What is the powertool brand that perfectly meets the intersection of quality, durability, and affordability. Something built to last, built to do the job right, but not built to wank off over having wasted money you didn't need to?
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What is the powertool brand that perfectly meets the intersection of quality, durability, and affordability.
inB4 Bepis...
For cordless I like milwaukee myself, but they can be pricier than some other alternative brands. I use my tools hard though, so for me it is worth it.
Thanks. I want to go all cordless and get some durability. I don't mind pricier as long as it's not 'expensive to be expensive' or branding. Will check them out
But do they have a Lifetime Service Agreement?
>get the stor brand
They may be manufactured by a good company, and generally the store brands (Ridgid, Kobalt, Masterforce) are good quality, but their lineups are quite a bit smaller than the flagship brands of those OEs that build the tools.
Except for Bosch, they sell like 7 cordless tools in the US.
The only reason why they give u lifetime service agreements is because the redemption rate is less than 2%. It only sounds good to idiots. Ridgid is the worst, when you try and claim that battery replacement. Oh, i had to register it? … where is that receipt printed on disappearing ink thermal paper. Even if you did remember to register it, the HD staff must take a “how to argue with the customer until he gives up” course.
The only worthwhile warranty was craftsman, where you broke your dads old ratchet, take it into sears and they frickin hand you a new one.
But, I think those days are gone. You didn’t have to go to the rigid face book site, enter serial numbers and shit, like the ceo’s cat pics, upload photos of your driver’s license and other frickheadery.
They give you 3 years like every other brand if you don’t register it. Don’t be stupid if you expect a warranty like that, of course you have to follow up.
And Home Depot it pretty much the same with other power tool warranties. If it’s within 90 days of purchase, go to the store, otherwise you need to talk to the manufacturer or a service center.
And Home Depot has been solid with returns for me. Husky and Klein is just as easy as Craftsman was at Sears. Harbor Freight has been the most annoying with lifetime warranty stuff IME because they often won’t warranty a single wrench or socket, they want you to bring the complete set.
Feels good bringing abused and worn out Klein cutters to Home Depot and getting. Fresh pair.
If they sold them in the US and had a Lifetime Service Agreement like Ridgid, I might agree.
OP says he’s willing to waste money so let him go Milwaukee instead.
metabo
Milwaukee. Buy once, cry once.
The dude at Menards told me the store brand impact driver shared most parts with the bosch one and they were made in the same factory. So i should just save the money and get the stor brand. Anyway have had it for like 3 years and use it often. Renovated one house and restored one car with it and it worked great no complaints. I think it was worth it for half the price.
masterforce? I've been wondering about the just because I like the light ring on the impact driver
Dude at Menards is dumb, it’s not Bosch. Masterfoce isn’t too bad, but it’s made by Chervon I believe. Look at the tools side by side with the new Skil 20V/12V tools (which are made by Chervon). I don’t live near Menards anymore so not sure what the selection is like, but at that rate Skil has killer prices on Amazon all the time so you might as well check those before making a purchase
i like bosch
Ridgid
My stepdad and I own all DeWalt. My brother swears by Milwaukee. All three of us beat the hell out of them and they all stand up to the test.
They all come out of the same factory, and the individual parts come from the same mass supplier in china. The only differences are the plastic molds, and sometimes just the color of plastic they use when you order a bunch of them up, the gearing ratios and the pwm/motor driver software is tweaked to give the illusion of change/diversity.
That makes sense. This is the same for modern bikes. Frames are all made in the same place.
What bands are best for the batteries though? Do they all have hotswappable packs so you can easily charge 3 while you use 1 across all your tools or is it not that simple?
So what, Ryobi is just as good for less money? I'm not willing to waste money, one of my goals is to get cost effectiveness so long as it doesn't spare on quality.
There’s more to it besides the colors.
Ryobi is great for weekenders, they have a huge lineup of random shit. But when Milwaukee drops a new tool that is real innovative like the band saw or ratchets or whatever, you’re going to wait 5 years for Ryobi to release a version.
Ryobi has cheaper brushed stuff and then the HP stuff which is like 90% of Milwaukee for 2/3 the price. The brushed stuff is fine for those few times a year DIYer uses, and the HP will hold up to work every weekend.
