Thread: Buying new power tools,advice sort

All depends.

If you are looking for corded tools, the rough (and certainly not complete) order of quality would be something like:

High end trade or tool fetishists:
Festool

Trade:
Metabo, Bosch (blue), Makita, DeWalt, AEG, Pansasonic, Hitachi

DIY or hobby
Bosch (green), Ryobi, B&D

"Gee, these tool things are expensive, do they come in pink and why are they so heavy and how do you hold a drill?":
Ozito, Aldi, 909

Tool shaped objects:
XU1, Reject Store power tools, other unbranded power tools

Sometimes, you get a good cheap tool (the Ozito rotary hammer drill for $70, for example, has lots of supporters) that is more than adequate for most use; sometimes you get an expensive tool that turns out to be one of the inadequately performing tools.

I'd suggest buying trade level tools as your benchmark for corded tools, BUT modify that depending on what it is.

Essentially, the more accuracy you are hoping for, the higher up the ladder you'll want to be - so if you want an accurate sliding compound mitre saw for doing picture frames, favour Bosch (blue) over Ryobi, but if you want one to do the odd few framing cuts on a building site (and you don't want to worry about blowing $1,400 it when it gets left in the rain by the apprentice) an Ozito might be more that adequate. Again, you might want a Festool Kapex, but if you're on a big building site, a Ryobi mitre saw is a whole lot less likely to wander off when your back is turned.

When it comes to cordless tools, my current philosophy is that this is still an area of rapid development, and the 'best' tool today might be a toy in just 3-4 years so you need to look at your actual use much more closely; this is because the batteries are consumables, and even when not used, they deteriorate - I wouldn't expect a li-ion battery to be much good in five years time.

The main differentiator between trade and DIY cordless tools is how much abuse they can take; you're unlikely to get much further use out of a Ryobi cordless drill once you've smoked it, but your Milwaukee or DeWalt may happily keep on going even though you frequently stall the bit when drilling.

If you're the sort of person who will push on despite the cordless tool struggling, then one of the trade tools is more your style, but this will cost you roughly 30-50% more than the DIY versions. Since the clock will be ticking on the battery, you might do better buying the DIY version and buying a few more cordless tools with the money you save to both maximise your investment in the battery and minimise tool abuse - ie buy the Ryobi cordless drill and impact driver, rather than a DeWalt cordless drill and forcing it to do impact driver style tasks.

Originally Posted by Master Splinter

All depends.

If you are looking for corded tools, the rough (and certainly not complete) order of quality would be something like:

High end trade or tool fetishists:
Festool

Trade:
Metabo, Bosch (blue), Makita, DeWalt, AEG, Pansasonic, Hitachi

DIY or hobby
Bosch (green), Ryobi, B&D

"Gee, these tool things are expensive, do they come in pink and why are they so heavy and how do you hold a drill?":
Ozito, Aldi, 909

Tool shaped objects:
XU1, Reject Store power tools, other unbranded power tools

Sometimes, you get a good cheap tool (the Ozito rotary hammer drill for $70, for example, has lots of supporters) that is more than adequate for most use; sometimes you get an expensive tool that turns out to be one of the inadequately performing tools.

I'd suggest buying trade level tools as your benchmark for corded tools, BUT modify that depending on what it is.

Essentially, the more accuracy you are hoping for, the higher up the ladder you'll want to be - so if you want an accurate sliding compound mitre saw for doing picture frames, favour Bosch (blue) over Ryobi, but if you want one to do the odd few framing cuts on a building site (and you don't want to worry about blowing $1,400 it when it gets left in the rain by the apprentice) an Ozito might be more that adequate. Again, you might want a Festool Kapex, but if you're on a big building site, a Ryobi mitre saw is a whole lot less likely to wander off when your back is turned.

When it comes to cordless tools, my current philosophy is that this is still an area of rapid development, and the 'best' tool today might be a toy in just 3-4 years so you need to look at your actual use much more closely; this is because the batteries are consumables, and even when not used, they deteriorate - I wouldn't expect a li-ion battery to be much good in five years time.

The main differentiator between trade and DIY cordless tools is how much abuse they can take; you're unlikely to get much further use out of a Ryobi cordless drill once you've smoked it, but your Milwaukee or DeWalt may happily keep on going even though you frequently stall the bit when drilling.

If you're the sort of person who will push on despite the cordless tool struggling, then one of the trade tools is more your style, but this will cost you roughly 30-50% more than the DIY versions. Since the clock will be ticking on the battery, you might do better buying the DIY version and buying a few more cordless tools with the money you save to both maximise your investment in the battery and minimise tool abuse - ie buy the Ryobi cordless drill and impact driver, rather than a DeWalt cordless drill and forcing it to do impact driver style tasks.

Thanks for taking the time to give an informative reply.

liked you comment re cheap shop offerings-LOL 'a shape of a tool'

not into these new cordless tools,except drills.

I didn't really have much use for non-drill like cordless tools, reasoning that I wouldn't get much use out of them, either.

However, with the new 18 volt li-ion range (especially with 4 amp hour batteries) it suddenly became more attractive; they have a considerably slower self discharge rate (many months compared to weeks for NiMh) so they cope with the periods of 'not doin' nuthin' much better, and they've got enough grunt to do a number of things well.

I've had both Makita (9.2 volt) and Metabo (12 volt) cordless drills in the past and when the Makita battery died, it made more financial sense to upgrade to the Metabo, and when those batteries passed, well, I liked the look of the Ryobi Airstrike nailer, so I got a Ryobi cordless drill. Quite happy with it so far. I must say that I never really thought I got good value for money from either the Mak or the Metabo, but that's because they are more about convenience for me - I've generally always got the option to get the corded drill for bigger stuff.

I have always been told to buy the tool for the job. Meaning if it is a one off job and you will never need the tool again then a cheap brand will normally do but if you are going to be using the tool lots then spend the extra money and get something that will last.

I have always bought the best money can buy but a while back when I looked at my tool collection I saw tools I only ever used once that cost me a pretty penny only to be pushed to the back of the shelf as it is never needed again. So now I tend to run by this rule (is hard breaking the buy best habit I have though)