It is whatever you buy a battery and charger for first. Then you are unwilling to forfeit that battery to just buy another tool. So you get another tool of the same brand, even if you aren't happy with the previous. Then at that point, you've gone to far. You've got several hundred dollars in batteries you would have to give up just to switch. It is the most blatant example of the sunken cost fallacy.
Ryobi, specifically has entry level tools (a basic drill) that come with a charger and battery for cheaper than you can even buy a battery by itself. When you're young and broke and all you need to do is hang some curtains or something you get it. But really, it is just a seed for your future "house" that you belong to.
I found a set of Makita tools for 60% off last year and now I'm Makita battery dependent for the rest of my life
In 10 years you will have thousands of dollars in makita tools because hey, that hammer drill you needed was only $110, better get another battery too, your old ones are getting tired. 🤷♂️ and you will always have makita tools, forever. Even if you hate them.
I used to be ride or die for Makita as an electrician, but they've gone downhill lately and their battery prices are insane! Used to be a Makita could fall off a ladder onto the chuck and bounce. Last year my crew had two drills newly bought that year CATCH FIRE and one strip the gearbox. Embarassing performance.
I've pivoted to Ridgid with their dirt cheap batteries with lifetime warranty. And I have a couple Ridgid->Makita adapters to use my new collection of Ridgid batteries with my tough old Makita tools. Battery adapters will free you from that lock-in.
Honestly I've been impressed with the Ridgid tools though, same manufacturer as Milwaukee and Ridgid has always been a big brand with plumbers. The brushless tools I've bought have been powerful and robust so far. No regrets
Feels like something the EU would eventually work on settling: making all tool manufacturers have a non-proprietary connector.
I’m just waiting for the other shoe to drop and for a Belgian or something to drop in here to say that they’ve had fully interchangeable batteries for the last twenty years, and then make fun of us for building houses out of wood because we didn’t clear cut our continent.
More people should know there actually are adapters for different brands of batteries on amazon, and thingiverse if you have a 3D printer
And if you don't have a 3D printer, your local library likely does.
Dewalt battery on a Dyson vacuum as well
Looking for this comment, I'm still running my craftsman 19.2 volt tools, but with a 20v DeWalt adapter, saved my from throwing away 1 reciprocating saw, 1 light, 1 1/4" impact, 2 drills, 1 90° drill, and a circular saw.
Yeah Ryobi is dirt cheap and good enough for most things. When you need to add another tool, choosing between the one that doesn’t have a battery and the one that does but is twice the price has a big influence on your decision.
Also, I’m not a contractor, so I only use certain tools once every six months. Have yet to have anything fail on me. If it does, maybe I’ll upgrade. Certain tools have already paid for themselves in that they saved me from needing to hire someone else. Just getting a pole saw and hedge trimmer alone saved me probably $700.
I do have a few of the other brands, but they were damn pricey and I don’t use them enough to justify it.
Fucking Ridgid got me, because on paper, they have lifetime warranties on their batteries. But after buying an expensive combo, they made it an absolute hassle to register my tools, so I kinda doubt they'll honor their warranty. Now I'm Ridgid + Dewalt. My corded tools and hand tools are whatever brand; harbor freight or walmart if not used often, Milwaukee, DeWalt, etc if I expect to use them often.
I really dislike Home Depot after a series of huge customer service mishaps with me last year, and actively avoid going there now.
Which is a shame because I have a lot of Ryobi One tools. They are perfectly positioned for weekend warriors…huge tool library, good batteries, affordable and of fairly decent quality (certainly well above “junk” and a good value for the money).
Shame that is a store-exclusive brand.
The worst part is I’ve bought into most of the cordless tools I’d really need. The day might come where I want a larger circular saw (mines only 5.5 and it is prone to binding if your technique isn’t perfect, and even then…) or find that some of the tools that I’m okay with having corded (like a jigsaw or an angle grinder) I now need a cordless replacement. At that point I’ll likely find myself buying into a better and more expensive battery system and, for quite a while, only having the one seldom-used tool for it.
Now I’ve got a dead 4Ah battery and I’m on the fence as to rebuild it, buy a new one, or take it as an opportunity to start going into a new battery system.
