A reader wrote in with a good question, asking if Ridgid will be expanding their 12V Max cordless power tool lineup.
Jan (thank you for writing in!) asked:
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Do you know if Ridgid is going to expand their 12 volt line to include other tools similar to what DeWalt, Milwaukee and Makita have? I called Ridgid customer serviced they didn’t have any information, but said they usually find out once the product has been launched, not before.
Short answer: I haven’t heard anything about any new Ridgid 12V Max cordless power tools, and I am not optimistic that we’ll see any new tools anytime soon.
What follows is the “long answer,” where I go through why I think this.
Ridgid has a couple of 12V Max cordless power tools – we’ve posted about some of them here. From that category list, it looks like the last addition to the lineup (or at least the last addition that we wrote about) was Ridgid’s 12V cordless palm impact driver, and that came out 4 years ago, back in January 2016.
Ridgid has never really focused on 12V Max cordless power tools. Ryobi has a couple of lower-voltage tools, and has had a 4V-class platform in the past, but their focus is on the One+ 18V platform.
It’s important to talk about Ridgid and Ryobi in the same light because Ridgid 12V Max and 18V and Ryobi 18V cordless power tools are all designed and produced by TTI North America. Additionally, both brands’ cordless power tool systems are exclusive to Home Depot in North America.
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12V-class cordless power tools are great, but 18V-class tools are far more popular.
So, there are a lot of factors at play here. Does the functionality overlap with what Ryobi offers in their 18V lineup? Can a tool be engineered to be compact, powerful enough, but also priced to sell?
How many tools will be produced? How many will need to be produced to justify the R&D, production, and marketing expenses?
If Home Depot has a section of shelf space they can give to new Ridgid or Ryobi products, will they fill the tools with 12V-class cordless power tools, or Ridgid One+ and Ridgid 18V offerings?
History has shown that expanding the Ridgid 12V Max line is not a focus for TTI or Home Depot. We can only guess at why that is. It could be that my understanding and attempt to guess at the explanation are off, but the trend has remained.
Milwaukee has a huge M12/12V-class cordless power tool lineup. Makita has been growing theirs, and Dewalt recently poured renewed efforts into their 12V Max lineup with modern brushless-motored Xtreme Subcompact tools.
The reasons for Milwaukee’s continued M12 development don’t need to be touched upon. Makita is expanding theirs because there’s room for competition, and they’ve filled several needs that Milwaukee doesn’t offer. Makita also brings unique innovations to the mix.
Dewalt is expanding their 12V Max lineup because… well, I’m not sure. But, if you ask my opinion, it’s made possible by their retail exclusivity arrangement with Lowe’s. Without the in-store and holiday promotional placements at Lowe’s, Dewalt might not be refocusing on 12V Max right now. Those tools are also available at online dealers, but when talking about Lowe’s and Home Depot in-store placements, that’s a sizable quantity of tools that the brand can justify R&D, production, and marketing around.
Dewalt Atomic 20V Max is at Home Depot, 12V Max Xtreme Subcompact at Lowe’s. This to me explains the interest and new efforts into 12V Max, which Dewalt hasn’t done much with in quite a few years.
What might prompt TTI North America to pour new efforts into Ridgid 12V Max?
But not only that, can Home Depot sign off on it? Remember, Home Depot is the customer here. You and I, we’re end-users.
Home Depot has displays up featuring Milwaukee M12 tools, and I’ve seen Makita 12V Max CXT displays as well. Then there’s of course different 18V and 20V Max displays and promotions.
If Ridgid were to come out with new 12V Max tools, what might we see? Well, we’d have to see competitive “core” tools, such as drills, drivers, impacts, and what-not. Innovative solutions and problem-solvers might be appreciated, but will an end-user be likely to buy a unique tool if there’s poor selection of core tools to choose from?
Any of these new Ridgid tools would need promotional displays where they’d be noticed. Otherwise, they’ll just sit on a bottom shelf and eventually be clearanced out to make space for something else.
Is Home Depot likely to give an end-cap or even quarter pallet floor display to Ridgid 12V Max? Maybe during holiday seasons, when we might see a drill and impact driver kit as shown above, or an oscillating multi-tool kit.
I wouldn’t describe Home Depot’s cordless power tool range as crowded, but I don’t think there’s room for Ridgid to expand their 12V Max lineup.
Keep in mind that this is my opinion as I try to analyze and understand 10 years of Ridgid 12V Max cordless power tool trends and developments.
Ridgid 18V cordless power tools fit neatly into a “better” category, between Ryobi (good-better) and Milwaukee (better-best), with these generalizations also translating to price.
Where would Ridgid 12V Max fit in, between all of Home Depot’s current cordless offerings?
For us to see any new Ridgid 12V Max tools, Home Depot has to order them, and I don’t see that happening right now.
