Which tool brands are the best?

Keithmac · 4 Dec 2020

Milwaulkee has a massive range in M12 and M18, I've got their M12 cordless ratchets which are great.

My Dewalt Lithium drill is over 15 years old and still going strong, wasn't cheap but worth it.

I think a cordless drill is the one area worth spending for a quality product,

ETAF · 4 Dec 2020

Hello eta, I see that Dewalt seem to have nothing much bad written about them so perhaps "Dewalt" is the way to go for general items that won't get a huge amount of use and Makita for the more hardwearing. That's a good point you make about sticking with the same make. Are batteries interchangeable within a system so for instance would a battery for a Makita drill fit other Makita power tools such as a Makita saw?

Depends on the Range of tools - Dewalt 18V are but thats the current range, Dewalt also make a 12V much smaller range of tools. Also Battery Technology changes and some of the older tools have different batteries.
But currently Dewalt use the 18V and Flexivolt 56V range. The Flexivolt are for more powerful tools in the range , like saws/Mitre Saws/Grinders use the 56V. But the 56V can be used on the 18V range.
I have tended to buy corded for a few tools, like the SDS Drill (because it came with a standard chuck as well as the SDS) , Mitre Saw, the 1/2" Router - BUT all my other Dewalt tools are 18V Cordless, Drill, 3 speed Impact Driver (which i have used all three speeds on various jobs), Circular Saw, jigsaw, planer, Grinder long nose, multitool, rightangle drill. Which as a DIYer , i have purchased over the last 2 years renovating the bungalow
I wish i had purchased cordless some years ago.
As i saw only reason for Dewalt was the Offer and a good brand.
my son-in-law also has dewalt so thats handing when i'm helping him with new house before lockdowns. But he also has a range of Milwaulkee which he uses mainly for working on a car, hes a bit of a petrol head.
The Milwaulkee are also really good
But listen to the trade guys here, they use them all day everyday , and i suspect they go through quite a few bumps and scrapes.

teaboyjim · 4 Dec 2020

Keithmac said:
Milwaulkee has a massive range in M12 and M18, I've got their M12 cordless ratchets which are great. My Dewalt Lithium drill is over 15 years old and still going strong, wasn't cheap but worth it. I think a cordless drill is the one area worth spending for a quality product,

The amount of time I see tradesman using their drills I agree it's a good investment getting a decent quality one

Deleted member 174758 · 4 Dec 2020

^woody^ said:
Only the 12 year old brand fan bois say things like "My dewalt drill is better than your Makita drill". They both drill.

Yes, but they do say, "my xxx (trade brand) is better than your Ryobi/Parkside/Workzone, etc". Horses for courses

big-all said:
green is diy bosch blue is trade "skill" is also part off the group

The main part of the Skil group was sold to the Chinese a few years back - the core saws division, which produces portable circular saws (especially framing saws) and table saws was rebranded "SkilSaw". Bosch also own Dremel and Scintilla (biggest jigsaw blade manufacturer in the world and in inventor of the jigsaw in the late 1940s)

My 18 volt cordless kit (20-odd tools) is mainly Makita, but they don't produce everything or some products are lemons which is why my laser is DW and my cordless nailers are Hitachi/Hikoki, for example. Does that answer the question about reliability? Or does it make me a fanboy? I have some 12 volt Milwaukee kit as well. Started using Makita because in about 2006 they really were the best (cordless) game on town for a carpenter. These days I think is more difficult to differentiate between the big brands, but no, Ryobi is not a trade brand - for that TTI (who own Ryobi and AEG) have Milwaukee.

My corded stuff is much more diverse, and I tend to buy the most suitable for the job (a personal choice). That means there are saws from Festool and Hilti, jigsaws from Bosch and Mafell, SDSs from Bosch and Milwaukee, routers from DW and Festool, vacuums from Metabo (Starmix), plus a hgood variety of other stuff.