Would there be a way to 3D print plastic part of a battery and just fill it with standard battery types (cylindrical batteries) and make them swapable? Because as far as i know there isn't really any electronics in batteries, just different voltages based on number of batteries in series and different mounting mechanism. It just seems like a silly vendor lock-in.
Milwaukee included a bag and floodlight in their drill package so I guess that did it for me. Most of my drill bits are Ryobi though.
(Not a dad, just a lesbian)
I actually did a lot of research on this when I bought my first battery tools, knowing this would be the case, and decided they had a decent range of everything I'd likely need.
I went with AEG.
This tracks.
DeWalt: high quality and good pedigree but overpriced = Slytherin
Milwaukee: basically the same as DeWalt, but less pretentious. Thinks they're better and tougher though = Gryffindor
Makita: the smart choice for value, also best colors = Ravenclaw
Ryobi: I know it will break, but they're just tools and I'm not serious about this anyway. I would rather spend more money on my family or other hobbies = Hufflepuff
Honorable mentions of other "houses" and schools in the thread.
Black and Decker/Craftsman/whatever. Used to be very impressive, but completely corrupted. Probably evil = Durmstrang (Russian school)
Festool: Beautiful, absolutely dripping with wealth signals. Still pretty amazing at what they do, but you might not want them on a job site = Beauxbatons (super wealthy French school)
Harbor freight: Simple, potentially the most powerful but also likely to break. Can probably accomplish what you need by using a wrench as a hammer, but you wouldn't want to do anything delicate with it. Actually the biggest group of dad-wizards = Uagadou (the school in Uganda where magic was invented but they don't use wands)
Festool is not on this list because Festool owners NEVER GET ANYONE PREGNANT.
Because you have to choose: children or Festool. Only the few elite can have both.
If I had enough money for Festool stuff I would probably just pay someone else to do the job instead!
Can confirm, had a vasectomy years ago.
Love the very, very few Festools that I have. But the price is painful.
My dad gifted me a Dewalt Impact for Father's day one year and I've been unintentionally stuck in that ecosystem since.
How have power tool companies not figured out Gillette's trick about giving you a free razor on your 18th birthday to lock you in for decades?
Dewalt has the juice to get it done but lacking g in specialty tools and their tough system sucks compared to Milwaukee. Coming from a guy with several grand of dewalt. Kind of wish I went Milwaukee but I'm in too deep...
They're getting better on specialty tools the last year or 2.
The 12 volt line has expanded as well. I Didn't need the 12v drill driver combo but wanted the 12v rachet they had as a free tool ona sale.
I rarely grab the 20v drill or driver unless the 12 just can't get it done.
The tough system stuff is finally starting to catch up a bit. I will admit it pisses me off to no end that so many items that come in clam shell cases aren't compatible or the tough system boxes could be designed with those items in mind as well.
Milwaukee is still winning that one but I couldn't justify the price.
I got my old man some DeWalt stuff. They're excellent tools.
You need to know that most power tools are ultimately owned by only a few brands
Milwaukee and Ryobi for example are both owned by TTI but the Marketing is strong.
https://www.protoolreviews.com/power-tool-manufacturers-who-owns-them/
Well, yes, but they serve drastically different markets, and the ownership structure is different. Ryobi is for the home owner that occasionally uses tools, and is licensed by a Japanese company to allow TTI to produce the brand. Milwaukee is for heavy daily use, and is wholly owned by TTI.
Its also worth mentioning that adapters are available to convert between battery systems. If you're on Milwaukee and want to buy a DeWalt palm router (which is superior IMO) then you can just get a converter to use it with a Milwaukee battery. You can keep the converter in the tool itself, and most tools don't mind this.
The exception is Ryobi. Converters only exist one-way, since Ryobi still uses "stick" type batteries for low voltage stuff. The opposite converter could theoretically exist (say, to use a Ryobi battery with a DeWalt router) but it would be very large and bulky and so nobody really makes them.
Heck yeah! Makita is just Makita!
Japanese and over 100 years old..
