www.slashgear.com: Quality will vary between the power tools made by the world's major brands. That's true even for one as widely used as Ryobi, particularly when it comes to its table saws, some of which boast pro-grade aspirations. Ryobi offers various 8-1/4-inch and 10-inch options that either run using the company's 18V ONE+ battery or a cord.
This was so interesting to read because overall, Ryobi is not my favorite brand of anything. My dad would disagree, but he builds shelves and benches not large scale scenery. I think most of their products are made to be household tools, and the exchangeable batteries are nice for that purpose as well but it also means that those batteries exclusively work for the rest of the brand. The biggest positive I’ve found is that as someone who has beef with cords on every single appliance because they’re made for right-handed people and I use them weirdly, I love a thing that doesn’t have a cord. The stapler comes to mind specifically. On the other hand, things like the glue gun are just really useless. Or the flashlight. To pay for a Ryobi flashlight is really losing to capitalism. In my opinion they work no differently, you’re just paying for the brand name and the line green. Don’t tell my Dad I spoke bad of his Ryobi glue gun.
ReplyDeleteIn my mind, as long as the Ryobi reviews aren’t “this is the worst saw I’ve ever used in my life it was horrible what were they thinking when they designed it,” that makes it okay. (Looking at the corded circ saw in particular. I have never feared for my fingers while using power tools as much as I did at that moment. Why was it vibrating so much? Why was it so uncomfortable to hold? Why did they make a circ saw corded?). My personal feelings about Ryobi make me intrigued at the shockingly high rating of a table saw. Then again, a quick Google search confirmed that the Ryobi circ saw was rated at 4.5 stars. I think that the seemingly favorable status granted to the Ryobi table saw suffers from data bias: the only people buying Ryobi table saws are people who aren’t using them for super big projects, and hence, are the only people rating it favorably, possibly because they haven’t really used other tools because they’re more expensive. And vice versa, people who build lots of large-scale things won’t be buying a Ryobi product, and therefore will not even leave a rating.
ReplyDeleteAs someone who is used to the old table saws from the early 2000’s that for some reason my old high school’s theatre shop had, and the school refused to replace, this is very interesting to see and read. I do like table saws, I believe they are very useful, just not the super old ones that have quite a high chance of cutting your arm off if you get even a little close to the blade! Effective, yes, really easy to damage your limbs, also yes! I do believe that tools like this that have to turn at such a high RPM are quite concerning to be on a battery based system, they should always be plugged into the wall, and I will 100% avoid getting a battery version of anything. However, their plug and play version seems very interesting and seems worth checking out. I look forward to hopefully checking out this product soon!
ReplyDeleteI feel like this article did a great job of showing us the pros and cons of Ryobi’s table saws without leaning too far in either direction. It is very clear from the reviews listed that Ryobi hits a sweet spot for people who want a saw that is affordable and actually practical for smaller projects. A lot of people seemed happy with the accuracy and power for everyday DIY jobs. The convenience of Ryobi’s battery system is definitely a big plus. While there are some nice advantages with this Ryobi saw, the article didn’t ignore the downsides. Some buyers said that they had issues with durability and power when pushing the saw harder. Honestly, this makes sense for a tool at this price point. If you’re a pro or doing heavy work all the time, it might not hold up the way that you need it to. Overall, Ryobi is a decent choice if you understand how far you can push their tools.
ReplyDeleteAs with most tools, this particular table saw looks cool but I struggle to see a place for it in our industry. It seems ideal for contractors, and I could see having a table saw like this to bring off-site, maybe if your shop is far away from your theater. I think the choice of tool for that situation would be a track saw or a circ saw, though. It doesn’t make for a theater to spend extra money on a bonus table saw – because it’s obviously not going to replace the main table saw. I could see it in use for props, though. I’m surprised by the growing number of stationary, large tools that are becoming battery powered. For example, it’s nice to have a cordless drill because it gets used in a lot of odd places and very frequently. A table saw, though, just gets set up at the start of the day and taken down at the end of the day. I guess that there wouldn’t be a cord to trip over or maybe you wouldn’t have to bring a generator, but it seems like a super niche product.
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