Don't get screwed !
Buy Rigid, ( home depot's home brand )
Why, you ask
Simple
I have inside info
That home depot
Looked at all the leading brands,
( dewalt / makita / bosch / you name it!! )
And they took the best of all of them and made " rigid "
So why is this the best brand to buy ?

Simple

Home depot gives you " lifetime warranty "

No other leading brand does that

I do not work for home depot

Or for any ad company

I'm just tired of buying,,
What I assume are good tools,
And ending up with problems!!

I have a new stanley square that is "not " square
And a level that is not level
And a makita drill with a jamed " chuck " ( 2 months old )!!

Lets buy rigid and maybe the other brands will wake up !
9 pack cordless tool sets @ close to $ 1 k, should come with
Promise of quality
That's a lot of $$$ for most " diy " people !

Typically we remove posts like this as advertising, but in this case we'll make an exception.

I disagree 100%.

Home Depot sells Rigid because that's who they got the best partnership deal from.

The Lifetime Guarantee is ridiculous. You have to keep the receipt. Who can find the receipt for some tool they bought 10 or 5 or even 1 year ago?

I've found that all the major brands are about equal... so I buy the cheapest. Ryobi is cheap - and my maintenance guys have been using it for years with no problems at all.

Craftsman has the best guarantee. No receipt needed and no questions asked. If it's broke, they'll trade you for a new one.

Craftsman has the best guarantee. No receipt needed and no questions asked. If it's broke, they'll trade you for a new one.

Rick

I think that's true only on hand tools, not on power tools.

I agree with Rick. HD picked the best deal for them and built a marketing program. I just bought several door lock sets with Lifetime finish guarantees but you need the original recipt. Where will that be in 15 years? Rigid is fine but I don't think they are hands down the best. Maybe Cutlass could ask experiences others have had with Rigid.

Cutlass has over 20 renos under his belt, and
I've had all the power tools,
I should have specified the following,,
Rigid is the best because of the lifetime warranty
And not because they are the best power tools
Although , I would rate them 8 out of 10 !
I actually prefer Makita,
But,
When you have a lifetime warranty,
Then ,
Who cares, when you don't have to dish out $$$$$!!

Look at it this way,,

You buy a base model Corvette , with lifetime warranty,
Or a McLaren like you normally would,
As much as I would orgasm just being a passenger for a "once around the track"
In a McLaren,, let alone own one ,
I would be stupid not to take the Corvette!!

I take that back,, I still prefer my Cutlass !

Rick,, As far as not holding on to you're receipt,
And or not knowing what you did with it,,
That's you're tough luck !

I guess I am one of those people they hate, I tape the receipt on all major and even smaller electronic items to the inside of their box and store them.

I have the boxes for my computers ( some have to be in original boxes to be returned for service) I have the boxes and reciepts for my modems, my power tools,

I got this from my dad, who had at his death, 30 year old reciepts for the pool table still taped to the bottom of the pool table.

As for as Home Depo, I do love them, buy things all the time, have a HD credit card ( one of the few I own) and take my son to some of their project days.
But if they could have gotten a better deal from Chinese-are-us brand, that is what they would be selling. Over all best deal for return policy, shipping, delvery and even terms on payments.
And one fear is that of course, in 3 or 5 years they may stop carrying that brand and rules.

I have/had a rigid drain cleaner that attaches to a drill. Does it work after a few uses, no. I bought a similar one from Lowe's. Broke the first time. The Ridgid one uses a crummy design to advance the line.

The Cobra drain auger I bought at Lowe's broke the first time I used it. They took it back. The lock should be metal. Eventually, I may make a metal auger lock. They are both JUNK. You get what you pay for. We are probably talking about $250 for one to clean a bathroom drain of hair once and a while. But, then again, $250 is probably less than 2 plumber service calls.

This does approach the lines of advertisement rick.

this does approach the lines of advertisement rick.
I don't think so , its guy talk. The things we talk about while our wives are talking about us.:)

OK I will try not to piss any one off but here is an opinon from a 20+ year contractor. Rigid is to home depot what tool shop is to menards. They are all crap. I know you can buy a rigid 14 volt drill for 39.95... you can buy a dewalt for 139.95... I can spend my time returning a rigid that is broke down and loose work time or I can buy good product and spend my time on the job making money with it. If you want a cheap tool go to a box shop (menards,Lowe's,home depot, etc... ) If you want a good tool go to a tool store.
Mike

Yep, I pretty much agree. Maybe Rigid isn't quite as bad as Tool Shop and man have I had problems with the few Tool Shop tools I did foolishly buy. Cutting out windows to be replaced with a reciprocating saw. The saw cut 10", starting smoking and sparking. Took it back, got another and it did the exact same thing, 10". I now own a $250 Hitachi that doesn't smoke.

LOL ballengerb1... if you made it 10" with your tool shop sawz all you made it about
4" further than I did! Hitachi makes some awesome tools, I however, prefer DeWalt not just they make great tools but the Yellow and Black matches the colors of my Iowa Hawkeyes LOL
Go Hawks
Mike

I like Hitachi green, same color as the money I flushed down the drain with Tool Shop. I cut out 22 windows from a log cabin with one wrecking blade.