Jon
There is also the fact that Milwaukee M12 has dropped in price over the years. Right now the M12 driver/impact combo is the same price as Ridgid combo but the M12 comes with a drill index ($119). Not long ago that same m12 combo was in $150 or more.
Gordon
I like a few of the individual tools from companies like Bosch, Makita and DeWalt. But there is no denying that the M12 line is far ahead of anyone else. On any given day Ridgid or Ryobi can make a case for a value oriented 12v setup. But for anyone that shops around, or can wait, the M12 deals are a far better value. Some of the deals that come up are almost crazy enough to make me sell off my 18v tools.
Jared
Ridgid is kind of an odd duck. I understand their price-point market fit, I own a Ridgid drill kit myself, they tend to offer good specs for the money and they sometimes have interesting tools (they were one of the early makers of a cordless router, for example). Yet they lack the full tool lineup breadth of more mainstream brands, you can only buy the tools from one retailer, they overlap a lot with Ryobi (albeit with arguably better construction)…
A full 12v lineup seems like a stretch for a brand that could stand to expand on their main 18v line.
On the other hand, I recall seeing remarkably low-priced 12v drill and impact driver sets so if they can make money on those then I can completely understand why they were developed. Just seems odd because drills and impact drivers are usually offered as promo gateway tools to the rest of a brand’s lineup. With Ridgid 12v that doesn’t make sense because there’s nothing to expand-into.
Jim Felt
I’m curious.
Do any of the big Chinese produced tool players have any facilities in the Wuhan area of China?
No I’m not actually too concerned as we all know these norovirus scares wax and wane. And I’m sure there’s an enormous amount of automated assembly involved. But probably not in the end packaging.
Hmmmm.
Grady
I bought the Ridgid 12V package or similar as above about two or three years ago. It was a black Friday deal. It was a upgrade from a decades old Black and Decker . I decided on the Ridgid over the Ryobi because of the warranty and batteries for life. At the time money was tight, so i decided to go with the 12V over the 18V which was twice the price. Always remember that when it comes to tools, BIGGER IS BETTER! It was a decision i have regretted ever since. There is nothing wrong with the tools, they still work perfectly, there have been a few times I’ve needed a little more power. And now i struggle with telling myself “just wait there will be another sale when you have the money.”
Toolfreak
Black Friday and the holidays is usually a pretty good time to pick up a drill/driver set with charger and batteries, or even after the holidays when what’s left over is being clearanced out.
Maybe consider selling what you have sometime before the holiday deals this year to use towards a new 18V set if that’s what you want.
Also, consider a corded drill if you only need more power once in a while. Corded 3/8″ drills (and an extension cord) can be pretty inexpensive compared to cordless tools, and they can be worth having as a backup, even if you have 18V cordless tools and multiple batteries/chargers.
Corey Moore
I just assumed that while Milwaukee dominated the 12v market, there was no question why the other TTI companies wouldn’t be trying to subvert sales. To boot, 12v is already a “less than” to 18v’s, so I don’t imagine offering a “less than” under any insignia other than the better-best line would be very appealing as a lesser version of an already lesser tool. I’m not diminishing the quality of 12v tools by any means. Just questioning how one would market a lesser quality (budget friendly?) 12v after already selling current 12v as weaker alternative to 18v for those not in need of the spec race the brands are engaged in.
Stuart
Milwaukee and TTI North America are like sibling companies. Consider real life – siblings can both be in the same sport and even competitions with each other, right?
Ecotek
All of your reasoning for the why’s of Ridgid not developing more 12V tools make sense. It sounds like it’s more about the customer (Home Depot) than the end user (me). From the end user stand point, let me say this. I have an expansive collection of Ridgid 18V, almost all of them. I also have pretty much all of the 12V. Other than their 12V drill, impact + flashlight, (yeah palm driver too), the brilliant Job Max covers a lot of ground. I have a quick grab bag of all my Ridgid 12v tools in it. With all the different heads for the Job Max im covered for almost any quick fix or repair, plus they interchange with my 18V power bases if need be. The only thing that 12V line glaringly lacks, for the basics, is some kind of circular saw. Give me that and I’d be good to go!
Tom D
I think the biggest factor is HD doesn’t need 12v from them as the others cover it well.
But a store that doesn’t carry Milwaukee or other 12v tools may want to cover that market. I’d keep an eye on Hart myself.
Frank D
I don’t think Ridgid will release more 12v stuff or they’d already have done it.
HD has Milwaukee with all the 12v on display very prominently.
Flotsam
i have the Ridgid 12v system as the result of the 12v Jobmax multitool I got a while back. I really like the Jobmax system and while its not the best in class for even the multitool, i have their circular cutter jobmax attachment and i wanted a smaller body jobmax to power it. Works well for cutting out drywall cutouts. Much more compact than the longer 18v Jobmax i also have.
