Home Improvement
Milwaukee and Ryobi are owned by the same company.
Ryobi occupies the entry level/budget market, and Milwaukee is the upper tier/professional market.
I think Rigid is also owned by the same company and occupies the market between the two.
They also manufacturer tools for other companies, like I think Walmarts Hart brand.
There's quite a few brands under Techtronic Industries (TTI):
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techtronic_Industries
TTI's brands include:
Milwaukee
AEG (Under license from Electrolux AB)
Ryobi (Under license from Ryobi Ltd)
Homelite
Empire Level
Imperial Blade
Stiletto
Hart
Hoover (In US)
Oreck
Vax (In UK and Australia)
Royal
DreBo
Dirt Devil
Would be cool if all their brands could use the same batteries...
But muh market segmentation!
something about capitalism breeding competition or whatever
Which is why there are a plethora of battery adapters out there to allow you to use almost whatever goddamn battery you want on any tool you want (in the same voltage group, at least), lol :D
I believe that "Hart" at Wal Mart is also a TTI brand, roughly Ryobi quality but of course so many fewer offerings. I think Wally World got pissed that Stanley B&D wouldn't do a DeWalt line for them and made a better deal with TTI.
Ryobi. It’s the cheapest way to collect tools I use once or twice a year when they go on sale at Home Depot or Direct Tools Outlet.
I follow the Adam Savage school of tool buying, if you are not sure you're going to use the tool a lot buy a cheap one, by the time it finally "dies" you'll know if it's worth investing in better quality.
Contractor here. DeWalt 20v is my main cordless brand. I've beat the shit out of them for years. Never have given me problems, plus I've moved over my lawn care tools to the 20v offerings because I've got more batteries than I know what to do with . I migrated over from the 18v post battery lineup, which was disappointing that DeWalt didn't support their 18v line anymore. DeWalt 12v line is a major letdown; no real tools outside of a couple of drill/driver atomics. I do have a couple of 60v DeWalt tools, but we'll see if DeWalt continues to support that class.
I did buy into the Milwaukee 12v setup, because sometimes I only need a light duty drill/impact and their 12v line has a lot of nice options for lighter duty cordless tools.
Corded, I have no brand loyalty and buy the best tool for the money (no festool because I don't have a money tree in my backyard). Bosch, Makita, DeWalt, Milwaukee, etc... I do a little bit of research and buy the best rated tool. I never buy anything that has moving parts from harbor freight. Anything I do buy there I consider a 'disposable' tool and can't depend on it to do it's job.
My tools make me money, and I try to treat them well, so when I need them I can count on them to work.
+1 to dewalt. Stuff gets thrown around all the time, keeps right on going. More expensive than others but it just keeps working
You should know that both Milwaukee and Ryobi have the same parent company.
Ah, the illusion of competition, like half the products in the grocery store.
Its not like they are the exact same tool.
I have a ton of Ryobi tools and am perfectly fine with them, but they are not designed and built to the same standards of use and durability as Milwaukee. That's why companies have multiple tiers to cover everyone from the occasional user to the professional. Some companies really go nuts with that and have seemingly a million brands (I'm looking at your SBD) but thinning out a company's lineup of too many brands is sometimes very tough from a customer loyalty perspective.
Even so, it's not about who owns them, it's about their design, specifications and quality assurance. Milwaukee is head and shoulders above Ryobi in quality and durability (and cost).
Makita has worked well for my cordless needs. Corded, I’m mostly blue Bosch.
Shit, my man, ever since Craftsman stopped really being Craftsman, all bets are off.
In case anyone is curious, the Lifetime Warranty on Craftsman hand tools is still in effect. You need to walk into a Lowe's with your broken ratchet, now, but they'll still swap you another one for free. It just hurts a little trading in your 20-year-old Craftsman ratchet, which is lighter, better built, and shows attention to detail, for a lump of Chinesium that's just bluntly stamped also-ran stuff. Definitely a downgrade. But the warranty is still there, so that's something.
