One HUGE difference is that the "crappy walmart tools" (replace with equivalent store brand like Ryobi, Craftsman, etc) are actually quite decent.
Ten+ years ago I would be quite adamant about people getting "professional" brands, now unless you really need to "buy into the red army" anything is basically fine.
It's true of quite a few products now that I think of it. There used to be "good TVs and really shit TVs" - now even the bargain crap is pretty good.
Ryobi most definitely is a big box brand targeted to consumers. These are cheap tools and I challenge you to find a contactor or tradesman that uses them commercially.
Regardless of the manufacturer, battery technology has increased so incredibly that even the "crappiest" cordless tools are better than those from the early 2000s.
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Src: retired electrician that has used (and broken) a lot of tools
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My primary tool of choice is Stanley's upscale brand, DeWalt.
Were I considering to "buy a cheaper tool," perhaps esoteric items intended for single use: instead of Ryobi, I'd settle on Harbor Freight.
Where I spent most of my wiring days [IBEW], the "top tool" was always a competition of Yellow -vs- Red.
One of the reasons I was leaning toward DeWalt is they seem to have a shared battery system. I don't want to have 20 different battery standards when I could just keep buying the same ones and using them all on different tools.
I have several different electric drills I received as gifts with their own batteries.
Here's my "pro tip" for purchasing less-expensive 20V DeWalt batteries, although it only works at the end of autumn: around the first annual winter freeze, all the outdoor tools go on sale.
Typically outdoor tools are paired with their largest AH battery available; sometimes the pair retail for less than just a single 4AH+ battery [sometimes "half off"].
Doesn't always work out, but I do this every other year (and have multiple weed whackers lol). My last 4AH 20V Dewalt battery cost me $49 this way.
Most manufacturers share batteries of the same voltage but even DeWalt and Milwaukee have been bending that rule (there are flex volt Dewalts, and High Output M18s that have different characteristics).
Man I still have some pro cordless electric screwdriver that was pretty good 20-25y ago, we used those on construction sites. You can actually still get replacement batteries (off brand) but for around 70 bucks last I checked I'm really not sure if I wanna risk that :P
Then again I've never bought one for myself and still kept this one from my dad.
The tool brand stuff gets highly confusing very quickly. In the USA Ryobi is a brand manufactured for Home Depot by TTI (the same company that owns Milwaukee but it is NOT Milwaukee manufacturing for Ryobi).
Outside of the USA it's completely different. Sometimes the same brand can be nearly identical even though manufactured differently, other times they have the same name and are completely different.
Another one is Rigid - their power tools are manufactured by TTI, except for the plumbing-specific ones (sometimes) which are made by Emerson.
It's quite like hard drives are (were?) where there's only a few manufacturers but many more brands.
Ten+ years ago I would be quite adamant about people getting "professional" brands, now unless you really need to "buy into the red army" anything is basically fine.
It's true of quite a few products now that I think of it. There used to be "good TVs and really shit TVs" - now even the bargain crap is pretty good.