The batteries from all the major brands are pretty much the same. 18650 and 21700 cells from LG, Sony, etc. The past year DeWalt, Flex, and Milwaukee started dropping pouch cell packs so those will be on more brands soon. Makita is the one sort of dumb brand that tops out at 6.0Ah on their 18V packs
And for the hot swap, yes, but if you get a fast charger, lithium packs charge to 90% in like 45min unless it’s a 12.0Ah huge pack, so don’t worry about long charge times unless you’re using a real high demand tool like angle grinders without letting off the trigger. If anything, sometimes the pack has to cool off a couple min before charging
Because I’m the genius that all of PrepHole respects, here’s a QRD of the brands you will find at the major US stores-
Milwaukee M18- Contractor grade, most innovative tools for the trades like electricians, plumbers, HVAC. M12 is the best 12V lineup for certain compact tools like the ratchets. A few bucks more than many other contractor grade brands
DeWalt 20V- Contractor grade, sold across multiple big retailers so good selection in stores and best sales of the contractor grade brands.
Makita 18V- Milwaukee prices with less selection. Boomers like their woodworking tools but their selection isn’t as expansive as Red and Yellow in the US, largest battery is 6.0Ah.
Bosch 18V- Contractor grade but weak selection of cordless tools in the US, especially in brick & mortar stores
Flex 24V- Contractor grade, Powerful tools, but new to the US market so up to you if you want to invest in a cordless system that is sold at one retailer and just showed up a couple years ago.
^^^ These are all the major contractor grade name brand tool.
Now we have the other tools:
Ridgid 18V-Kobalt 24V-Masterforce 20V-
All store brand power tools made by one of the big manufacturers of the other contractor brands. Good quality and performance for the money right about with the contractor grade brands, but their lineup is more limited than the big brands and they mostly cover just the basics.
Ryobi 18V- Weekender grade, wide slection of homeowner stuff, better HP tools and cheaper brushed tools depending on your needs. Made by the same parent company as Milwaukee and Ridgid. Ryobi is one of the few brands that never changed battery design whem every brand went from NiCd tech to Lithium, so they care about consumers with old tools who want compatibility, although the older battery style with the post leads to odd form factor in a couple tools.
Craftsman 20V- Weekender grade. Some brushless stuff is rebranded last-gen DeWalt for a few bucks less. Decent lineup of the basics.
Skil 20V- Weekender grade, this is a newer lineup since the name was bought by another company. They’re produced by the same parent company as Flex and Kobalt, good performance for the money with brushless tools but not a huge selection
Porter Cable 20V- Not sure if they’re still around, the parent company of DeWalt sort of killed them off and replaced them with Craftsman as their weekender brand.
Black & Decker 20V- Light use, the drill your lesbian aunt has in her junk drawer from that time she wanted to hang a planter on the balcony of her apartment.
This is incorrect. there are plenty of tear down videos to show that you have no idea what you're talking about.
Whatever red/yellow/blue/orange tool is on sale when you need it
this is the only correct answer. black friday and fathers day are when to look. i got a 10 tool 18v milwaukee set for like $450 with 2 batteries. Used every single one of them and have not had a single issue.
they are all chinkshit and likely all the same under the hood. just pick your favorite color.
From the extensive research and evidence I have gathered my vote goes to Parkside.
>Go to Lidl
>Get groceries
>Right besides meat and frozen pizza fridges there's a whole aile of Parkside tools
>Throw in a cordless drill while I'm at it
Americans will never know this feeling
Walmart has their line of power tools, Hyper Tough.
They have Hart now and got rid of mosf of the Hyper Tough.
You must have a shitty Walmart.
No Ryobi?
Oh great. this thread again.
Ryobi is like Chevy. Might last 16 years or 2. Quality control is all over the place. I have an ancient circ saw that has never had a problem but had an oscillating tool burn out after a year.
They should start building the batteries in, like an iPhone. Except iPhones last longer.
can't go wrong with bosch, dewalt or milwaukee.
parkside is the best for any home DIY
Makita Makita Makita.
Every time this fricking thread surfaces.
Just get Makita
> makita
Yeah, they pretty much invented the cordless tool market. The rest are just cheap chinese companies that bought us brand names and reputation and cloned makita’s stuff for more than 20 years.
