As some of you may know, Ridgid is offering a promotional lifetime warrenty on their power tools thru the rest of the year. So, I headed over to Home Depot (a place I usually try to avoid due to a fear of standing in long slow lines), and bought a few things I didn’t really need but am all excited about just the same. So far the 14.2 Cordless drill driver seems a vast improvement over my 12V portercable that tosted its batteries in less than 200 charges. And, the delux 6.5 HP suckerupper is really great too over my little craftsmen, and quieter. Face it, new tools are always fun!
Anyway I also went for the Ridgid jigsaw. I currently have a cheapo model so I am sure the Ridgid will be better, but I had to choose between the Bosch that came with 15 blades and the Ridgid for a few bucks more and a lifetime warrenty. I have used the Bosch before, as far back as the early 80’s and as I’m sure everyone knows they are really just about perfect. Has anyone used both? The lifetime warenty is nice but the Bosch for as much as I would use it will probably last a lifetime. If I get any unfavorable reports on the Ridgid I might want to return it for the Bosch that I have had my eye on for the past 15 years. Personally I beleive a saw is only as good as its blades. I have a Ryoby Chop saw that once I traded the blade it came with for a freud, it was a completely different tool. So please share your thoughts and experience.
Thanks,
Ron
Replies
You know, I was all set to pan the Ridgid tools, primarily because they are so heavily marketed by HD, but I stopped and took a look at them on my way by tonight. I was pretty surprised at how solid they appeared. I monkeyed around with the 12" compound slider for about 15 minutes and it really impressed me.
I would be very interested in hearing what some of the hardcore pro's around here think of them too - after they have a hands on look at them that is. The lifetime warranty sounds like a good risk.
Kevin Halliburton
"I believe that architecture is a pragmatic art. To become art it must be built on a foundation of necessity." - I.M. Pei -
I just got the Ridgid 14 volt screw gun and so far I love the thing I've used it every day this past week and only charged one battery, and the charger is the fastest charger I've ever seen. I went in looking for one of those panasonic screw guns every one around here is always talking about but they didn't have one and I needed to replace my broken Dewalt 14 volt by the next day.
So I guess we'll see how Ridgid does..... I droped that Dewalt off 30 and 40 foot drops a few times and It finally died the other day falling off a saw horse, but It does not have a Lifetime warranty now does it.
Jason
http://www.ridgid.com has a forum that has alot of discusion on their tools. It seems the moderators let everyone have their say, good or bad so there is good info there, but none on the jig saw. You might like to check it out.
Ron
With these tools only time will tell.
But.....
A good indicator can be price, You GET what you PAY for!!
Sometimes less rarely more,especially tools
I read some where that companies that offer life time warranties on thier products do it solely as a marketing tool.
LL Bean, American express, and now Rigid do this to boost sales, PERIOD.
they have crunched the numbers and the actual percentage of returns is low (<2%) so they actually dont have much to lose.
If the % were much higher they would have to raise either the price or the quality and niether is good for short -term profit.
So I would be sketical of the long term durabitliy of these tools for a professional application.
But, that said, there may be some diamond in the rough, especially for an occasional user.
Caveat Emptor!!!!!!!!
Mr T
Do not try this at home!
I am an Experienced Professional!
In my childhood, I tried to use my fathers cheap $15 jigsaw and quickly came to the conclusion that if you wanted to get anything done well, you didn't use a jigsaw. This carried over into my adult life. When working with a friend a few years ago, he pulled out his Bosch jigsaw. I said "Ughhhh, put that thing away! Jigsaws are crap." To which he replied, "Not this one!"
Yes, using the Bosch that first time changed my life. And for a long time I believed that it was impossible to make anything more perfect (except for the skilsaw of course). The Bosch jigsaw truly outshines them all hands down. Then Makita came along and copied it with improvements. Hard to believe that improvements could be made to the supreme Bosch jig. But yes, they improved it. I have one. Wouldn't own any other (except for the Bosch if Makita suddenly blew up).
Why are you asking this question? You already know the Bosch tool is superior to everything else you've tried or heard about. Do you really think a tool that good is going to crap out on you 7 years down the line? Only in a fluke of monday manufacturing maybe. The Rigid lifetime warrantee is meaningless. To me it seems as if they are stating right on the box, "Hey, WHEN this fails, we'll replace it for free." Bosch and Makita make no such statement other than "If it was manufactured poorly and that shows up in one year, we'll replace it. Other than that, enjoy your supreme tool and don't abuse it or yourself with it."
