R8411503 18v Hammer Drill

[brooksbrown]

First of all, I am a new user, and have not been able to find any related material to my concern and questions.

Ok.... here goes.

I bought the R8411503 18v Hammer Drill today at Home Depot. First off I spent 2 hours in HD today trying to buy this drill. I was unable to find it on the shelf in the box, so I asked someone. They gave me this cardboard box that had in it a Ridgid bag, the drill, a single charger and 2 batteries.

THIS REALLY HACKED ME OFF! The advertisement on the shelf with the on-display drill still said that it came with a Life-time guarantee on the complete product package (which I'm hoping is still true), 2 batteries, Hard plastic shell case, the drill itself, and a 2-battery charger.

Why is Ridgid doing away with one of the best chargers I have ever used on the market?! And why is Ridgid doing away with the hard-case?

I purchase equipment for myself, but also for my company and I purchase these drills at HD quite often. This must be a recent change. In the past 3 years I have bought close to 1,500 of the drill, hard-case, 2 battery, dual-charger sets. I want my dual charger and my hard-case!

This drill was purchased because I needed a new one, since I gave the old one to someone who was trying earnestly to work on his disheveled home for his wife and 3 children. I've been over there helping him with this work, and before I started helping he was driving everything (ie - screws, lags, bolts, etc...) by HAND. So, after I had helped for a couple days and had to go back to work I gave him my drill set.

Now, I've gone to HD to buy, yet another one like I've done fifteen-hundred times or so, and I'm getting this crappy bag, and only a single charger with no fan in it to keep battery life as much as possible by cooling the battery down during the charge process.

Can someone from Ridgid please tell me what is going on with this stupidity, and let me know if I can get a hard-case and dual-battery charger?

I mean... seriously people! $249 for the set like it used to be with the dual charger and the hard case. Now I still have paid $249 to be shafted with this stupid bag, and a single charger piece of junk! I'm really upset with this and demand an answer from RIDGID themselves on this.

[Velosapien]

I don't know about the charger change but Ridgid has gone for softcases with most of their tools as have many other brands. It's a matter of personal preference but most people hate hardcases. Softcases allow for carriage of more accessories like bits cases and you don't need to keep everything neatly aligned for them to close.

[Paladin2025]

brooksbrown-

I guess I'm coming to the defense of Ridgid (I don't work for them or represent them in any way).

In regards to the dual battery charger, I don't see them as a common item amongst power tools. I'm hard pressed to think of any company that sells them with their kits as a standard item (Craftsman maybe?). I loved that they came with the 18v Ridgid 4 piece combo kits, but felt that it was unusual (still come with the 5 piece I believe). I think that with the long run times that batteries have now (especially with Lithium), there's less of a need for a dual port charger. I think that's especially the case for a drill that only includes 2 batteries that are 2.4AH in 30 minutes.

http://www.ridgid.com/Tools/R9203-Combo-Kit/EN/index.htm What about this kit? Does it come with a dual charger?

As far as the blow mold case goes, I'm glad to see it's the bag more common now. I find the blow molds a pain to close. The only ones that I'd consider as a plus are Festool's Systainers.

[FINER9998]

the set highlighted above comes with a man purse. It does not come with the dual charger. I also miss the blow molded cases as they provide better individual tool protection.

[Woussko]

brooksbrown

If by some wild chance you are able to do this, please check the barcode numbers. I bet there was a change. I do hope someone with Ridgid power tool division sees this and has some answers. I like a good tuff tool case myself and in many cases ended up getting steel toolboxes and fixed them up to hold a tool with accessories. Yes, they are heavy but I do not like busting up a nice power tool and they do help keep things together. Most plastic cases anymore are poorly designed and made out of too thin crappy grade plastic to be of much use, but, there are some pretty good ones out there if you look for them.

[Velosapien]

There should be a difference in the model code but as long as the product box correctly states the contents of the kit there is nothing wrong really. Manufacturers adjust their products all the time and this is no different. It's too bad about the dual charger but I guess they must have figured it wasn't worth keeping it in the kit. As far as hardcases go, the only ones I can somewhat tolerate are Dewalt's. They are completely hollow with only a few tabs to hold things steady. You can throw the cord just about anywhere and stuff it full of stuff almost all around. Blowmolded cases are a pain in th a$$. I threw out all of my Ridgid hardcases and put the tools in soft cases. Tucking the cord just right so the case can close is sometimes and excersise if futility.

[Paladin2025]

the set highlighted above comes with a man purse. It does not come with the dual charger. I also miss the blow molded cases as they provide better individual tool protection.

Finer9998-

Yeah, I realized the blow mold case was definitely not a part of the package, but I was hoping the dual charger was.

I did manage to find a Bosch set that contained a dual charger. However, extremely rare in these parts.

Velosapien-
Some of the Bosch cases are wide open like the Dewalts.

[Velosapien]

Yeah I have some Bosch tools and some are blow molded cases, some are all open hardcases and some are man purses. The blow molded case on the hand planer in particular is one of the worse. If the cable, dust collection bag, and fence aren't set just right it will never close.