Well I finally bought a new Ridgid kit with the drill,circular saw,flashlight and sawzall. They all appear to be built very high quality with the double battery quick charger with the cooling fan but the saw and sawzall seem to lack the same power as my 18 volt Dewalt stuff. They chug right through but dont have the same rpm’s. I think they will last so I will invest into more batteries before the lifetime warranty runs out. I would buy them again because they are so nice and the lifetime warranty is a plus but I dont think they would keep up with Dewalt except for the drill which works better. Just my 2 cents.
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Replies
Hey Chris, how many batteries do you get with the four piece kit?
only 2 batteries but at least it has the quick charger
I think I saw that kit on sale at HD for 400+. Did you get that one? The one I saw had a cordless hammer drill.
It was the one with the hammer drill, sawzall and flashlight for 489 plus I get an additional 80 dollar gift card back in the mail from HD
Not bad. I hope it turns out to be a quality tool. I've got some Ridgid shop tools (table saw, band saw, & lathe) and, even though I only use them occasionally, they seem to be well-made.
Chris, I plan on returning the ridgid 12 volt drill I bought as its endurance was half that of my 3yr old panasonic.
My other complaint wasn't the thirty minute charge time, but the fact that the battery heated up so much in continuous use that it took more than thirty minutes to get cooled down enough that the charger would switch from evaluate to charge mode.
If I want to get nitpicky,
The drill was bulkier and heavier than the panasonic
My home depot didn't carry individual batteries (makes it difficult to get free replacements)
sales gal said you need original sales reciept (not photocopy) to collect on warrantee.
Charger was too noisy to plug in anywhere in the house at night without disturbing someone.
Karl
The charger was noisy enough to keep you awake? That's nuts.
rg
Ricky,
In a shop or outdoors the charger wouldn't be an issue. In my 1200 sq ft house you could hear it in any room at night. It isn't an offensive noise to me but you are definitely aware of it. Also the fan runs until you remove the battery, even if it is fully charged.
Like I said, I was getting nitpicky when I listed the charger noise as a complaint.
Karl
Is it just a Ridgid phenomenon? I've never heard of a battery charger that makes any noise at all. rg
Rigid's charger has a fan in it to cool the batteries during charging or after heavy use...that's what makes the noise, not the actual charging of the batteries. Great idea, but it sounds like they've still got some engineering to do.
it is pretty loud when its charging but just a little louder then a computer fan. Annoying in a house when its nice and quiet but fine at a jobsite