I feel ripped off.

[whistlerapprentice]

wow are these tools ever frustrating!! I have been in this trade for around three years now. I am building my tool collection and was going to buy a combo kit. I will not complain about the circular saw. Anyone who says it sucks is forgetting its application. It is so handy on the roof or in a situtuation where there is hardly any power. But I would be lying if I said that I am satisfied with the charger(electrical short, bad connection) the drill (constantly stepping out of gear and horribly inconsistant clutch and chuck. The recip saw oh the recip saw. The quick release system is my largest of foes. I bought these tools on an apprentice wage looking for value. I admit I was sold on the warranty. But with all of these problems I can't find the time to take them back because I constantly need them. If I wasn't over the three month warranty I would definately be returning them. These tools should not be competing against Millwuakee and dewalt for price point. They are uncomparable.

[Golfmore]

If it is a HD purchase, and you have your receipt, they will take it back. I just did with a saw after 11 mos of frustration with alignments. Just a thought.

[imported_RS]

I work for a plumber who has been using the 18 volt combo kit HARD for several months. He previously owned Dewalt tools, and readily admits that the ridgid tools are far superior except for a slightly lesser battery life, most likely due to undercharging. The soft kit bag is his biggest gripe! I cant concur with everybody else's problem.

[imported_Knot Me]

Jon - I don't have the expertise to discuss this issue intelligently, but was wondering if shear sales numbers have any bearing on the number of DeWalts you see? I also have an extremely high regard for Milwaukee, but would guess that DW outsells them by a wide margin. If their defect ratios were even (which I doubt), you'd still see more defective DWs.

[jon]

It is a mystery to me why i see more dewalt than milw. i have to go price them to see. i know dewalt has a lot more models of cordless but they are all basically the same as the rest. i dont want to beat up on dewalt because they have some very good tools. every tool co. has at least 4 or5 very good tools. i was just in one of those 11 hour bad work days.

[Hank404]

I spoke to a Home Depot manager a month or so ago who first told me, then showed me a copy of an e-mail. The e-mail came from Randy Light in Atlanta. He is the Global Tools Merchant for Depot. Meaning, he has control of just about every aspect of what is in a Depot tool corral.

Anyway, the e-mail stated that it was up to the individual store managements discretion, but Atlanta would no longer uniformally honor Ridgid returns past 90 days. It was suggested that the customer be shown respect, dignity, and be helped thoroughly to put them on the right track to a authorized service center. Basically, saying, no more returns.

[BrandMan]

Hank,

In your quote you reference an e mail that gave the stores direction on how to handle RIDGID customers. Since we work with the stores as well, I can tell you that this contradicts all communications that have been sent into the stores. Now, granted you saw an e mail shared by an associate. Can you tell me the city in which this store is located? I want to make sure that our representatives correctly inform the store of how to handle customers who have issues with RIDGID Equipment. Thanks in advance for the location information.

Originally posted by Hank404:
I spoke to a Home Depot manager a month or so ago who first told me, then showed me a copy of an e-mail. The e-mail came from Randy Light in Atlanta. He is the Global Tools Merchant for Depot. Meaning, he has control of just about every aspect of what is in a Depot tool corral.

Anyway, the e-mail stated that it was up to the individual store managements discretion, but Atlanta would no longer uniformally honor Ridgid returns past 90 days. It was suggested that the customer be shown respect, dignity, and be helped thoroughly to put them on the right track to a authorized service center. Basically, saying, no more returns.

[imported_LlamaLlama]

Have you tried Bosch tools? I have heard very good things about them, especially the Brute Tough line.

[Bo_hamrick]

Llama:

I would be interested in what you have heard good from Bosch...I had a buddy of mine use it them and he returned them back because the drill was heavy, the battery life was not big enough for him...he is a plumber and could not run a 2 9/16 self feed more then 10 times without the battery going. In addition he said the recip saw was horrible...he currently owns a Ridgid Set and a DeWalt Set. He says they both run circles around bosch.

