Need a recommendation for a cordless reciprocating saw.

[Grenadeslio]

As good as Rigid tools and their warranty are, heft wouldn't be something I'd be looking for if I was in the OP's situation.
Cutting through pipe and barrels, or doing demo? Sure.

Quality is quality.

Serious now, when did lighter become better where tools are concerned? I believe it has to do with the preponderance of home improvement/flipping shows with women as the stars going on about how great X,Y,Z tool is because it's sooooooooooooo light.

Added advantages of heft, the tool does the work, less kick back directed to the operator, better vibration control, etc etc. Lightweight tools are for playing around, when you want to get serious get real tools that perform the task with the least effort on the operators part, and the least wear on the tool.

 

[KrisM]

Quality is quality.

Serious now, when did lighter become better where tools are concerned? I believe it has to do with the preponderance of home improvement/flipping shows with women as the stars going on about how great X,Y,Z tool is because it's sooooooooooooo light.

Added advantages of heft, the tool does the work, less kick back directed to the operator, better vibration control, etc etc. Lightweight tools are for playing around, when you want to get serious get real tools that perform the task with the least effort on the operators part, and the least wear on the tool.

Sure, quality is quality. That doesn't always mean that weight = quality. Nor does it mean that less weight = less quality.
If the OP is trimming branches over his head or on a ladder, why wouldn't he want lighter? Who wants to do that with some hog of a saw?

Can't say I've ever bought a tool because of some reno tv show.

 

[spicer]

Here ya go!

View attachment 1203790

Those are very good but the battery runs down quickly...

 

[KeninDC]

I believe it has to do with the preponderance of home improvement/flipping shows with women as the stars going on about how great X,Y,Z tool is because it's sooooooooooooo light.

I still have my mom's soldering iron she used to build a kit tube amp in the 60s and I learned tiling and painting from her and, frankly, I prefer a lighter tool so I can save my muscle for the job at hand.

 

[thilaseen]

Ryobi does the trick for me. Lawn mower,vac, blower, whipper snipper, drills and my last addition was a recip saw a few weeks ago. The heavy duty saws are fine
for the pros but it sounds like you're in a similar situation to me (getting older each day) and the extra weight wears the body down specially when working overhead.

 

[savatage1973]

One thing to consider is if you are planning on buying other cordless tools going forward or not.

This is very true. If you are just an average homeower, all you may ever need is a cordless drill and maybe a saw or two, so you can go with a cheaper line of product with fewer interchangeable tools. If you are serious, you want a battery/charging system platform that supports work lights, hammer drills, multiple saws/grinders, even other small lawn tools like hedge trimmers, string trimmers, blowers, etc.

For the record, I haven't seen a decent tool come out with a B&D logo on it in the past 35-40 years--corded or cordless. Motor bearings/bushings are cheap junk, so expect them to wobble soon (if not right out of the box), and do you really want an impact driver built by the same company that built your toaster, hand mixer, and coffee maker?

I don't know who is building "Crapsman" power tools these days, but they are pretty much junk too.

 

[bshorey]

@meggy , here's a review you might find interesting.
http://www.toolboxbuzz.com/cordless-tools/reciprocating-saw/cordless-reciprocating-saw-head-to-head/

<snip>

Interesting, thanks for posting. Biggest surprise for me was the Ridgid tool, those were never really on my radar as a quality tool.

bs

 

[KrisM]

This is very true. If you are just an average homeower, all you may ever need is a cordless drill and maybe a saw or two, so you can go with a cheaper line of product with fewer interchangeable tools. If you are serious, you want a battery/charging system platform that supports work lights, hammer drills, multiple saws/grinders, even other small lawn tools like hedge trimmers, string trimmers, blowers, etc.

For the record, I haven't seen a decent tool come out with a B&D logo on it in the past 35-40 years--corded or cordless. Motor bearings/bushings are cheap junk, so expect them to wobble soon (if not right out of the box), and do you really want an impact driver built by the same company that built your toaster, hand mixer, and coffee maker?

I don't know who is building "Crapsman" power tools these days, but they are pretty much junk too.

You forgot coffee maker, lol.
Isn't it Makita that makes one that works with their batteries?

13 years(?) ago a guy I was working for bought all of us a B&D impact drill, and it wasn't all that bad. I was doing cabinet work, so it was fine for slamming together boxes, and for installs. The battery life was pretty bleh, and the charger was a junky wall wart thing, though.
Only came with one battery(wtf?), so I bought one of their cheap regular drill kits to get a couple of extra ones plus a better charger. The drill kinda looked like something out of one those 'my first toolkit' sets for toddlers. I think I tried it out once, and then put it away as a spare.

I haven't given much thought to Craftsman in a long time. Sears up here is closed, and has been a joke for years.
I've got a couple of Craftsman hand-me-downs from my grandfather; a belt sander, a pad sander, and a router. They work fine for my needs, but if it was my money I would have bumped the budget up a bit.
He's one of those, "if you need a tool, you go to Sears" kinda guys.

 

[KrisM]

<snip>

Interesting, thanks for posting. Biggest surprise for me was the Ridgid tool, those were never really on my radar as a quality tool.

bs

If you read a lot of reviews, they're often right there with all of the other 'main' brands.
I considered going with them when it was time to upgrade to a lithium based system, but I didn't really care for the feel of their drills vs DeWalt. That exclusive to Home Depot thing isn't my cuppa either, but that's a different topic.
I'd already been using DeWalt drill for years, too, so familiarity also came into it.
My shop vac and air hoses are Ridgid. One of those hoses has got to be 14 years old, and has never had a leak.

Years back I used to do gas fitting, and all the pipe tools we used were Ridgid.
I still have the wrenches and tube cutters. Buy those and they'll last you a lifetime. And then some.

