Going to work on cars? Milwaukee. Not going to work on cars? Can save a few bucks with Dewalt, the nailguns and saws are real nice. I say this as someone who has a LOT of Ryobi but they just don’t work as well as the better stuff. If I had either of the two big brands I could probably ditch my corded circular, jig and reciprocating saws. Same with the 4in grinder.
Hand tools just mix and match, they don’t need to be the same brand.
I’m sorry, is this some sort of suburban thing that I’m too metrosexual renter to understand? All I have or need are sundry decent-quality hand tools and a plug-in electric drill.
Yeah if you’re not building birdhouses and remodeling your sauna it probably doesn’t apply to you.
I mean that’s all most people would need. It’s more of the “oh I have this tool and this is other tool on sale and it takes the same batteries”.
I’m also in an apartment so I just have basic hand tools and an electric screwdriver.
Unless you work a trade, I would go with Harbor Freight for everything except cordless tools. If you wear the Harbor Freight tool out replace it with something higher quality. For cordless, I don’t know. I have Dewalt and wonder about others. I mostly avoid cordless now.
For trades, see what your coworkers are using. Do you want them borrowing your batteries? (No) Do you want to borrow theirs? (Do you want them to dislike you?)
There are no major tool brands just battery ecosystems with tool accessories
Dewalt if you want it to last forever
Milwuakee if you want to put it in a cool box
Ryobi if you’re broke but dont live near a harbor freight
Festool if you have a trust fund
While I generally agree, I must say that my Ryobi tools are doing just fine after 15ish years of use. Primarily the drill is what’s used, and it’s seen some shit but aside from a little cosmetic issue (rubber peeling off here and there) it’s in great working order. I can afford better now, but I’m happy enough to keep what I’ve got.
I’m just a handy home owner, so it’s not like I’m abusing these things.
I started with Ryobi but they kept busting. I’m the type of home owner thatll remodel a kitchen or bathroom so I use them a little above average.
Red boxes fit all brands my friend :)
Green tools the first time (I can bike to home depot) Yellow tools the second time
Burn the heratic
I wish Dewalt could make do half as good as the pack out but every new system has been a big miss.
Yep. Had a family member buy me Ryobi and 2 batteries. Guess I’m a Ryobi man now
Do what I do with every aspect in life. Mix and match. Brand loyalty is for the 50s and should remain there. When brands are not loyal to their customers, their customers should not be loyal to the brands. Plus, you get better tools for cheaper, overall. Though, this works less with power tools due to the proprietary batteries…
Fwiw i have adapters that allow the use of dewalt batteries with nondewalt tools
You can print adapters for all brands while filling your lunds with some more plastic vapours
Meh, fuck brand loyalty. Keep an eye out for used tools. If it’s tough enough to make it to round 2, its demonstrated some selection bias. For some stuff you just need to weigh how much you’re going to use it to decide how much you want to spend. If you’re using it enough to be frustrated with it every time you take it out, time to upgrade that one.
It’s the batteries that keep you in their ecosystems, they’re expensive as hell.
Just use corded except for the hand drill.
I’m an electrician, and cordless tools are ten times easier to manage on a jobsite. There are also plenty of times like where I’m doing a service panel upgrade, corded tools aren’t even an option when there’s no site power, and I’m not lugging a generator around.
At the end of the day, cordless tools just make the entire day easier. The battery situation is annoying, but I’ll gladly pay the price for the convenience, especially when time and efficiency gets me paid quicker and home sooner. All those little efficiencies add up over the course of a day.
That’s true for professionals, but if you’re doing some light DIY the cost of the tools is probably more significant than the inefficiencies. Also corded stuff is generally so much cheaper, especially second hand, that it won’t even matter if you have to replace some of the ones you’re using frequently with cordless, and then at least you have a backup if you forget to charge it or run out of battery.
Maybe upgrade to cordless if you find it’s needed later or see one for cheap.
Do you know where I can buy a 2 mile extension cable to get to my nearest plug socket this morning?
the battery is the problem, I don’t know why UE is so focused on a charging cable and seems to completely ignore this issue.
