Milwaukee and Ryobi are owned by the same company.
Ryobi occupies the entry level/budget market, and Milwaukee is the upper tier/professional market.
I think Rigid is also owned by the same company and occupies the market between the two.
They also manufacturer tools for other companies, like I think Walmarts Hart brand.
There’s quite a few brands under Techtronic Industries (TTI):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techtronic_Industries
TTI’s brands include:
Milwaukee
AEG (Under license from Electrolux AB)
Ryobi (Under license from Ryobi Ltd)
Homelite
Empire Level
Imperial Blade
Stiletto
Hart
Hoover (In US)
Oreck
Vax (In UK and Australia)
Royal
DreBo
Dirt Devil
Would be cool if all their brands could use the same batteries…
But muh market segmentation!
I believe that “Hart” at Wal Mart is also a TTI brand, roughly Ryobi quality but of course so many fewer offerings. I think Wally World got pissed that Stanley B&D wouldn’t do a DeWalt line for them and made a better deal with TTI.
They must be decent since Walmart still sells them and i’ve not seen much, if any, bad press about them.
Honestly debated picking up some Hart stuff at a couple points, but I’m a cheap miser who keeps falling back to using his something like 70 year old corded drill.
Keep using that glorious 70-year-old corded drill. So, long as it’s not a fire hazard, and it’s doing what you need, don’t let anyone convince you that your relationship with your drill is wrong. Either they don’t understand the love that you two share, or they’re jealous
Nah, its not that, just dealing with the extention cord gets old and tiresome, especially when its 90 degrees out and the heats making your temper flare:p
But on the plus side… Its a brushed motor, so every time i pull the trigger its like my own personal 4th of july, lol.
Sure, but if you get a cordless one, never let your old drill know. Just like that hand drill that sits in the box under your desk, wondering why you stopped needing to put holes in stuff so many years ago
I bought a DeWalt cordless tool years ago. Ended up sticking with Dewalt because batteries are not compatible between different brands.
Honestly surprised nobody has thought of selling an adapter. I could see this working well for contractors of different trades. 1 contractor uses Dewalt, but another uses Milwaukee. That’s okay, just bring the adapter and you can borrow the battery from that person(s) regardless of their brand affinity.
In regards to the picture, Ryobi and Milwaukee are the same company.
When my girlfriend moved in I “inherited” a couple Ryobi drills with a few batteries. I thought it would be wasteful to not use those batteries, so I just defaulted to Ryobi. They work fine? I’m not in construction, so they work for my needs. I’m not a fan of the neon green, but it does make the tools easier to find.
I’ve noticed people like to shit on Ryobi but they’re being aggressively advertised and competitively priced. I haven’t tried them but I’m pretty curious if they’re actually bad.
I’ve smoked tools from all of the major brands at work and I prefer the stink of Makita electronics over all of the others, so generally thats what I’ll gravitate towards at the tool store. That said, the stuff we’ve got at home for projects around the house is all ryobi green. Sure they feel kinda cheap, sure they aren’t as powerful, but for around the house stuff they do just fine, just don’t beat on them like I do mine.
I actually use mine for work, but I’m not using most of them daily. For me I needed variety (the right tool for the job) and them all to be on the same battery ecosystem. They’ve also got some great “widgets”, the 1-gal battery shop vac is around $60-70 IIRC and is an amazing little bit of kit. It’s like a suitcase of clean. The power caulker isn’t a technical marvel but has absolutely saved my wrist on a few jobs. I was on the fence about the power brush but use it a TON around the house. The battery hot glue gun is also more useful than I thought it would be.
I made a 10 amp 18v corded adapter I can use with all the tools when power is available and I don’t want to fry the battery. I also made an adapter so I can USB charge off my batteries if the power goes out or something (they make those but I had the parts).
But I’ve never had issues. It is worth researching each tool though. They tend to have tiers even within the brand (18v vs the HP+ line). The sawzall in that starter kit is… cute. It “works” in the strictest sense of the word. The little circular saw is similar, but there’s a lot more use cases for a lightweight, low-profile circ saw; I love mine. The impact drivers/drills always did right by me. The battery powered chop saw is pretty great (I love that I can just slap a battery on it for a few cuts or use my adapter).
All in all, from what I’ve heard the issue isn’t usually performance it’s durability. That being said, it’s not like I baby my tools, I just don’t use the same tool everyday like a contractor might. IMO it’s a great brand for a ton of people. I think they’re fine for home improvement, just maybe not building a house.
