Modern tools that didn't actually exist before

[Detective D]

I bought a new tool a couple months ago, and wanted to share how it has done.
Now, it isn't some new invention per se', however the mechanical design and application is something I have never seen before.

When I got my Dakota, a rubber boot on the front passenger half shaft was torn. New boot: $12. Entire new half shaft from Rock Auto: $36. No brainer.
Pull wheel, etc. Giant hub nut. Well, last one of these I did I soaked up and used a breaker bar. I was 23 then. No thanks. I bought this:

18V ONE+ HP Brushless 4-Mode 1/2" High Torque... - RYOBI Tools

18V ONE+ HP Brushless 4-Mode 1/2" High Torque Impact Wrench

www.ryobitools.com

Read the breakaway power. No, there is not a missing decimal point. This is the " I pull the trigger and things move now" gun.
I have the one+ stuff, almost all of mine is from the blue/yellow days of yore when it was NiCad. Really nice stuff. Newer crazy green stuff is hit and miss. The cordless drills are a miss. This thing is a HIT.
Most manufacturers make something like this now. From what I can see, the mechanical part on the nose is identical on all of them, the handle, motor, and battery interface is what is different. I believe the nose piece is what is the recent invention. The "impacts per second" is absurd, I think this is how they multiply the power. It just sort of buzzes when you put it under load, hard to describe because it will only be under load for like .7 seconds lol.

It has been an AMAZING upgrade compared to my air tool. Cordless "I said move" is so handy for everything. Uses battery I already had. It has a feature for putting things back on(auto mode) where it will spin until it gets some resistance, than stop itself. So you can spin lug nuts back on without worry of it exploding everything with it's insane power. Frankly, I have been chicken to use it to actually tighten anything, but that's ok, it gets things snug and I like to do by hand the rest for my whole life so I can "feel"/get feedback so I know how tight it is.
It is a hefty girl, but you would expect that to a point, fairly top heavy so you can't sit it on the battery on the floor or bench upright like a drill. Lay it on it's side so it is stable.

You can choose whatever color/brand you favor but this is a serious modern upgrade tool. I am 100% happy I pulled the trigger on the purchase. You can find them in most box stores. Recommend checking them out there in person even if you don't want to buy from them, they are not a $50 buy. Make note: my One+ stuff is all 18V. Plenty of power. So no need to buy a new fangled higher volt tool if you have older 18v or 20v stuff of your favorite brand just for this one thing. Share batteries, it will get the job done still, and then some.

Edit:
I meant to write at the end here, please share any modern tools you have found that blow away the tried and true we have been using for years. Seems after a long spell of just rehashing the same old, there are some innovative things out there now.

 

[64BEL]

A couple of years ago my daughter's boyfriend needed to take his weight racks apart (big time free weight set with serious racks). He only needed it for their move to a new house, so I bought a Milwaukee battery powered Fuel model impact wrench, had it shipped to him to use for the move, then I brought it home the next time we visited. It's my first impact wrench. I've never had a big enough compressor for a pneumatic one, myself, but I've used them plenty over the years in other shops. I just used it again 2 days ago to pull an 8 lug wheel off my Ram to fix a tire. Like you, I final tighten by hand (with a torque wrench on my wheels). What a handy tool to have. Would have been nice to have decades ago!

 

[moparwacko]

I bought a Milwaukee M18 1/2 inch high torque model about 2 years ago.
I bought it specifically to make repairs on a horse trailer's suspension where no air compressor was available. It totally amazed me, and have not used my air gun in the shop since. It has unreal power.

M18 FUEL™ 1/2" High Torque Impact Wrench w/ Friction Ring | Milwaukee Tool

 

[gkent]

Ya lost me at "Ryobi" ! Three brands of products I do NOT buy ... Samsung, LG and ... Ryobi

 

[Detective D]

Ya lost me at "Ryobi" ! Three brands of products I do NOT buy ... Samsung, LG and ... Ryobi

