GrandZJ said:
This will probly mean some flamadge but Ryobi's out last everything, the makita's break at the handle if dropped more than a few feet. dewalt has enough torque to break itself just tightening sh!t.
You asked for it... Ryobi stuff only lasts because the engineers underpowered them from the factory. I've had 2 12V (both still work, but the chargers kept dying and I got tired of buying nes ones). I also have an 18V kit (drill, sawzall, circ, flashlight). It still works fine (only had to buy one new charger), but the battery life is crap compared to just about anything else and none of the tools has anywhere close to the torque of the others mentioned in this thread. But, batteries and chargers are comparatively cheap (which WILL come in handy).
My buddy Dave has a business building high-end (like $25K+) decks. I work for him on my days off. I now have 2 18V DeWalts (gotta have one for pre-drilling and one for screwdriving) and I love them. The battery life with the XRP packs is much improved, and the torque of the 3-speed hammerdrill is amazing. The other one I have is the compact 18V 2-speed and I really don't have any complaints about it either. They are heavy, and not as "friendly"-feeling as a Hitachi/Bosch/Makita/Panasonic, but they definitely get hte job done and I don't worry about leaving them out in the rain.
Dave uses the Ridgid drills from Home Depot. He's had to have both of them in for service (free of course) in the past year. They're great drills to work with though. Torque is definitely on par with my DeWalt, but the chuck sucks. The electric brake stops it so fast that the outer shell of the chuck (the part you grap to tighten it) keeps spinning and gradually loosens up until your bit falls out. The DeWalt doesn't do this. Dave got a drill bit stuck in some ironwood the other day and couldn't tighten his chuck enough on it to get the bit out. My DeWalt got it out easily - the DeWalt hammerdrill keeps the chuck locked when it's off, so you can really tighten it down. The Ridgid dual charger is way better, but the internal cooling fan is annoying - we kept moving it out of earshot.
All in all, for the same money, I'd be torn between the Ridgid and DeWalt. I like the use of the DeWalt a little better, but the lifetime no-questions asked warrantee of the Ridgid is tough to beat cosidering the kind of punishment a cordless drill is likely to endure.