what do you guys rank the manufacturers of cordless power tools. i've only ever used milwaukee and bosch and dewalt for wall powered tools
cordless power tool tier list
what do you guys rank the manufacturers of cordless power tools. i've only ever used milwaukee and bosch and dewalt for wall powered tools
Because you asked ;^)
Milwaukee, DeWalt, Makita, Bosch, Metabo, Flex all “contractor grade” stuff. Assuming your a burger, Milwaukee is best for automotive and tradies, DeWalt has the best sales and available at tons of retailers, Makita is for boomers and JDM fanbois, the others are fine but don’t have the same selection of the others.
Next is probably Ridgid, Kobalt, Masterforce. Those are store brands, they’re “contractor grade” but the selection isn’t as good as the above brands, however the sales might be worth it if you only need the basic tools.
Then there’s serious DIYer brands- Ryobi, Craftsman, Skil. I shill Ryobi because they have by far the best selection of tools.
Then there’s the random expensive brands the spergs talk about but they don’t make sense for the average serious DIYer. Ingersoll Rand makes some nice cordless impacts and stuff for mechanics, Festool is for autistic woodworkers, Hilti is like industrial assembly cordless tools that are mostly if you own a company and want the fleet maintenance plan where they will loan you a tool while they repair the one your gorilla employee broke.
Oh and you could add Hart from Walmart in with the Ryobi-Skil I guess. It’s more like the lower end Ryobi.
And on the bottom you have Black & Decker which is the drill your lesbian aunt has in her kitchen junk drawer.
corded skilsaws definitely cross into contractor grade. If I need to rip lots of rafters for slope, cut angles on decking, cut down sheets to make them manageable on the table saw, or really performing any task beyond a quick cut is using my wormdrive corded skilsaw
Yeah when the Skil brand got bought up, the “Skillsaw” branded stuff is still pro/ contractor grade, but that’s also all corded and Opie was asking about cordless.
The Skil branded 18V(20V?) and 12V cordless tools are definitely more in the DIYer bracket, but they seem like you get decent tools for the money, closer to Ryobi HP and Craftsman brushless for most of it.
I think that Skil brand is under the same people who do Flex and possibly Kobalt, it’s one of those major power tool conglomerates, I believe Chevron. They also own Flex.
So for top tier of the congomerates you have:
Flex- Chevron
DeWalt- Stanley B&D
Milwaukee- TTI
Store brand contractor or serious DIYer grade:
Kobalt- Chevron
Ridgid- TTI
Weekend Warrior:
Skil Cordless- Chevron
Craftsman- Stanley B&D
Ryobi- TTI
And for lesbian aunt tier:
Black & Decker- Stanley B&D.
And on lesbian aunt tier, I’m going to toss in Worx which is made by Positec, another China conglomerate that bought up old US brands like Rockwell. Greenworks is probably in that Lesbian tier, owned by Globe Tools from Czhenzgoy or some bullshit Chinese city.
> Hilti is like industrial assembly
what? You have no idea wtf u r talking about
look what we actually use to assemble ryobi at tti
They’re fleet tools and a very small % of Hilti tools are sold to DIYers. They’re trying to break into the contractor market a little more in recent years, but it’s one of those things like the Snap On truck where the price of admission only makes sense if you have a good Hilti rep who answers your phone calls 6 days a week minimum.
Hilti makes a damn good laser, and their warranty is pretty good. They really are more of a 'fleet' brand though as you mentioned earlier. I've only used their squaring laser, rotating laser level and rotary hammer, all of which are simply spectacular.
I would put Hilti and Festool in the 'S' tier. They appeal to different sectors in the market, though both undeniably carry models that really are the best at what they do, regardless if they are overpriced or unnecessary for most applications. For festool, their dust control, domino system, track saw and orbital sanders are the best.
Personally I just use Makita for all my cordless applications, with the exception of my bosch squaring laser which I'm saving to replace with a Hilti eventually.
>Hilti laser
>Festool Domino
Would both be really dumb reasons to buy into one cordless system for a DIYer. Hilti does really good if you’re drilling concrete cores all day too but that doesn’t really matter.
Also Hilti changed their battery packs for the new Nuron system even though it’s more 22V lithium slide packs. They’re almost as bad as Makita with their moronic battery compatibility.
Well I was more justifying why I rank Festool and Hilti as S tier, wasn't really thinking about OP or anyone being a DIYer and don't care. a DIYer should know they don't need the top tier professional brands.
Also the domino joiner is corded.
With the squaring laser I'd need to use a different battery system regardless even with the brand I use (Makita) as I don't own any other CXT tools. Feels like I also only ever see compact battery platforms being utilized for lasers from the crews I've worked on.
My last job we had a bad-ass hilti hammer drill that I used to drill out dozens of 3/8ths anchor holes at a time for machine installations. It never broke or complained and it was always faster than the customer’s (usually milwaukee) hammer drill.
One time I drilled into a radient floor heating line with it, there were a lot of people angry with me that day.
kek you should have asked where the lines were before drilling, or whoever told you gave you the ok to run that task should have asked.
If you did know and still hit it, it's the shit list even if it was the radiant flooring guys who were off the spec
your takes on fruit are garbage, please reconsider your life choices
Why are so few people mentioning snap-on? Is it really just because they're a little more expensive?
They don’t even manufacture their own cordless tools, they’re made in China and Milwaukee seems to be on the cutting edge of mechanic’s tools a few years of Snap On. Snappy was selling a brushed 1/2” impact for like 5 years while Milwaukee’s 2767 was raping it in every way for less than half the cost. Also their selection is limited, so those $$$ Snappy batteries can only be used on a couple impacts, but the $$ Milwaukee batteries can be used on hundreds of different tools.
Most mechanics with Snap On hand tools use Milwaukee or DeWalt power tools unless they’re super big Snappy fanbois.
I mean those are like the Snappy cordless tools. Same with Ingersoll Rand. They’re built to a high standard to survive abuse on the job, but none of them offer a full 18V kit for a homeowner with circular saws and hammer drills and work lights. Hilti is the closest but a DIYer is never going to get their money out of a full set of Hilti 22V tools because so much of the purchase cost is their service plan and warranty.
>but a DIYer is never going to get their..
OP has never even stated that he is explicitly a DIYer, he could be a green apprentice, considering one, or just curious. No matter what I'd still rate both Festool and Hilti in the highest tier because that's my personal ranking based on their quality drawn from my experiences with them.
I wouldn't recommend them for a most people let alone a pure hobbyist because of the unnecessary cost. Unless you need high precision, such as installing architectural millwork which meets the AWI 'premium' requirements and led me to feel this way about these brands. Some imagined DIYcel who posts the question should just buy brands A or lower since it's not how he makes a living.
You don't get into a hobby and buy the nicest shit, you start with something adequate you can grow with before onto a nicer replacement if still desired.
Also Snap On hand tools and everything else are a lot like Hilti. About 60% of the price you pay for them is really paying for the services of your tool rep. If you’re using the tools as a DIYer, there’s very little reason to buy Snap On. You can buy certain Snap On tools from Williams or Bahco off Amazon and it’s the same exact thing with a different label for less than half the cost. And that’s for their hand tools that are actually manufactured in first world countries, not the power tools from some OEM in China.
pears are better
S: Worx
That question is not as useful as it may seem.