Back in 1996, Ryobi promised they would never change their 18V battery mount. Thirty years later, the batteries still fit, the power tools never die, and my garage looks like an explosion at a tennis ball factory. That awful neon lime green color is everywhere, but I love it.
To this day, that brilliant engineering pledge is still one of the most consumer-friendly moves in power tools, and it's why I've been buying Ryobi tools for over 20 years. All the while, it's been ruining the aesthetics of workshops everywhere. All jokes aside, you either love the bright green color or you hate it, but in the end, the color doesn't even matter.
Ryobi made its first power tool in 1968 and continued making all sorts of things for a few decades, but everything changed with the introduction of the 18V platform and its first cordless drill in 1996.
The now-famous 18V ONE+ tool platform came in a dark blue colorway back then, and I still have (and use) several of those old blue tools. At the time, the company promised consumers that the battery design would never change and that any tool you bought now would be compatible with battery packs years down the road.
On the flip side, any Ryobi 18V product released between now and 1996 will work with the tools and battery packs you can buy at Home Depot today. You can literally grab a 25-year-old Ryobi tool, head to Home Depot, buy a battery, and it'll work.
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