Everyone has the preffered color
The nose piece is the same on all of them. And they all come from the same factory in China.
Most of my Ryobi is from the brief time in the late 90's and early 2000's when they had the sort of darker blue color. All of them have been bullet proof.
When they went to the birght green, had to pick and choose. Bought a cordless caulk gun, it is pretty nice. Got a battery+ drill in a christmas gift. The drill was about 20% as good as my older blue color one. Didn't even sound right. Fiberglass pole electric chainsaw on a stick is really nice.
i always go to some box store and check them out. It is easy to tell if the design was thought out well or just a cheap modify off of someone elses, and that goes for all the brands.
Milwaukee has done a lot of work to try to regain some of the rep. they had for so many years, it is working people are coming back.
Dewalt went to crap almost 20 years ago now.
Makita can't decide if they should make top shelf or trash tier. And you never know what they picked this year. Been that way for a long time.
Ryobi has put themselves in a price point space instead of a quality space, so some of the stuff is pretty suspect. They went for a quality space when the One+ was introduced over 20 years ago. It really shook up the industry that had been changing battery shape every year or two just so people couldn't keep using an old tool. My NiCad 18v stuff from 2002 can snap a brand new lithium battery in from 2023. My Sawzall looks like it has been to hell and back, but it works like new. Been through more packs of blades than I can count(use Milwaukee brand sawzall blades, they last the longest)
This impact tool is a good one though. Maybe it helps it is a shared part from the other brands too, but regardless I like it and whatever color people favor they should go check these 1000+ft.lb tools out, they are the next level.

 

[khryslerkid]

Ya lost me at "Ryobi" ! Three brands of products I do NOT buy ... Samsung, LG and ... Ryobi

I starting buying Ryobi 18v One+ about 10 years ago. I have all kinds of tools from them and haven't had any problems. For the money you can't beat them.

Samsung and LG are real junk. My friend has had several appliances over the years and she's always having me fix them. Finally this year she replaced everything with GE and knock on wood alls good.

 

[padam]

I got a Dewalt 1/2 impact a couple of years ago, I’m really happy with it. Much better than my air impact. Only downside is they are bulky and heavy.

I am also using a dewalt 3/8 impact a lot more these days on cars. (Like others said mostly disassembly.) That and a 10mm deep well socket will pretty much disassemble any Asian car.

I had Ryobi 18v cordless tools. When the batteries started dying my son got me into Dewalt. Mostly 20v. I’m not saying Dewalt is the best but the drills and saws were a big upgrade over the Ryobis I had.

 

[Ron H]

I’ve got a bunch of Milwaukee tools over the past few years and just bought one of the power brushes to add to the trimmer a few days ago for clearing snow off the pavement and pushing stones off the grass in spring after plowing. Assembling the thing this weekend. I have a rapid charger that has worked well.

My daughter spent a ton buying a whole bunch of Ryobi tools as she bought an ancient house. Yeah, not as pricy as Milwaukee. I’ve used them several times when working at her place the past few months and have no complaints about them.

Wish decent battery tools were available years ago as I might have avoided the CTS surgeries and some blood loss..

 

[PlymCrazy]

I bought an M18 Milwaukee 1/2" impact a few years ago and that began my switch from Craftsman 19.2V.
It's brushed and is rated around 450 ft-lb of torque IIRC.
That Ryobi in the OP? Wow, what a difference in torque in comparison. 1170/700 ft-lbs. But it's brushless, so the extra power and runtime make sense.
Brushless technology has really made these cordless tools more advantageous and desirable.

I just looked at Milwaukee online too to compare. 1400/1000 ft-lbs.
M18 FUEL™ 1/2" High Torque Impact Wrench with Friction Ring (Tool Only)

Nice to know I don't need to switch brands to get the extra power if I want.
Rarely does my Milwaukee not have enough oomph for the job. But when it doesn't, my air impact is a nice backup.

I had a Ryobi cordless kit for the house years ago. No complaints. Gave it to my BIL as a starter when he bought his first house.

 

[Detective D]

I starting buying Ryobi 18v One+ about 10 years ago. I have all kinds of tools from them and haven't had any problems. For the money you can't beat them.

Samsung and LG are real junk. My friend has had several appliances over the years and she's always having me fix them. Finally this year she replaced everything with GE and knock on wood alls good.

GE designs for a particular lifespan. When that time comes it will give up the ghost. Until that time comes it will work just fine. They go from no issues to DEAD, with no in between. The length of time is determined by their price point and business strategy. In this regard they are slightly different than the other brands. GE typically finds rthe price target, and then designs the product to make the correct margin and ultimately the design will have to last the specified time for the market they are after. Options will be added or removed to hit that price/time goal. Other brands build a product to a price and options goal, and quality suffers if the options push the price to high.
So GE will be super reliable, for whatever time they designed it to last. Then it will puke out and you can throw it away.

My LG microwave is 14 years old. I have a 55" plasma TV that is from 2008. That's fine so far. They do make different grades of product, like a lot of them do. I bought my stuff at a reputable local furniture/appliance and not a box store. If you look hard at specs, you can see they make the same item with different guts, and then price them accordingly. Sony does this also. I am sure a bunch of them do, we have a globally sourced everything now, it's all the same stuff with a few different items in it and you get what you pay for outside of yuppie "branding" premium brands.

