Ross Herbert posted for all of us....


You were lucky to buy your Ryobi when you did. These days Ryobi does
not exist except in brand name only. The Japanese company closed down
their power tool manufacturing business around 1999 (I think), and
sold the brand name to Techtronic Industries in Hong Kong. Prior to
that they made a general purpose range of tools and also a "Tradeline"
series. All of the Tradeline tools I had were excellent value for
money and would give many years of troublefree service.

It was shortly after Techtronic bought the name that all the junk
tools with the Ryobi brand name appeared on the scene. I had several
problems with their handyman belt sander and also a cordless drill so
much that I was eventually reimbursed for the cost of the sander
(which I put towards a Makita), and Ryobi "gave" me one of their newer
so-called "professional" or trades series cordless drills as a
replacement for the junk drill. I had to direct my complaints directly
back to management in Hong Kong before this occurred though.

I suspect you will find that B&D is no longer the original company
(much like Ryobi) and consequently their products are now largely
"junk". I remember using one of their compact aluminium framed Holgun
drills back in the 1960's, and boy, could these drills take a
hammering without any problems for year after year. That was when B&D
was really a good power tool.


You will note that this same company has bought Milwaukee Tools. Can't wait
to see what they do to them...
--
Tekkie