> ryobi 18 V ONE+ battery system.
This is definitely the most pervasive and longest lasting (in terms of technology) battery system that ever existed, and probably will exist in the future.
The reason other manufactures dropped the battery in handle idea is due to patent licensing, but now tools just have empty handles and waste space. This space was, admittedly, more valuable in the ni-cd era and it makes rebuilding the packs a b***h, but it’s still a fundamentally good idea. You can still see 12v 3×18650 packs that fit nicely and entirely in handle and grips.
Another reason for non-handle based packs is just beginning. Flat pack cells instead of cylindrical ones, following the RC/drone communities’ 10 or 20 year lead on power/weight ratios and technology.
A lot of Makitas are chinkshit too now.
The flat packs are nice for a couple other reasons. They take up less space, like think of a box you would need for a Ryobi 2.0Ah pack compared to a DeWalt 2.0An pack, the Ryobi takes up 2.5x as much space. And there’s more options for design on certain tools because not everhthing is shaped like a drill. Wherever you stick the battery, you need like 3”x1” of open space for that stem to fit in.
I like flat packs, but to counter the argument, some tools lend themselves better to in-grip cylindrical batteries.
- oscillating multi-tool
- power ratchet
- flashlight
- orbital or detail sander
- rotary tool (Dremel)
I’m with you for the 3-cell 12V. Which is why I have no idea why Makita killed off their early 12V line that was designed that way. Maybe it’s because of small Jappo hands that don’t fit.
I was talking about 18V flat packs vs the old DeWalt and Craftsman and current Ryobi stem packs.
This
You have obviously never been to Walmart. Can you get house paint, a mountain bike, a fishing rod, a new 70” TV, a kitchen table, and 40lb of bird seed at Lidl as well?
i've been to walmart and they don't have nearly the selection they used to. you basically have to order in anything that isn't basic b***h homewares or groceries
> not everything shaped like a drill
Yeah, that’s the real problem right there. Having multiple tool shapes is a scam. Not only can everything be shaped like a drill, all power tool main bodies should be actual drills.
dremels not having a pistol grip is the gayest shit tbh
air tools > electroshit
you aren't a mobile technician who need to run a drill in a cave in the middle of nowhere where corded electric power can't possibly be had without bringing in a generator
oh wait... real industrial service dudes use trucks with onboard gas-powered compressors out in the field
costs less and lasts longer than any electroshit, more powerful, more durable, easier to repair
for the cost of about ONE milwaukee kit with 1-2 batteries you can get a compressor that will cover any conceivable DIYer needs
>for the cost of about ONE milwaukee kit with 1-2 batteries you can get a compressor that will cover any conceivable DIYer needs
You seen the prices of gas compressors? And if you never want to do any work beyond your garage plus 50ft of air hose, I hope you have a good 240V circuit and some hearing protection.
For the price of a Milwaukee starter kit the best you can get is a 5 gal 120V 4 CFM which is severely underpowered for any heavy duty impact gun use.
The cheapo metabo line that used to be Hitachi had been okay for me.
But just pay for the brand that did that tool the best. Eg. Makita for grinders.
Makita.
Idk about power because i'm not a mechanic, but as for durability and quality they're great.
There's a reason all the fake tools try to fake makita
Makita has never steered me wrong. I froze an impact driver in solid ice (-40° winters), "thawed" it out with a hammer and a tiger torch, and proceeded to use it for 3 more years like it never happened.
plus they have a nifty battery powered radio 🙂
I have that!
It's pretty nice
apparently there's a coffee maker, maybe if I get a good bonus on a job I'll grab it for shits and giggles
Ingersoll-Rand.
That is all.
>perfectly meets
None and that should not be important as tools are consumables. Tooltism is not about getting work done, it's a childish fetish.
I don't buy by brand but by the particular tool(s) I want which when sufficient justify purchase. Batteries are couch money compared to time saved by rarely awaiting a charge.
Home gamers may as well buy Ryobi which have gotten fairly decent. After my bros experience I've no use for 12v Milwaukee and except for their rivet gun neither does he, but we have multiple tool families because it's so handy and we're not poor.
Depends on the tool. Brands do not have consistent quality throughout all of their products.
The only brand you ever need
They’re all exactly the same.