Get the Bosch. If you want that next level up in performance, get the Makita. This is a no-brainer. Those two jigsaws are just better than anything else (well, the Milwaukee is pretty nice too). They will easily last you a lifetime (and probably your children as well).
Rob Kress
Rob, very well stated.
I run across a handful of contractors I sub for who seem to like ridgid ok but they are more the businessman contractor than the hands on/ working contractor.
One had a little shop vac with a handy auto on switch for use with a dust collecting tool. The ridgid didn't suck very well but I sure wish my shop vac had that automatic switch. Maybe it just had a dirty filter?
I tried the ridgid cordless and returned it after handling it for a day. It is a poor substitute for the panasonic I have used for the last eight years.
Any cost savings of free replacement are eaten up by the PITA of dealing with returns/exchanges at Home Depot. I want to buy the tool I like best regardless of replacement policy as I am the one wasting my time trying to get the tool replaced so I can get back to work.
I suppose if I had to outfit a crew that abused tools and I was constantly dealing with breakage from abuse I might consider ridgid but NEVER for personal use.
Karl
Thanks for the feed back everyone.
"You get what you pay for" has become an obsolete idea IMO. In an economy that continues to grow in complexity, there are always better deals if you look for them. I am a small plastering contractor. If you have me patch the stucco around a replacement window, in most cases it will cost my $350 minimum charge. A fellow plastering Cont. I know will charge $1800. Here is the difference. With me you get one guy for a half day (probably me) who then moves to another job for the remainder. With the other guy you get 1 plasterer for 1/2 a day who then goes to the bar the rest of the day and ties up one of the bosses trucks for an entire day when it could have been used on a larger job supporting more manpower. Both patches will be of similar quality, but for the higher price you get the bonus of some major overhead. In respect to the other contractor, he is not trying to pass himself off as a good deal, and he would inform you that he is unable to do the job at a price that will be good for you and him both. All in all Ridgid will come out OK with the lifetime warrenty/sales tool. The way I see it, the warrenty on the batteries is the one that is going to bite them, but they will make up for it in profit from increased sales. At least thats what they are counting on. Anyway I am happy eith the drill/driver and the vac, and I will give the jig saw a try today. It has a 90 day trial. I think when bosch came out with their jig saw years ago it was revolutionary. Today while other brands might not be identicalthey are similar in design. Now there are two classes of them. There are the 49-69 $ lightweights that bounce all over your work, and the 129 yo 169 heavyweights that are easy to control. But hey, I'm just a plasterer trying to cope in a modern day carpenters world!
The rigid is the same jigsaw as the highly appraised metabo. The only difference as the warrenty and the metabo comes with I believe 30 blades. Also the color is different. Both made in Germany also the sander is a metabo along with grinder. THe differnce in t he grinder is that it needs a wrench instead of the standard metabo wrenchless system
I had heard the metabo was good but have never used one. Is it actually made by metabo or just a copy?
Rob Kress
Well I tried it out, but so far only on 1/8 tempered masonite. All in all I was happy with it. It has been too long since I used the Bosch that I can't really compare. As I suspected, it is leaps and bounds ahead of the cheap Skill I have been using. It has a chip guard to keep splinters from coming up on the up stroke, but I find it prevents me from looking ahead at the line I am cutting on, so I did not use it. Then just the opposite problem with the clear plast ic guard in front of the blade. It makes it harder to see the blade. However if you are not cutting a tight curve the plexiglass guard has a little indicator point which works well for following the line.
The cordless drill is giving me a problem though. Drilling holes causes the chuck to loosen on the drill bit. Dropping bits tip first onto a concrete floor....ugh!
Ron
does it have a blower?
one of the many things I love about my Bosch is the dust blower .. makes for a nice clean cut line to follow.
Jeff
Buck Construction Pittsburgh,PA
Artistery in Carpentry
Yes it does have a blower.
Ron
I bought the 12" Rigid Compound miter saw with the lazer site at HD. It was listed at $299. There was a 10% friends and family discount. Then for spending over $200 I got an $80 gift card. Then to top it off there is a really nice metal stand included with the saw. The life time guarantee is nice also.
I used it this weekend and it was great. The only draw back is the beam is 1/16 off. The only reason I can tell is, the lazer mounting is 1/16 off the blade. There is no way around it. The lazer colar replaces the orginal color on the arbor.
Other than that, its a great saw. Very smooth.
Thanks,
Barney