I dropped my locking, variable speed, single direction, corded drill with the chuck key electrical taped to the cracked plastic cord on a board and the hole I needed formed naturally out of fear.
DeWalt gang, stand up!
In my experience, Dewalt has been the best in terms of balance between reliability, flexibility, and cost. Milwaukee is probably the most reliable but also the most limited. Ryobi are cheap junk. Makita tools I haven't used but I've been told repeatedly that they used to be awesome but are now cheap junk.
All of these companies have at least a few items that are cheap junk (like most of the bluetooth speaker stuff...wtf?) but some are worse than others.
I've got all Dewalt for the stuff that needs to last (circular saw, reciprocating saw, drills, etc), but for some things I get the cheap garbage because the cost difference is so extreme and I know I'm just going to replace them every couple years anyway.
Most of my yard equipment is ryobi. All of the stuff with massive batteries is just so stupidly expensive from Dewalt and Milwaukee. I don't expect an outdoor lithium ion battery to last more than 5 years anyway, so instead of getting the high quality version, I got the shit one and had money to spare on extra batteries.
Ryobi is great if you're like me and just need the occasional tool to do a small project around the house and then gets put away for a few months. I've got a Ryobi portable vacuum at work that does great, gets used daily.
I’ve used dewalt professionally for many years and the tools are top notch
Can't, sold my kidneys to afford these and I'm too sore.
I needed to pick a side 4 years ago when buying a drill and hadn't heard a bad word about DeWalt.
So I bought DeWalt.
DeWalt ftw. Granted, I keep getting told to wait for Christmas and getting black and Decker as gifts... It's good enough to manage for my needs, but very noticeably worse
IME, Milwaukee is noticeably more hardy in cold temperatures, Ryobi is absolute garbage, and Makita is pretty good for hobbyist level
But I worked construction during college, and DeWalt was great, and Milwaukee was almost as good. The other two don't deserve to be in the same list
House DeWalt: The Builders
House Ryobi: The Slapjobs
House Milwaukee: The wishes they were house DeWalt
House Makita: Quality prevails regardless of how little I use my tools.
Unmentioned:
House Bosch: House Makita but doesn't like Asians
House Metabo: House Milwaukee but green
House Rigid: wow these are fuckin cheap
House Worx: Tools take a backseat to Yardwork
House Metabo HPT: My wife says they're great
Milwaukee is better than DeWalt in literally every category. Come at me.
I was browsing the tool section at a Home Depot once a couple of years ago when a very attractive young woman came up to me and started asking me about my project. I'm not so dense that I thought she was hitting on me, but I couldn't figure out her angle and I thought maybe she was a prostitute or something. Turns out she was a Milwaukee sales rep and she was trying to encourage people (men, rather) to buy some Milwaukee cordless tools.
I’ve used dewalt professionally for many years. My buddies who use Milwaukee are always borrowing my stuff. I’ll leave it at that.
Yeap, switched from Milwaukee from DeWalt recently. The tool quality is pretty much the same, but the Milwaukee battery and chargers are a lot nicer.
My construction companion runs Milwaukee. As I stated in a different comment, he's had several drills and batteries blow in about three years. This isn't to say they're not a great brand, but that's too many lemons for the premium they charge for my taste. seems like their biggest downfall is the plastic shells they use, especially on batteries. Those little power check buttons break right quick, and the rubber over moulding doesn't deal with grease well.
I run Metabo HPT, and I abuse the hell out of them. Drilling inch holes 12" deep in concrete for garage anchors, running all the batteries in sub zero and 100+ temps, notching studs until the multi tool is too hot to hold. Never had a failure in 6 years. Even my original batteries still work as well as the new. A slick bonus I found out being a compulsive tinkerer, the batteries that they sell as 18v 3ah are actually 24v 5ah. I always wondered why they lasted so long before I ripped a few apart. Samsung cells as well.
Except battery life in my experience.
While I agree with you on most accounts, Milwaukee drills have cheap switches on them, they’re usually the first to hang to go. The chucks seem kinda cheap too, but honestly that’s not enough for me to switch teams, I’m married to Milwaukee, and the divorce would just be too damn expensive at this point.
House Hilti: Unyielding. Immutable. Eternal.