 

[Cranky]

Ya lost me at "Ryobi" ! Three brands of products I do NOT buy ... Samsung, LG and ... Ryobi

Recently bought some Ryobi ONE+ 'electric' tools and I'm impressed with them.....but many years ago I wasn't impressed with that name at all. Had a Samsung transistor radio in the late 60's and had it on the job with me and it took a beating but won't buy anything with that name these days and I have absolutely no experience with LG.

 

[Detective D]

I bought an M18 Milwaukee 1/2" impact a few years ago and that began my switch from Craftsman 19.2V.
It's brushed and is rated around 450 ft-lb of torque IIRC.
That Ryobi in the OP? Wow, what a difference in torque in comparison. 1170/700 ft-lbs. But it's brushless, so the extra power and runtime make sense.
Brushless technology has really made these cordless tools more advantageous and desirable.

I just looked a Milwaukee online too to compare. 1400/1000 ft-lbs.
M18 FUEL™ 1/2" High Torque Impact Wrench with Friction Ring (Tool Only)

Nice to know I don't need to switch brands to get the extra power if I want.
Rarely does my Milwaukee not have enough oomph for the job. But when it doesn't, my air impact is a nice backup.

I had a Ryobi cordless kit for the house years ago. No complaints. Gave it to my BIL as a starter when he bought his first house.

Yeah most of the different brands snapped up that new nose piece and adapted their battery interface to it. So you can find your prefferred brand and get the tool without a battery and just use what you have.
I have an air impact, been the go to. Was probably 550 ft-lbs new, more likely down to 450-500 now. It has seen some stuff in the last 20 years.
Besides not needing to power up the compressor and drag a hose around, the difference in power is astounding. You can;t really describe it. After the first few uses, I know with 100% confidence it will move whatever it is when I pull the trigger. The older stuff is powerful in it's own right, but not like this. I had things my old air gun had a bad time with, my 1990's era F932 JD 72" mower deck needed spindles rebuilt. They are held together(bearings in the stack I mean) with a giant 28mm nut(maybe it was 30?) I didn;t think I was going to get 2 of the three with my gun and it was newer at the time. Probably should have had a 3/4" drive. This new cordless? Yeah it would get it, I KNOW it would get it. This level of power I think nothing stands a chance up to the point you don't feel safe using a 1/2" drive anymore.
And as it is, you could put it in a backpack and haul it out in the woods lol. Or a 4x4 trail if you are a wheeler, etc. It is just a new chapter, after 20 years of gradual improvements to the same fundamental tools we had in the 90's.

 

[PlymCrazy]

Yeah most of the different brands snapped up that new nose piece and adapted their battery interface to it. So you can find your prefferred brand and get the tool without a battery and just use what you have.
I have an air impact, been the go to. Was probably 550 ft-lbs new, more likely down to 450-500 now. It has seen some stuff in the last 20 years.
Besides not needing to power up the compressor and drag a hose around, the difference in power is astounding. You can;t really describe it. After the first few uses, I know with 100% confidence it will move whatever it is when I pull the trigger. The older stuff is powerful in it's own right, but not like this. I had things my old air gun had a bad time with, my 1990's era F932 JD 72" mower deck needed spindles rebuilt. They are held together(bearings in the stack I mean) with a giant 28mm nut(maybe it was 30?) I didn;t think I was going to get 2 of the three with my gun and it was newer at the time. Probably should have had a 3/4" drive. This new cordless? Yeah it would get it, I KNOW it would get it. This level of power I think nothing stands a chance up to the point you don't feel safe using a 1/2" drive anymore.
And as it is, you could put it in a backpack and haul it out in the woods lol. Or a 4x4 trail if you are a wheeler, etc. It is just a new chapter, after 20 years of gradual improvements to the same fundamental tools we had in the 90's.

I keep going back to the example of when I built and raced radio-controlled cars as a kid.
The "brushed" motors back then were limited by, amongst other things, the friction of the brush contacting the commutator.
Once the "brushless" technology was released several years ago, it drastically broadened the electric motors' capabilities.
It seems now these little motors can handle as much voltage as we can throw at them. And the output just continues to increase.

 

[Ron H]

Having worked on numerous large construction sites, the hassles morphed to finding outlets reasonably nearby for all the chargers, not for plugging in extension cords anymore. Lol, the old extension cord wars that could get nasty and touchy GFI’s. Cords everywhere. Then osha and site safety guys nagging on the quarterly inspection tags and cutting off the plug when they found one out of compliance. Add all the generators running before power was hooked up.

