Professional Tool Reviews for Pros
The Ridgid 18V Brushless Reciprocating Saw is a beast of a tool that absolutely shreds wood and mixed materials. It needs a little trigger feathering in thick metal to help it get into the cut, but then it's off to the races. As an upgrade to Octane, it clearly has higher performance. If you're debating between the two, spend the extra $20 for the upgraded model. However, Octane still has relevant performance, so go ahead and keep using that model if you already have it.
The Ridgid 18V Brushless Reciprocating Saw continues the brand’s push beyond Octane as the latest generation continues its rollout at The Home Depot. There’s a lot that’s familiar about the saw’s design, but it’s the promise of higher performance that’s high on our minds.
Ridgid decided to crank things up a notch with the performance on this reciprocating saw. Comparing it to the Octane version, the stroke length moves from 1 1/8 inches to 1 1/4 inches. The stroke rate is also higher, moving from 3100 SPM to 3200 SPM. In fact, that’s one of the best combinations of stroke length and rate that you’ll find in any brand’s cordless model.
To see how that translates to work, we introduced the saw to our Test Track. If you haven’t seen it yet, it consists of three sections:
We start with a new LENOX LAZER CT carbide-tipped blade for medium metal on the cast iron and switch over to a LENOX Demolition CT carbide-tipped blade for the two wood sections.
When the dust settled, Ridgid finished in a respectable 1:33.05. However, that was actually about 9 seconds slower than the Octane model (1:23.70).
That wasn’t what we were expecting, so we took a closer look at each section. Starting in the cast iron, Ridgid’s aggressive stroke length and speed may have actually hurt its time a bit. It had some trouble getting the blade’s carbide teeth going and took some time to get them cutting efficiently. In fact, feathering the trigger for a soft start helps a lot and can make up quite a bit of time.
Wood is a completely different story. The saw’s time was solid in the double stud (10.69 seconds) and it torched our roofing sandwich in just 17.40 seconds. To put that in perspective, Milwaukee’s M18 Fuel Super Sawzall took just over 20 seconds to rip through the roofing sandwich. That’s impressive!
On the next generation, we’d love to see a variable speed dial come into play for that thick metal cutting. Just don’t mess with the top end speed or stroke length for when we’re cutting in wood!
Ridgid hasn’t targeted the big 15-amp corded reciprocating saws yet, keeping this model more manageable in its size and weight. At 17 7/8 inches long, it’s about 1/2 an inch shorter than the Octane model.
It’s also lighter by nearly 1/2 a pound. It weighs 6.8 pounds bare and a 4.0Ah Max Output battery brings it up to 8.3 pounds. That obviously jumps up if you use a higher capacity Octane battery, but it’s one of the lighter cordless saws at this performance level.
Ridgid has traditionally had one of the most feature-rich cordless reciprocating saws on the market and that’s not changing with this update.
In terms of what’s missing, there’s not a ton. Like we mentioned earlier, a variable speed dial would be nice in some situations. There are also no smart controls. Milwaukee’s M18 Fuel Sawzall with One-Key is about the only saw with app-based controls at the moment.
There are a couple of ways to get your hand on this saw. As a bare tool, it runs $159 at The Home Depot. A kit option adds a charger and one 4.0Ah Max Output battery for $199. The best value is the two-battery kit for $219.
It’s also part of a combo kit that includes the updated hammer drill, impact driver, oscillating multi-tool, reciprocating saw, 2.0Ah and 4.0Ah Max Output batteries, charger, and bag for $399.
The Ridgid 18V Brushless Reciprocating Saw is a beast of a tool that absolutely shreds wood and mixed materials. It needs a little trigger feathering in thick metal to help it get into the cut, but then it’s off to the races. As an upgrade to Octane, it clearly has higher performance. If you’re debating between the two, spend the extra $20 for the upgraded model. However, Octane still has relevant performance, so go ahead and keep using that model if you already have it.
When he doesn't have his hands on tools himself, Chris is often the man behind the camera lens making the rest of the team look good. In his free time, you might find Chris with his nose jammed in a book, or tearing out his remaining hair while watching Liverpool FC. He enjoys his faith, family, friends, and the Oxford comma.
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