[imported_kahootz]

If you are drilling 10+ 2 9/16 holes then you need corded power. imho

btw, I have both Bosch and Ridgid here, and they weigh the same. Ridgid actually weighs a little more.

The Bosch recip is consistently rated #1 for CORDLESS recips. Milwaukee is the king of corded. The often overlooked feature on the Bosch is the 3/4" and 1 1/4" stroke length on one saw.

[imported_demolithium]

I have been using these tools hard for about 2 months now, no problems, I am a plumber and use a milwaukee right angle for drilling 2 9/16 holes, we ran out of power and I have to say that the ridgid drill isnt intended to do the work of the right angle, it still got the job done, I cant complain. btw, if anyone has used the milwaukee "hatchet" you know this is no better and costs too much, just a crappy recip, the 18v dewalt doesnt do too much better under hard use. If I am wrong then I am wrong.

[David M.]

"he is a plumber and could not run a 2 9/16 self feed more then 10 times without the battery going. ">>

Why would anyone even want to use a self feed more than 10 times without using a Hole Hawg or a Timberwolf? :eek:

[Bo_hamrick]

The reason he did that was to check the run time and torque of the drill. If you look under the 4 kit review post you will see what I did. I got more then ten times out of a bosch but it was nothing compared to other brands. I agree if you were going to do that much get a right angle drill. But the illustration is that the torque and run time on the bosch is signifcantly less then other brands.

[David M.]

Fair enough, I apologize if my last post came off rudely. It's just that a test like that does'nt prove a whole lot to me personally because the cordless drill was'nt being used for it's actual intended purposes in that test. I really would never use a straight cordless drill/driver of any voltage/torque specification if I had to use a large self feed for that many holes. Interesting nonetheless though that Bosch came out on the bottom of the list, though Bosch would not be my first choice by a long shot for a cordless drill (I'm partial to DeWalt then Milwaukee then perhaps Makita for these tools, Bosch perhaps for a corded jigsaw or router).
In reply to kahootz, I suppose it could be said that Milwaukee is the "king of corded recip saws" but in my 10 years experience working with plumbing and remodeling contractors I've seen that the Porter Cable Tiger saw is actually used and bought more. I have always sworn by the Milwaukee brand (probably because I used to work for Milwaukee Electric Tool when I lived in Milwaukee years ago in thier testing labs and was constantly impressed as to thier performance against comparable Makita tools which was the testing project I worked on but that's another story) but the PC corded saws are one of the toughest and longest lasting saws I have ever seen.

[imported_tyxlc]

As tough as the new Bosch tools undoubtedly are, and as nice as they look, I picked one of the 18 volt drills and found it uncomfortable in my hand.
The weight is not really an issue as much as the size of the handle, and the way it feels in your hand. The Milwaukee 18 volt is quite a bit heavier than my DeWalt 18 volt drill, but the size and shape of the hand grip make it more comfortable.

Every tool company has their ups and downs, and I am afraid that Ridgid cordless tools are not up to par with Dewalt or Milwaukee. Some of their other stuff is good, IMO.

[David M.]

The Milwaukee is'nt quite a bit heavier than my 18V DeWalt. You must have the "Compact" model. Mine's the XRP 1/2" drill/driver/hammerdrill model, and believe me, it's quite hefty and I don't think the Milwaukee has anything on it with weight.

[imported_lewisman]

I have problems with my batteries charging and not lasting very long. Minimum of 2-4 hours.

Then when they are in the charger the batteries are always being evaluated before charging.

I was told they have to cool down before charging
what kind of system is this. Who has time to wait for batteries to cool down?!

Any advise with this problem?
By the way I traded a Dewalt system that lasted seven years. This system has pretty poor performance.