Should people take the time to look at Rigid's policy all you have to do is photo copy your receipt and register one time only with what ever product you have, the reason I say this is that I am an ex employee of the home depot and have purchased many rigid products.
Once your product has been registered you will receive in your mail and envelope containing what looks like an I.D TAG with your warranty number stamped on it.
So the story of no receipt no warranty is old news folks

Personaly the receipt thing means nothing to me. I don't know why people can't figure out TIME IS MONEY. When your tool craps out does the store bring you a new one? NOPE...
you have to go get it... Here is my personal history: bought a tool shop sawzall at menards... made three trips back in two days for replacement... bought a rigid cut off saw... made two trips back in less than two weeks for replacement.
Dewalt cut off saw= 6 yrs old... still running good
Dewalt sawzall= 8 yrs old... runs like new
Dewalt drill's 14.4 = 6 yrs old plus... all run great
Milwauke and Hilti zip guns = 8 yrs old plus... all run great
My point is you can drive to the store as many times as you want with those fantastic warrenties, It will never be smarter than buying a tool that's stands the test of time. Figure the lost wages and cost of fuel at $3.50 + per gallon and those tools end up costing you twice what it would cost to buy a good one to start with.
Mike

There are a lot of companies making high quality power tools. The advertisements that you see will each claim that theirs is the toughest, roughest, and longest lasting. While each of these major manufacturers has increased the quality of their tools, each is also heavily involved in marketing them. It may help you to decide if you can determine which product niche best meets your needs. All of the power tool makers are trying to stand out from the rest, and thus have created some unique twist that sets their product apart from the competition.

Perhaps the most important thing to look for when thinking about brands is the warranty. Several major producers of very high quality tools now offer lifetime replacement warranties on their tools. I would recommend buying one of these. If you are ready to spend the money on a power tool, make sure it's the last one that you'll ever have to buy. There is no reason to settle on a warranty that is anything less than lifetime.

I have a rainbow coloured tool shelf: makita blue, dewalt yellow, sears craftsman black, bostitch and Porter Cable. I keep trying to break the Craftsman stuff so I can justify to my wife buying new pro stuff.

My Makita sawzall is 26 years old. It was the first professional tool I bought on the first house we did. I've adjusted the brushes and replaced the switch (after I dropped it 15 feet), but it is indestructible. I've burnt through a number of circular saws until getting my current dewalt. I bought one of the first makita slide compound mitre saws in the '90's - it is not accurate enough for finishing work any more (the whole head is slightly off square and I can't seem to adjust it), but is great for rough carpentry.

Having said all that, I'll still buy a Ridgid cordless drill at Home Depot when my current battery stops holding a charge. As I mentioned on one of the other threads, one of my carpenters is on his 4th battery in two years of daily use. There are always no questions asked - whenever the battery gets weak, he goes and gets a new one for free. It has to be the best deal going because batteries wear out a lot quicker than the rest of the tool does... and replacement ones are normally $$$.

OK I will answer this one more time then I am going to get off the subject... I can't seem to figure out why people are so excited about a warranty that has to be used all the time. rtw_travel just said he knows a guy who is on his fourth battery in 2 years. Am I the only one who notices what that is telling you. It means on average a Rigid battery will last you 6 months before it goes to crap. I just don't know how a tool that lasts 6 months can compare to a tool that lasts 6 years. So lets say this guy has returned 3 batteries. That means he has gone back to the store 3 times. If it took 5 gallons of gas and an hour each time/ 15x $3.50 = $52.50... 3 hours x $35.00 = $105.00... 52.50+105= $157.50
That means he has spent $157.50 replacing batteries. Mabey I look at things differently than other people, but the bottom line is running to a store to replace tools is a waste of time and money.How many people would go to little joes discount tire shop and buy tires at $10.00 each because he warranties them for life? They may blow out at any time and you might go through 12 tires a year... but hey they are lifetime warranty... and every one knows taking the time to change a tire is no big deal. We should all buy more stuff with life time warranties... like those home smoke detectors you can get at the dollar store 2 for $1.00... Warranties don't make the tool... Quality Does!!
Mike

I just don't know how a tool that lasts 6 months can compare to a tool that lasts 6 years.

I hear what you're saying, Mike, and I agree for any tool except cordless. I've just never seen a battery last that long when its in regular use. Actually, they probably won' t last that long when its not in use either. You just can't win with batteries.

Just to change the subject a little, has anyone every bought one of those cordless tool sets? You know: drill, circular saw, sawzall, charger + batteries. I see them for sale all over, but I just don't get the point of those things. Am I missing something?

David

Never bought one, but the cost of batteries and a charger adds up significantly if purchased with each tool separately. In some cases, like a Dewalt wet/dry vac. It is purchased corded, but the charger and battery has to be added separately or borrowed from another Dewalt cordless tool.

I have had really good luck with batteries I guess. (knock on wood) The best I have found is DeWalt and Craftsman. I do a couple things a lot of people don't however. I have found that these things help. When your battery is done charging... remove it from the charger, never let it sit there. When I put my tools up for the night I always remove the batteries from the drills. Most drill cases have a spot for two batteries. I always make sure my batteries are charged. I never put a dead battery in the case. Like I said before I have 14.4 and 18 volt batteries that are 5-6 years old and they still function fine. A lot of times it is how you treat the tools that determines their life span. For instance, the 7/8" Hitachi hammer drill my son drove over last summer didn't last to long. :-)))
Mike