Ridgid has come out with a new 18V cordless SDS Plus rotary hammer, model R86710B. Isn’t this a first for them? I don’t think I have ever seen a Ridgid rotary hammer before, corded or cordless.
I don’t know what to think about anymore. A month ago, I wrote about Milwaukee Tool, Ridgid, and Ryobi sitting in a TTI tree all cozy and picnicking together. I guess it shouldn’t be too surprising that Ridgid is stepping into new territories.
Advertisement
The new Ridgid cordless SDS rotary hammer isn’t available for sale yet, belied by the 10 5-star reviews on Home Depot’s site. Still there’s enough information to get a good sense of what it’s about.
It’s an SDS-Plus hammer with 7/8″ drilling capacity. Ridgid says it’s equipped with Extreme Vibration Reduction for reduced tool vibration. Less vibrational energy often means greater comfort and reduced user fatigue.
The product page says the same, with the added benefit of greater comfortability, but I don’t know that differs from greater comfort.
The Ridgid cordless rotary hammer has a 3-mode selector for rotary hammer, rotary-only, and chiseling operations.
It also features a mechanical clutch, which minimizes counter torquing in case the bit binds or jams.
Yes, there is a variable position chisel stop, as you want to see on any rotary hammer with a chisel-only mode, so that you can use it in any orientation. The aux handle is also adjustable and able to lock in any orientation.
Advertisement
No, it’s not brushless.
Price: $249
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
First Thoughts
I find the design to be curious. It looks like Ridgid designed their new (and first?) cordless rotary hammer to be compact. Maybe this was for ergonomics, or to improve balance. Or maybe the vibration dampening mechanism requires this type of geometry.
It has been the trend for cordless rotary hammers to be designed such that they could rest upright on a horizontal and level work surface. It looks like you can do that with this model, but it’s uncertain.
Ridgid doesn’t show the 18V SDS rotary hammer with a battery pack, at least not clearly, but from this side profile it looks like a Ridgid high capacity battery pack will give it a stable base.
I’m surprised by the price tag – $249 – which comes close to the bare tool price of Dewalt’s recent 20V Max brushless SDS rotary hammer. You can buy the Dewalt brushless rotary hammer for a little under $290 via Amazon. Hmm. $290 is a bit more than $249, isn’t it.
There are a bunch of other cordless rotary hammers in the $250 to $300 price range, such as this also-brushless Makita.
It’s hard to judge a tool like this, not knowing many of its selling points, but one has to have faith that Ridgid wanted their first cordless rotary hammer to be a winner.
I find myself wondering 2 things. If you already bought into Ridgid’s 18V platform, how likely are you to buy this SDS Plus rotary hammer? If you’re in the market for a new cordless rotary hammer, how likely are you to buy into Ridgid’s platform for this model?
Thank you to everyone who asked about it! We’ll share more as we learn more.
Buy Now(via Home Depot)
Kent
I use Ridgid tools almost exclusively but I did have to buy a cordless Milwaukee hammer drill because cords are dumb. Once I bought into Milwaukee ive started adding red tools to my Arsenal.
Harlekin10
As you probably know, the ridgid cordless tools are rebranded AEG tools.
Aeg was famous here in Germany for their tools, and they made some of the best rotary hammers on the market. then they were sold t Atlas Copco and then to Tti. They still design they rotary hammers there, also for Milwaukee ( this was mentioned to me from somebody at Tti).
I am not sure about the 18v hammer, but the non fuel 12v Milwaukee hammer is internaly exactly the same as the 12v AEG model.
Stuart, when I read that you werent aware that they even had a rotary hammer, I had to smile.
Look at this page:
http://de.aeg-powertools.eu/produkte/bohrhammer/?page=2
They have more than 30 different rotary hammers and also lots of other tools which are not sold under the Ridgid logo.
Btw, I really like your blog.
Cheers from Germany
Stuart
Yes, I’ve definitely seen AEG rotary hammers before, but sometimes I forget that a lot of Ridgid tools share from AEG designs. I don’t forget, it’s just not at the top of my mind.
Ridgid isn’t AEG, though. Ridgid releasing a cordless rotary hammer in the USA – even if it’s a “lick and stick” relabeled AEG model, is still something. I think.