IMHO DW and Makita do the best chop saws (as evidenced by what tradesmen buy with their own dosh - you don't see many Bosch or Hitachi mitre saws on site), whilst Bosch do the best 2kg SDS drills (whereas DW ones aren't as good by a long chalk). Every tool firm out there has some lemons (but not many) in their range, like car makers

sxturbo · 4 Dec 2020

any of the big brands will see you right.

personally ive used cheap tools, before then investing in decent ones and frankly the difference is night and day.

bear in mind that the "branded" tools also have "cheap" tools in there range so people can buy into the brand. The cheap drills they offer for £99 arent great compared to say an einhell or a worx, or something own branded, they are perfectly acceptable for diy use however.

i done this many years ago screwfix had hitachi combi drills on offer and having previously had a green bosch where the batteries had died i thought was a good deal, the drill at first glance seemed really good, and i gave it plenty of abuse. Recently i was trying to do some drilling into solid block work thats a retaining wall in the garden, it really struggled so thought was the drill bit, so used a new one and still the same, i then bought an expensive hikoki (so i could swap the batteries about) and the difference was night and day, a few weeks later went round a mates to fit his kitchen, he has a blue bosch that wasnt cheap and he much prefered my drill, it was better at drilling and screwing.

big-all · 4 Dec 2020

teaboyjim said:
Yeah I remember Ryobi they've been a brand for donkeys haven't they? Would you say they're trade status now? So are the batteries generally more expensive than other brands?

as i have have dewalt 18/54v stuff that tends to be my go to for new toys
althought ryobi belt sander and router at about £95 are reasonable compared to £280 for the duel base all be it brushless dewalt router

^woody^ · 4 Dec 2020

JobAndKnock said:
Yes, but they do say, "my xxx (trade brand) is better than your Ryobi/Parkside/Workzone, etc". Horses for courses

We probably need to define if the holes drilled by someone's xxx brand drill are better than the holes drilled by my Ryobi drill.

blup · 4 Dec 2020

The best tool I have bought recently is the Makita DTD152dz impact driver. I had held off buying impact drivers for years on the basis a high speed combi drill could do the same job, but the lightness and power of the impact driver were a revelation. And only £50 odd quid from Amazon.

Blup

Keithmac · 4 Dec 2020

teaboyjim said:
Based on the amount of time I see tradesman using their drills I agree it's a good investment to get a decent one.
The more I read about Dewalt the more they seem to be quite good. Would you say Dewalt are high end tradesman quality or midrange trade quality? 15 years for a drill has to be good going by any yardstick

I'm not in the trade but I've used the Dewalt a fair amount over the years. It was £250 for drill and 1 battery plus £100 for 2nd battery iirc so not cheap 15 years ago but both batteries still hold good charge and the drill works great.

I'd buy another Dewalt drill without hesitation personally just due to previous experience.

Deleted member 174758 · 5 Dec 2020

^woody^ said:
We probably need to define if the holes drilled by someone's xxx brand drill are better than the holes drilled by my Ryobi drill.

The issue isn't just the hole - the issues are speed, reliability, durability, spares availability, etc. When I had an "expensive" corded Bosch SDS nicked (along with a load of other gear) more than a decade back I got a Ryobi corded SDS to keep me going, mainly because it was cheap. It was slower than the Bosch and the chuck wobbled more than the Bosch (a common fault). So it did the job, just slower and not as well, but it was fzr better than using a cordless combi drill (I.e faster).

