Another Cordless Drill thread

[big-all]

All sold as new, mainly came off the internet but can't remember the companies, not eBay stuff though

the only reason i asked was i bought my dw 712 pull saw from a certain shop based in hull on the internet although "new" it had a tooth mark on the plastic replaceable strip the blade sinks into on the on the base surface and a couple more marks that said reconditioned or returned after the 30 day trial period
they went into recivership last year but where bought out and are under new management
i believe they where selling recons as new and maybe you where stung as none off my several tools have ever given any problem
but to be fair the tools dont get a real hammering as i am a bench joiner
although i will turn my hand to most tasks when needs must to pay the bills most off the work outside the workshop is resticted to light construction or fitting things i make

 

[bonzobanana]

This thread has definitely gone off in a few tangents. I'm practically back to where I started thinking Bosch or Makita.

I'm not keen on Ryobi, AEG or Milwaukee as I'm sure they are ok products but techtronics are a bit crap for some of their other products. Hoover vacuum cleaners are a bit of joke now and many of those have poor motors. Generally when techtronics takes over a brand they price high and make cheap. Milwaukee seems to be making them huge amounts of money so I'm guessing the retail price doesn't reflect the quality of build. Techtronics bought japanese, american and european struggling brands of power tools so that they could go into the more profitable line of branded tools rather than making oem tools for shops like sears. I'm not convinced the quality is any better but that doesn't mean the tools aren't fit for purpose.

http://www.ttigroup.com/en/home

I have not been reassured about dewalt here but must admit they do look quite good but for such an expensive product to only have a 1 year guarantee seems suspicious.

I can't afford Panasonic so I'm left with Makita or a green Bosch probably.

Now just got to find the deal.

If anyone spots a good deal in the near future perhaps they can think of this thread and posting a reply. Especially any B&Q discount voucher codes.

 

[big-all]

if you want a stand alone tool that wont have any available batteries or fit new tools as they are being phased out like all nicads in europe then go for the end off line special offers on makita or other manufacturers
if you plan on increasing your tools collection go for a manufacturer that sells naked tools but the li-ions versions as older tools wont fit the new batteries

or go for ryobi or dewalt as diy you will not be dissapointed as all tools and batteries fit old and new

batteries capacity is measured in ah[fuel tank]
very very low is below 1.2 ah low is 1.3 to 1.7 ah normal is 1.7 to 2.1 ah high is 2.2 to 2.5 ah very high very very high is 2.6 or above

i have over 20 ryobi tools 'about 10 dewalt' 5 24v bosch blue 'the full set off bosch 10.8v blue and they all get the same consideration obviously the ryobi are first choice because there's more variety off tools for the batteries
the bosch 24 are kept for heavy work the bosch 10.8v are light and used a lot

you realy cant go wrong with ryobi do a internet search for faults/ problems /dissapointed/ etc and compared with others ryobi come out well
what you need to remember is any country can make products up to a standard and its a tad miss guided that you assume that a country up and coming cannot meet standards the companys are building the most up to date factories you can build with standards that can leave our factories lacking so not sure why you think they employ lower standards indeed the the robots and workers will be far more consistant than the developed world

 

[bonzobanana]

I don't have much experience with Ryobi but there has been several comments on this forum that Ryobi aren't the same quality as Bosch or Makita they are slightly lower down in the pecking order. I just know that Techtronics license the brand outside japan from a vacuum cleaner forum where it was mentioned that techtronics were a low quality manufacturer and that the Hoover and Vax brands have had their ranges full of lower end products of the same quality as generic vacuum cleaners. I know this as I have a crappy Hoover vacuum cleaner which although hasn't had the motor fail like many others does have an annoying habit of blocking up and tipping over all the time. So much so that the new versions have a plastic leg that comes out to prevent this happening. Its a very weak design.

On the techtronics wiki it classes one of its main competitors as alba plc who do all the goodmans, bush type kettles and tvs etc.

