Stop pretending Ryobi is the same as Milwaukee

Cordless power tools come in a wide variety of types and colors, and you’ve likely heard that many of your favorite brands are made or owned by the same large company. Yes, one company owns both Ryobi and Milwaukee, but that doesn’t mean they’re the same.

Two of the most popular power tool brands in the United States are Ryobi and Milwaukee, along with DeWALT and a few others. Milwaukee is obviously one of the biggest names around, and Ryobi is extremely popular with casual users and the DIY crowd due to its affordability.

Are these tool brands made in the same factory? Is Milwaukee simply Ryobi with red paint? Just because the same parent company (TTI) owns both doesn’t mean much. They’re actually vastly different, and here’s what you need to know.

Techtronic Industries operates everywhere

It’s truly international brand

Two Milwaukee M12 batteries sitting on a table saw with sawdust and a blade in the background.

A little backstory: Ryobi and Milwaukee are both owned and or licensed by TTI (Techtronic Industries), a large conglomerate based in Hong Kong, China.

TTI acquired Ryobi in 2000, and the company now owns and manufactures all of its products, mainly catering to the DIY crowd and homeowners. The company licenses the name and has a widespread distribution agreement with Home Depot.

While looking to expand, TTI acquired Milwaukee Tools in 2005 and remains the primary parent company of those popular red tools you’ll see in mechanic shops, on garage shelves, and used by electricians across the United States.

However, one extremely important aspect of these tools is how they handle everything. For one, TTI operates globally, with around 50% of its manufacturing in Hong Kong, while the rest is scattered across several continents. For example, TTI operates in China, the United States, Vietnam, Mexico, and Europe.

More importantly, Milwaukee Tool continues to operate as an independent subsidiary and still runs its main headquarters in Brookfield, Wisconsin. Additionally, some Milwaukee tools are still assembled in the United States, while Ryobi tools are primarily made in China.

While they share some manufacturing locations, they are not usually produced in the same facility. R&D is different, the budget is different, and even the target audience is different. Even if some parts come from the same location, they’re on distinct production lines, each tailored to build heavy-duty tools for professionals or more affordable options for everyday folks.

So, just because TTI owns them both, and you’ll spot very similar tools and lineups at Home Depot, doesn’t mean they’re the same. Don’t assume it’s just a color difference and buy a Ryobi right away because it’s more affordable. I’m not saying Ryobi tools are bad, because I love mine, but there’s more to the situation than the color and who owns the company.

Ryobi and Milwaukee are for different users

Professionals vs. average homeowners

Milwaukee and those affordable lime green Ryobi tools operate at completely different ends of the cordless power tool market. One is for professionals and offers several specialty tools, while the other releases everything under the sun at affordable price points, hoping to earn a customer or convince a casual homeowner at Home Depot to buy one.

Don’t get me wrong, there’s certainly some overlap, but that still doesn’t mean they’re the same. Milwaukee builds tough, rugged, extremely durable, and powerful tools for professionals.

Milwaukee also offers a wide array of specialty tools you won’t find from Ryobi, DeWALT, or others, because it knows its target audience. For example, the Milwaukee SURGE hydraulic impact driver is an exceptional tool, and it has been for years on end. Ryobi offers nothing close to it in terms of size or performance.

Sure, Ryobi and Milwaukee likely share a few components or electronics here and there, but they’re few and far between. Aside from the color and product offering, these tools are very different on the inside. For example, Milwaukee has offered tabless battery cells in some of its premium REDLITHIUM Forge battery packs since 2024, which deliver better performance, faster charging, lower heat output, and several other benefits.

Eventually, Ryobi started adopting a slightly different tabless cell design, which again improved performance and such. Milwaukee also switched to more advanced, powerful brushless motors in its FUEL line long before Ryobi did. These types of improvements didn’t arrive at the same time, or for the same battery packs or tools, as they’re manufactured, designed, and released in a completely different fashion.

Better yet, watch a few YouTube videos of tool enthusiasts tightening a nut with a Milwaukee impact, then try to remove it with a similar tool from another brand. Or speed tests driving fasteners. I’ve never seen one of those tests where a Ryobi beats out Milwaukee. I’ve done those tests myself, and I actually went through an entire Ryobi battery trying to remove a few things installed with a Milwaukee product.

Same parent company, different brands

Obviously, we’ll never know for sure, as we’re not on the inside of those production facilities. That said, TTI shared many stats during recent investor meetings and noted that Ryobi and Milwaukee each have their own offices and distribution facilities in the U.S.

Combine that with the fact that Milwaukee, while owned by TTI, continues to operate as an independent subsidiary, and that should tell you all you need to know. Surely there’s a lot of internal sharing, but these are two different tool lines with distinct technologies, internal teams, R&D, manufacturing, and customer bases.

I love my Ryobi power tools, and they’re more than enough for my needs, but they’re not the same as a Milwaukee. There’s also a reason I own a few Milwaukee tools that I’ll always reach for over anything else.

Special features

Built-In Light, Keyless Chuck, Variable Speed

Weight

2.6 lb

Cordless?

Yes

Warranty

3-Year Manufacturer’s Warranty

The Ryobi ONE+ 18V drill/driver combo kit is all you need to tackle any DIY project. Whether you’re drilling holes or want to assemble furniture faster, this kit has the drill, two battery packs, and a charger.
Special features

Built-In Light, Forward/Reverse Switch, Keyless Chuck, LED Light, Variable Speed

Weight

2.4 lb

Cordless?

Yes

Warranty

5 Year Limited Warranty

Tool Type

Impact Driver

The new M18 FUEL SURGE utilizes a redesigned FLUID-DRIVE Hydraulic Powertrain to deliver 50% quieter operation with smoother driving and 3X less vibration compared to standard impact drivers.

