Lesson Learned - Cheaper tools - Don't do it!

[GFOviedo]

So, I had several pneumatic nailers from 15 to 23 gauge. I mainly used the 18 gauge, and I ended up buying a Ryobi 18 gauge cordless nailer. I tested it for a few weeks, and it was working great. I decided to sell all of my pneumatic tools and switch to cordless. What could go wrong! It's only a brad nailer!

Well for the last couple of weeks my wife has been using the Ryobi, and she stated that at times the tool doesn't shoot nails even after the tool cycles. So, I went out there and indeed the tools cycles, but does not fire nails. I ended up calling Ryobi customers support, and the tech informed that at times the magnetic mechanism stick. He explained how to fix the problem, but the issues has continued since. I was told to send the tool for repairs only to find that it will take up to 12 weeks to get it back.

I mainly have Milwaukee and Dewalt tools, and the longest I've ever had one of these tools out for repair is 1 week. My surge Milwaukee impact drill was not working properly, and Milwaukee sent me a new one as soon as I sent out mine. The same happened with my Dewalt hammer drill...it started leaking grease, and Dewalt sent me a new one.

The tool in question is the Ryobi P320 18 gauge brad nailer. It was $100 dollars cheaper than the Milwaukee/Dewalt, but now I wish I had spend the money. Now, I am looking to spending more $$$ since I need it to complete my home improvement projects and my wife needs it for her part time business.

I was wondering if anyone else one here has had any experience with this tool? Have you had any issues? If yes, what did you do? What was the outcome?

 

[Tony V.]

I've used all sorts of brands of cordless tools over the years and have found Makita to be the most reliable next to that Dewalt and Ridged are about the same.
I've burnt out so many cordless drills using a holesaw that I've lost count and the makita XLT drills seem to be the only ones that hold up.

As far as hand tools go if I was rich Snap-on are great but who can afford them? Up here we have Canadian tire stores across Canada and they have their Mastercraft tools with a lifetime warranty that's really good. Sears used to be great for Craftsman but they are gone now and went downhill long ago when they sold the Craftsman name to a Chinese company now being sold at Lows.

 

[GFOviedo]

I’ve used many different brands and so far the Milwaukee and Dewalt have been pretty good to me.
Malita is pretty good as well. I had several Marita tools and my to go grinder was the Makita as well. However, I’ve been selling and replacing all of my tools with cordless tools and since I already had several milwaukee and dewalt batteries, I decided to stay with their platform.

I made the mistake of giving the Ryobi a chance because it had good reviews and it was considerably more inexpensive, but now I’m spending about double of what I’ve should of spent.

 

[Mark C Flick]

I buy a lot of cordless tools to use at work. Milwaukee, in my experience, have been the best. Also buy a lot of corded Makita circular saws, usually last about 3 -4 uses but are pretty expensive (I can buy three Milwaukee cordless for the price of one corded Makita). It's a pretty tough environment and the Milwaukee's hold up much longer than anything else I've tried. Used to buy a lot of DeWalt but seems like their quality started going down about 15 years ago so I switched to Milwaukee.

 

[tesseract]

I use hand tools for a living. Milwaukee cordless, all the way. Pneumatic, otherwise.