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Change to Ryobi

My first ever cordless drill, was one of the green 18V PS series drills made my Black and Decker.

Over time, I went through 3 different chargers, until I got one of the bigger black ones that look like a big platform shoe sole.

The batteries gave their spirit and eventually so did the drill motor.

As it was going out, I bought an orange Firestorm drill to find to my pleasant surprise that there was now a gearbox and to my dismay that Black & Decker had decided to change the battery style from the pod style batteries to the slide in batteries.

After having gone through a couple of battery packs for the old style B&D I understand why they changed their style, since their old pod style batteries would fall apart physically.

The Orange FS with the slide in battery, gearbox and the push button changeable chuck was an improvement over the old style drills, and it will hold out decently (not great) under heavy use, though the motor is still holding up without smelling funny like in the old single speed PS series drill.

The one MAJOR disappointing point with the FS drill is the charger. It is beyond me, why B&D refuses to build and include a half way decent charger with their tool sets.

It is my opinion and in contrast with one of the reviewers, that the B&D chargers go bad, take the battery with them, and then eventually lead to the demise of the drill (low voltage batteries leading to drill stalling).

A year ago, I bought, a closeout homelite set at Home Depot (made by Ryobi) that was for gardening, (2 betteries, charger, pruner, branch cutter and electric saw) for $70.

Well, after examining the Ryobi charger I was amazed. They are sturdier, and better build, and their power consumption is much higher than that even of the DeWalt chargers, which to me translates to better regulation and higher current capacity, something a battery would appreciate.

At the time I was ready to buy the new 7-set B&D FS set that B&D pulled out of the market quickly, and at the end I ended up switching to Ryobi.

I recommend to those who do not have a substantial investment in B&D tools and are not hard core professionals, to give Ryobi another look, they are no longer the bottom of the line manufacturer I remember them to be, especially in cordless tools.

Though they might not be Milwaukee, or Dewalt, they represent an excellent value, and where else can you get a 480 in/lbs 3 speed 18V drill body on sale for $50?

Update (5/18/2012): This item is currently on sale here for the lowest price I’ve seen.

The featured review for this product, Black & Decker PS145 Fire Storm 18-Volt NiCad Pod Style Battery Tools & Hardware, was written by ToolJunkie.

The average rating for this item is 4 out of 5 stars, according to 3 reviews.