You forgot house Black & Decker
DeWalt is owned by Stanley Black&Decker
House Bauer/Atlas/Hercules/Warrior: Life is transient, why does your tool or battery need to last longer than the job?
House Harbor Freight: Safety squints aren't enough danger
That's not a house it's a harbor
House Festool: Expensive, but I shift the cost to my clients.
Also, pretty systainers for storage and German ordnung.
Nah Makita is trash, unless you're talking LXT, which is 36 volt. Most of the Milwaukee stuff comes out on top on the torque test channel on YouTube.
But also don't forget House Skil: Issue
You remember how Harry chose the house he wanted to be in, and it's canon, that the sorting hat ward isn't definite? When I was buying my first tool, I wanted a Ryobi. But they didn't have it in stock and they did have Makita on sale and the sales guy told me that would be much better for the same price. So after that I'm buying only Makita, to fit the rest.
Quality-wise, Makita > DeWALT ≥ Milwaukee > Ryobi, at least, if you watch teardowns by guys like AvE.
Power tools are like cars; companies hold several brands and target them to different market segments, like Porsche and VW.
Ryobi is owned by the same company as Milwauki; it's the budget line, Milwauki being their premium line.
DeWALT and Black & Decker are owned by the same company; DeWALT is their premium line.
The exception in this list is Makita, which is its own company. They're also objectively more well-built than the others (here), and correspondingly usually more expensive.
The premium lines are better quality (not just more expensive) but also tend to have smaller battery-tool options. Despite being a budget line, I mostly own B&D because most of my tools these days are 24V and there are more tool options there. The few, select, DeWALT tools I have are noticably better quality.
I don't use power tools enough to justify Makita, but also, their battery-powered line is comparatively tiny. As someone else said, there's a lot of motivation to pick a (compatible) lane, whichever it is. For most home-gamers, the quality difference will probably not matter much. If I were made of money, though, I'd have everything Makita except for the things they don't make.
I’m in that fifth house that no-one ever seems to talk about: BOSCH.
J/K, I’m mostly Bosch, but I look towards whichever manufacturer makes the best version of a tool I currently need. For example, my chainsaws and yard/orchard power tools are Stihl, my lawnmower is Husqvarna, my circular saw, worm drive saw and abrasion/steel cutoff saw are all Skilsaw (not Skil!), and my oscillating multi tool is Fein.
Plus, many of the domestics are vintage, from before production was outsourced out of America, which makes them much more reliable and robust than modern tools. Even some of the other tools are vintage -- my Stihl 076 Super can cut through a 60cm log like a hot knife through butter. And I have both 36″ and 72″ bars to go with it.
But when it comes to battery power tools, you have to pick a brand and stick with it, unless you're John D Rockefeller with 6 types of charger and a billion battery packs.
Even within a brand, you usually contend with at least two different battery packs - 12v and higher - and even more if you keep your tools in good condition and their connection types are obsoleted before you buy more tools.
I always lean towards Bosch where possible, mainly because of their charitable work. The founder set things up so that it's perpetually funded from the company profits. That just appeals to me as the tiebreaker when deciding between a bunch of similarly priced tools that will otherwise do the job well enough.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_Stiftung
That said, I tend to go for corded options where practical. I have some corded tools that I've owned for over thirty years now that still get occasional use. Battery tools are convenient for their portability, but they do have a limit to their useful life.
That would put me in the Sixth House (seems like we've jumped ship from the Potterverse to the Locked Tomb series now?) as a Metabo HPT user -- at least for battery-operated tools. I've got no allegiances when it comes to corded power tools, though -- got everything from Harbor Freight only-need-it-for-one-job specials to DeWalt saws and routers, and a big ol' Craftsman drill press I inherited from my grandfather.
Corded can be great! I have corded Bosch for anything in my workshop - why would I need batteries for a location with dozens of sockets? - and use batteries mainly in the field or where cords would start to get impractical. Plus, where the manufacturer only makes a battery version of the tool. The Bosch PROFACTOR GDS18V-740N, for example, only comes in a battery version. No corded version exists.
