Thread: Never ever buy cheap tools

I have 3 of the 10.8v Bosch Blue Multitools; all setup for different uses and have no issues with them.
I also have the 10.8v Bosch Blue Impact Driver & Drill Driver and have no issues with them either.
On the Bosch Blue front I have a corded 7" Circular saw, 2 x Impact Drills, 2 x Demolition Drills, 10" Contractors Saw Table plus 10" Slide Compound bevel/mitre saw plus a few of the early Bosch Green Made in Switzerland tools and all preform well.
All that being said I do have a good set of M18 Milwaukee tools for heavier work away from power.
Some of my older tools that were made in Japan and Germany are still going strong but they cost a fortune compared to my wage when I bought them so I'd expect them to last.
All that said, I support it's personal preference and what works for you.
Cheers, crowie

PS - It's always worthwhile keeping an eye out for the older name brand tools originally made in there country of origin; IMHO, even secondhand, they are as good if not better than some of the new stuff.....

Among the hand tools, I'm convinced that you get what you pay for.
That's not to say that the occassional gamble with a cheap tool reveals a winner.
At the same time, I think it's a little easier to figure out the manufacturing source
than it is for power tools.
I can think of 5 brands of drill presses (aka pillar drills) which have identical guts and some frills altered.
Smells like cheap soya sauce to me.

So far from my limited experience with Blue bosch stuff, it's not as good as they try to make it out to be. I got a blue bosch corded jig saw and pretty disappointed in it. Yes it does cut stuff, but that's where it ends. I could never make a proper square cut with it. It's difficult to make precision cut with it. The blade ejection system doesn't work, requiring me to still pull the blade off with hand, contrary to their advertisement, the left and right distance is not symmetrical, which to me is really annoying when used against a fence, I'd have to make sure I go only in one direction. It is just a rough cutting tool for me. Their cordless drills have a lot of wobble and I'm glad I tested it at the store and finding out before (not) buying.

On the other side, why do buyers cry so much when the price for a good or excellent tool is higher than the price of garbage tools?

Most of the "brand" manufacturers have a strategy to offer a wide range of products with a wide range of price and capability.
Take just Bosch Blue, Makita and Dewalt, if you look at their Australian websites, they each offer over 20 models of 18V drills.
Even comparing models within a brand let alone across brands is very difficult.
The offer of "choice" is not for the benefit of the customer, it is designed to make profit.
What need is there for that many choices of drill?
Whilst there are valid variations on offer (drill/drivers, hammer, etc),you may also find:
- (A) a quality model with metal parts, proper bearings and brushless motor and a rugged case ($$$$$).
- (B) a cheap model with plastic parts, lesser bearings and brushed motor in a plain case ($$) .
- (C) a model that looks like the first drill with the parts of the second drill priced a bit less than the first one ($$$$).
So when I hear that a drill from brand X is much better than the drill from brand Y. Were they comparing "A to A" or "A to C"?
Most of the brands offer a quality model that will give years of service.
Choose wisely my friends.

PS. Bosch make some superb jigsaws but their full feature, top of the line model that wins all the UK reviews (GST 160) is not available in Australia.
Not sure why. The others available here are much cheaper and vary significantly in price and features.

That explains why it's so confusing. The Jigsaw I was referring to was GST 160. I bought it from Toolstop in the UK and had it shipped to Australia. It came with a UK plug and I just used a plug adapter. In my opinion, it's not a great jig saw - at all. I found another person detailing all the faults and selling his on Gumtree.

On paper this jigsaw is awesome, and that's why I got sucked in and bought it. It's Bosch's top of the line jig saw, after all.

I now just use it to cut but I know never to expect perfect vertical square when using it, contrary to their claim. It's just for a rough cut, not for anything that requires precision. But had I known, I would've just gotten a cheaper jig saw.

So anyway, I did not buy the cheapest tool. I thought I was buying the top of the line, but it was very disappointing. The moral of the story, for me, is that expensive doesn't always mean quality. Of course there is the possibility that it could be just me, or that I had a defective item. Oh well.

Originally Posted by woodmp

So far from my limited experience with Blue bosch stuff, it's not as good as they try to make it out to be. I got a blue bosch corded jig saw and pretty disappointed in it. Yes it does cut stuff, but that's where it ends. I could never make a proper square cut with it. It's difficult to make precision cut with it. The blade ejection system doesn't work, requiring me to still pull the blade off with hand, contrary to their advertisement, the left and right distance is not symmetrical, which to me is really annoying when used against a fence, I'd have to make sure I go only in one direction. It is just a rough cutting tool for me. Their cordless drills have a lot of wobble and I'm glad I tested it at the store and finding out before (not) buying.

Odd. I have just taken delivery of a Bosch GST 160 (had to have someone bring one over from Europe, why on earth do they not sell them here?) and I find it to be very precise.
I read several comments online where people said it doesn't spit the blades out as advertised, but mine spits it half way across the workbench. It's definitely a class act compared to my old green bow-handled Bosch jigsaw.

-P.

This has nothing to do directly with the quality or absence of quality of any particular tool, but you really do have to wonder.
They make a great jigsaw, the GST 160 (even if one person here has had a bad'un most people think it's pretty hot stuff). It's been out in Europe for years,looking at the German Bosch Professional site. And yet: we don't get it Down Under. What the Higgens? WHY?

There is the GOF 1600 router. Yes, we can buy that router here, at a HUGELY inflated price. Theoretically there is also a model GOM 1600 which comes with both a fixed and a plunge base, interchangeable. People in Europe have been howling for it for years - and Bosch did not bring it to Europe, lots of promises and no follow-through, only sold it in the US under a different model designation; if someone wanted a fixed base, they had to get one sent back from the US. We certainly can't buy the fixed base down here at all. Purely by accident the other day I found an outfit in Singapore that sells the combi machine very cheaply (I'd love one, but I don't have the use for it right now, so I will wait for a windfall).
But what do Bosch think they're doing?