We have one apprentice who was gifted a set of Ryobi cordless tools. In comparison with the Makitas I use the combi is a lot less powerful, slower, has a poorer impact drilling, has a chuck which can slip when drilling heavy steels (pilot holes for wing tips). The impact driver in his kit is noticeably slower and has less power than my 10 year old no.2 impact (a Makita BTD145 which has recently been stripped and refurbished). His impact is also a lot bigger (making getting into tight spaces more awkward). The Ryobis he has work - just not as well as the more expensive Makitas I own. His kit will be more than adequate, though, until he gets to the point of doing pricework in the future

I've used the big Ryobi 1/2in plunge router (these days orange and rebranded AEG) for kitchen worktop joints. It does the job, but in comparison to a deWalt DW625 (a 35 year old design) it is bigger, heavier, bulkier and altogether more clumsy to muse. But it does the job. I know which tool I prefer for the task

There are many other instances.

A hole may be a hole, but how fast you drill it, how accurate you drill it, how many if them you can drill before your drill falls apart can all be significant to a tradesman where volume, accuracy and speed are all factors (especially when on price work) - so I won't be buying another Ryobi anything any time soon, unless my van gets nicked, again

teaboyjim · 5 Dec 2020

JobAndKnock said:
a Makita BTD145 which has recently been stripped and refurbished)

I didn't know you could get power tools refurbished but nice to know that some things can be refurbished

^woody^ · 5 Dec 2020

JobAndKnock said:
The issue isn't just the hole - the issues are speed, reliability, durability, spares availability, etc. When I had an "expensive" corded Bosch SDS nicked (along with a load of other gear) more than a decade back I got a Ryobi corded SDS to keep me going, mainly because it was cheap. It was slower than the Bosch and the chuck wobbled more than the Bosch (a common fault). So it did the job, just slower and not as well, but it was fzr better than using a cordless combi drill (I.e faster).

We have one apprentice who was gifted a set of Ryobi cordless tools. In comparison with the Makitas I use the combi is a lot less powerful, slower, has a poorer impact drilling, has a chuck which can slip when drilling heavy steels (pilot holes for wing tips). The impact driver in his kit is noticeably slower and has less power than my 10 year old no.2 impact (a Makita BTD145 which has recently been stripped and refurbished). His impact is also a lot bigger (making getting into tight spaces more awkward). The Ryobis he has work - just not as well as the more expensive Makitas I own. His kit will be more than adequate, though, until he gets to the point of doing pricework in the future

I've used the big Ryobi 1/2in plunge router (these days orange and rebranded AEG) for kitchen worktop joints. It does the job, but in comparison to a deWalt DW625 (a 35 year old design) it is bigger, heavier, bulkier and altogether more clumsy to muse. But it does the job. I know which tool I prefer for the task

There are many other instances.

A hole may be a hole, but how fast you drill it, how accurate you drill it, how many if them you can drill before your drill falls apart can all be significant to a tradesman where volume, accuracy and speed are all factors (especially when on price work) - so I won't be buying another Ryobi anything any time soon, unless my van gets nicked, again

Most of that is down to features, not brands being better. Speed, impact joules, weight, ergonomics etc all differ per model and are not indications of a poor brand just different specifications.

As for chuck wobble, that can happen on any model too and is I would suggest irrelevant outside of the engineering workshop and for a DIYer putting up some shelves or a door frame etc.

DiyNutJob · 5 Dec 2020

teaboyjim said:
I didn't know you could get power tools refurbished? Who did the refurbishment work? It's nice to know that some things can be refurbished and not everything is designed to be "thrown away" after it's life cycle finishes

You can do your own refurbishment. Larger brands have support in spares that you can use for repairs. But sometimes it's not worth the repair. On my broken bosch jigsaw, the part needed would cost £30, and a new makita unit would cost £30. It made no sense for me to pay the same money for a sh*t design and a better design. Also, a used tool would need cleaning and regreasing. A new tool wouldn't.

teaboyjim · 5 Dec 2020

Examples of lovely old tools are the old Record and Stanley hand wood working tools

Keithmac · 5 Dec 2020

I've spent a fortune on Snap-on tools because they are a pleasure to use and I use them everyday.

Surely cheaper stuff would get the job done but how long will it last, some of my kit is 25 years old now.

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Which tool brands are the best?

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Deleted member 174758

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