 

[PabloX]

FWIW, 6 years ago I built a house (was partial GC and did a lot of my own work). My Makita 18V kit was on its last legs due to the NiMH batteries.

I went to HD and saw the Ridgid X4 kit. It included a hammer drill, impact driver, circular saw, reciprocating saw, LED light plus 3 batters for $499. That was at least $200 cheaper than anything from Dewalt, Makita, etc and it came with a lifetime warranty on the batteries.

The whole kit is still going 6 years later and its gotten a lot of use. More than most homeowners but I'm sure less than a pro, but I'd buy it again.

 

[Quadman2]

And stay with the quality blades.

Q

 

[Grenadeslio]

<snip>

Interesting, thanks for posting. Biggest surprise for me was the Ridgid tool, those were never really on my radar as a quality tool.

bs

Ridgid has been making quality tools for many years, they only recently decided to get into the small power tool market. Remember the Ridgid tool calendars that used to hang in the shops? Yowzaaaaaaa, now they use real girls but I still like these old pin-up type.

 

[spicer]

<snip>

Interesting, thanks for posting. Biggest surprise for me was the Ridgid tool, those were never really on my radar as a quality tool.

bs

I am quite certain Ridgid is a Home Depot exclusive brand. I know the name dates back to an American manufacturer, like Emerson, etc., but I do believe, like Ryobi, Ridgid is exclusively Home Depot. Tool for tool they seem, feel like a step up from Ryobi too.... and I have Ryobi stuff except for a 12 volt Ridgid drill driver and impact driver I bought as a set for their small form factor. I use all of it at home, sometimes work them hard but not like on a job, and everything is good. The Ridgid has a great feel to it, came with two batteries... one that slides into the handle becoming a small extension of it and a higher capacity, 4 ah, that gives the 'foot' look to the tool.

 

[Grenadeslio]

I am quite certain Ridgid is a Home Depot exclusive brand. I know the name dates back to an American manufacturer, like Emerson, etc., but I do believe, like Ryobi, Ridgid is exclusively Home Depot. Tool for tool they seem, feel like a step up from Ryobi too.... and I have Ryobi stuff except for a 12 volt Ridgid drill driver and impact driver I bought as a set for their small form factor. I use all of it at home, sometimes work them hard but not like on a job, and everything is good. The Ridgid has a great feel to it, came with two batteries... one that slides into the handle becoming a small extension of it and a higher capacity, 4 ah, that gives the 'foot' look to the tool.

If HD owns the rights for exclusive marketing doesn't make it any less a Ridgid tool.

 

[spicer]

If HD owns the rights for exclusive marketing doesn't make it any less a Ridgid tool.

Not at all... they carry on the quality established by the name. Just don't know what exactly is meant by saying it isn't any less a Ridgid tool. They are definitely good quality products but no longer the company from which the name was long ago established The same parent company that makes/owns Ridgid also makes Ryobi, the difference from a marketing point of view is that Ridgid is a long established name to many American buyers, like Milwaukee or DeWalt and I'm sure that entered into the business end of marketing arrangements. I see the name Ridgid and along with a sense for quality it works on me.

 

[Grenadeslio]

Not at all... they carry on the quality established by the name. Just don't know what exactly is meant by saying it isn't any less a Ridgid tool. They are definitely good quality products but no longer the company from which the name was long ago established The same parent company that makes/owns Ridgid also makes Ryobi, the difference from a marketing point of view is that Ridgid is a long established name to many American buyers, like Milwaukee or DeWalt and I'm sure that entered into the business end of marketing arrangements. I see the name Ridgid and along with a sense for quality it works on me.

Apologies, many on the job sites equate HD brand as inferior and site this as their reason for not purchasing Ridgid tools.

 

[KrisM]

Not at all... they carry on the quality established by the name. Just don't know what exactly is meant by saying it isn't any less a Ridgid tool. They are definitely good quality products but no longer the company from which the name was long ago established The same parent company that makes/owns Ridgid also makes Ryobi, the difference from a marketing point of view is that Ridgid is a long established name to many American buyers, like Milwaukee or DeWalt and I'm sure that entered into the business end of marketing arrangements. I see the name Ridgid and along with a sense for quality it works on me.

Sorting out who owns and makes a tool is tricky business. Some searching will turn up something like this:

https://pressurewashr.com/tool-industry-behemoths/

Ridge (or Ridgid) is a bit different from what I've read. The industrial stuff(like the pipe tools) is still made in the USA.
The power tools are mostly made by TTI for Emerson. TTI also owns Ryobi, and Milwaukee.

 

[spicer]

Apologies, many on the job sites equate HD brand as inferior and site this as their reason for not purchasing Ridgid tools.

Thank you but no apologies needed, not at all... no felt context for it. Just having a discussion and sharing. I don't have on the job experience with brands and know how brand ownership can become personal but I can tell from a life of using tools that HD stuff is quality and Ridgid stuff is very well made, and the warranty is second to none. Your feedback reinforces that.

 

[spicer]

Sorting out who owns and makes a tool is tricky business. Some searching will turn up something like this:

https://pressurewashr.com/tool-industry-behemoths/

Ridge (or Ridgid) is a bit different from what I've read. The industrial stuff(like the pipe tools) is still made in the USA.
The power tools are mostly made by TTI for Emerson. TTI also owns Ryobi, and Milwaukee.

Wow... that's quite a chart. I see the parent company also owns Milwaukee and looking at them in the store I do see and feel what I considered qualitative similarities between Ridgid and Milwaukee.

 

[Grenadeslio]

Well, if you haven't already purchased your saw you might want to check this place first, if legit they have some killer deals.