[imported_ByteButcher]

lewisman,
You are not pushing the batteries far enough down on the charger. I hate to admit it but I was caught by the same problem at first. I've used cordless tools for over 25 years and I never had to do anything but drop the battery in the charger. With Ridgid, the locking tab must be forced out of the way in order for the battery to slide on completely. Unfortunately, as you've noticed, a partial connection starts the charger but does not make good enough contact to evaluate/charge the battery. I exchanged a perfectly good combo pack before I figured it out. It makes me wonder how many other people have returned them for the same "problem". If Ridgid actually has any engineers, they should have discovered this and put a clearance notch in the charger for smoother battery insertion. Who knows how much they might have saved in returns.

[ 06-21-2004, 10:15 PM: Message edited by: ByteButcher ]

[imported_hvac/Rtech]

here is my take on this. i sent this e-mail to ridgid through the contact us part of the ridgid web site.

in november of 2003 i purchased the above mentioned combo kit from my local home depot. thought the tools were great. right off the bat the drill chuck had some wobble when i was starting to start a drill bit and when i was using a 1/4" bit for driving sheet metal screws. i thought it was maybe old bits and figure it would stop after a while. it didn't get better with new bits. but it worked. not a big deal. after a couple months the charger began to die. it would only charge one side after you would plug the charger into the wall outlet. so i found my "local" service center and drove 40 minutes from my house to drop off the charger for repair. that was almost 4 months ago. shortly after i dropped the charger off for repair i went back to hd and purchased a new charger to use till i got the charger back from the repair shop. that has been again almost 4 months ago. now this week while cutting out a ceiling the reciprocating saw locked up and won't move.so now i'm not a very happy camper with this tool set. i took it the set back to hd and wanted to exchange it for the milwaukee tool set.i know alot of people that have that brand tool and are very pleased with them. wasn't gonna happen is basically what the tool mgr told me. could only send it back to the factory and their discresion as to wheather repair,replace or refund my money.and i understand that as that is probably hd store policy.so i bid them thank you and proceded to go back to the local service center and drop off the reciprocating saw and the drill for repairs.according to the shop they go through a central parts warehouse for parts and cannot get parts very quickly. this seems to be a problem. had i not gotten another charger ( another 100 bucks out of my pocket not to mention the 500 plus it cost me at the beginning to buy this torment) i wouldn't be using any cordless power tools for my job. and this is upsetting me. i bought this set for the warranty, i didn't expect to be usind it at all let alone this soon!!!!! now i have a cordless circular saw that isn't gonna help drill holes at all. but at least i can keep the batteries charged. that leads my to my next problem, the batteries don't last very long. we have been using a dewalt cordless recriprocating saw for over 4 years and within the last couple months we had to replace the saw. the run time on the dewalt saw was much longer than the ridgid tool. i figured it was new batteries and after a couple cycles it would improve. it did not. that must be why it only takes 30 minutes to charge these batteries because you have to use twice as many batteries to do the same job. that stinks too. i've been working in the hvac field for over 16 years and have been buying ridgid tools as aften as i can because of the warranty. they are the best plumbing tool out there to me. i bought this tool set thinking it will be on the same quality as dewalt or milwaukee and the kicker was the warranty, i was wrong. never have i been so dissatisfied with a major tool purchase in my life. this is not what i expected for ridgid. i would appreciate better service getting the parts to my repair shop so i can go back to work or to buy them back from me or something!! this is very frustrating to me and i feel i should not have to spend time e-mailing somebody to complain on a saturday. this is also taking up personal time for tools i use for my job. i've never had this many problems with any other power tools i've owned.(i.e. a black and decker cordless drill i used for work for 3 years until i needed a reciprocating saw, then i bought a ryobi set beacuse of the price but it only lasted a year before the batteries began to wear out . so i upgraded to this set, and has been down hill from there) :mad: and this was the response
I apologize for the difficulty you have experienced with some of the items in the Ridgid combo-kit you purchased back in November 2003. Unfortunately, any part of any product on the market today can experience a failure or difficulty, which is why Ridgid offered the lifetime warranty to begin with, so that their valued customers like yourself would be insured that any problem related to a defect in parts or workmanship could and would be taken care of. You indicated that the trouble items from your kit are currently in an authorized service dealers shop for correction. Authorized service dealers typically have up to 90 days under warranty guidelines to officiate repairs. However, if there is any difficulty getting this matter resolved through the authorized service dealer in a timely manner, please do not hesitate to contact the Ridgid customer service manager at 1-866-539-1710 for resolution.

