Most over priced tool

[EddieM]

Ok, so not a very serious thread at all, and feel free to ignore. But what's the most overpriced tool you've come across?

We'll ignore £1 shop screwdrivers, which are priced infinitely above their value.

 

[Iamchamps]

Drills that surgeons in hospitals use are in the 5 digit sums. For me that is over priced if you want to drill a hole in my skull just whip a trusted black and decker and away you go.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

At the risk of causing controversy, how's about anything with a Festool label?

Hat, coat......

 

[scbk]

A local supplier has a range of spanners hanging up, I can't remember the size, but the biggest is something like a 80mm, so fairly big - it's a couple foot long. The price ticket on it is about £800 iirc!!!

 

[HERTS P&D]

The current Mayor!

Andy

 

[SammyInnit]

A lot of festool and mafell gear is over priced.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

A lot of festool and mafell gear is over priced.

At the risk of causing a "them and us" discussion, which things in particular? I know I made a comment about Festool earlier, but I am actually a Festool and Mafell user - not everything in the ranges, I hasten to add - and the items I have bought have been very worthwhile purchases for me in my circumstances. In some cases the tools have been unique with no comparable products on the market (e.g. the Dominos), but they were required for specific niche tasks, and in purchasing them they either gave me enhanced capability, improved accuracy or improved speed (and generally all of them).

 

[SammyInnit]

At the risk of causing a "them and us" discussion, which things in particular? I know I made a comment about Festool earlier, but I am actually a Festool and Mafell user - not everything in the ranges, I hasten to add - and the items I have bought have been very worthwhile purchases for me in my circumstances. In some cases the tools have been unique with no comparable products on the market (e.g. the Dominos), but they were required for specific niche tasks, and in purchasing them they either gave me enhanced capability, improved accuracy or improved speed (and generally all of them).

Festool insulation saw, festool plunge saw, mafell plunge saw, most of festool vacs, their spares are a fortune. Accessories are all expensive. There's no end of stuff they sell that just isn't warranted in the cost.

 

[^woody^]

£250 combi squares! I'm still reeling at that

 

[Deleted member 174758]

festool plunge saw, mafell plunge saw, most of festool vacs, their spares are a fortune. Accessories are all expensive.

I don't do enough solid insulation to know one way or other about the insulation saw, but maybe for an insulation contractor it could shave half an hour to an hour off his cutting time every day? On the other hand the plunging rail saws are well worth the money to any joiner doing interior fit-out - faster, cleaner cuts, extremely accurate, no tidying up (quick whizz over with a bit of scratch and you're good to go) and bang-on for trimming door bottoms, panels, screens, etc to length. The dust extraction on the saws saves you from breathing the stuff and ending up with a collapsed lung and pneumoconiosis (which is what killed my old man). Cleaner work area when used with a vac, too (so less time spent cleaning-up at the end of the job). So just what are you going to use instead which will give you the same performance?

Tbh the vacs aren't much different in (street) price to equivalents from Starmix/Metabo, Bosch, DW, etc. And as you are aware anyone cutting timber on site these days is required to use a class M vacuum - so no, your old Henry really isn't adequate any longer. I seem to recall the same sort of comments being levelled at Elu when they brought out their first vacuums in the late 1980s

Accessories are always expensive - ever tried getting a replacement fence for a Bosch 1/2in plunge router? Or for that matter replacement collets? I don't see Bosch or DW or often Makita being any cheaper on those

 

[SammyInnit]

I don't do enough solid insulation to know one way or other about the insulation saw, but maybe for an insulation contractor it could shave half an hour to an hour off his cutting time every day?

Set price with a rail is around £700 for what many people see as bread knife with a rail guid and couple of batteries.

On the other hand the plunging rail saws are well worth the money to any joiner doing interior fit-out - faster, cleaner cuts, extremely accurate, no tidying up

I'm not saying plunge saws aren't worth the money, I'm saying that Festool and Mafell(especially) charge a fortune for what they offer. Mafells 110v kit for example costs £600 minimum.

Tbh the vacs aren't much different in (street) price to equivalents from Starmix/Metabo, Bosch, DW, etc.

A CTM 26 Will cost you around £750 - not to mention the cost of spares is double that of most competitors. A Nilfisk Attix 44 (and some will say better performing than the CTM) you can get for £200 less.

