Tools:

Ryobi (60 Watt) Cordless Glue Gun https://amzn.to/2vE3xuD
YouTube Review: https://youtu.be/xPYm_Zk_9qs

Ryobi P737 18-Volt ONE+ Power Inflator
https://amzn.to/2OE90bX

Ryobi P310G 18v Pistol Grip Variable Discharge Rate Power Caulk and Adhesive Gun
https://amzn.to/2B8A80U

Related tools mentioned:
Beadle Wraps used for inflator trigger
https://amzn.to/2MnI0Qs

Transcript:

I’m Donald Bell for Cool Tools and in this video I’m going to show you 3 cordless Ryobi tools I think are worth getting, even if you’re already invested in another cordless system.

Generally, I’m not a big fan of Ryobi, and this is not a sponsored video, but I keep coming back to these tools because they’re unique, or at least unique for the price.

You can find Amazon links to all these tools down in the description, and by using those you help support my videos and the Cool Tools blog.

First up is the Ryobi cordless hot glue gun. It runs around $35 as a bare tool without the battery.

This thing takes the bigger, ½-inch style glue sticks. Mine came with 3. It has a great molded grip and a satisfying trigger. There’s an on/off switch on the side. And the tip has a silicone cover on it that really cuts down on the chances of getting burned.
The tips are replaceable too, so you can swap out any Surebonder style tip if you want to change how glue flows out of this.
Two things I love about this design. One is that the weight of the battery pack really acts as its own stand. It feels just like using a cordless drill.

But more than anything, I love that hot glue can now go anywhere. Instead of bringing work to the glue gun, I can bring this to the work. So if you’re working on costumes, or upholstery, or just working out of the back of your van — it’s totally liberating.
There are drawbacks, of course. Best case scenario, Ryobi rates a battery pack for 3.5 hours of use — so it’s not an all-day solution. I also find that this glue gun dribbles more than my other ones — which isn’t a big deal, but makes it a little messier.
But the biggest drawback is expense. If you don’t already have a Ryobi battery pack and charger, getting all of this together is around $150 — which for me is a silly amount to pay for a glue gun. But if you already have the battery system, at $35 for just the tool, it’s been crazy convenient to have around.

Next up is the Ryobi Power Inflator. This one is around $30, and it’s a cordless air pump that has a pressure gauge built right in.
I race little electric go-karts and I caught onto this thing when I saw other teams using them to quickly inflate their tires. But once I got one for myself, I use it for inflating bike tires, car tires, soccer balls, pool floaties—it’s super handy.

The drawback to this is that it’s really loud. If you’re pumping your bike tires early in the morning, all your neighbors are going to hear it.

And one hack for this I recommend is to keep a strong rubber band or an adjustable tie of some kind on the handle so that you can engage the trigger for an extended period of time. If you’re pumping something up from flat, or pumping a car tire, this will free you up. I use a length of beadle wrap that works well, and I’ll include a link for these too.

Finally, there’s the Ryobi Pistol Grip Caulk and Adhesive gun. This one is $50, and other brands make a version of this too, including Dewalt and Milwaukee. But those options are two or three times the price.

It’s essentially a motorized version of a standard caulking gun. You load in a tube, set the speed you want it to push out, cut the tip, and get to work. They also include a little poker here if you need to unclog a tube.

Aside from making it a lot easier on your hands, the big payoff for these is that you can put down a more even, continuous bead of material, without that hiccup moment when you have to re-squeeze a manual gun.

Ryobi rates this at 500 lbs of push force, so it should be able to handle really thick material. They say that you can get up to 200 tubes from a single battery, but I don’t have the kind of budget here to test that one out.

There is a downside to this design, though. The other, more expensive adhesive guns out there will automatically retract the pressure a little when you release the trigger. Without that feature, material still slowly leaks out on the Ryobi version after you let go, until the pressure catches up. For the price, I don’t consider that a deal-breaker, but if you’re trying to get really precise and cut down on wasted material, you may want to look at the more expensive options.

So there you go, those are the three Ryobi tools that I swear by. Let me know if you have any others that should be on this list. You can find links to all of these down in the description. Be sure to subscribe to the Cool Tools channel. And remember, you can find thousands of reader recommended tools like this at Cool-Tools.org.