Yeah, my Ryobi is sort of throw away tool too, as its dirt cheap, used it more frequent than my Makita, as its smaller, lighter and not that bulky, has two positions, gun style and straight.
Of course its nothing compared to the real work horse Makita, its been years since I bought it, with lots of battle scars and still strong. ![ThumbsUp :-+](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/icon_smile_thumbsup.gif.pagespeed.ce._JElyJQqdB.gif)
Yeah, I've been a Makita guy ever since the late 90s when DeWalt screwed a whole generation of customers with their infamous self-detonating gearboxes, then shipped their warranty claim handling to phone banks in India to make it physically painful to complete the process. I threw away 4 of them.
![Banging Head |O](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/bangheadonwall.gif.pagespeed.ce.8iLbFYV4Bc.gif)
Now I have a whole collection of the Lowes Kobalt Brushless 24VMAX (6-cell) product line... they're proving very durable, and when bought on Christmas/Father's Day/Memorial Day/Labor Day sales, quite affordable. Brushless
and Li-Ion are, IMHO, minimum requirements nowadays. My wife is a tool-dwagon enabler.
![Laughing :-DD](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/Smileys/default/smiley_laughing.gif.pagespeed.ce._hfWAz_QHO.gif)
![](https://www.eevblog.com/forum/testgear/test-equipment-anonymous-(tea)-group-therapy-thread/?action=dlattach;attach=746994;image)
I still use a 6019D I've had for over 20 years as my daily drill-driver; it has a 9-step clutch that on its lowest setting will drive m3 self-tapping screws into plastic without stripping out. I've tried dozens of others trying to find something newer that functions similarly; every one has failed to deliver and been discarded. I've replaced the motor and recently the gearbox as it got noisy and I randomly found a stash of NOS ones on fleaBay last year. I expect it to outlive me since I also modded it with a 2S2P 18650 pack that has twice the capacity and weighs half as much as the original pack.
mnem
*driven*