Straight up Ryobi here. It's not pro-hardcore, but for homeowner DIY and the variety and range of devices, it's been solid.
Pretty funny how Home Depot has stayed neutral and carried all those brands.
20v to house DeWalt!
We are a cheap garbage household 💪💪💪💪💪
Mudblood.
Couple years back I went to the graduation party of a kid my step daughter was friends. The dad had an entire wall pegboarded out with every possible Ryobi cordless tool. It was honestly impressive. And he had one Makita tool. Made me laugh.
Of course, real recognises real
Project Farm on YouTube has great tests and reviews of products like this. Fully recommend his channel if you are in the market to buy tools or tool adjacent products.
Fuck yeah. Project Farm rules! He's like Bob Ross for me. I just chill and watch tool-science happen.
Torque test channel is pretty much completely power tool specific and goes a lot more in depth on them. PF for breadth, TTC for depth.
Not a dad but heavily into the Makita gang. As a German I should be into Hilti or Metabo but Makita just hits the sweetspot of quality and pricing for me.
Same here brother, Makita all the way. I respect all the brands, but once you buy a battery and a charger for one brand, you're in it.
You forgot Bosch! It's a shit company in my opinion though.. they also produce in Chinese prison camps
Yeah, no. Same reason. Garbage chinesium.
Not really selling it well
Only issue with Makita is s their battery tech hasnt caught up with everyone else. They seem to have forgotten their 18 volt line in favor of their 36 volt.
As a Harbor Freight guy, I'm offended.
I mean, this doesn't have SnapOn or Mac. Like, do they even power tools? My neighbor's garage has a SnapOn flag and tool chest.
I love “the wire” scene on picking a power tool.
“Yeah. Cordless'll do that. You might want to consider the powder-actuated tool. The Hilti DX460MX or the Simpson PTP. These two are my Cadillacs. Everything else on this board is second best, sorry to say. Are you contracting or just doing some work around the house?”
That's because the batteries have become the printer ink of the tool world. They're f'n expensive.
If you buy into a product system it makes no sense to have different batteries that don't fit all the tools. If you keep the batteries all the same then you can be charging one or two sets vs having to buy extra sets and charger multiplied by the different tool makers.
I have one of the manufacturers shown in the image, and after I got a kit that had a charger, tool, and extra batteries included I got hooked in because they sell tools without batteries, but I have extra! So I bought same maker. The tools are all pretty good, so not much difference between makers, but that's one way they hook you.
I landed in DeWalt when their cordless devices became as good as/better than corded tools; I standardized on their battery platform only for them to abandon my battery and roll out a new (incompatible) one. Shortly thereafter my batteries bricked and it seems the business model is to force consumers to buy new tools every so often
FML I hate it that they're all proprietary and incompatible
I know cords are a bit of a pain, but rotating batteries and keeping them charged is also a bit of a pain, and at least the pain of cords ensures that you always have a tool to use when you need it. Also electrical outlets have been standardized for more than a century now.
Exactly. Cordless drills are super convenient and super cheap. For anything more heavy duty than that, I want something corded (which usually has the added advantage of being both cheaper and available in good condition second-hand).
House Skil/Craftsman-from-Goodwill for life!
Yep. Corded tools don't need to be charged. Love it!
Word. The only tools I use with batteries are my lawn mower, leaf blower, and weed whacker. Otherwise, cords are fine.
You can buy adapters for literally any battery to any other battery type. They’re all over Etsy and Amazon. Torque test channel even does a test to see how much performance you lose from them, along with building a monster battery pack that uses all the brands batteries at the same time.
FWIW Ryobi’s battery has been the same format since the 90s which removed any doubt I had about continuing to buy the brand.
GryffinDeWalt
Milwauflepuff
Ravenkita
SlytheRyobiWent looking for my Craftsman brothers, but I’m afraid I may stand alone.
IIRC, that might be because their quality & reputation took a dip for a while. They were, after all, a Sears brand, and Sears got run into the ground by some blood-sucking leadership.
That said, they used to have a great reputation, and were sold to Black & Decker in 2017, who seem to be handling the line up much, much better.
