New Ryobi 18v Lithium Batteries, Compatible with One+

[jgscott987]

I just saw this in HD this afternoon. Ryobi has come out with an 18v lithium battery that is compatible with all of your existing 18v Ryobi tools! I have 4 of the original batteries I've picked up over the years and they are all starting to fail on me. I might just jump in on this.

They claim twice the run-time and 4x less charge leakage over time, with 20% less weight.

I think it is VERY cool of Ryobi to maintain the same battery format across all of their tools.

The price is pretty steep, but hopefully there will be some Christmas sales. Right now one battery and a charger is $99. They also have a whole new line of tools in "beautiful" green to go along with the new batteries.

http://www.ryobitools.com/

[gugie]

Saw the same myself, looks like you can get two batteries plus a drill and flashlight plus recharger for $159. I've got a bunch of the One+ tools, most of them purchased when on sale. They seem to be of decent quality for the price, but the batteries don't seem to last very long. I tried the "freeze and thaw" method suggested by someone on this sight, it works about 2 out of 3 times, but some just don't recover. Since I have such an investment, I'll probably ask for one of the $159 kits for Christmas, and look out for a sale.

[maxparot]

The kit became available 4 days ago. Ryobi has schedules a charger and 2 battery kit to be available in mid November for those of us that already a a nice set of the blue One+ tools.

[Pappy]

They have been advertising these for a few months. HD tool guys didn't have any advance info. (Surprize????) Gonna have to make a run to check them out.

[jhart]

Talked to a guy at HD on Friday about the batteries. They will work with all of the One + tools but need to be charger on their own charger. Cannot be charged on the standard One + charger. I'm really impressed that Ryobi made the new ones backward compatable, as I too have a fair amount of the One + tools.

[dlminehart]

My local HD only has the lithiums as part of the premium package deal, about $260 or so for drill, saw, etc. The tool crib guy was clueless about when they'd get stand-alone battery+charger packs.

[RagerXS]

I spoke to a Ryobi rep at one of my local BORG's. At the time, all they had was the 4-tool kit for $259 (drill, circ saw, recip saw, flashlight, 2 batt, charger, bag), but he showed me his booklet that had a single battery and charger pictured for $99 and the aforementioned Drill/flashlight combo for $159 with 2 batteries and a charger. He told me that it is possible the battery and charger kit for $99 could come with either one or two batteries and that he won't know for sure until he gets more than a stock number with picture and price. He also said that while the old charger cannot be used on the new batteries, the new charger is supposed to work with the old batteries.

If the battery kit is just one battery and charger for $99, then that would mean $60 more gets you a new drill, flashlight and battery. I wouldn't hesitate to get the new drill if this is the case. I held and ran a demo circ saw and I have to say it is easily superior to the older version. Better battery location, better balance, more ridgid base.

Tempting, but of course I'll wait and hope for a 20% off Christmas sale.

~ Fred

[Russianwolf]

I wouldn't mind getting a second drill, and two extra batteries, and a new flashlight (which I think ryobi's original 18v flashlight is great).........

I think LOML will be spending $160 on my birthday present.....

[gwyneth]

If Ryobi were sensitive to its customer base, it would devise a special offer for existing owners of One+ stuff. It wouldn't have to be much, but as nice as it was for Ryobi to offer backwards compatibility, a $20 or $25 rebate on the new batteries (or one free extra new battery) would probably hasten a lot of upgrades.

[davidtu]

I already have four batteries w/ my many tools and I never run out of juice and they seem to last long enough and recharge quick enough.

Maybe I'm missing something, but it sounds like instead of spending $100 on new battery and charger, I could get 4 of the old batteries instead. If that's the math, why would I ever upgrade?

[RagerXS]

FYI, I was browsing a local HD today at lunch and the new Lithium Ion Drill/Flashlight combo was marked $149, not $159 as we were previously anticipating. Already a better deal than the single battery/single charger kit, it's now $10 cheaper and that much of a better deal. I'd have grabbed one, but didn't have a copy of my Lowe's 10% off coupon with me...

~ Fred

[RagerXS]

I want to add that out of 3 HD's in my local area, one has the drill/light kit for $159 and one has it for $149 (both have the 4-pack for $259). YMMV

~ Fred

[LinuxRandal]

if anyone buys the circular saw

I would like to know its depth of cut and how well the batteries last I want to get an inexpensive one just for cutting sheets down at the borg, for transport.

Their panel saw varies in its blade.

[RagerXS]

It uses a 5.5" blade so it should easily have around 2-2.25" depth of cut. I've never cut anything but 3/4 stock and 2x construction lumber with mine (older blue version).

A tip about blades (it can be tough to find nicer blades for the saw because no other saw I know of uses a 5.5" blade and most manufacturers don't see Ryobi tool owners buying nicer blades I guess) is that the DeWalt cordless circ saw uses a 5-3/8" blade and there is a far better selection of nice blades in that size. You sacrifice a whopping 1/16" in cutting depth and a little bit of speed at the blade tips, but if you want to make cleaner cuts it is worth it.

~ Fred

[gwyneth]

I got a bunch of the correct sized blades at Cummins a few months ago (did need to turn them over because of tooth direction). They've got carbide tips, were an assortment of four for ten bucks.