I wouldn't of known any of this if I hadn't bought a cheap hoover vacuum of ebay a couple of years ago.

Its like a lot of these brands most of their products are excellent value and fit for purpose but you are more likely to get the real lemons get through occasionally.

A bit like the other chap who hasn't had much luck with Dewalt I haven't been too impressed with techtronics Hoover vacuum cleaners and I can't help associate Ryobi with that at as they are the same company.

Makita and Bosch don't seem to get much criticism.

Sods law I'll get either a Bosch or Makita and it will burn out day one but going by the forums and reviews I've looked at they seem the safest bet to me.

 

[r896neo]

Comparing a ryobi drill with a top spec milwaulke that is 3 times the price is nonsense.

Milwaulke used to be Kango and they made some of the toughest best tools around. So why not judge based on that rather than the hoover connection??

This is the modern age and many great tool companies have been swallowed up into giants like techtronic and to take snipets of information about completely different brands and divisions of a company is a much less effective method of choosing a brand to buy than simply asking for personal recommendations on a well used site like this.

 

[big-all]

my god bonzobanana your hard work lol

i am telling you all the advantages off ryobi tell me why you dont drive a rolls royce??
then tell me why you dont drive a reliant 3 wheeler???
then tell me what car you do drive??

 

[bonzobanana]

Yes maybe I'm complicating the matter

Anyway thanks for all the info.

 

[big-all]

what you need to keep in mind ryobi is 40% the price and 80% off the quality and capacity
now as your unlikley to push harder than 60% off capacity you can buy nearly 3 usefull tools for the same money so have the full use off 3 tools for years to come whilst the dewalt/bosch/ makita/ that has a further 2 generations off use gets binned because the batteries died years ago or because the next generation dosn't want dads grandads hand me downs

or indeed the batteries die after 2 to 5 years and are not available any more as they are nicads

 

[bonzobanana]

Comparing a ryobi drill with a top spec milwaulke that is 3 times the price is nonsense.

Milwaulke used to be Kango and they made some of the toughest best tools around. So why not judge based on that rather than the hoover connection??

This is the modern age and many great tool companies have been swallowed up into giants like techtronic and to take snipets of information about completely different brands and divisions of a company is a much less effective method of choosing a brand to buy than simply asking for personal recommendations on a well used site like this.

There is some stuff on the internet about how awful Milwaukee drills are. There are youtube videos etc. It doesn't seem highly rated by a lot of people. Even though its the same company Techtronics the Ryobi stuff seems if anything better. I don't claim to be an expert but when I did a bit of research about drills I came away thinking that Milwaukee aren't that good.

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home/reviews/power-tools/4292657?click=main_sr

I may have got the wrong end of the stick but it was something about milwaukee's 4 pole motor which is is a copy of Makita's excellent 4 pole motor being rubbish. It may offer power but its inefficient in battery consumption so the batteries have short lives. Something perhaps that benefits Ryobi in that its using tried and trusted technology rather than cutting edge.

Again I came away thinking Makita were the best again but my past experience with Bosch gives me a certain loyalty to them. Sadly the Makita I'm thinking of buying doesn't have the super powerful 4 pole motor though, only the lithium models have that I think.

Ryobi have certainly gone up a bit in my rankings though after looking around.

 

[bonzobanana]

Well after looking around on various forums and websites it was almost information overload. My views on Ryobi had gone up considerably. My views on dewalt had dropped a bit. Makita was the brand of choice but the model I wanted was too expensive and so again settled for a Bosch.

Will be picking it up tomorrow. After various discounts are applied it should be just under £80.

This is the package though;

http://nextday.diy.com/app/jsp/product/productPage.jsp?productId=32387

http://www.bosch-do-it.co.uk/boptoc...Combi+Drill/95231/PSB+18+LI-2/23903/index.htm

Surprisingly more powerful than its professional blue light counterpart but at the expense of weight of course.

http://www.bosch-pt.co.uk/boptocs2-...en&division=gw&ccat_id=157561&object_id=24123

Still compares well to the midrange pro model;

http://www.bosch-pt.co.uk/boptocs2-...en&division=gw&ccat_id=101327&object_id=16270

Strangely a lot of the professional models are either missing hammer action or a bit over the top size wise.