B&D makes tools for people who hang pictures... I've never seen a b&d tool on a job site or even handle the bare minimum for anything more than little house projects. DeWalt is like the lowest grade stuff that most guys use in construction, but even those are starting to have QC issues and durability drops.
Most of my SB&D Craftsmam stuff is ptetty good.
I stand in solidarity with you brother!
And my axe!
Only Bosch! Only hardcore!
But im a craftsman....
Old craftsman or new? Because if new you might not be Craftsman very long. Old craftsman tools will outlive us all and if you can find them at a garage sale, buy em.
New craftsman tools are pretty much just junk.
For what i use them for my craftsman electric cordless set does the job. Thats what I want in a tool. They have done the job for 5 years now no problems.
You stand behind DeWalt and behave for Black and Decker
I have a B&D corded drill from the 1980s that is still ripping through steel no problem.
While I do have a couple of DeWalt drills, I've been a member of the House of Ryobi for 20+ years. Ryobi was the first to really push the idea of "one battery fits all" ecosystem with their 18V ONE batteries.
My Wife bought me a tool set for Christmas one year and I have never looked back. 20 years later I'm still using those tools and Ryobi still supports them. A new Lithium battery battery still works in my old tools. The "pro tools" do not take that track.
I can't tell if DeWalt is the Gryffindor or Slytherin of power tool brands.
If you go by house colors, they are Hufflepuff. Milwaukee is Gryfindor. Ravenclaw is Makita and Slytherin is Ryobi
I'm DeWalt, we're definitely Slytherin
Milwaukee and Ryobi are owned by the same company. https://www.protoolreviews.com/power-tool-manufacturers-who-owns-them/
Cries in the corner with his WORX tools
But Ryobi and Milwaukee are both owned and manufactured by the same company TTI, they’re practically the same tools just with a different plastic shell
say that you're a dad without saying you're dad
DeWalt gang rise up
But I like having my power and hand tools in matching colors...
The true power is being able to share batteries between power tools
Having tools in matching colours is definitely a sign of youth.
As you get older and lose some, lend some (and the a-hole doesn't return them - yes I'm talking about you John Pinder) then you get some replacements that don't match. Eventually after many years you have an eclectic mix.How are you on collecting random nuts and screws that might just come in handy one day? That is the true art of the cave.
https://daily-twerk.com/general/bloke-finally-finds-a-use-for-a-nut-and-bolt-from-his-collection/
Do any of these have a plug in adapter? Like a battery pack with a cord coming out of it?
Good Lord that should be a thing.
Yes, Festool do one for their sanders. A battery tool is usually more expensive and less powerful than a mains powered tool though, so I'm not sure what the advantage of this would be.
The advantage is when you finally work in your own workshop, instead of on-site, you no longer have to rebuy everything.
You mean a battery that you can plug a cord into? I have some I got from Ryobi.
Milwaukee has two: a small one and a big one.
Edit: I read this wrong, but I’ll leave it up because I think the inverters are cool.
I wonder how easy it is to DIY something like that. Like would it be as easy as picking up an off the shelf power supply with the right voltage and current and 3D printing an attachment that fits into the battery slot with a DC jack on the side (or even just gutting a dead battery pack and taking out the batteries and control electronics, soldering a DC jack straight onto the main contacts, and drilling a hole for it to poke through)? Or do modern power tools actually need to authenticate the battery with some kind of tool DRM?
idk about modern tools but this totally works with an ancient Bosch drill I had, well at least the motor with speed controller from it
Makita still going strong after 15yrs of use. They were the best at the time and still works amazing today with backwards compatibility batteries. My 15yrs old driver can use a brand new battery that a 2023 model uses.
Drill a 1/2" hole through 4" thick stainless without a hiccup on a single battery. Then tap the hole on the same battery. Impressive power and reliable
4 inch thick stainless steel? What in tarnation is that for?
Killdozer2
I used to use cheapo tools, but I borrowed a Makita circular saw once and it was so nice to use in comparison that I’ve been on team teal ever since.
As a Semi pro, I run Metabo HPT for power tools and beat the hell out of them and get free batteries. Never had a tool or battery die in several years.
