Ryobi (rightfully) earned a very bad reputation with their older tools. Their old (dark blue) tools are fucking garbage. But they did a rebrand about a decade ago, and the newer green ones are… Not horrible.
They’re not the best on the market, by any metric. But they’re not trying to be. For the average person who only needs a screw gun every week or two at most, they’re perfectly fine. A DeWalt would be overkill for that kind of customer.
If you’re working in construction or building hobby projects and consistently using them every single day, then yeah you’d want to invest in some nicer tools. But for light (or even medium) duty work, Ryobi is a perfectly valid choice. They’re comfortable to hold, have enough power to cut 3/4” plywood or drive a 3” screw, and don’t get bogged down by a ton of bells and whistles, (cough cough DeWalt’s Bluetooth connection in a fucking screw gun cough cough).
Yes Ryobi isn't as good as Milwaukee, it's their cheaper brand. But it is way better now than it was.
Not everyone needs to screw in a thousand screws into a deck everyday. Most people don't even need an impact driver. Ryobi is perfectly fine for the majority of home owners.
I've broken a bunch of Ryobi drill bits. Aside from that all my Ryobi stuff has worked perfectly. Now I'm committed to Ryobi because one battery fits basically any tool. Smart move.
Guess I graduated from WagHorts Community College of Wizard-ish-ry.
I'm a Ryobi guy. I'm a hobbyist/diy guy, I don't use them professionally. I went with them for 2 reasons:
bang for the buck. I want a good deal, I went something that's going to do anything I can throw at it. My first tool was a 1/2" impact wrench rated at I think 1150 ft/lbs, for about $220. That's as much as you'll ever need unless you're working on semis, and the Milwaukee equivalent is probably $600. I also got a hammer drill for $100.
I'm pretty sure they have way more tools that use the same battery than anyone else on the market. My favorite is my soldering station with temperature control, but they make everything!
I wish I were making it up. DeWalt calls it Tool Connect, and it’s meant to be a way to track tools across a job site. Sort of like AirTags for your tools. It’s also meant to deter theft by deactivating the tools once they leave connection range. Basically the same way cars have an engine immobilizer that deactivates the car unless the key’s RFID tag is detected.
In reality, it just gets used to fuck with people, by pairing their screw gun to your phone, then walking away.
I own more drills than I really should for a guy who rarely even does household stuff. The ryobi drill is awful, the other tools are decent. The Dewalt compact 20v is nice, but super heavy for light use. My preferred drill is a black and decker 20v, it's lightweight and has decent power and speed. I would probably grab the Dewalt if I need to rebuild the deck, but for hanging things, anchoring furniture, and assembling furniture the back and decker is great.
We had one and affectionately named it Mr. Wobbly...
Ryobi is just beginner magic that doesn't really work no matter which house you're in. Also, these houses are quite often hereditary. My family is a clan of Makita Warriors.
If it's good enough for this guy -- and by "this guy" I mean the sort of person who would own a Reliant Robin, Trabant, and a Yugo -- it's good enough for me!