So my 9 year old Bosch 18v hammer drill gave up the ghost.  I'm going to need to get another one soon.  Life has changed since I bought the Bosch, and I just need one for some projects around the house.  Definitely needs to be a Hammer Drill as I do have concrete to e  into.  I saw that Home Depot has the Rigid 18v Brushless Hammer Drill with 2 batteries for $129.  That's pretty attractive since it's a lot cheaper than a $329 Bosch or Dewalt.  Anyone have experience with Rigid tools.  How are they?



Update - bought the drill yesterday, it's the R86116 1/2" 18v brushless hammer drill with the Jacob's chuck.  All ready registered for the LSA.  Thanks for all the input!

Their power tools are good to go but their calendar rocks big time.

What's good about their calendar?  Hadn't seen it.

Just looked it up, i can see why you'd say that about their calendars.

Ridgid power tools are ok.  I have the impact driver and the cordless drill.  They have been fine.  They do have a lifetime warranty but the warranty is a pain to use.  I bought them because of the lifetime service agreement but, like I said, it's a pain to use.  

I'd prefer Milwaukee but Ridgid has been fine and I've used mine heavily.

I have used the Rigid warranty many times.

There is an authorized center near me.

Dead batteries, dead chargers, smoked drill...all replaced for free.  Sometimes across the counter, sometimes they have to order it in.

I have a Rigid multi tool with multiple attachements, all have worked and been well. I wan't to get a new cordless drill/ driver. It will probably be a Rigid. Warranty and ease of purchase..

I have a rigid palm nailer and a laminate router. They have been flawless for over 3 years, the radio is a piece of shit.

Honestly they are pretty good. One of the better consumer grade tools that can stand up to some professional level work. 

Only downside to them is their cordless lineup is pretty small. Milwaukee takes the lead in that regards. 

I have the Bosch, just for reference it is junk.   No power in hammer mode or drill mode.  Drilling some holes in timber, I had to put the 18v cordless on the job to finish.

Lifetime warranty, but you have to go to the website & register them almost immediately or they won't honor it later.

You have the cordless Bosch or the corded?

I'll be that guy.....

Go Milwaukee M12 or M18.

Truth.  I missed the window by 3 days because I had trouble on their web Site.   Nothing they would do to restore the lifetime warranty.   They said it's alright I got a year warranty. :-/

This was on their metal abrasive wheel chop saw.

If you want real bang for your buck, this is a great kit:

Brushless CompactmHammer Drill and Impact Driver  $279

Better than Black and Decker 'homeowner' junk grade.


Black and Decker purchased the Rockwell hand tool line after they made their brand absolute junk.

My father needed a 1/4 inch drill.
He payed for a $20 B&D.

It barely made it a few hours.

I took it down to see why the chuck was wobbling.

No bearings.

A molded plastic stud on each side of the case had a small hollow with a tiny dot of grease.
It was holding the shaft directly.

I have one of their sawsalls. Works 100% after three years.

Meh. Same factory (TTI) makes them both. TTI is Chinese and owns Milwaukee. My 12v oscillating multi tool burned out its bushing in the motor. A bushing. . .  My Hackzall had to be replaced within a week for a crap trigger. The shoe is hogging our the plastic frame so it sits loose. Two of my batteries are falling apart. That said, they are handy a frig. I love the ratchet.

My 18v FUEL Impact Driver and Hammer drill are awesome. Loads of power. I even mixed several bags of concrete as fast as the batteries would charge. The charger died twice so far.


I would use Ridgid tools, they have a decent lineup of cordless tools if you plan on expanding. Their 10" table saw and collated screw gun are quite nice to use.

It may be worth getting an inexpensive rotary hammer drill and a cordless normal drill. The rotary hammer drills are made for concrete and work so much better. I saw regular Ridgid drills for $59 with a battery in the clearance section at the local Home Depot.

Bosch, Dewalt, Makita, Milwaukee, Ridgid pretty much all the same.  Some have different features, some different options.  Kinda like Ford vs Chevy vs RAm vs Toyota trucks.  Each brand had loyal users, each has haters.

I have a split platform at mi casa.  I have M18 Milwaukee stuff and Ridgid 18v.  I originally started with the Ridgid but also now have some Milwaukee stuff.   This way, depending on application, need, price, power, etc.  I can really get away with some price savings, to use on other tools or additional batteries.