T.Clinkscales
Technical Services
OWT Industries

when i went back to return the tool set i got the treatment that hank404 described to a t. :mad: and taht has caused my to register and give my 2 cents on this DEAL. i liked the idea of cooling the batteries down or heating them up before charging but i don't want to sacrifice run time to get that.
this tool set also caused me to cancel my home depot charge and when the operator asked why i was closing the account i told her the story and she gave my the home depot customer care/service number. and when i called i gave that poor guy the whole story too. if i have to go into home depot again it will be too soon. sorry about going on like this but i want more people to know what i've been going through and how i felt about this tool set.

[paul v.]

HVAC/Rtech

Hope you have a set of Milwaukee corded.....I have realized that service of Ridgid is fairly poor if you need replacement parts....My recip foot broke off...I could perform the service myself but lack the part...3 weeks still no part...This is why B&D (DeWalt) is on most job sites due to service centers in close proximity...

[imported_hvac/Rtech]

paul, what i have corded is mostly the best brand i could afford at the time. porter cable recip saw and a dewalt by black and decker 3/8 drill that has had a new switch put in about 6 or 7 years ago. i originally had a craftsman 3/8 drill for about 3 years before i burnt it up. and that would have been about 12 years ago or so when that happened.


personally i think that the ridgid circ saw is very smooth. it feels like it has good power. no problems with it so far but i don't get it really doesn't get alot of use.

[imported_ang]

I have the 3 piece combo set and am pretty happy with it. Consumer Reports rated drills recently, and although they didn't rate the 18V Ridgid drill, they rated other voltages, and no Ridgid drill rated worst than 3rd place. Not bad considering they rated many drills. (They claim they are currently testing the 18v models.)

I think the drill is very solid and well balanced. There are only two things that bug me, the high/low switch doesn't seem to snap solidly in place, and the forward/reverse switch isn't marked well. I would prefer visible arrows that point IN or OUT. It seems to have two arrows that both point out. I know the in and out sides are standard, but when your upside-down cramed in somewhere, its easy to loose track of forward/reverse.

On batteries, I would have to agree that battery life per charge is shorter than it should be. The problm is not the batteries but the charger, and the choice to go with a 30minute charge. If they had gone with an hour charge, life would be better. Despite the talk here that one brand of battery is better than another, the fact is most brands use the same type of batteries. Ones made by Sanyo. Some drills have gone with NiMH instead, and while these batteries hold more charge for their weight, they are actually not the best for things like drills and saw that demand very high bursts of power. NiCd handles these demands best.

Some here have also complained that the charger won't charge hot batteries. The is protection for your batteries. Hot batteries should never be charged if you want max. service life from them. (Again, the drill manufacturer doesn't matter.) The better chargers will never charge a hot battery, especially in a quick charger.

I'd definitly buy Ridgid again. Maybe not the ultimate best in way, but certainly up there in most.

[imported_tyxlc]

Originally posted by David M.:
The Milwaukee is'nt quite a bit heavier than my 18V DeWalt. You must have the "Compact" model. Mine's the XRP 1/2" drill/driver/hammerdrill model, and believe me, it's quite hefty and I don't think the Milwaukee has anything on it with weight. I have the xrp 18 volt also. The Milwaukee 18 volt Lok-Tor is heavier by over 1/2 pound (xrp hammerdrill 5.95 lbs., locktor hammerdrill 6.5 lbs.).

[ 06-27-2004, 11:00 PM: Message edited by: tyxlc ]