I Purchased this from home depot today…

Ryobi One + 18V Lithium 4 Pc. Combo Kit (Model P843)

There were two version at Home Depot, i got my kit for $200, the drill has manual speed/torque shifter. The other kit was for $239 which had the new drill with “autoshift”, otherwise the kits were exactly the same. I think i personally like the manual over-ride better, and it was cheaper .. win/win.

Don’t have much to say about it so far other than, the tools look cool as hell, and they seem to be pretty powerful, but i have yet to build or work on anything with them, so i’ll have to come back for a review later.

I was looking at similar combo kits from other brands.

• Ryobi NiCad Kit ($129) .. I just wanted the better lithium stuff, lighter and last longer, got caught in the hype.
• Ryobi 12v lithium kit ($119) .. nah, i wanted the 18v power
• RIDGID 18V 4 pc Cordless Combo Kit ($279) .. Probably the better tools, but $80 more than i needed to spend
• Skil 18-Volt Lithium Ion 4-Piece Combo Kit ($229) .. almost went for it, it was close. Ultimately i just liked that the Ryobi product line seems to have more stuff, and with the interchangable batteries and all, i want to stick to one product line.

I looked at Dewalt’s, Makita’s, Milwaukee’s … all way out of my price range, maybe down the line. Ryobi’s should be good for now.

I want to be able to build say a table or a storage chest without having to cut all the pieces myself.. and in finding a place i’d hope that i have a nice selection of woods to choose from.

Ponoko cuts thin pieces of wood, bamboo, MDF, acrylic.. it looks really cool and i’m hoping to design something and send it here sometime soon. But what they don’t cut is bigger/thicker pieces, like 2×4s. There has to be a service out there that does this.. anyone have any ideas?