The usual brand I used to see was Makita and later would see more Milwaukee. They hooked me and being from Milwaukee don’t think had much to do with it. Making the call on what brand you want to buy, get locked in with one or the other cuz of the battery.

Back in 2012 on a visit to see our daughter (PC in Costa Rica) we were in a small city and had to take a photo of the store front window as I found it surprising. This was the only town within hours of anywhere. This includes driving on rutted gravel one-lane roads with a max speed of 25MPH if you wanted to keep your internal organs where they belong..

 

[Cranky]

Having worked on numerous large construction sites, the hassles morphed to finding outlets reasonably nearby for all the chargers, not for plugging in extension cords anymore. Lol, the old extension cord wars that could get nasty and touchy GFI’s. Cords everywhere. Then osha and site safety guys nagging on the quarterly inspection tags and cutting off the plug when they found one out of compliance. Add all the generators running before power was hooked up.

The usual brand I used to see was Makita and later would see more Milwaukee. They hooked me and being from Milwaukee don’t think had much to do with it. Making the call on what brand you want to buy, get locked in with one or the other cuz of the battery.

Back in 2012 on a visit to see our daughter (PC in Costa Rica) we were in a small city and had to take a photo of the store front window as I found it surprising. This was the only town within hours of anywhere. This includes driving on rutted gravel one-lane roads with a max speed of 25MPH if you wanted to keep your internal organs where they belong..

View attachment 1554773

I've had a few Milwaukee power tools but they were corded but the one I still have is a Super Sawzall and well, can't say anything bad about it except for it has a cord. The others were dang good too.

 

[khryslerkid]

I got a Dewalt 1/2 impact a couple of years ago, I’m really happy with it. Much better than my air impact. Only downside is they are bulky and heavy.

I am also using a dewalt 3/8 impact a lot more these days on cars. (Like others said mostly disassembly.) That and a 10mm deep well socket will pretty much disassemble any Asian car.

I had Ryobi 18v cordless tools. When the batteries started dying my son got me into Dewalt. Mostly 20v. I’m not saying Dewalt is the best but the drills and saws were a big upgrade over the Ryobis I had.

I was working in a metal fab shop who had about six to eight welders at one time building security safes for the military. We were using 3/8" to 1/2" hardened plate (wear plate). Them boys could burn up a 4 1/2 angle grinder in a day if it wasn't quality. We went through Makitas and Milwaukees in about a week. They would get hot and burn up. Then we went to Dewalt and they would hold up to the abuse that were thrown at them. (Im talking about corded tools). Each grinder would eventually need a trigger switch after about six months or so. We stocked the switches so we could replace them when needed. Actually kept a grinder handy when someone needed one and repaired the one he turned in later. Had to keep cords in stock also for when someone would cut theirs off. These were the higher amp units with the paddle trigger on the side. All my corded power tools are Dewalt.

Theres one problem with the brushless tools. If you're drilling steel overhead, the shavings will fall and stick to the back area of the tool. Or if you happen to lay it down in some metal filings/shavings. The back is magnetized. You go to use the tool again and you'll get a sliver in your hand real quick. Don't get me wrong, I like the new brushless tools, it's just something to watch for when using them.

 

[GTXDAN]

I've had Dewalt drills for several years. Started with 18v, but the battery was so big it made the drill extremely heavy. Batteries didn't seem to last very long either so one day a few years ago I was on fleabay and saw an adapter to put a 20v battery in a 18v Dewalt tool, so I bought one to try, and it worked great. The 20v battery is smaller but the extra voltage makes my drill really good. It says to not use the adapter on drills but I did any way because a new drill is cheaper then batteries. Ben running it for close to 10 years now with no issues. I wanted a smaller drill a few years back and bought a 12v Rigid from HD. It is light and fits your hand great and the battery lasts quit a while. Plus it has a lifetime warranty.

 

[Scott Engelhardt]

 

[demonram]

Milwaukee, Ridgid and Ryobi are all made by the same manufacturer. I actually use Ridgid, I’ve got 35 battery tools alone, with 18 batteries. I started with them 12 years ago, had issues with Makita and Dewalt and some of my guys had Milwaukee. The Milwaukee issues were always, tool abuse, when it came to warranties.The Ridgids are warranted for life, if you register them. I’ve had 2 batteries go bad, one reciprocal saw, one multi tool (they repaired) no charge. I’ve only seen Rigid and Ryobi at Home Depot. I sold my big compressor after I moved here. One of these days, I might sell the old air tools. Just hate the hassle.

 

[MoparLeo]

Remember that is is not one company in the world for any product that does not have a service department for repairs/defects.
Only one perfect being and we are waiting for his return...