Here's why Ridgid Li-ion Tools have such a poor rep

I have been using Ridgid cordless tools for a long time and started with Ryobi before Ridgid was thought of. Always had good luck with them and some Craftsmen that were made by Ryobi at the time. just a few months back I got three new batteries for my 18volt tools through the lifetime warranty. Batteries were 8 years old and just not giving any rum time. I have sold Porter Cable, Makita and Dewalt drills in the past due to poor performance but not my Ridgids.

I was and am a long-time user of Ryobi 18v One+ and have added some li-ion things over the years, but I also picked up a Ridgid compact drill and impact drivers for some heavier work a few years back. Both Ridgid batteries died (luckily after the project I was working on) and the Home Depot service center tried to turn me away, but I just stood there like I didn’t understand until they finally gave me two new batteries and a charger :).
I had registered them originally and had the paperwork, but I didn’t re-register the replacements (will try the same when these fail). So far so good after a year though.

Ryobi is not quite as nice but I swear they make some pretty decent stuff.

Rigid tools are crap IMO, slightly better than Craftsman. Have gone through many power tools as a contractor and the only ones that hold up are the top of the line blue Makita 18 volts. Milwaukee experience is mixed, I like the corded professional line of drills, portabands and some saws. The battery life is very important to commercial contractors, when your hanging off a skyscraper it matters.

The only battery powered tools that have been consistently good performers are all Makita, not the home owner light duty stuff either. Dewalt is just a glorified Craftsman to me, gone through lots of stripped gears and bad batteries with those. Consumer reports did a battery drill test a few years ago and they had the same opinion, I think it was Makita, Dewalt and Milwaukee on top and Ryobi got the home owner value award. So far, I haven’t had a premature Makita 18 volt battery death. My personal 14 volt Makitas went many years hanging door hardware in commercial buildings. Never had a Craftsman or Rigid make it past 6 months of daily use. My buddy kept returning his Rigid 18 volt hammer drills every 6 months or so for repair. He had the whole package deal, but he used the warranty repair service often. Even the white home owner grade Makitas will go a couple years or so in commercial use. I tried Bosch a few years back since I loved the big hammer drills. The battery powered stuff didn’t last either, had gear failure. But I did use the battery drills more than most people for many years, we actually drilled through metal so weak designs showed themselves quickly. When I had to buy my own tools I had to choose the most durable. I tried the cheap route a few times and it always cost me more in the end. Those Craftsman 19.2 volts were the worst IMO, but I never tried anything cheaper.

Save yourself the anguish of wondering what if and axe it now, for your peace of mind naturally, our viewing appreciation is a side benefit :wink:

I believe they’re AEG in Australia.
If not Bosch blue, Panasonic would be my choice.

I looked at the AEG in Bunnings and bought the Makita. Sorta glad now.

those cells shown in the pic are the same nonames in the $15 shipped ebay laptop packs.good for about 10 cycles before they head south.you dont get 9 quality cells in a pack for $15!
power tools are much more demanding.why is anyone surprised these are failing?

That is why I am absolutely outraged. I can’t understand how a company as well regarded as Ridgid would think something like this would OK.

And yes, 10 charges is all I got out of those cells. Earlier, I posted that I was charging those cells up individually and testing them. Well I did, and they are toast. Pure China JUNK.

If they are really that bad they couldn’t have passed any testing.

Perhaps the actual manufacturer or battery supplier switched them after production started. Ridgid failed to do quality checks of actual production batches. If you don’t maintain tight oversight of the chinese manufacturer you hire this is what happens. If you let them source components they will ignore official distributors & buy from the cheapest source with no reputation. Factory reject components & counterfeits will land in your device. Read reports from inexperienced companies who get burned like that.

Manufacturer: Tianjin Lishen Battery
Model: LS LR1865BE
1350mAh capacity

Seriously, one of the rare times I can suggest *fire probably would be a better option without it being an out and out joke!

Oh man... that first video was crazy!!

he was really freaking out...

poor ridgid.

I dont know why they put 3S li-ion cells and marked pack as 12.0V most packs with 3S cells marked for standard 10.8V (3.6x3) or 11.1V(3.7x3)

Power tools require higher current at load. I dont think such chinese cells (proven high internal resistance) can provide such current for power tools.

12v to make it sound more powerful.

Can confirm that I had bought 2 sets of these 12V drills for my dad.

ALL 4 batteries have died. Good thing I registered them. I’ll try to get them replaced through warranty.

I had the same experience with my nespresso cappucino machine:

Now I am using a Nivona cafe romatica 855 :bigsmile:

I also had slight misunderstanding with my router. It suddenly stopped working. Dunno why:

I regularly experience this issue with mobile phones.
Stupid humans we are, what with subjecting inanimate objects to our emotions, oft the result of a third party, which these inanimate objects don’t belong to…
Ahh well, they’re replaceable I suppose

ive had good results with mine…… once i gutted the battery pack and slid in a 5S li-po RC pack lol.

Brian

I’ve got a Rigid drill and impact driver (18v) which I’ve owned for about a year. So far, I’m very pleased with them in homeowner-type usage. I’ve just finished a large remodeling project of our condo (gutted and rebuilt kitchen, two bathrooms, new laminate flooring all around, molding, new fireplace, etc). I used both pretty heavily and they worked great. They are well constructed and solid. Battery packs hold a charge well (no use for a month, etc), have decent runtime and charge quickly in the supplied charger.

No experience using them all day every day as a contractor, but for consumer-level use, I think they’re excellent. Can’t beat the lifetime warranty.

I need a corded oscillating tool/saw. Can’t afford a Fein. What do y’all recommend? Porter Cable, Ridgid, Dremel, Dewalt, Rockwell…other?