The model I'm going for seems to feature everything I need and nothing else.

Its almost £140 on Amazon and only includes one battery. The reviews are sky high.

It seemed a no brainer to go with this one.

What I like most about it is Bosch seem to have really gone to town with a decent intelligent charger.

What worries me the most though is storing the batterys discharged and not using it for many months only to find the batteries are dead when I try to use it again. So I will try to make sure I get into the habit of charging before storing. Might seem over cautious but I've had a few li-on devices die on me because I didn't charge the battery before storage and the cells discharged fully and then died like li-on batteries do if you discharge them fully.

Maximum torgue of this drill is 48nm which I think is quite respectable. The dewalt DC729KA is 40nm, the makita 8391DWPE3 is 42nm. These were both my other choices. Both are nicad models. I realise all these figures are beaten by many of the 18V Ryobi's which are 55nm but don't want the autoshift gearing.

Lastly one of my original desired features was a metal gearbox. I can't find the information on what this drill has. It features a long life planetary gearbox but it doesn't mention if this is metal or not. In my mind I'm assuming it is metal becaue its states long life and planetary and I can't imagine a decent planetary gearbox made of plastic let alone a long life one.

 

[Monkeh]

Strangely a lot of the professional models are either missing hammer action or a bit over the top size wise.

They lack so-called 'hammer' action because professionals don't use toys. They use SDS drills.

Maximum torgue of this drill is 48nm which I think is quite respectable.

48nm torque isn't too bad. I have a 14.4V AEG with 63nm (and your wrist knows it), but they're more than a little hard to find now. Full metal gearbox, Rohm chuck, easily accessible brushes, etc. Heavy as hell, mind.

 

[bonzobanana]

Strangely a lot of the professional models are either missing hammer action or a bit over the top size wise.

They lack so-called 'hammer' action because professionals don't use toys. They use SDS drills.

Maximum torgue of this drill is 48nm which I think is quite respectable.

48nm torque isn't too bad. I have a 14.4V AEG with 63nm (and your wrist knows it), but they're more than a little hard to find now. Full metal gearbox, Rohm chuck, easily accessible brushes, etc. Heavy as hell, mind.

Current AEG models from techtronics are about 32nm to 40nm so I'm guessing you've got one of the proper german models.

 

[Monkeh]

Current AEG models from techtronics are about 32nm to 40nm so I'm guessing you've got one of the proper german models.

They do still do ones this powerful, but they're not the same quality. It's a nice old blue one, sat on the shelves for a while for some reason.

 

[bonzobanana]

Current AEG models from techtronics are about 32nm to 40nm so I'm guessing you've got one of the proper german models.

They do still do ones this powerful, but they're not the same quality. It's a nice old blue one, sat on the shelves for a while for some reason.

The website lists an 18v that goes upto 64nm but the 14.4v on the website only go upto 32nm. I'm guessing the website is either not upto date or they are moving the brand a bit down market and the higher power products are older models.

Reading other forums I see its AEG models in europe and Ridgid models in the usa but basically the same products just rebranding for different markets.

Probably Sparky tools of Bulgaria are closer to AEG traditional quality as a lot of their designs are AEG based (the proper AEG), they had some sort of licensing agreement. I really don't know much about them apart from that. I don't think they are good sellers in the uk so there aren't a lot of reviews about.

Looking at my new Bosch drill I see its a real international affair. The drill is made in hungary, the batteries in poland and the charger in china. I was quite surprised to see it wasn't all made in china to be honest. Everything seems to be made in china nowadays. Very pleased with it anyway.

 

[Jake1886]

Just to add Screwfix have a deal on a 18v Bosch li-ion combi drill, £166.66, comes with 2x 2.6ah batts.

I think thats a good price.