On Saturday, June 14, 2014 12:32:09 PM UTC-5, Leon wrote:
I saw a HD commercial on TV a couple of days ago where the guy was
swamping and interchanging attachments and IIRC batteries between Ridgid
and Ryobi. I suspect that Ryobi builds both.
Except that Ryobi doesn't build Ryobi. According to the Techtronics Industry of North America, the manufacture (quoting verbatim Jason Swanson, Director of Communications)Milwaukee, Ryobi, AEG, Ridgid, Dirt Devil, Homelite, and many more. These names are badges for tools and TIN makes tools to the specs of the name holder. They also make tools for Craftsman, and others. Most of these names were bought by holding groups as investments with absolutely no concern wit the quality of the tools they produce.
A quick trio to some of the TIN websites and their affiliates will easily confirm this nasty arrangement. But this also applies to the holding groups that own Jet, Powermatic, and all the brands of hand tools scooped up by the folks that bought Porter Cable, Bosch tools, etc. Although there are no doubt a few companies that make their own tools now, I don't know of any mass produced tools.
I have no doubt that some of the accessories from Ryobi will fit Ridgid and the other way around. It makes sense; why not have interchangeability for accessories that provide service for infrequent use? Most professionals buy only single use tools, but a homeowner may have occasional use for many operations that these lightweight accessories would be a perfect fit. I have to say after looking at HD this morning I didn't see any interchangeable accessories for the respective hand drill lines.
I learn something every day. 40+ years ago when I started in the trades, names like Festool, AEG, Metabo, Bosch, Festo, Fein, etc. weren't available and weren't affordable if they were. King of the hill back then was Metabo as I think (not sure) they were the first well respected hand power tool company from Europe to make a push into the US. Stuff only a young man could dream of. Then came the other brands on their heels.
I didn't know at the time that these companies would become chess pieces on the game of business with whole businesses bought and sold at will. I loved the romance of advertising that sold "old world tool making brought into the 21st century".
This thread got my interest up as to who owns who these days, and I was stunned to find the giant conglomerate AEG had spun off their tool division. See if these look familiar:
http://www.aeg-powertools.eu/
It gets worse. I found that the much vaunted Festool group of tools is now owned by yet another holding company:
http://tts-company.lt/en/history
Soo... I guess I am saying that it all boils down to the contractors specs to the jobber/manufacturer to get the product they want their name on. The whole tool business these days is nothing more than an inbred bunch of accountants/investors/efficiency engineers that are working to maximize the dollar from manufacturing widgets.
All of that being said, I must say that in talking to the Ryobi rep and the Milwaukee rep at the same time on Contractor's Day at HD was enlightening. Both have sold tools for other companies and had been reps for years. Of the choices at the store, for a contractor like me both said they would buy Ridgid for hard use. Two reasons: First, some Milwaukee products will out perform some of the Ridgid products in extreme conditions, but the return/failure rate was about the same which makes sense at the guts are essentially the same. Second, the Ridgid brand has that great warranty that no one else offers, and both said that was impossible to beat.
Speaking of batteries, just a couple of years ago it was found that most new Li batteries were interchangeable between Ryobi and Ridgid. If that is the case, that makes it even more attractive to me, a buy that might drop a tool off a 2nd story ladder or have it stolen. If the batteries interchange, I will be gladly looking at this type of replacement should the tool itself fail after the manufacturer's three year warranty from Ryobi.
http://www.ebay.com/itm/RIDGID-18-Vo...item2ed2e62217
Robert