People WILL start looking elsewhere. And don't even get me started on the extortionate pricing here. No, it's not the shipping; that argument's something that came out of the back end of a bull. I paid 208 Euro for the GST 160. If you want to buy the GST 140 here, you're looking at more than twice that, just under NZ$600. Shame. (as an aside, the 140 and the 160 sell at an almost identical price point in Continental Europe).

My only conclusion is that there are some people making marketing decisions at Bosch who, were you to look in one ear, you'd see the sun shining through from the other side.

(we also bought a Bosch washing machine a fair few years ago, discovered it was made in China to our horror and, right on the button, it started to rust and leak inside of a year; plastic buttons and levers breaking in a matter of weeks (!)(replaced under warranty though). Bosch apparently pulled their factory from China and moved it to Malaysia or Thailand, I don't remember which) but that's yet another aside. Too late. Replaced with a Miele made in Germany, that hasn't missed a beat.

It really is a shame when you get to watch a good company being run into the ground by idiots.

Originally Posted by P.W.H.

Odd. I have just taken delivery of a Bosch GST 160 (had to have someone bring one over from Europe, why on earth do they not sell them here?) and I find it to be very precise.
I read several comments online where people said it doesn't spit the blades out as advertised, but mine spits it half way across the workbench. It's definitely a class act compared to my old green bow-handled Bosch jigsaw.

-P.

Mine doesn't spit the blade out either. More often than not I'd have to pull it out with a degree of force too. Every now and then it would fall out, I would not call it "ejected".

When I cut something with a clamped fence and try not to deviate from the fence by pushing the jigsaw against the fence steadily, the cut result is not perfectly 90º with obvious imperfections when checked with a square. It's as if the blade going down has a bit of deflection. This was cutting pine, not hardwood.

Maybe it's just me. I'll do some more cuts tomorrow and see. It would be nice if it's not the tool.

Originally Posted by woodmp

That explains why it's so confusing. The Jigsaw I was referring to was GST 160. I bought it from Toolstop in the UK and had it shipped to Australia. It came with a UK plug and I just used a plug adapter. In my opinion, it's not a great jig saw - at all. I found another person detailing all the faults and selling his on Gumtree.

On paper this jigsaw is awesome, and that's why I got sucked in and bought it. It's Bosch's top of the line jig saw, after all.

I now just use it to cut but I know never to expect perfect vertical square when using it, contrary to their claim. It's just for a rough cut, not for anything that requires precision. But had I known, I would've just gotten a cheaper jig saw.

what sort of blade are you using?

Hi Charles,I am in complete agreement with you,I had the misfortune to buy the same saw.
The electric blade brake,failed within a very short period of time,I also need to keep unplugged when not in use as something heats up in the handle !
It cannot be set accurately at any angle and is completely incapable of making accurate cuts.
Also to boot it is as noisy as hell just to top thing off.

A very emotive issue. It's like comparing health insurance(don't anybody run with that one please) where nothing is quite the same.

Hiroller covered much of what I am going to say, but these are some of the issues I see.

1. Most of the big manufacturers have multiple quality ranges. Bosch of course have the Blue and Green ranges, but multiple alternatives within those ranges. I still have a Makita catlogue from thirty years ago where they had handyman, professional and industrial ranges. The Makita range is still huge.

2. What are we using the tool for? Is it fair on the tool or should we have bought a better quality product? The answer here, to my mind, is "does it fit the intended use?" If it is not fit for the purpose, you have the right to return it and get your money back.

3. We can all find an instance of a tool failing (that's the exception proving the rule scenario). If this becomes a common occurrence it points to a poor build. I think this may be some thinking behind Charlee's original letter to Bosch.

4. If the Bosch upmarket range (I appreciate the original CMS was a Green version) is going downhill, that is a big disappointment for me as I have seen them as a very ethical company in the past with a very good product.

5. I was trying to remember which Bosch tools I have, as I am happy to purchase from almost any manufacturer according to the demands of the job.

I have a 12"SCMS (Blue) with which I am very pleased.

I have a jigsaw ( Blue torpedo style) that is a last century model, which is so so. However, I don't believe anybody makes a good jigsaw. That is at least partly because I ask them to cut 25mm (or thicker) hard, hardwoods rather than the 12mm ply for which they are designed. However, it is still going despite being horribly abused by me.

I just don't like jigsaws.

I have a 125mm angle grinder (Blue) which I bought recently specifically to grind back the weather boards on our old house. I fully expected it to expire unless I did first. I bought one of the cheaper blue models (800W and about $75 from memory) because I wanted a light weight grinder. The more powerful machines are heavier. I ran it many, many times for more than an hour without stopping. I stopped normally because it was too hot to hold and I was bugger*d. It hasn't missed a beat. I can't quite be as positive about me.

It had a single problem. I couldn't get into the corners easily because of the size of disc so I bought a 100mm grinder: This time is was a Bosch Green. Although I asked it to do similar work, it has not missed a beat either. I fully expected that it would not last the course either. Wrong again. I have still struggled (stripping multiple layers of paint from timber is an 'orrible job).

What I am getting at here, in my usual long winded fashion, is that with a big range of product, there may well be something that has got past the quality control.

But it shouldn't, and it is quite right to contact the manufacturer and point out the shortcomings as you see them. They, as a reputable company, should respond to the complainant and take action to correct a problem if necessary.

There is a downward spiral into oblivion awaiting the companies that ignore such warning signs.

Please let us know if the Bosch PR department responds.

Regards
Paul