Quote Originally Posted by Bohdan View Post
Had a contractor that always had the cheapest tools that you could get in his truck. At home he only had good gear.
His logic was that good gear was always disappearing on site but nobody wanted the cheap stuff so it was always available, and nobody damaged his truck breaking in.
Last year our mens shed was invited to a Perth Police Storage depot where stolen goods were stored prior to auction. Our task was to help ourselves to what we wanted from a pile of stolen power tools about 5ft high! The brands included Makita, DeWalt, Bosch, Hitachi, Panasonic etc - there were a few Ryobis and only a couple of Ozito's. Some of this reflects what Tradies had in their trucks but interesting about half had apparently come from domestic garages and sheds.

For occasional DIY use I don't think there's anything wrong with cheaper tools. Your chances of getting a lemon are increased but the more expensive ones aren't completely faultless either. In either case basic care and maintenance, and not working them beyond their design will enable you to get the most out of them. With any battery powered tools the battery is often the weakest link, storing batteries in a hot shed is sure fire way to shorten their storage capacity and overall lifetime.