Accessories are always expensive

There's bosch expensive and there's festool expensive.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Set price with a rail is around £700 for what many people see as bread knife with a rail guid and couple of batteries

But who else makes one? And if it saves you an hour a day cutting and cleaning up how quickly will it pay for itself? If it allows you to get an extra hour's work done every day it will pay for itself in a couple of months against a write down/life period of 3 years. Surely that's economic sense?

I'm not saying plunge saws aren't worth the money, I'm saying that Festool and Mafell(especially) charge a fortune for what they offer. Mafells 110v kit for example costs £600 minimum.

Sorry, but you seem to be contradicting yourself a bit there. If you want a trade quality plunge saw the only other choices AFAIK are Makita, deWalt and Virutex now that Hilti are out of the market (at least as far as cordeds go).

The Virutex is a similar price to Festool (mainly because the UK importer won't discount, whereas in Spain where they hail from the price is more comparable to Makita), but isn't as well finished. The DW is just downright peculiar to use - I don't like them, regardless of the price, and I know a lot of other people who feel the same. That leaves the Makita. Now I actually have a Makita cordless (my corded is a TS55, however). Good tool, uses the same batteries as my other cordless kit, but no Festool. The Festool certainly has a few advantages over the Makita (e.g. faster more positive depth setting, direct reading depth scale, easier blade changing, etc), but whether or not it's worth the extra £100 is subjective and I suppose it partly depends on whether or not you've bought into the Festool system.

The fact that Festool is an order or three of magnitude smaller than Makita is perhaps a factor in pricing, and that Mafell are a much smaller firm than Festool is another factor in their pricing, making buying from these two a bit like buying a car from Morgan. And you ain't gonna get a Morgan at Ford prices, are you? Also, before Festool popularised the plunging rail saw there simply weren't any tools like that on the market, and for that I'm thankful. Bosch, DW, Makita, etc were content to go along making the same old sloppy, awkward to use, inaccurate, dirty, dusty saws they'd made for years (circular saws hadn't changed much since the 1960s or earlier, if anything in the 70s and 80s they got worse as everyone chased costs down at the expense of quality). At least Festool shook up the market and made other makers think a lot more about what they are offering. They are also one of only two firms offering a 3in/75mm depth of cut plunging rail saw (the other is Mafell, although their product is aimed at completely different tasks)

As to Mafell - if you want a cheaper MT55cc, buy a Bosch. Uses the same (licensed) technology, runs on the same rails, but it's missing a few of the nicer features, it's made in China and is generally not as nice a tool to use (from a colleague who's had both)

A CTM 26 Will cost you around £750 - not to mention the cost of spares is double that of most competitors. A Nilfisk Attix 44 (and some will say better performing than the CTM) you can get for £200 less.

I didn't realise that they were now so expensive. A few years ago when I was in the market the Festools were maybe £50 or £60 more than a Metabo ASR35M which I personally think has slightly better technology (i.e. alternating filter cleaning). Want a cheap M-class? Buy a V-Tuf. But it really is built down to a price as opposed to up to a standard IMHO

I noticed you haven't touched on some of the more unique stuff in the (overpriced) Festool range. For example I have two Dominos - bloody expensive, but what else is there in the market that does what they do? (please don't say any biscuit jointer - you can't repair sash windows with a BJ). What about the Rotex sanders? The only real competitor comes from Mirka and is priced similarly. I now know a few decos who've gone over to Festool sanders despite the high price - because they leave the work area so much cleaner than anything else. All expensive - but no viable alternatives.

 

[motorbiking]

Not strictly a tool, but this is an electric winch handle that replaces a £40 unit. I'm not convinced at £ 2,600.00
https://www.ewincher.com/united-kingdom/electric-winch-handle-ewincher/8-ewincher.html

 

[lostinthelight]

Or for that matter replacement collets? I don't see Bosch or DW or often Makita being any cheaper on those

20years ago it cost me 40 quid ish for for a 1/2” to 1/4” reducer collet for a variable speed Elu router, couldnt really complain as the router only cost £2 at a boot sale and still going strong on a router table

 

[scbk]

Not a tool, but has anyone seen the shelf prices in travis perkins for stuff like a bag of nails/box of plain woodscrews: £20+