It is whatever you buy a battery and charger for first. Then you are unwilling to forfeit that battery to just buy another tool. So you get another tool of the same brand, even if you aren't happy with the previous. Then at that point, you've gone to far. You've got several hundred dollars in batteries you would have to give up just to switch. It is the most blatant example of the sunken cost fallacy.

Ryobi, specifically has entry level tools (a basic drill) that come with a charger and battery for cheaper than you can even buy a battery by itself. When you're young and broke and all you need to do is hang some curtains or something you get it. But really, it is just a seed for your future "house" that you belong to.

This tracks.

DeWalt: high quality and good pedigree but overpriced = Slytherin

Milwaukee: basically the same as DeWalt, but less pretentious. Thinks they're better and tougher though = Gryffindor

Makita: the smart choice for value, also best colors = Ravenclaw

Ryobi: I know it will break, but they're just tools and I'm not serious about this anyway. I would rather spend more money on my family or other hobbies = Hufflepuff

Honorable mentions of other "houses" and schools in the thread.

Black and Decker/Craftsman/whatever. Used to be very impressive, but completely corrupted. Probably evil = Durmstrang (Russian school)

Festool: Beautiful, absolutely dripping with wealth signals. Still pretty amazing at what they do, but you might not want them on a job site = Beauxbatons (super wealthy French school)

Harbor freight: Simple, potentially the most powerful but also likely to break. Can probably accomplish what you need by using a wrench as a hammer, but you wouldn't want to do anything delicate with it. Actually the biggest group of dad-wizards = Uagadou (the school in Uganda where magic was invented but they don't use wands)

Festool is not on this list because Festool owners NEVER GET ANYONE PREGNANT.

My dad gifted me a Dewalt Impact for Father's day one year and I've been unintentionally stuck in that ecosystem since.

Bosch

I dropped my locking, variable speed, single direction, corded drill with the chuck key electrical taped to the cracked plastic cord on a board and the hole I needed formed naturally out of fear.

You need to know that most power tools are ultimately owned by only a few brands

Milwaukee and Ryobi for example are both owned by TTI but the Marketing is strong.

https://www.protoolreviews.com/power-tool-manufacturers-who-owns-them/

You remember how Harry chose the house he wanted to be in, and it's canon, that the sorting hat ward isn't definite? When I was buying my first tool, I wanted a Ryobi. But they didn't have it in stock and they did have Makita on sale and the sales guy told me that would be much better for the same price. So after that I'm buying only Makita, to fit the rest.

House DeWalt: The Builders

House Ryobi: The Slapjobs

House Milwaukee: The wishes they were house DeWalt

House Makita: Quality prevails regardless of how little I use my tools.

Unmentioned:

House Bosch: House Makita but doesn't like Asians

House Metabo: House Milwaukee but green

House Rigid: wow these are fuckin cheap

House Worx: Tools take a backseat to Yardwork

House Metabo HPT: My wife says they're great

DeWalt gang, stand up!

Quality-wise, Makita > DeWALT ≥ Milwaukee > Ryobi, at least, if you watch teardowns by guys like AvE.

Power tools are like cars; companies hold several brands and target them to different market segments, like Porsche and VW.

Ryobi is owned by the same company as Milwauki; it's the budget line, Milwauki being their premium line.

DeWALT and Black & Decker are owned by the same company; DeWALT is their premium line.

The exception in this list is Makita, which is its own company. They're also objectively more well-built than the others (here), and correspondingly usually more expensive.

The premium lines are better quality (not just more expensive) but also tend to have smaller battery-tool options. Despite being a budget line, I mostly own B&D because most of my tools these days are 24V and there are more tool options there. The few, select, DeWALT tools I have are noticably better quality.

I don't use power tools enough to justify Makita, but also, their battery-powered line is comparatively tiny. As someone else said, there's a lot of motivation to pick a (compatible) lane, whichever it is. For most home-gamers, the quality difference will probably not matter much. If I were made of money, though, I'd have everything Makita except for the things they don't make.

I’m in that fifth house that no-one ever seems to talk about: BOSCH.

J/K, I’m mostly Bosch, but I look towards whichever manufacturer makes the best version of a tool I currently need. For example, my chainsaws and yard/orchard power tools are Stihl, my lawnmower is Husqvarna, my circular saw, worm drive saw and abrasion/steel cutoff saw are all Skilsaw (not Skil!), and my oscillating multi tool is Fein.

Plus, many of the domestics are vintage, from before production was outsourced out of America, which makes them much more reliable and robust than modern tools. Even some of the other tools are vintage -- my Stihl 076 Super can cut through a 60cm log like a hot knife through butter. And I have both 36″ and 72″ bars to go with it.

We are a cheap garbage household 💪💪💪💪💪

Straight up Ryobi here. It's not pro-hardcore, but for homeowner DIY and the variety and range of devices, it's been solid.

Pretty funny how Home Depot has stayed neutral and carried all those brands.

Couple years back I went to the graduation party of a kid my step daughter was friends. The dad had an entire wall pegboarded out with every possible Ryobi cordless tool. It was honestly impressive. And he had one Makita tool. Made me laugh.

20v to house DeWalt!

Project Farm on YouTube has great tests and reviews of products like this. Fully recommend his channel if you are in the market to buy tools or tool adjacent products.

Not a dad but heavily into the Makita gang. As a German I should be into Hilti or Metabo but Makita just hits the sweetspot of quality and pricing for me.

As a Harbor Freight guy, I'm offended.

That's because the batteries have become the printer ink of the tool world. They're f'n expensive.

If you buy into a product system it makes no sense to have different batteries that don't fit all the tools. If you keep the batteries all the same then you can be charging one or two sets vs having to buy extra sets and charger multiplied by the different tool makers.

I have one of the manufacturers shown in the image, and after I got a kit that had a charger, tool, and extra batteries included I got hooked in because they sell tools without batteries, but I have extra! So I bought same maker. The tools are all pretty good, so not much difference between makers, but that's one way they hook you.

I love “the wire” scene on picking a power tool.

https://youtu.be/-N_UuImPL4E

“Yeah. Cordless'll do that. You might want to consider the powder-actuated tool. The Hilti DX460MX or the Simpson PTP. These two are my Cadillacs. Everything else on this board is second best, sorry to say. Are you contracting or just doing some work around the house?”

Any Europeans? Where my Bosch brothers

I landed in DeWalt when their cordless devices became as good as/better than corded tools; I standardized on their battery platform only for them to abandon my battery and roll out a new (incompatible) one. Shortly thereafter my batteries bricked and it seems the business model is to force consumers to buy new tools every so often

FML I hate it that they're all proprietary and incompatible

And look how happy they are with their sorting hat:

Which is the Harbor Freight's Warrior & Hecules house?

GryffinDeWalt
Milwauflepuff
Ravenkita
SlytheRyobi

Went looking for my Craftsman brothers, but I’m afraid I may stand alone.

And if you're a dad who has a woodworking YouTube channel and business: Festool.

Only Bosch! Only hardcore!