If they are expanding the 12v system i wonder what they would add? I don’t need another drill or driver .
krashtd
I have the whole 12v line except the palm nailer, and a crap ton of batteries that I would love to have more use for. That being said, RIDGID, please dear God don’t develop any more 12v tools, please use all of your resources on your nearly-as-stagnant 18v line instead.
The perpetual rollout of new/different drills and impacts from RIDGID every few months while not reskinning the rest of the AEG line for North America is enough to bring me to tears.
Matthew
When you look at the AEG website ( https://www.aegpowertools.com.au/power-tools/products/list/family/12v-range ) you see how narrow their 12V line is even overseas. But their 18V is almost as diverse as Ryobi is here.
krashtd
Kind of my point – don’t continue to invest in a pointless strategy, let Milwaukee have the 12v class. Focus on re-skins, and more hybrid tools. RIDGID already has a good presence in miter and table saws, turn a few of those hybrid and it’s a whole new game. And for gods sake, bring back the cordless 7 1/4 miter. Glad I got mine right after it came out – right after they dropped it to 50% off hahaha.
JakeJ
yeah, that is strange. I just came back from Bunnings, here in Australia, which is the Home Depot of Oz, and the AEG section of the tool department was huge, about the same amount of space dedicated to the Ryobi stuff. The prices were on par with the Bosch Blue and Makita cordless. Also, there is no milwaukee cordless sold here, so maybe TTI is using AEG to compete with the ‘pro’ brands while at Home Depot they are limiting the Rigid offerings to ‘entice’ the consumer to pay the extra bit for the milwaukee stuff.
Toolfreak
It’s pretty obvious TTi doesn’t want any of their other brands overshadowing their main M12/M18 Milwaukee stuff. Otherwise there would be a 12V Ryobi line for even lower budget homeowner tools.
It’s kind of a shame though, since really it would be nice to have compact 12V and larger 18V options in all the lineups, but that may not be practical from the manufacturing or retail angles.
Lowe’s doen’t have much better of a 12V selection. There’s just some Bosch, DeWalt, and some of the larger Skil/Black+Decker tools are 12V . They seem to be getting rid of the Metabo/HPT/Hitachi 12V stuff.
Really, there’s not a whole lot of major brand compact 12V tools on the market. Obviously people prefer the larger 18V-class tools, but compact 12V stuff sure is great for working in tight spaces or just having a smaller, lighter tool that gets the job done.
Stuart
In my opinion, here’s the problem about a Ryobi 12V concept – what kind of cost-savings would we actually see? For Ryobi users, the sticker price is likely a top purchasing consideration.
From everything we’ve seen, and everyone I’ve talked to, Milwaukee and Ryobi or Milwaukee and Ridgid don’t have the same type of relationship as you would see in say Stanley Black & Decker brands such as Dewalt and Craftsman, or Dewalt and Porter Cable. Ryobi and Ridgid, yes. But Milwaukee and either brand? No.
bill
these look like the milwaukee line, 12V charger also looks the same. is this product line what your court challenge article is about?
Stuart
Not exactly. There are 2 types of Ridgid cordless power tools – orange and grey which are made by TTI and sold exclusively at Home Depot, and other tools marketed elsewhere that are produced and marketed by Ridgid/Emerson. It’s the pro tools produced and marketed by Ridgid/Emerson that are involved in the lawsuit.
MarylandUSA
Don’t underestimate the “cute” factor in getting women onboard with a tool purchase. My wife is more likely to approve of a tool once she’s used it. And she’s more likely to use my smaller/lighter/12-volt tools. She’s also more likely to let me keep a 12V inflator in her car than a bulkier, 18V and 20V inflator. At least, I hope so; I’ve hidden the Skil 12V inflator on her backseat floor she hasn’t discovered it yet. 🙂
Scott in California
If Milwaukee offered a JobMax-compatible M12 tool, there would be no need for the Ridgid 12v platform to exist at all.
Andrew
Anyone have an update on the RIDGID 12V Drill/Driver set? I noticed The Home Depot had removed them from the shelf and only available online for purchasing. But the last 2-4 months it has been “out of stock” online and I really do want to buy a set because I have the 18V set and they are just really heavy sometimes and an overkill. I contacted RIDGID in about June [after Home Depot pulled them from the shelves & in-store purchasing] and they informed me they were not being discontinued. So I figured I would wait until Black Friday and hopefully get it on sale for $99 instead of the usual $129 price and I am thinking that this plan has backfired. I also was waiting for RIDGID to come out with a brushless 12V version but that never happened so I really hope that they did not replace the 12V drill/driver version with their new 18V subcompact version because that would just be a bummer in my opinion.