Still, thanks for the reminder and added info!
Ben
I don’t know if it’s just me, but this new Ridgid SDS Plus seems to share some DNA with the Milwaukee (2605-20) : https://www.milwaukeetool.com/power-tools/cordless/2605-20
Jim Premo
I am a professional and heavy into the Ridgid cordless platform. One has to be patient concerning Ridgid cordless tools. They are stepping up their game, slowly. I have been hoping for this very tool and will purchase one immediately. Now for a cordless portable band saw.
Milwaukee and Dewalt both burned me with battery changes and left me with a very bad taste in my mouth.
Ridgid is not on the cutting edge, but are a very good bang for the buck.
fred
Cordless rotohammers seem to have gone from rather underpowered hand vibrators to tools we can now start to rely on. We had a few cordless Makita BHR241’s that went along with our other Makita 18V tools. It was our choice when working at elevation – but generally selected a corded or pneumatic tool for heavier tasks. I’m not sure what my ex-compatriots are now using. My home collection includes a Bosch 11264EVS – which I now pull out rather infrequently- but its up to most drilling tasks and light-duty breaking/chiseling. This Ridgid (rebranded AEG ) looks capable – and may start to make the Ridgid lineup look a bit more complete and be good news fro Ridgid users – but for users already invested in the Blue, Red, Teal or Yellow battery platforms – I don’t see it being compelling.
Mike
“The product page says the same, with the added benefit of greater comfortability, but I don’t know that differs from greater comfort.”
I wrote a snarky little comment about this. But much to my surprise, “comfortability” wasn’t flagged as a misspelled word by Opera. I had to look it up. You’ll actually find this defined in the, shall we say, ‘user supported’ online dictionaries. It is fortunately not found in any reference created by academia. Yet. Words like this make their way into usage by those who don’t know any better or don’t care. Then lesser references pick them up and these references are used as sources to validate further incorrect use of the word. Eventually the word makes its way into common vocabulary and thus gets added to legitimate dictionaries. We’re doomed!
Stuart
I’m okay with the word, as I sometimes use words that sound proper while not actually being in official English dictionaries.
What confused me is why they say comfort and comfortability in the same claim.
It’s like saying “reduced fatigue and fatiguability.” Isn’t it the same thing?
(Now that’s weird. My browser OKs fatiguability, but dictionaries suggest fatigability is more valid.)
fred
Maybe Shakespeare (who added lots of words to the English language) would have had something to say about this. But if “fatiguability” is a word up – maybe we could define it as “the propensity to result in fatigue.”
Jason p
I’ve been selling these for four years in Aus and have NEVER seen any have any issues. Out of all aeg /rigid tools this is the most unbreakable.
glenn
The question is, why in Australia would you buy this, when the Milwaukee drill that its based on is on average around $30-$40 cheaper?
Seb
This is exactly the same as the Milwaukee we have at work, just different paint job
Stelian K Androff
Whaaaaat Ridgid discovered the hot water !!!.Sorry my American friends its all wrong very wrong all this crap from China how Ridgid has a new tool how they come on the market with that briliant idea Im using the same tool 3 years now and its called AEG sds BBH18 and this chinese idiots they have changed only the sticker the tool is one to one Quality its not a brilliant but ok Deawalt and Makita are miles better In ebay uk its sold for 120- 160 bucks naked
Jim Premo
Your opinion.
Dewalt shafted me with new battery format.
Makita has no battery gauge.
Josh
I used one of these all last week to drill alot of 3/8 holes for all thread anchors into solid concrete. It took me couple days to convince my foreman to purchase one but we’re glad we did. All our tools are ridgid 18v and this seemed like a no brainier as we were drilling in weeks before with a Bosch corded sds. This did just as good a job handling the work load with no cords to drag around the jobsite! It supposedly takes a lil while to break in, but right out of the box it was kicking ass. It’s not brushless like the DeWalt but not sure that’ll matter. I would definitely recommend this to anyone who already owns ridgid 18v batteries and looking for a cordless sds hammer drill. 250$ at Home Depot but under 200$ on eBay.