Upgrading from Ryobi

[olytdi]

olytdi - I'm not sure what you expect to get out of this or any other forum but what you will get is people's opinions. They aren't going to be unanimous and I doubt any one is going to summarize them for you.

You could have used the search function for this but, to help with your question about leaving your batteries in the garage or taking them in the house, try leaving them in the garage and on a pet heater. Just my opinion for what it's worth.

Pet heater ...
http://www.princessauto.com/pal/product/8171886/

Thanks, that's a good idea on the heater.

Yeah, I'm not expecting anything particular from this (or any other) forum. Forums are sort of like a party -- random mingling on varying subjects. I had just been thinking that what forums like this generally lack is any way to make the information useful in a more focused way -- short of each and every participant having to independently slog through the myriad of posts in a vacuum. I'd pay to have some of that done.

 

[mdbeck1]

...
My Ryobi "one" kit has generally been very reliable, sturdy, and useful while building my shop, a largish chicken house, and many home projects. What ***** is the batteries. They seem to last less than a year no matter what I do and I've now got quite a collection of dead batteries lying about in addition to extra drills, etc. gathered by buying "package deals." I just despise paying over $50 for batteries each year and it's never clear whether you're supposed to charge them and leave them charged, supposed to run them down or not run them down, keep them warm or leave them cold, or if it's okay to keep them on the charger or if that kills them. The instructions are always perfectly vague about these things. Perhaps my lack of knowledge is the reason I'm having this experience.

It also seems that keeping them in a mostly unheated shop isn't good for them. But lugging them into the house and back out each time you think you may need them makes them less than convenient and sort of kills the concept of "quickly useful."

...

I've owned the blue Ryobi one kit and the green one (with the lithium batteries). The batteries are interchangable and as someone else said you can charge all of the batteries with the lithium charger. I keep mine in the unheated garage and keep two batteries on the chargers at all times. I've had one of the lithium batteries for over two years and it's still working. I've also used the 12 VDC nicad charger to charge the lithiums. It worked and I haven't seen a problem with it yet. I've got a small pile of nicads. Most of which are close to dead. I had one of the original ones rebuilt (years ago) and I could have bought a new battery for what it cost.

A lot of the time I use the nicads to run the radio and flashlights while I use the lithiums for the heavier stuff. If I run out of lithium power I'll use the nicads while the lithiums are charging.

...and I find the convenience of not having cords worth the price of the batteries. However I can seldom afford to buy new batteries and I hate to throw the old ones out. I gotta find a way to fix them....