Great! thanks for the info Vith! For home-projects is 3/8 of inch fine or do you recommend 1/2 inch? I noticed the Hitachi one I had used is a 12v 3/8th inch and it has life-time warranty compared to Ryobi's 3 year warranty. Any big difference in the 12v and 18v?

It depends how you are going to use it. Ryobi stuff is fine for occasional homeowner use, but, based on the ones I've used a number of years ago, have a lot of plastic and pot metal parts that break before long in more strenuous use. Brands like Milwaukee, Bosch, Hitachi, Makita, and Festool tend to cost 2-5 times more and hold up under heavy daily use. It's one of those unfortunate "get what you pay for" situations. I hate it when my tool breaks in the middle of a job, so I pop for the more rugged stuff.

You will almost never need a half inch chuck, and if you do, you will probably want it in a heavy duty corded drill to run it. 3/8" is fine for almost everything.

Torque and battery life are more important than voltage. A high end 12 v drill will outperform a cheapo 18 v drill.

Not what you asked, but since buying an impact driver I would never go back to putting screws in with a drill. Having both (most companies sell them in bundles) allows you to keep a drill bit in the drill and screw bit in the driver, a real time saver when you are pre-drilling holes.

A "smart" charger is a benefit to the occasional user, you can leave the battery in it without danger of over charging. Less of an issue I guess with Li-ion batteries.

Makita.

The Ryobi 18 volt cordless tools are priced right at HD, and I've bought quite a few over the last 4-5 years. I have a standard drill, right angle drill, circular saw, hammer drill, and brad nailer. The first three have been used extensively during our house remodeling, and I've had no issues other than one battery that doesn't last as long as the others. The last two items are newer, and have a newer version of the batteries and charger. The cordless brad nailer is extremely convenient for trim work, since I don't need a compressor or electrical cord dragging along behind it. The hammer drill does not have a lot of "hammer" power, but has a really convenient chuck that holds better than the standard drill when you need a lot of torque.

If you buy the Ryobi line of cordless tools, look for special sales and/or package deals that include multiple tools and accessories. For example, in some cases you can buy a tool with a charger and two batteries for just a little more than the batteries themselves.

Bruce

That Ryobi driver takes a bit with a groove around the base and is not high speed like a drill.

There are different tools with different names and different powers.

There is a "Drill/driver" which has a chuck of various sizes you noted (the 3/8 vs 1/2). You can use most anything with these if the bit fits. 1/2 chuck can fit larger bits.

There is a "screwdriver" which has a 1/4 hex chuck which requires different drill bits with that hex connection.

12v is never as powerful as 18v if the battery technology is the same. New lithium battery tools if you compare 12v to 18v, the 18v has more power always. Now if you were comparing a new 12v lithium to an old 18v standard battery, the 12v may be similar. On that same note, the 12v tools are always lighter so fatigue while using is less. The tool is smaller and the battery is smaller.

If you get into doing a lot of projects, it might not hurt to get both an 18v set and a 12v set. There are a lot of tools in the M12 line as well. Consider brand before you buy so you can get the tools you want and use the same batteries.

Other useful info you didnt ask for:

Brushless tools are always more powerful due to it being a different type of electric motor that is more efficient and converts more energy into driving force, also uses less battery.

Hammer drill has a few uses, but it is limited to simple things like tile. It is not designed to really work well with concrete. Might be able to do a few holes but not many. If you need to do concrete work, you need a rotary hammer. I burned up multiple hammer drill bits and didnt get much done with the hammer drill. Returned that and got the rotary hammer and it goes through concrete like butter. Bits last a lot longer also. The difference is a hammer drill just vibrates the bit a little, where as the rotary hammer actually puts hammer force into the bit, and they require special bits that slide on the shank either SDS plus or SDS max.

If you need a powerful drill for wood or mixing, look for a spade handle drill. These are always low speed high torque drills. Good for drilling large holes in wood. Also used to mix mortar in buckets. I actually use mine often to jack up my vehicle at home.

"12v is never as powerful as 18v if the battery technology is the same."

Motor design and construction is unrelated to power? I doubt it. When people do comparison tests of drills and drivers they typically come up with some sort of torture test involving driving large fasteners to measure torque on one hand and many smaller fasteners on the other to measure battery life. Within a category (say 18 v Li-ion driver/drills) there is often a 3-fold variation or more in performance in both parameters, and the ranges for 12 and 18 v tools often overlap.

If voltage were the sole determinant you couldn't have, for example, the 90v DC motors that range from 1/50 hp to 1 hp in the Baldor catalog.

Windings and magnets make a difference!

You are correct I shouldn't use the word never, there are m12 fuel (brushless) that probably would be comparable to the m18. What I find is the old batteries have voltage drop as they lose charge. It is noticeable that the battery is losing charge and is weaker the longer you use it. The new lithiums supply a steady voltage till they die and when they die they die.

That and every 12v drill I have seen/used is smaller than an 18v. Normally smaller motor, less power (unless different motor type or technology). I like my m12 tools btw, im not knocking on the 12v.

I say screw it. lol! Fussing about stuff when the real value in ryobi is that you can give them to helpers and rookies and afford to replace them when the inevitable happens. If a chuck gets slippy because its a slightly lower energy alloy to save a buck, then sandpaper on a pencil will fix you right up. I would not normally have 7 drills but let me say it sure is nice when you can outfit a crew without breaking into the beer money. I gotta admit I wait on the sales though. I usually buy the drill and driver combo for 99.00 instead of just the driver.