Der_Dachs

Not surprising. Electric is quickly making gas obsolete. I used to have all gas powered outdoor equipment but now everything I own is electric and Id never switch back to gas. The electric stuff is just so much nicer, without the hassle and stink of gas.

The Fuel with a 5ah battery might eliminate the need for a corded and a generator though.

For me, the price of the Fuel is worth every penny but a brushed version is better than non at all. The only question is, in 6 months will you be happy with the brushed or will you wish that you had saved up for the Fuel? My Milwaukee stuff is a mix of brushed and Fuel (Fuel hammer drill and circular saw and brushed rotary tool and M12 jigsaw) and there is just no comparison between the power and battery life between the brushed and the Fuel. Also, I work in an auto plant where we shoot a lot of small screws all day long. Most of our impact drivers are Milwaukee M12s and most of them are the brushed with the exception of one of them that's a Fuel. The Fuel is old and kind of beat up but it will run circles around the brushed version and has about double the battery life. As you can tell, big fan of the Fuel here.

I bought my first Ryobi because the price was right and because I thought it was Japanese. It wasn't until later that I learned that the only Japanese thing about Ryobi is the name and even then, TTI simply licences the use of the name. Ryobi itself actually has little to nothing to do with the tools themselves. I think that Ryobi recently sold off the tool part of the company and its now owned by Kyocera anyways and still, TTI does all the design and manufacturing of the tools themselves. Even still, Ryobi makes great tools and for someone who is on a budget or simply a DIYer who only uses their tool occasionally and doesn't want to invest a ton of money into it, Ryobi is a great option.

Yeah, tough call. I personally think almost everything is great and would serve any homeowner well for years and year. Ive got DeWalt, Craftsman, Milwaukee and Ryobi and its all great stuff. I love my DeWalt Xtreme 12v screw driver. Its great for doing lighter duty stuff around the house. I love my Craftsman jigsaw and circular saw. I also love my Milwaukee M12 Fuel hammer drill. Last weekend I mounted a couple flag holders on my house and had to drill 6 holes into brick and that thing drilled those holes like you wouldn't believe. For just a 12v drill, its impressive. I also have a Milwaukee M12 lantern that I really like. I recently had to cut the powe to my basement to move some light switches so that I could remove an unneccesary part of a wall and it worked great. All of my lawn and garden equipment is Ryobi. Ive got a cheap Ryobi 18v leaf blower and trimmer and for blowing grass/leaves off of the sidewalk, driveway and patio is great. The trimmer is just a cheap one too but all I use it for is edging the sideway and cutting grass where my mower wont reach and its great for that. Speaking of my mower, Ive got a Ryobi 36v. It does a great job of mowing my smallish yard (takes me about 30 minutes to mow it all) and I love that I can use the same batteries in my mower, leaf blower, trimmer and the Ryobi sander that my wife uses. Speaking of the sander, my wife recently bought a Ryobi One+ sander. She is restoring some vintage furniture that she bought and it works great for light sanding. She actually almost bought a Craftsman one, until I pointed out to her that she could save a bit of money buying the tool only version of the Ryobi and that sanders go through batteries like crazy, so itd be better to buy the Ryobi because I have like 6 of the One+ batteries and the 6-battery charger. As much as I love Craftsman, she would have spent $120 for the same thing in Craftsman and would have only had 1 battery for it. If I did it all over again, Id probably go DeWalt and Craftsman. Id buy another DeWalt Xtreme 12v driver, a Craftsman V20 hammer drill for bigger stuff, Craftsman V20 brushless leaf blower and V20 trimmer and for the mower Id either go Kobalt or Greenworks. Most brands are great though. Ive got a cowokers who has all Ridgid and likes it, I know people who swear by Milwaukee, Makita is great, Bosch is great, etc, etc, etc. For the average person who only uses a tool occasionally, just about anything is fine.

I would say good luck on that one. Pretty much all of them do a signigigant amount of production in China and youd be hard pressed to tell the difference if you didn't know which was which. Even in the case of DeWalt and Craftsman, its still only made in the US with globally sourced parts. I support Milwaukee and am perfectly OK with the stuff being made in China, as long as their headquarters is still in Wisconsin and the tools are still designed here.

True but do you absolutely need it? I work in an auto plant where I use a Milwaukee M12 (non Fuel) drill driver all day long. At home, I have a DeWalt Xtreme 12v screw driver (non impact) and other than the Milwaukee being faster, Ive seen little to no difference in how they perform. Is the Milwakee faster? Sure but I don't see myself replacing the DeWalt until either both batteries fail or the drill itself fails.

You typically would only use the hammer function when drilling into brick or concrete, not when driving screws. I would say that if you have a drill and a hammer drill, you probably don't really need an impact driver unless you just want something that is faster.

Yeah, new Craftsman isn't the same as old Craftsman was. I loved old Craftsman and still have a fair number of the old Craftsman tools, as well as some newer Craftsman power tools (circ saw and corded drill) and a Craftsman 2000 Series toolbox. The power tools are fine and were pretty affordable but theyre just Craftsman branded Black and Decker tools but that's not really a bad thing. The tool box is pretty good but if I could have gotten a Husky tool box in anything but black or if the Milwaukee boxes had been a bit cheaper, I wouldnt have bought it. For me and I think for many who loved Craftsman, real Craftsman is dead and there is really nothing special about SBD Craftsman. I personally have found myself buying more Husky tools lately because I can simply take them back to any HD, no receipt needed and exchange them for a new tool. No hassles, no questions asked; just like how Craftsman used to be.