At some point, people get sorted into tool brands the same way they’re sorted into Hufflepuffs or Ravenclaws or whatever the hell the Harry Potter houses are called: It usually happens beyond your control, often for reasons you don’t entirely understand, and once you’re in, it’s pretty tough to get out. If you’ve got someone in your life who’s been sorted into the lime-green house Ryobi built, here are five fringe favorites they (almost) certainly do not have.
HINT: one of them is a bug zapper.
Ryobi occupies a somewhat unusual spot in the power-tool world. It’s not the brand you buy when you’re trying to impress the guys at the job site, and it doesn’t have quite the industrial-tool nerd cred of some of its competitors. What it does have is a huge following among homeowners, DIY-ers and people who started with one Ryobi drill and somehow ended up with a garage full of the things. And, while the lineup is mostly made up of sensible stuff, there are a few oddballs hiding in there that are sure to meet a bizarro need or stuff a stubborn stocking while delivering on the brand’s solid reputation when it actually comes time to use it.
Here are five of our favorites.
RYOBI ONE+ 18V Cordless Bug Zapper
Ryobi says ONE+ 18V Cordless Bug Zapper can deliver 2,550 volts of electricity through an electric mesh covering a low-intensity light won’t disrupt your peace while it attracts bugs from up to an acre-and-a-half away. More than enough of an effective range, in other words, to keep your back yard, camping or tailgating memories mosquito-free, so you can focus on the good times and good company.
The zapper features with disposable tray for easy cleanup and crisp, LED light with three brightness settings, and a 2.0 Ah 18V battery (plus charger) that’s reportedly good for over four hours of zapping.
RYOBI 18V ONE+ Compact Bluetooth Radio
You might already have a speaker, but unless it’s the RYOBI ONE+ 18V Compact Bluetooth Radio, you probably can’t power it with the same rechargeable battery pack that’s already powering your retina-searing Ryobi drill, saw, or weed whipper. The compact ONE+ radio packs Bluetooth and FM into a convenient little 15 W speaker that can run for more than 32 hours (!) on a single charge, and bakes in a USB port for keeping you phone alive, too.
Is it a tool? Technically, no. Is it exactly the sort of weirdly practical thing a Ryobi fan will find themselves carrying into the garage, backyard, or campsite instead of remembering to charge yet another gadget? Absolutely.
RYOBI ONE+ 18V Cordless Battery Fogger
Every suburban gardener knows that there comes a point in the growing season when you stop asking whether you really need another yard tool, and start asking whether you’re willing to let the rival dad up the street have tulips that look better than yours. When the Japanese beetles and the other invasive freeloaders show up to ruin hours of carefully cultivated flower-bed supremacy, the RYOBI ONE+ 18V Cordless Battery Fogger/Mister is exactly sort of oddly specific weapon you want in your arsenal.
The ONE+ fogger can spray up to 15 feet and cover as much as 1,000 square feet per minute, making quick work of larger beds without dragging around a cord or cranking a hand pump like some kind of Victorian gardener. It’s weirdly specialized, sure, but you know the crazy plant people and hyper-competitive suburbanites in your desperately life want one.
RYOBI ONE+ 18V Cordless Flexible LED Clamp Light
It is genuinely shocking how many people are utterly incapable of holding a flashlight properly. Ask someone to throw a beam of light somewhere, and no matter how precisely and impeccably you explain the concept to them, there’s a 50% chance they’ll light up anything but the thing you need lit up – and a 49% chance they’ll just shine it in your face on top of that! The gloriously simple RYOBI ONE+ 18V Cordless Flexible LED Clamp Light solves that problem, grabbing onto anything up to 1 and 3/4″ thick and giving you 16 inches of flexible neck that can be twisted and aimed exactly where you need it.
The handy LED light puts out 400 lumens in flood mode, switches to a more focused spotlight, and can run for more than 32 hours on low for nearly a full work week of illumination.
RYOBI ONE+ 18V LED Workbench Shop Light
Yes, I know – it’s another light; but if the other items on this list are weird, this one is also weirdly effective and (fun fact) is the only item on this list I actually own.
Hanging from your hood in a dimly lit garage, the RYOBI 18V ONE+ LED Workbench Shop Light is an absolute game-changer, and its flexible, adjustable, point-able design makes it invaluable in crawlspaces, basements, or pretty much anywhere else that corded shop lights can’t reach. It’s bright enough to let you see what you’re doing, but the real trick is being able to position the light exactly where you need it and then just get on with the job. No balancing a flashlight on your shoulder, no holding it between your teeth, and no arguments. It’s just a stupid simple tool that earns its place in your shop the first time you use it.
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