MacAllister Jigsaw vs others...

[davidlgh]

Hi All,

Got a £30 B&Q voucher for Xmas and decided it was time to get a new jigsaw..

Looked at the McAllister offerings and decided against them. On each one I looked at there was around 3mm side-side play in the shaft that goes up 'n' down.

In addition, the slotted wheel that guides the blade had similar amounts of play.

Do these jigsaws tend to wander?? The excessive play suggests that they do?

(One thing I did notice was that the performace Power jigsaws were similar and indeed featured the same blade holder, suggesting they were made in the same factory)

So..I decided to go nearer the top end of my £30 budget.

2 jigsaws fell into that range, a B&D and a Ryobi. A Bosch was available for about £34.

All three seemed similar build quality and spec but as the Bosch and B&D offerings were out of stock I opted for thr Ryobi.

There's no sideways play in the main shaft and very, very little in the guide wheel thingumy which suggests to me the blade will be less likely to wander.

So far, all seems good although I could take it back if something better is available.

Anyone else had experience of the lower priced jigsaws in B&Q?

 

[big-all]

its not easy to find a jigsaw that dosn't wander or crab especialy under heavy load

often the wrong choice of blades won't help' pushing to hard can cause the blade to wander
indeed as you have identified good support will help stop the blade wandering

i personaly rate ryobi well
i have dewalt and bosch as my main gear and ryobi as my secondery stuff
i would say ryobi will do 80 percent of the big boys toys at 40 percent of the cost
i rate ryobi as diy or light to medium trade

 

[Deluks]

Gets what you pay for, but Ryobi are generally very good, so unless you wanna spend more I'd hang on to it if I were you.

 

[davidlgh]

My budget was a max of £30 as I didn't want to spend more than the voucher!

Ideally, it'd have been nearer £20 but the MacAllister ones were rubbish.

Both the B&D and Bosch were out of stock...the B&D felt a tad more fragile than the Ryobi and the Bosch had slightly more play.

Comes with a 2 year g'tee as well.

 

[davidlgh]

It's interesting to note that Dewalt are in fact a subsiduary of Black & Decker.

Skil and Dremel are all subsiduaries of Bosch.

 

[2scoops0406]

It's interesting to note that Dewalt are in fact a subsiduary of Black & Decker.

Skil and Dremel are all subsiduaries of Bosch.

Thought skil was Makita?

 

[joe-90]

Milwaukee Powertools are twinned with Ryobi.