Now, shit, who knows? My stuff is still mostly Craftsman, but stuff has been replaced with lesser brands as it fails or gets lost, it's whatever, now, for hand tools.
I've heard good things about Makita, lately. Make sure you follow TorqueTestChannel on Youtube for the real man news, they've got a whole setup for testing power tools to see if they're worth the price.
I use Ryobi for everything because they're affordable, I already have the batteries, and I'm not a professional, so they don't get used every day.
I think Ryobi is perfect for as an entry tool. If you break it from overuse, then buy a high quality product. But if it's the first time buying a tool where you don't know how often you will use it, Ryobi is perfectly fine to get started with and fmailiarize yourself with it.
I'm a Makita-Fangirl. I know, there might be better brands and some tools just aren't meant to be battery-driven.
But I would give my right arm for Makita-Chainsaw ;)
Dewalt at home because when i started buying them they were the best.
Milwaukee m18 at work because they are the best quality and have the biggest selection.
Makita for the regular hard use stuff.
Ryobi for the lightweight, didn't need but didn't want to rent stuff. My landscape gear is one+ and works perfectly for my needs so having the battery platform makes things easier.
A lot of people are commenting about how Ryobi and Milwaukee are owned by the same parent company.
This is true, but in the same way Lexus and Toyota are the same company. Ryobi is intro level and Milwaukee is the professional focused brand. There's nothing wrong with Ryobi, but Project Farm has repeatedly tested Milwaukee and Ryobi and Milwaukee consistently outperforms. It's not a "badge engineering"situation.
In regards to the picture, Ryobi and Milwaukee are the same company.
Bought a few Ryobis things, now i have Ryobi batteries so i buy more Ryobi things. Working as intended for them I'm pretty sure xD
Makita for battery-powered tools.
Milwaukee & Ryobi - start with Ryobi unless it completely sucks then upgrade down the road if I use it alot or the Ryobi eats it
i decided to go full prosumer, and go Dewalt.
Proud to be a Milwaukee Tool
You identify as a Milwaukee Tool? That's pretty strong, albeit strange, but more power to ya!
When my girlfriend moved in I "inherited" a couple Ryobi drills with a few batteries. I thought it would be wasteful to not use those batteries, so I just defaulted to Ryobi. They work fine? I'm not in construction, so they work for my needs. I'm not a fan of the neon green, but it does make the tools easier to find.
I've noticed people like to shit on Ryobi but they're being aggressively advertised and competitively priced. I haven't tried them but I'm pretty curious if they're actually bad.
I've smoked tools from all of the major brands at work and I prefer the stink of Makita electronics over all of the others, so generally thats what I'll gravitate towards at the tool store. That said, the stuff we've got at home for projects around the house is all ryobi green. Sure they feel kinda cheap, sure they aren't as powerful, but for around the house stuff they do just fine, just don't beat on them like I do mine.
Ryobi. I do a lot around the house but nothing heavily into carpentry or heavy duty so the two seconds I use them they'll be fine and cheap.
Bosch because I got a stupidly low deal for a blue drill, two batteries and a fast charger (i still think it was a labelling mistake) and now everytime I look at tools I want the wireless version and since I already have batteries it just make more sense to stay with one system. It was a fantastic idea to vendor lock the clients.
My dad is a former neon electrical worker and refuses to let me own anything other than Dewalt.
Ryobi and Milwaukee both are TTI tool brands, so it’s not really a competitor tool.
Whatever Harbor Freight is selling that day.
Makita for anything that takes a battery, anything goes for the rest
I have quite a few DeWalt power tools, and have a few Ryobi lawn tools. Both have been solid.
Milwaukee, because thats what was on clearance at Home Depot when I wad finally disgusted with the poor performance and junk batteries on my craftsman C3 stuff.
Milwaukee 12v is the bomb for most drill/driving/ratchet. Super compact, ergonomic, well built, and the same power as "20v" equivalent twice their size. It would be my number one choice for anything except larger impact wrenches.