On Thu, 08 Oct 2009 17:17:42 -0500, Jules
wrote:

On Thu, 08 Oct 2009 18:07:31 -0400, Percival P. Cassidy wrote:
The same parent company (whose name I forget) makes Milwaukee, Ridgid
and Ryobi power tools.

And possibly Black & Decker - at least I've seen B+D bench drills using
the same basic frame as Ryobi ones, with just a few minor detail changes.

That's because they are all made off-shore in Chinese"cottage"
factories. Doesn't matter who owns the name, who imports them, or what
name is on them.

They are very seldom even "designed" by the brand holder - much-less
built by them.

Different colour resin in the molds makes a different product case.
One brand might get better wire connecting the brushes, or perhaps a
better switch, if they are willing to pay a bit more than the other
brand - but then again, mabee not.

Seems like it's getting harder and harder to shop around for a good
product these days because so many of them are sharing components (car
makers seem to have been good at this one for years) - which is all well
and good when they're *good* components...