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Not your imagination: from backpacks to food, consumer goods are getting worse
(www.theguardian.com)
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this post was submitted on 11 Aug 2026
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Ah ok, Ridgid licensed its brand name to TTI for use in power tools. Same deal though, Ridgid brand power tools have always been made by TTI. No idea if Rigid hand tools are especially great. All tools are built to price points, especially power tools.
Home Depot has a good-better-best thing where Ryobi is the economy line, Ridgid in the middle, and Milwaukee at the top, but all are made by TTI. TTI also makes Hart (Walmart house brand) and other brands too. I have some Ryobi tools and a few Milwaukee and I'm satisfied with everything. The main thing I hate is battery incompatibility between brands, but you can bypass some of that with adapters.
I'm unconvinced that the high end stuff like Hilti or Snap-on is really better. What you get with those brands is a high level of fleet service. Like if you have a factory using Hilti tools and one of the tools breaks or becomes due for maintenance, the operator just puts it in a box and gets another from the inventory. Once a month the Hilti rep comes around, swaps out the box of broken/worn tools for new ones, and takes the box back to Hilti for repair.
Torque Test Channel is a good YT channel for tools. AvE (Arduino vs Evil) is entertaining some of the time but I don't watch it that much any more. AvE used to do a lot of teardowns of TTI and other power tools.
AvE was such fun for a while. Then he turned up the grift with the"town pump cnc" he bought with patreon money. Then when the patreons noticed it was just an endmill breaking machine he went all Fuck Trudeau to scare away the smart people and just leave the fart sniffers.
Really too bad, he was fun for a while.
My grandpa used to only use Ridgid hand tools for plumbing. That’s about all I know about them lol.
But yeah, Ridgid is great for a homeowner or hobbyist, but doesn’t quite stand up to something like Milwaukee for a pro.
I would not put it in the avoid list. Ridgid is perfectly fine, they have a huge selection, they’re powerful enough, and they warranty is killer. They’re about all I buy for cordless tools, but I’m also just a DIY homeowner and not a contractor. But I’ve also not tried their new Nuke like which is supposed to be “pro grade”.
I just wish they’d put a rack and pinion fence on their table saw before I buy one. When I upgrade from my 15 year old ryobi, it’ll probably be dewalt unless Ridgid upgrades that fence.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Techtronic_Industries
The reason they're not as good as Milwaukee is because they're made by the same company, and they want the Milwaukee brand to mean "better tool"
They'll purposely avoid making the Rigid or Ryobi tools too good so people have to buy the Milwaukee stuff.
I try to buy mostly Makita, cause they're high quality, and not built by a conglomerate.
Oh yeah I'm aware they're owned by the same company, and they use the tiered model where Milwaukee is their top end. I wouldn't say it's done so that people "have" to buy Milwaukee. Just that it gives different options for different customers.
Ridgid is perfect for me. I don't use them for my day job, just for projects around the house, remodeling, and hobby work. Milwaukee is better, because they're built to last longer and stand up to the abuse of someone using them 12 hours a day every day for work. That would be a waste of money for me because I simply don't use them that much. For someone that makes money with them, or is doing a lot more heavy lifting with them, that's more critical and worth the extra money.
For my use, I don't need to spend the extra money. Ridgid more than gets the job done, and if it doesn't last as long as Milwaukee it doesn't really matter because they have the lifetime warranty. I can just go to HD and grab a brand new one off the shelf for free if it dies on me. Same with batteries.
Ryobi are geared toward the homeowner that only needs occasional use. I've got a Ryobi table saw and miter saw from 15 or so years ago, and they're... fine. But they're more of a pain to get set up accurately, and you have to repeatedly make adjustments to keep them accurate. They're good for a project, but are not great for making repeatable consistent cuts. I'm doing more projects since we bought our current house, so those two are starting to become the pain factor for me, and will be upgraded soon.