrong, they're stepping up with what I consider above expectation service. I was a bit surprised, actually.

Almost all my drills, screwdrivers, and air nailers are DeWalt. Got an old Milwaukee circular saw and drill, and sawzall. I've drug that sawzall through the junkyards and it looks like it's been in a war. But it keeps going. Same with the DeWalts. Stuff fell off roofs, down the ladders, off the workbench, picked it up, dusted it off, and kept on working. Got a couple of older Craftsman tools as well, back when Craftsman was decent quality for not a ton of $$.

But Ryobi, in my mind, is for the weekend warrior types that are doing general light home repairs, and not adding a wing on the house and such. I don't consider them a go-to tool first out of the box, but they have a place in the attached garage. Plus the wife doesn't have to figure out which battery pack goes with what.

 

[tkruger]

I agree with the get what you pay for but I had a choice, spend on tools and compromise on the car project or compromise on the tools and not the car. For my use the Bauer has had 0 issues. Beat the hell out to the impact, drill and orbital all still work. The radio has been dropped countless times no issue. Event the grinder is ok. The fan is no different than any other brands so I cannot count that and lights are lights for the most part just lights.

Key is I have electric equivalents if I need more power and those are DeWalt, Rockwell etc. Also I do not skimp on bits, blades or consumables. Learned long ago that a cheep half worn drill with a high quality bit will outperform the best drill with a cheep bit. If I could get the better brand I surly would but for my DIY garage the cost plays a factor.

 

[Streetbu]

I have a combination of 18v nicad and 20v lithium Dewalt tools. I bought the 18v to 20v adapter so I can use lithium batteries on all of my tools. The old nicad's had long since given up the ghost and weren't worth replacing, however I had a Sawzall, circular saw and a drill that still worked, just no batteries. So I reinvested in Dewalt with the lithium drill and impact kit, along with a couple of extra batteries and the adapter. Still love then. But honestly if I hadn't been so invested already, I would've gone Milwakuee. Which reminds me, I even have a Dewalt heated jacket that uses the lithium batteries. Awesome for sitting in a cold treestand hunting!

 

[axisg]

We use Ryobi at work. Tens of tech screws into alum and steel daily. They are a good compromise between quality and price. Get the good 6ah or 9ah batteries. The others just don't last or seem to have the torque. Comparable to my 20v DeWalt stuffs I got from a dead guy LOL at 2\3 the price. Cordless saw is OK, grinder is good, Impact is great, drill is meh at best.

Oh and the 6pack charger only charges 1 battery at a time, then switches to the next. For the money we figured it would charge multiples at the same time.

 

[olds307 and 403]

Ryobi tools are decent. I finally got a couple of their 18 volt 9 amp lithium batteries. I can pretty much do my lawn with one, needed 4 of the 4 amp batteries. I have their dual power little shop fan, 1/2" impact, drill and 1/4" impact driver, an old inflator and 16" lawn mower, all take the same batteries. I fried their angle grinder an old blue one with brushes. I beat the hell out of it.

 

[ck80]

I've found these days the gap between the "cheap tools" and the "pro tools" has narrowed - mostly because some of the "better brands" aren't what they were.

My cordless are still Milwaukee. My corded is mostly Dewalt. But I've seen quality decline in the new what was Hitachi, and some Dewalt stuff. Don't get me started on craftsman name becoming the hooer of the tool world, shopped around to anyone for a buck