On 12/6/2017 6:23 AM, Foxs Mercantile wrote:
On 12/6/2017 2:02 AM, mike wrote:
and and switched to Ryobi lithium.

20 years ago, Ryobi closed all their parts warehouses
in the US.
Secondly, for example, if you blow the gear box in a
Makita, you order a complete new gearbox.
With Ryobi, you get to order each part individually and
assemble it yourself.

Yeah, I did this for a living for a while.

Like I said, if you use 'em to make a living, you might
want something better.

I've been buying tools of many brands at garage sales and thrift stores.
In 40 years of household use I've never broken a cordless tool.
It's always the batteries that go dead.

So, you end up with a Makita drill with a dead battery and a good
battery for a B&D drill you don't have and a similar B&D drill
that won't fit that battery. And a Porter Cable battery with no tool.
and a big box of perfectly good tools that need batteries.
And a 'toxic waste dump' of random dead batteries.

Any 18V Ryobi tool I have works on any Ryobi 18V NiCD or lithium
battery I have.
Yesterday, I bought a Ryobi 18V drill at a thrift store for $2.50.
Works great with a lithium battery pack.
I bought the $1.50 light and replaced the incandescent with LED.
And the second $1.50 light is gonna get turned into a 120VAC supply.
Not sure what I'm gonna do with the 3rd $1.50 light, I got carried away.
I passed on the $3 circular saw because I already
have more of those than I need.

Ryobi is the sweet spot for "good enough" tools cheaper than dirt,
available everywhere.
We don't need no stinkin' repair parts. ;-)