Ridgid:

6.5 Circular Saw.
Compact 1/2" Drill X4
Compact Impact Driver X4
Compact 1/2" Hammer Drill X5 Brushless
Compact Impact Driver X5 Brushless

Milwaukee:

Compact 1/2" Drill/Driver 2606.  I actually bought this on a business trip when I needed a tool to complete a job and it was on sale.  It worked really well, so I kept it instead of expense-ing it.  
7.25 Circular Saw Brushless 2731
1/2" Impact Wrench 2763

I've had no problems with a rigid worm drive saw and orbital sander. And I've beat the hell out of them

Hammer drills are fine for putting in 1/4" tap cons. If you're actually drilling concrete you need a rotary hammer, for which I would recommend bosch.

Most of the larger lines now have multiple 'grades' of tools.

Homeowner budget / price point tools.  Cheap and will not last long or do anything heavy.

Contractor type level for occasional heavy use.

'Pro' grade that will do some heavy work day after day.

A 'manufacture' type grade that will do heavy work all day & day after day.


I have seen skill worm drives that are 40 years old and still going strong in daily heavy use.

Mine is only about 30 years old and a use it only 1-2 days a week in more moderate work.

I have not seen any really old 'sidewinders' in daily use.


I have a very old Craftsman (<70 years) 1/2 inch drill. Chuck is Jacobs brand.  Cast aluminum shell. No speed control.  Click on; click release trigger.

A real 1/2 hp.  It has thrown me multiple time when a larger bit has grabbed.  Grandfather purchased it used.


The heavy duty Milwaukee drills are decent.  3/8 hammer-drill.  Has made plenty of 3/4 in holes in concrete.  Occasionally stopped by a very hard piece of aggregate in concrete.

The drill-hammer is a much older Milwaukee with spline drive.
Big. Heavy. 240 V monster.

Has never been stopped by anything and I have drilled 1-1/2 inch hols with it for expansive concrete demo work.

I also have a few diamond coated drills for places I do not care about using water when drilling.

A 16 inch x 2-1/2 inch diameter diamond coring bit.  It was expensive but worth every penny over the years of use.  Maybe about 48 holes a year.  Fits the 3/8 drill but NO HAMMER.
Works better with water but can be used dry for shorter holes in softer material.  CBU but not concrete.

Try and buy at least a little better than you need for each job.  It pays off in the long run with fewer tool failures.

Learn how to replace brushes and watch the commutator for excessive sparking from worn brushes.
The tend to lose spring pressure near the end of the brush life and make more sparks in operation under load.
Most have stops and the tool will stop working when the brush is worn out.

Before you got there you did a LOT of damage to the commutator.

I am still waiting to see how well the brushless (permanent super magnet with electronically driven fields) are going to last.

You could always rent a rotary hammer for when you need to drill into concrete.

As said before, a hammer drill will do smaller holes and fasteners in concrete and a rotary hammer will make much faster and easier work as the holes become larger.

I have a table saw, miter saw, worm drive circular saw, benchtop planer, and a corded 3/8" drill by Ridgid.

All get a lot of use, especially the saws, and the only issue I have had is the switch on the table saw bit the dust. I found a "close enough" replacement online cheap. It was easier than dicking around with the warranty.

Per the manufacturer rep I talked to at Home Depot:

"What do you use it for?"
"Just projects around the house."
"You won't even need the warranty in your lifetime."

Sounds good to me. Mind you, they also manufacture Milwaukee and he could have tried to upsell me.

He was wrong. You will need the warranty at some point for batteries at least. I'm close to wearing out my impact driver and I'm a homeowner who built 1 house and used it while working on the house.

I still think Ridgid tools are fine but they all wear out.

Something else to bear in mind about Ridgid....if you buy extra batteries to have spares, they only warranty those batteries for 3 years....they do not get the lifetime service agreement.

I've been using Ridgid pretty much daily since the first time a registered a product - February 19, 2008 (I had to check my LSA registration on the site, LOL)

I've exchanged multiple batteries (back then, they were Ni-cd), but I've only needed service twice.  Once a regular drill.  Chuck came loose and it started smelling of burnt wiring.  Other was an impact driver.  Burned it up driving 6 1/2" screws.  Something like 3000 of them in a day.  

Service has always been easy.  Just take it to the Home Depot tool rental counter.  They charge you $25 or so to send it in for you.  If it's not something you did to break it (like dropping it off a roof or something) you get the money back when they get your repaired or new tool back.

Thanks everyone for the input!  Bought the drill yesterday!

I've had to use the Milwaukee warranty.  Had a 4.0 M12 battery catch fire while using the M12 baby sawzall.  Of course it was 100 degrees out and I was torturing the hell out of that thing.  I guess I should have stopped when the tool went into shut down mode.