Parkside tools are they any good?

[Deleted member 174758]

Possibly the same reason why Milwaukee, Makita, Bosch, etc offer bare tools - many people start out with a drill/driver and maybe an impact driver set, with batteries and a charger. When it comes to planers, jigsaws, sanders, saws, etc (secondary purchases, probably lower volume sales) maybe they figure that most/many potential buyers will already have other tools on the same battery system.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Why are parkside cordless tools sold without batteries or charger in lidl or aldi can anyone answer or anyone from parkside why is this? is this some new thing?

Because it makes it cheaper, easier for the customer to mix and match various combinations of tools, without paying for unecessary items like batteries and chargers they may not need. I have an SDS and a combi drill, both bought without batteries or charger, so I opted for a 2Ah, a 4Ah plus one charger. Had both been supplied with batteries and chargers, I would have had one unnecessary charger, and maybe not my choice of batteries.

 

[Tigercubrider]

it's common.
they share a common battery so you avoid ten batteries and ten chargers

 

[JohnD]

Once you've bought one tool, one battery and one charger

You have led yourself into buying the same brand in future

 

[StephenOak]

many people start out with a drill/driver and maybe an impact driver set, with batteries and a charger

I have a number of Parkside tools and that is (in essence) what I did. I am a moderate DIYer and I needed a new drill/driver so the Parkside one I bought is fine for me.

I bought that (and another tool) together with a charger and two batteries. I used them, saw they were good enough for what I want so I went and bought two more batteries and another charger.

Subsequently I have bought two other tools bare as I have batteries and chargers.

When I bought those two additional tools they had batteries and chargers on sale, so I don't think selling tools this way is a problem.

 

[sxturbo]

Bought a parkside once was an sds drill, lasted 3 uses then became intermittent, tried taking it back but couldn't find reciept so Binned it and bought Makita one.

I've never bought budget tools again...

Until a few weeks ago I bought a ferrex scarifier which as it happens seems ok, but not sure how long it will last. Only gets used once a year so I'm sure it be fine..

 

[johnny2007]

Someone gave me a parkside mitre saw in 2010.
I have tried to kill it by using it every day even to chop small logs.
No chance!
The other day I was building a frame and changed blade.
Then I checked if it was still square: it was.
I never had to adjust it and I changed brushes only twice.
A freud blade lasts me for lots of jobs, so probably it's just a matter of using a good blade and knowing how to use the tool properly.
Or...I've been lucky.

 

[robinbanks]

Once you've bought one tool, one battery and one charger

You have led yourself into buying the same brand in future

Not entirely true. I have several tools I need for only light use (e.g.strimmer) that are some random crappy brand with weedy 18v batteries. I gutted the batteries, replacing the innards with an adaptor socket that takes my 18v bosch pro batteries; works well

Elsewhere I've seen it possible to buy a lump of plastic that is e.g DeWalt male on top and Bosch female underneath, so a Bosch battery will fit a DeWalt tool

Manufacturers are, of course, starting to fit chips to tools that talk to chips in batteries, but I'm sure that eventually the adapters will include circuits that mediate between both sides of the conversation..

 

[CBW]

I’ve got several Parkside tools too. Some have been abused over the years (approx 4) and still work. I mainly fix boilers, but still carry out duties such as thermostat’s, hanging rads etc and they do for me.

 

[robinbanks]

I've a lot of Workzone gear, and it's handy so long as it's used for purpose. It's cheap enough not to worry about breaking it, or modifying it irreversibly to be better suited to purpose..

With tools I've often felt it makes sense to buy the cheap version and replace whatever breaks with a more expensive one; I've had a Kamasa socket set for years - the ratchet quickly dropped to bits and was replaced with a Teng but the rest of the sockets are going strong and considerably cheaper than buying 100% Teng to start with

That said, I did buy an Aldi "pro" cordless impact driver and combo drill pair only to find them a bit weak. The Bosch driver will wind screws in on price work mode that the Aldi driver can't even wind in on day work mode

I still use the Aldi gear but only for light duty, when I have a mix of light and heavy duty in the same job and can't be bothered swapping bits.

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Bought a parkside once was an sds drill, lasted 3 uses then became intermittent, tried taking it back but couldn't find reciept so Binned it and bought Makita one.

You only need to prove where you bought it, you can do that by tracking down the card payment. From that they can trace their own till receipt.

 

[robinbanks]

Why are parkside cordless tools sold without batteries or charger in lidl or aldi can anyone answer or anyone from parkside why is this? is this some new thing?

If you look elsewhere down the middle aisle you'll find chargers and batteries as separate items. Not a bad idea really, being able to buy 3 tools, 4 batteries and 2 chargers

 

[Stivino]

Maybe one day soon, power tools manufacturers will go down the road of standardising batteries and chargers to encourage less electrical waste. Something like the mobile phone manufacturers have done with phone chargers.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

A freud blade lasts me for lots of jobs, so probably it's just a matter of using a good blade and knowing how to use the tool properly.
Or...I've been lucky.

You've been lucky. Keep dragging a saw around sites and bumping them round in a van and they will tend to go out sooner or later.

Elsewhere I've seen it possible to buy a lump of plastic that is e.g DeWalt male on top and Bosch female underneath, so a Bosch battery will fit a DeWalt tool

They do work, but they don't fit every tool (for example my body grip jigsaw) and you need to be aware that you lose the protection circuitry that manufacturers build into their batteries and tools, so it is possible to overheat and damage or kill a battery, so you need to keep an eye on that

Manufacturers are, of course, starting to fit chips to tools that talk to chips in batteries, but I'm sure that eventually the adapters will include circuits that mediate between both sides of the conversation..

AFAIK all the ""trade" tools went that way 5 or more years back. I didn"tthink that DIY brands had followed suit

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Maybe one day soon, power tools manufacturers will go down the road of standardising batteries and chargers to encourage less electrical waste. Something like the mobile phone manufacturers have done with phone chargers.

There is a German system called CAS which does just that