Ryobi one-plus - good or rubbish?

Forums › Home Workshop › Ryobi one-plus - good or rubbish?

floydbloke

1405 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 493

Topic # 216726 10-Jul-2017 12:52

I'm in the market for a new line-trimmer and will probably go cordless electric.

I like the idea of one-battery-fits-many-tools that a few manufacturers are touting these days.

Does anyone have experience with the Ryobi 18v one-plus platform?

I see they have three different battery capacities available, 1.5Ah, 2.5Ah and 5Ah.

It takes me about 20-25 minutes to do my section with a petrol powered trimmer so I expect that would warrant investment in the 5.

Thinking beyond the line-trimmer, my cordless drill is probably due for replacement soon, a Ryobi hammer-drill skin with a 5Ah sounds like it would have a much oomph as a corded drill...or am I dreaming?

Thoughts and experiences please.

1 | 2

Hammered
4642 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 893

Moderator

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 1817794 10-Jul-2017 13:00

Been discussed a few times around here in the past. I have skins for both the workbench and the garden. No problems at all. Usually use higher capacity batteries in the garden and with the hammer drill because they're thirsty, and mostly smaller batteries at the workbench to keep the tools lighter. I haven't had any issues whatsoever with any of the tools to date (/me knocks on wood).

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

floydbloke

1405 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 493

Reply # 1818802 10-Jul-2017 13:39

Stu: Been discussed a few times around here in the past. ...

You're right. Thanks and my apologies, I should have searched a bit harder.

Appears to be a pretty decent platform by all account.

(Thread can probably be locked now.)

richms

19910 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3637

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 1818818 10-Jul-2017 13:45

Line trimmer is trash. Uses small refills that dispense whenever you stop, and are a pain to rewind because of the small size of them.

There is a new one in the US that is brushless that seems to get better reviews, perhaps wait on that.

Richard rich.ms

kryptonjohn

278 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 53

Subscriber

Reply # 1818839 10-Jul-2017 13:55

Also, notwithstanding thirsty tools, I'd rather have 2x2.5AH batteries than 1x5.0AH as I'd always have one living on the charger and therefore never be stuck without a charged battery.

richms

19910 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3637

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 1818847 10-Jul-2017 13:58

The 5Ah has much better performance on the circ saw and new brushless chainsaw than the 2.5 does. I have quite a mix now, but all my old 1.somethings from 6 years ago seem to have died off. They say charged but nothing happens with them. Will get around to opening and metering out the individual cells to see what is recoverable sometime in them, but they seemed to work fine when working despite the low capacity. Just died after a month sitting in the 6 port charger in the shed.

Richard rich.ms

kryptonjohn

278 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 53

Subscriber

Reply # 1818853 10-Jul-2017 14:01

Bugger, thought that stuff was a thing of the past with the end of NiCd.

richms

19910 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3637

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 1818855 10-Jul-2017 14:03

Im guessing the battery protection has kicked in on them because one cell has gone under voltage. Perhaps once I open them I can charge them all individually off the hobby charger and get it to work. I know the makitas have a permanant lockout when it happens so am hoping that the ryobis are a bit more dumb than that. Those packs are usefull on the small lights since they still give a good runtime and weigh less.

Richard rich.ms

robcreid

175 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 57

Reply # 1818857 10-Jul-2017 14:05

richms:

Line trimmer is trash. Uses small refills that dispense whenever you stop, and are a pain to rewind because of the small size of them.

I have the line trimmer and was quite unhappy with it when I first got it.

The auto feed was a pain and the line used to snap off at the exit to the spool quite often which meant you had to stop and re-feed it.

Once I got a refill most of these problems seemed to subside. The new line seems to last better and the spool has smaller teeth so it auto feeds much less each time.

kryptonjohn

278 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 53

Subscriber

Reply # 1818865 10-Jul-2017 14:13

I get that with a petrol powered Chinese p.o.s. Drives me nuts as it takes a bit of time to open the head, unwind the spool, re-thread, put the spring and cover on and get the thing to close.

The best thing you can do is get the beefiest line that you can fit out the ports and bump feed from time to time to keep the string as long as you can.

richms

19910 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 3637

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 1818868 10-Jul-2017 14:15

The issue I had was you ended up keeping the motor on all the time when not needed just to stop it spewing out line, so that make it have less battery life.

Ive not looked into the ryobi refils, have just been rewinding the one that it came with and the one that I kept from a previous one that was a warranty return.

Richard rich.ms

plas

296 posts

Ultimate Geek
+1 received by user: 8

Reply # 1818871 10-Jul-2017 14:20

I have the lawn mower, a drill, a edger and 2x 2.5Ah batteries.

The two batteries are just enough to do my small lawn and the others don't really get much use. Pretty happy with the system.

floydbloke

1405 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 493

Reply # 1818918 10-Jul-2017 15:07

Thanks all

Having my doubts now about the line-trimmer. Although can it be worse than the jamming up of the old bump-style dual-string??

Has any one tried these?

Dual Bladed Line Trimmer Heads from Bunnings

Stu

Hammered
4642 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 893

Moderator

Trusted

Subscriber

Reply # 1818920 10-Jul-2017 15:11

floydbloke:

You're right. Thanks and my apologies, I should have searched a bit harder.

Appears to be a pretty decent platform by all account.

(Thread can probably be locked now.)

No problem. An updated discussion helps weed out the issues of long term use (as noted above).

The line trimmer does what I need it to do. The new feed system you've just noted above might be worth a look next time I'm at Bunnings.

Keep calm, and carry on posting.

floydbloke

1405 posts

Uber Geek
+1 received by user: 493

Reply # 1818927 10-Jul-2017 15:25

Stu:

... helps weed out the issues ...

I see what you did there

smalltrader

92 posts

Master Geek
+1 received by user: 42

Reply # 1818930 10-Jul-2017 15:29

richms:

The 5Ah has much better performance on the circ saw and new brushless chainsaw than the 2.5 does. I have quite a mix now, but all my old 1.somethings from 6 years ago seem to have died off. They say charged but nothing happens with them. Will get around to opening and metering out the individual cells to see what is recoverable sometime in them, but they seemed to work fine when working despite the low capacity. Just died after a month sitting in the 6 port charger in the shed.

I have learned some time ago (to my surprise) that Li-ion also has a definite life span. The life span is much better than Ni-Cd. However, it is still quite common for older generation Li-ion batteries to died within 3 - 5 years. I have had Li-ion camera and video camera batteries died within 3 - 5 years with only light usage.

The newer generation Li-ion battery are supposed to be much better with life span. I certainly hope so with the development of electric vehicle.

1 | 2