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Stephan Dorsey

Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.

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Recent Reviews

AI is causing cognitive fatigue. Here’s how to work with more haste and less speed

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

Staff who use AI can end up with more to do, not less.
Think carefully about the tools you’re using and why.
Adopt a set of standards and refine your outputs.

The promise of productivity boosts from AI can come with an unwelcome side order of stress. Harvard Business Review found that AI doesn’t reduce work; it intensifies it, leading to cognitive fatigue and unsustainable hours.

While the common perception is that AI can help reduce workloads, allowing employees to focus more on higher-value and more engaging tasks, HBR’s research found that staff using AI worked more quickly and often ended up with more to do, not less.

Also: Forget productivity: Here are 5 strategic shifts that drive real AI value

While we’ve written about how some professionals are finding ways to turn AI’s time-saving magic into a productivity superpower, we’ve also recognized that some employees have started to become tired with the low quality of AI outputs.

Ankur Anand, group CIO at tech recruiter Harvey Nash, said professionals who want to avoid cognitive fatigue must understand how to use AI effectively and its potential risks.

“That focus will help to reduce the noise around the workload that AI creates,” he told ZDNET, suggesting that many people have unrealistic expectations about the productivity boost that AI will provide.

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“Many organizations are telling their people, ‘We want to understand how you’re making an impact with AI,'” he said. “But these professionals are not empowered, which means that using AI adds a lot of pressure, because they need to prove themselves on their own terms.”

If you’re going to make the most of AI at work, then you’re going to have to find an effective balance between completing tasks quickly and producing high-quality work.

Here’s how the experts believe professionals can ensure they reap the benefits, not the problems, of AI — and they suggest that you’ll need to focus on three core areas: tools, guidelines, and outputs.

Limit your toolset

Alex Read, senior enterprise product manager for data at energy provider EDF UK, told ZDNET that the best way for professionals to reap the benefits, not the challenges, of AI is to be uber-focused on tools that help you produce value in your roles.

While there are thousands of potential AI-enabled services on the market, Read said sensible professionals limit their horizons.

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In his own role, for example, Read focuses on how AI can help him build a data platform and update information accurately, efficiently, and productively: “Anything outside of that scope is noise for me.”

That sentiment resonated with Nick Pearson, CIO at technology specialist Ricoh Europe, who told ZDNET it’s important to take a step back and think carefully about how an AI tool can help you produce value in your role.

“If you think about the phrase ‘gen AI,’ the tech is very good, by definition, at generating outputs,” he said. “I could go to bed in the evening, set the model to work, and we could have four new IT strategies produced overnight.”

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However, quantity doesn’t necessarily mean quality. Pearson suggested it’s important to focus on AI’s blind spots, particularly as most models are trained on preexisting content.

“AI can’t inspire people, per se; it can’t naturally create something new, because it’s actually quite recursive,” he said.

“And the judgment you have to put in sometimes, on top of everything else, whether it be an ethical or a capability judgment, is not there automatically in the technology.”

It’s in this gap, said Pearson, that human experts play a critical role: “We’re toying with that concern as an organization and saying, ‘Where does AI really play an important role, versus where are we upskilling people in areas that AI probably won’t play for a long time?'”

Work to the guidelines

HBR’s research found that an initial productivity surge when AI is adopted can lead to lower-quality work, turnover, and other problems as people work harder rather than smarter.

To correct this issue, HBR said companies need to adopt an “AI practice,” or a set of norms and standards around AI use that help professionals ensure they use AI in a constrained but productive manner.

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At EDF UK, Read is part of an internal AI Center of Excellence in enterprise IT, which enables policy for the effective use of AI across the wider organization.

In addition to Read, who contributes input from a data-use perspective, the group includes other tech representatives, such as the firm’s senior manager of AI, principal software engineer, and principal solution architect.

“The remit of this center is to make sure that, when the federated business units are looking to build, develop, and deploy AI services, they have platforms, guidance, best practices, architectural assets, and materials to guide them on how to safely and efficiently adopt AI and operationalize it at scale,” he said.

Some of the key themes the center considers when assessing AI tools are scalability and reusability, ensuring a proposed service doesn’t replicate one already in use.

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“All new tools and services related to AI will go through that hopper and funnel to understand scope and ensure the security, regulatory, and ethical side of things are understood,” he said, suggesting that all professionals should use their organization’s pre-existing guidelines to foster an appropriate exploitation of emerging tech.

“The benefit that guided approach brings is that it allows us to be clear in our messaging around what AI services can be used, how they’re used from a use-case perspective, and ultimately, what personas are allowed to use them.”

Refine your outputs

Even when tools are assessed and considered acceptable, there can still be an overreliance on AI outputs. Worse, some professionals can drown in the insights they receive, leading to higher stress and fewer benefits.

Louise Newbury-Smith, head of UK&I at technology specialist Zoom, told ZDNET that one way to ensure your outputs are constrained is to focus on prompting.

“Use simple amendments to be specific, such as ‘Give me the top three things with the biggest impact.’ That approach should guide your prompt, rather than saying, ‘Give me everything you know about this topic.'”

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Newbury-Smith said the successful use of AI is all about being smart about how it’s exploited, and that effectiveness comes down to enablement and engagement. If a prompt yields too much information, refine it until you get what you need. She said this should still be faster than trying to get answers without AI.

The basic message for professionals is that effective applications of AI are all about you staying in the loop, said Bernhard Seiser, vice president of digital, data, and IT at AOP Health.

Think before you use AI, and think again before you push your outputs around the organization.

“It doesn’t help the business if you get AI-generated emails that are many pages long, and then you need ChatGPT to summarize the text,” he told ZDNET.

Seiser said that while there are certain tasks generative AI is good at and worth using for, in the end, “you need to use your brain.”

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