Battery powered tools: Ryobi vs. Kobalt

I have many Ryobi 18v+ tools and the only one that failed was a sprayer.

Have: drill, impact driver, reciprocating saw, mini skil saw, and leaf blower.


Also I have an 80V Kobalt chainsaw and 80V weedeater. Both are very powerful.

I went with Ryobi several months ago and purchased 9 of their 18v tools for around the house. I had a 40v weed eater and added the hedge trimmer attachment for it as well.

I donated a 40v blower and weed eater to someone as the weed eater was Pure D shite. Blower was fine, just did not want all different tools and batteries to keep up with.

I was gifted a few Ryobi tools in the early 2010s as a house warming gift so I've just stuck with them. Only had one spotlight fail and I dropped in a brackish duck pond so not the lights fault.

No complaints for light use around the house and camp.

Pretty deep in Ryobi (without super extensive research) and have never had any issues. Have a pretty good variety and long term. Just anecdotally.

I like that they have options for just about anything I need as a weekend warrior

Ryobi isn't bad for basic use tools

I needed a cheap drill and finishing nail gun when I had my first place and picked up Ryobi brands. Nail gun does not get used often, but still goes strong. I burnt the motor out on the drill, and my 2nd drill is about to go out with my next decent sized project.

With that said, I have stuck with the Ryobi brand and have been extremely satisfied. My only complaint is when I am edging or weed eating and the battery gets down to 2 bars, there is an obvious difference in the speed. Not sure if this is a product of the types of batteries I have, or universal with all battery powered tools; but annoys the crap out of me.

I've got a number of different tools (and brands) that I've picked up on deals; I'm not a contractor so it's DIY stuffl

For the 18v/20v (big block batteries), Ryobi is my preferred now. I have Dewalt (and Hypertough). The Dewalt is better than the Ryobi, but not THAT much better. As for the Hypertough, I got some deals when they were dumping things on clearance... if I could get another 4 tool, 2 battery kit for $20 I would do it again. I've picked up some other HT stuff, and it isn't that terrible, but when you look it's often not a bargain. At this point I mostly just use the HT for hedge clippers, which work.

The biggest value for Ryobi is that they make almost every conceivable tool, which all share the same battery, and they all work. I wouldn't be shocked if they made a damn battery operated microwave.

For the 12v tools, I have several brand. Milwaukee is the king of quality, but honestly: the Hypertough 12v tools ain't bad, especially for the price. I love my Milwaukee ratchets, but Hypertough now has the same form factor, maybe 80% of the tool, but for 25% of the price. I wanted to get a Milwaukee 3/8" Impact Wrench, but they run a couple hundred. The HT was $50 when I bought it, and their 4ah batters make it run fine. Also, I picked up one of the long neck ratchets, again way less than the Milwaukee version. They work fine.

The guy who made/installed my cabinets used Ryobi. I asked him about it and he said it all held up really well. I was surprised seeing a pro use them but he had nothing but good to say about it. He went with Ryobi because he figured it'd be cheap and easy to replace but 4 or 5 years in and he hadn't replaced anything. He was using their drill, impact driver, and circular saw.

I have Makita for my drill, impact, and circular saw because of the more heavy-duty use they get. For everything else I went with the Ryobi one+. I've got pole saw, sprayer, blower, lantern/phone charger, vacuum, etc..
I've had no issues with any of it. Even bought some refurbished and/or factory blemished Ryobi tools from this discount site and they've all been flawless.

Thanks, guys. Ryobi order placed.