Tough Decision on Drill & Driver Combo! - Need Help

The DeWalts have led lights. I have the DW set and it’s been great. If ridgid give you a lifetime warranty on the battery, one of two things will happen. You’ll need to use all the time, or you’ll never need it. Either way, it’s practically useless. Go toward the light, get the DeWalts.

-- Failure does not stop me, it makes me try harder..... because I'm crazy.

I read something about the Ridgid battery replacement recently. Apparently folks who wanted their battery replaced were having a hard time to do so because most of the service centers weren’t offering the battery replacement (because no money in it for them). So it was difficult for the person posting this information to actually get a battery replacement. It’s not like you can just walk into a Home Depot and trade in your battery.

I’m in the market for a 18v combo as well and pretty sure I’ll go for the Makita.

-- Optimists are usually disappointed. Pessimists are either right or pleasantly surprised. I tend to be a disappointed pessimist.

You can buy bare tools on ebay for not too much if you
strip some gears or whatever. It’s the commitment to
the battery system that matters in cordless since it
traps you with the brand and the voltage format.

I read up about the Ridgid battery replacement deal and
I concur that it’s hard to find positive testimonials about it.

I don’t have any 20v tools, but I have a bunch of DW corded and DW 18v battery op tools. I have had one of my drills for close to 5 years. I am still working on the original batteries! Truth in advertising though…I am that super-uptight guy about how I take care of my rechargeable items. But that only means I take care to fully discharge everything before plugging in for a recharge.

The DW tools themselves are still in excellent operating condition. When it comes to powered hand tools, there is a lot of Yellow and Black in my shop.

My 2 cents. Good luck.

-- "We'll preserve for our children this, the last best hope of man on earth, or we'll sentence them to take the last step into a thousand years of darkness." R. Reagan, "The Speech", 1964

A few things:
First, the makita gears are NOT plastic. They’re metal and last time I checked, makita advertised this on the box.
Second, makita has a VERY wide range of tools that all take the same 18 volt battery.
Third, there is no such thing as a 20 volt lithium ion battery. The dewalt batteries are 18 volts. At maximum charge they will read 20 volts, hence the 20 volt max moniker.
I’ve heard enough bad things about getting replacement batteries to steer me away from the ridgid cordless tools.

That said, I’d skip all the home depot kits and get this one for $175 shipped ($25 off $100 promo). I have two of the drills and love them and will be adding the impact to my arsenal very soon.

If your choice is limited between the dewalt and ridgid, I’d go dewalt. If you can return both and get the makita, I’d go that route as the makita set has quite a following and lots of happy users. Like I said though, my choice would be the bosch.

-- He who dies with the most tools... dies with the emptiest wallet.

If you can swing it, look at the Milwaukee Fuel. Hard to go wrong. Oh, and the DeWalt 20 Volt Max is simply an 18 volt, so named in their attempt not to alienate the many, many people who have the XRP and similar battery systems.

-- Kevin