Drills for ~$100

[ToddF]

Originally Posted by Bob Steele

You have to submit your registration and include the original receipt and then MAKE SURE that they received everything.

About two years ago Ridgid moved to a purely online registration process. It is no longer necessary to send in paperwork. You just enter the serial numbers of the tools and the barcode on your receipt.

Originally Posted by Monochron

Could you explain how to identify the "good powerful drills that hold a charge for a reasonable amount of time" from a given manufacturers lesser options?

If you really want to get into the weeds, you can probably track down a woodworking magazine with an exhaustive comparison review article comparing the performance of all the major brands. Yes, there are tiny differences in performance and weight between the various models. But, for a typical robotics team, it doesn't matter that one drill will drive 575 screws on a charge, and another one does 525.

Construction professionals will hotly debate between the top brands (Milwaukee, Makita, Dewalt, Bosch, Porter Cable). The next tier down is Hitachi, Ridgid, Ryobi, Craftsman. Black and Decker and Skil are the bottom of the barrel. Like any other consumer product, most people will be happy, and a few will end up with lemons. Personally, I've just decided to go with Ridgid because they stand behind their products with a lifetime warranty. I figure I'll go with the company that puts their money where their mouth is. If any of the others decides to do likewise, I'll consider their stuff, too. I just got tired of throwing perfectly good drills in the dumpster because their expensive batteries died.

We bought two of these sets yesterday. Registered them this morning.