Ryobi ONE+ System Review
The battery platform, not the drill. Every ONE+ tool since 1996 takes the same pack, and that promise is the entire product.
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Reviewing “the Ryobi ONE+ system” means reviewing a battery mount, because that is what you are actually buying into. Ryobi’s claim is that every ONE+ tool ever made takes every ONE+ battery ever made, and unusually for a marketing line, it holds up: a lithium pack bought this year fits a tool from the NiCd era, and a current HP brushless tool will run on an old 1.5 Ah pack, badly but genuinely.
That compatibility is the reason the platform is worth considering. Cordless tools are sold on the tool and owned on the battery. Once you have four packs and a charger, the marginal cost of adding a tool is whatever a bare tool costs — and Ryobi’s bare-tool pricing is aggressive.
The range is the second half of the argument. There are well over a hundred ONE+ tools, including a lot of things nobody else makes cordless. For a home workshop, that breadth is worth more than any individual tool’s spec sheet.
Where the compromise shows
These are not trade tools. Chucks have more runout, clutches are less precise, and the housings are lighter than a Makita or DEWALT equivalent. In a home shop, used weekly, that is invisible. On a site, used all day every day, it is the difference between a two-year tool and a ten-year one.
The HP brushless line closes a lot of that gap — the drill scored on this page is one of them — but it does not close the price gap with it.
Reading the naming
ONE+ and ONE+ HP both exist, and both fit the same battery. HP generally means brushless, more power and a higher price. Within HP there is also a compact line and a full-size line. The listings do not make this obvious, so check for “brushless” explicitly rather than trusting the badge colour.
Battery advice
The platform’s weak point is high-draw tools. A circular saw or a mower on a 1.5 Ah pack will sag, cut out and disappoint. If you are buying into ONE+ for anything beyond drilling and driving, buy at least one 4 Ah or larger high-performance pack and use it in those tools.
What works
- Battery compatibility across the whole ONE+ range going back decades — a new HP tool runs on an old pack, and a new pack runs an old tool
- The range is enormous and includes tools nobody else bothers making, from glue guns to inflators to a cordless fan, all on the same battery
- Cost per tool once you already own batteries is where it wins: a bare tool is often a third of what a competing kit costs
What doesn't
- It is built to a price — the housings, chucks and clutches are a clear step below professional-grade Makita or DEWALT, and it shows under daily site use
- The range sprawls: brushed and brushless, ONE+ and ONE+ HP sit side by side and the naming does little to tell a buyer which is which
- Big-draw tools like the circular saw and the mower are the ones where the 18 V platform strains, and they want the large high-output packs to work properly