On Friday, June 30, 2017 at 6:51:36 AM UTC-5, Sonny wrote:

About 2 yrs ago, I bought the Ryobi drill/drive set, $129.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-18-...P882/203406854

That's the one I started with as well. I was in HD and they had that set for $99, which they do frequently. Father's Day, Labor Day, Christmas, etc. I bought it because I used a friends impact driver to run a bunch 3" screws into some hard yellow pine framing and it worked great. So I bought the set thinking I would use the impact driver as needed for my repairs, and the drill as my gallon can paint mixer.

Lately, the drill's trigger seems to be failing (*3 yr warranty). Yesterday, I needed an immediate replacement, so went to get the same set and discovered the 4 tool set for the same price.
http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-18-...P883/203466914

Later, I was caught across town when I got an emergency repair call. I was weak... they waived a lot of money at me since the sale of their house required the installation of a new exhaust fan vent. I was an hour away from my tools, and that meant an hour back after I picked them up.

I bought that set for the same price you did. I took it to the job, and used the flashlight once I got in the attack to get back to the vent. I used the drill to run a bit through the bottom of the deck so I could find the hole when I got on the roof. On the roof, I changed bits and drilled a hole large enough to get the recip saw blade in it. (BTW, it came with recip saw blades, one metal and one wood.) I used the recip saw to cut the hole, then mounted the vent.

On the way off the job, I used the circular saw to trim the fence gate to make sure it would close.

What are the odds I would use them all on the same job the day I got the set? Pretty slim. But it changed the way I do that kind of repairs, and now I keep it like a "go" bag, and just grab it for repairs knowing I have all I need in the bag.

The tools have plenty of power for most use. I have no complaints about their utility bang for the buck. I do have one gripe though. I think they should come with better batteries. I haven't killed the batteries doing repairs unless I am using the circular saw, and if you rip wood, it dies pretty quick. Like just about all battery circular saws it eats its batteries and this one is no exception. The low powered batteries don't help that situation.

I later bought their 4amp batteries after a big sale at 1/2 off and that fixed that.

I like my corded circular saws and sawsall, but I'll give the cordless ones a try. I've never used the cordless ones, before, so I hope these have some reasonable power.

I am used to my heavy 15amp circular saws, and prefer them. But not all the time. Same with the recip saws I have. My 15amp oscillating Milwaukee will eat any demo job alive. But... when we are roofing a house and the branches are low, the Ryobi goes on the roof with a pruning blade. When we are cutting loose equipment and need to cut bolts and all thread, the Ryobi goes to work immediately, no need to string cords out. In fact, as part of a job I am working on now, the lady of the house had a new treadmill delivered and we cut her "gym" quality treadmill up with the Ryobi and a metal blade so it could be disposed of. It was a lot of 2" tube steel and square tube steel, and the saw did quite well.

I think you will be pleasantly surprised at how useful they can be and how much power they have. I even used the drill to stir a 5 of paint on the job for about two weeks, and it did just fine. And here's my take on the whole set; if I paid $129 for it 38 or so months ago, that means the convenience and utility of the tool set cost me less than $3.50 a month at this point.. And they aren't dead yet.

The remaining tools I have from that set still work great and are in service as needed. My guys don't show them any special treatment, and I haven't had one fail. I wouldn't use them for heavy duty, daily hard work, but in their recommended frame of moderate use, they work just fine for me. I have the other heavy duty stuff if I need to use it.

I was a convert by pure accident. I bought those tools knowing as a contractor I didn't even need a receipt to take them back for a full refund. Now, I just bought another set.

Robert