I just cut through a 6x6 pressure treated beam with my Ryobi brushless circular saw. Didn’t even bother to upgrade to a diablo blade. And it worked great!
I made six more similar cuts. No problem.
If I was doing this every day, would I upgrade to Milwaukee? Probably. (More than likely buy a corded saw.) But for weekend home improvement projects, don’t doubt the power!
Same for Harbor Freight. Great tools for light duty use, but if you’re doing big jobs frequently, spring for something better.
I’ve had a HF drill since 2005 and it only recently died. It can probably be fixed since it seems the trigger just wore out, but I got 18 years of use from it for like $15.
There are 2 schools of thought, and both are situationally relevant.
Buy the 2nd last tool you will ever need.
IE, buy light duty. If it breaks and you’ve been using it a lot, you will likely know what features you want, how much to spend etc on the replacement. At which point you buy a more suitable tool.
Buy once, cry once.
If you are spending $200 on a tool, and the $300 is better, maybe just buy the $300 one.
Certainly more applicable to when you already use similar tools, and you need another.
That’s another reason I like the Ryobi lineup. I started out with one of their basic drill combos.
But as I pickup bigger and bigger projects, I can upgrade to their Brushless and HP models, still using the same battery.
I am in the same boat. I’ve bought a few of their tools and they are great for my purposes. I have a miter saw and a table saw of theirs. Both are probably junk compared to more expensive tools, but I use them 2-4 times a year. It doesn’t make sense for me to get the more expensive stuff.
That said, if I start doing more I’ll probably ditch them in a heart beat. 😆