Skip Ryobi and Craftsman, this affordable power tool brand offers better prices and 5-year warranties

Published Oct 6, 2026, 12:01 PM EDT Aggy is a veteran writer and editor in the technology and gaming space. Having served as a Managing Editor for high-traffic digital publications, alongside being an editor and consultant for over a dozen sites. Aggy's published work spans a wide and respected array of tech and gaming outlets, including WePC, Screen Rant, How-To Geek, Android Police, PC Invasion, and Try Hard Guides. Beyond editorial work, Aggy's direct experience in the tech sphere extends to app development. Aggy has published two games under Tales and is always eager to learn and do more. He also likes working on computers and researching in his spare time. He knows about Windows, Linux, Audio, Video, and much more. If you've been buying Ryobi or Craftsman because they seemed like the safe, practical choice, the warranty math might not be working in your favor anymore. Both brands offer a 3-year limited warranty on their cordless lineups, and neither makes it easy to get a replacement when something goes wrong. However, there is still Hercules, which acts a lot like Craftsman used to. They don't back their tools like they used to Craftsman has been an American household name for decades. Sears launched it in 1927, and the thing that built the fanbase was a no-questions-asked lifetime guarantee on hand tools. You could walk into any store with a broken tool and walk out with a new one. That policy is a big reason people trusted the brand. Then Stanley Black & Decker bought Craftsman from Sears Holdings in 2017 for around $900 million and started selling it through Lowe's. Hand tools kept the lifetime coverage, but the V20 cordless power tool lineup only gets a standard 3-year limited warranty. So if your V20 tool dies, you need a dated receipt, and you're dealing with customer service or an authorized repair center. You can't really swap it at the register. The easy swap that made the brand famous doesn't apply to the battery-powered stuff anymore. Ryobi got there a different way. Techtronic Industries makes it and sells it only at Home Depot, and it won people over with low prices and a huge tool selection. The real pull of this brand is the 18V ONE+ system, which has kept battery compatibility going for decades across hundreds of tools. The warranty setup is really close to Craftsman's. Every 18V ONE+ tool, battery, and charger has the same 3-year limited warranty, and using it means keeping your Home Depot receipt and hauling your gear to a service center to have it inspected and repaired. A 3-year policy is plenty when your drill sits in the garage for months at a time. But if you're using power tools every day, you're dealing with constant battery cycling, real heat, and hard job site abuse. At that point, a 3-year limited warranty with repair center wait times doesn't buy you much. By landing on the same baseline coverage, Craftsman and Ryobi basically handed newer brands an opening. Any brand with better prices and a better warranty could swoop in and grab those customers. Since Harbor Freight is now taking on Milwaukee, it’s a great time to be a Hercules fan. Hercules gives you pro gear without the markup You get a better warranty for less money Credit: Hercules Harbor Freight created Hercules to be its pro-grade brand, aimed straight at the jobsite. Budget tools tend to have a bad reputation for breaking early, but Hercules is trying to change that. Any Hercules 20V brushless tool bought on or after August 19, 2022, gets a five-year limited warranty, and you can start a claim at any Harbor Freight store. The batteries and chargers get their own three-year limited warranty. The warranty process is way simpler than what most tool brands make you deal with. You don't file an online claim. You bring your dead tool, battery, or charger and your receipt to any Harbor Freight, where they may swap it on the spot. Harbor Freight can also send it to a service center for inspection and then decide whether to repair or replace it. On price, Hercules undercuts the competition pretty hard by sourcing straight from factories instead of going through wholesale distributors. The battery prices are where the gap really shows. A Hercules 20V 5.0Ah pack is $75, while the DeWalt equivalent costs $170. If you're buying multiple tools and stocking up on batteries, those savings add up fast. The lower price doesn't mean you're giving up real performance. In a side-by-side test against DeWalt's 20V MAX DCF888 impact driver, the Hercules impact driver won a few categories. You need to watch out for a few catches with Hercules You may think twice about the switch if this is too much Credit: Hercules I've seen some people recommend Bauer instead of Hercules because they look similar, but don't mix the two up. They're both Harbor Freight's own cordless tool brands, but they're aimed at totally different buyers. Bauer is for homeowners and weekend DIYers doing light stuff around the house, so it's basically in the same lane as Ryobi. However, Hercules is also a good reason to skip it. It also comes with only a 90-day limited warranty, which is pretty weak if you're expecting tools built for serious work. There's also a catch with the Hercules warranty. That five-year coverage they advertise doesn't apply to every Hercules tool. The brushed models drop back to the same 90-day warranty as the budget stuff. The five-year coverage only applies to Hercules 20V brushless models. If you work with tools for a living, you should probably be going brushless anyway for the torque and heat handling. Just make sure the box says brushless before you check out. Battery compatibility is another thing to think through. Hercules 20V batteries only work with Hercules tools, and Bauer tools won't take them. The two lines are completely separate ecosystems. That's normal in the power tool world, but it's worth knowing before you buy. I like Hercules' warranty policy The five-year coverage and in-store claim process are real advantages, but they only apply to Hercules 20V brushless tools. Buy a brushed Hercules model, and you're back to a 90-day warranty, which is worse than what Ryobi and Craftsman offer. That said, if you're building out a new set of tools or replacing worn-out gear, the savings on batteries alone can cover the cost of switching pretty quickly, and five years of hassle-free coverage is a better deal than most brands in this price range are willing to offer. Hercules 20V 1/2-inch Brushless Drill/Driver Combo Brand Hercules Color Blue Where power meets affordability. The Hercules 20V brushless drill/driver combo from Harbor Freight comes with a handle, battery, and charger, all for only $98. What's Included 20V 2 Ah lithium-ion battery, multi-volt fast charger, belt clip, side handle, bit holder Battery Capacity 2 Ah Weight 3.26 lb. Warranty 5 years