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Bullshit!I don’t agree. Many pros use Hilti, the best brand, full stop, but crazy expensive, followed by Fein and Festool (the basic Festool circular saw is like 600€) Pros who want to pay less use any of the other “color teams”, yellow, blue, red, dark blue… And yes DeWalt is 100% pro, and some pros use Bosch blue. My buddies shop uses Bosch blue for corded, but has gone Milwaukee for battery, as cordless Bosch has been hit-and-miss. I had a 80% DeWalt shop and can vouch for them. I particularly love their sliding miter saws and small, thin waist angle grinders (the unsung multitasking wonder tool). BTW. Angle grinders MUST be corded, except for a very small set of use cases. Battery angle grinders suck pig’s balls.Also Makita>Bosch blue.
Sadly Ryoby has gone full cheap DIY, like SKIL (owned by Bosch now?) I have an old maybe 18ish Ryobi (Blue) circular saw. Built like a tank, with a cast aluminum foot, that is as precise as day one. Oh well…
Ryobi garden tools are legit. I have the 40V string trimmer and 40V mower, and an 18V leaf blower, and so far I have no complaints. I once heard someone say that Ryobi tools are R&D for Milwaukee (as they are the same parent company).
My shop tools are all DeWalt because that’s what my parents and wife’s parents bought us for gifts.
The Ryobi tools I’ve handled are alright. The main reason my home shop isn’t full of Ryobi is my town has no Home Depot, so I’m a Lowe’s guy by default.
I’m bought into the Craftsman V20 series for both shop tools and lawn tools and they stand pretty much alongside Ryobi. Some of the Craftsman tools are obviously rehashed tools out of the B&D or Porter Cable catalogs, some are pretty obviously discount DeWalts, especially the brushless tools.
As a German Handwerksmeister: i disagree with the Bosch Thing. Bosch is more for the everyday Dude, the professionals i See are using Hilti, Festool, Milwaukee and sometimes FLEX and Makita.
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I am far away from being a pro and own several Bosch Blue tools that were all rather cheap. You can buy them in every hardware store. Fein, Hilti etc. are usually far more expensive. As I don’t own them, I can’t compare the quality but I’d say Bosch Blue is mostly a consumer brand.
No love for Einhell?
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I sold all machines to customers, including Milwaukee, DeWalt, Bosch Professional, Festool, Makita and Güde. Hilti can only be bought directly.
I invited manufactures and my clients to get hands on these machines regularly.
Bosch Professional are indeed quality tools. What differs is the amount of torgue for each model.
If the smallest 18V shows up with 45 Nm people are inclined at first when comparing to a 18V 60 Nm tool. But there are other things to consider. If the power is sufficient for the task, the smaller tool may do more sinks.
Additionally, you can get all machines repaired at Bosch. Even 15 year old ones. Makita will simply prompt sorry, to old. You need to get a new one. Bosch maintains each item of the device as it and you can just buy the broken part as well.
I also got some very nice deals for customers which were not listed officially.
Repairs of pro tools are so expensive, especially for old, obsolete tools, with Ni-cad batteries, that it’s usually economically absurd.
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Hilti is what the pros use.
I got a 2nd hand old model from my girlfriend’s dad (still twist lock) and it is a damn beast!
The Bosch professional line of hand jackhammers (don’t know the english word) can’t hold a candle to hilti to be honest. Hiltis can go all day and not overheat. It is just damn expensive.
For cordless power tools, look at the overall range and pick the one that has all the tools you want. Some of them run everything from circular saws to lawnmowers on the same batteries.
For hand tools and corded power tools, go out into the woods and beat your ability to be brand loyal to death with a shovel.
There’s nothing wrong with going back to old hand tools that were made when James K. Polk was in the White House. Who needs a DeWalt when you’ve got a hand drill?
Hear hear. Back in my day you had to earn your musculoskeletal chronic pains, they were not handed to you easily like today.
Second harbor freight and dewalt. I work industrial maintenance and use Pittsburgh impact sockets and wrenches,and dewalt for power tools. No problems at all. If you want tool truck quality,def gear wrench and even icon(their wrenches were tested and proven to beat snap on),for a fraction of cost. I use and abuse a set of icon chrome sockets,and they take a beating and keep going.
My dad gave me a set of tools when I moved out. The choice was made for me.
Same. I got a set of porter cable tools that are still going strong 19 years later (though I am on my third set of batteries).