For groundskeeping I go with worx. They're great but aftermarket batteries suck ass.
Any plug in tools that aren't antiques are rigid, their warranty is nuts, and their mitre saw has the widest range of any I've ever used. Plus free service and parts for life.
My coworker runs Milwaukee, lots of variety, but he's had two drills and three batteries die in 3 years of basic use, so I'm not sure if I trust them wholly. The packout is nice, but there are better options out there for portable tool chests now, like flex and toughbuilt.
I know a few pros who switched to flex tools and swear by them, but they're too fresh to market to know for sure, although the company has been around forever supposedly.
Yeah same company that makes Flex also make Kobalt as their Ryobi competitor for Lowe's, and Ridgid as their mid tier tools.
I've somehow killed half the Hitachi/MetaboHPT batteries I've bought, and two of three chargers to boot. If anything else in my house made a habit of mysteriously dying for no reason I'd blame the power company, but as it stands it's just the power tools, and I am by no means a heavy user. Maybe my garage just gets too hot? I dunno.
I've noticed a difference between the Lowe's/retailer Metabo tools and the stuff they have at Menards and Amazon. Menards especially seems to only stock discontinued models. I've been consistently surprised at how hardy mine have been. Maybe I just got lucky, or you unlucky.
Damn, Ridgid can't even end up in this image. You make my tools sad. :(
House Ego: I don't want the cheapest thing, but I'm only willing to go a single step up.
My tools?
Wired: DeWalt
Battery: Makita
Pneumatic: Bosch
Hand: whatever’s in the box…
Wired and Pneumatic can be whatever.
I have Makita batteries that are 12 years old. Still work. Only now I'm thinking about getting new batteries
Yeah, and Ryobi and Milwaukee are made by the same manufacturer anyway.
So are Toyota and Lexus. There's a difference tough.
It's surprisingly hard (at least for me, perhaps I'm looking wrong :p) to find general comparisons comparing the brands for overall usefulness. You'll find stuff comparing their drills, or something specific, but not everything overall. Which seems much more important, as (as has been mentioned in these comments) the batteries really lock you into one brand.
If we're gonna talk about tools, I gotta shout out porter cable for making an absolute tank of a circular saw. Finally went cordless Bosch, but that porter cable has a good 20 years or so of heavy use and it's still kicking.
Where is the power fist / what ever is cheapest?
Timely! I was gifted into House Milwaukee this holiday season. I guess the sorting hat did it's thing. Hope to learn a lot of useful wizardry, I've got a door frame to fix.
Lol, yep I got gifted into the same house.
I'm sending well wishes on your wizarding journey!
Ryobi is great for starting out. They're definitely not the best tools, but they're cheap. If you wear out something from them, you've earned the right to buy a good brand of that tool.
I've gone through a skoolie (school bus converted to an RV) project and now most of a house renovation with one 1/4" Ryobi drill and one 3/8" Harbor Freight drill and they're both somehow still going strong after five years of hard usage. I had bad opinions of both manufacturers before but not any more.
My experience with Harbor Freight power tools is a (corded) circular saw that works extremely well. I put in a better blade, and it rocks. I've had it for years and it shows no signs of slowing down. I'm not a heavy user but I've used it for quite a few projects over the years, including an RV renovation I'm working on now.
Ryobi is the perfect price point and level of quality for DIY stuff, but you still want a decent quality tool.
For those who hate being stuck with one brand because the batteries are so expensive you can buy adapters to convert between them. For instance I use a rigid battery with a ryobi tool etc and it works great! I've seen adapters for working between most of the brands since almost all the tools are 18V. I've seen ones that jump between lower voltages and higher ones which is a bit sketchier but are likely fine as well. https://www.google.com/search?q=power+tool+battery+adapter
You do lose power through those, so they're not great for high power tools. Torque Test Channel has done quite a few videos on this.
I got three of the four, just one more power tool set and I'll be sweet lol
Worx life!
Get a landroid!
I got the Bluetooth speaker from Menards online. I love it. I charge my cellphone and listen to podcasts while I work. The small battery gives me nearly a day of audio.
Jawsaw ftw
I’ve been pretty happy with the Ryobi 18 and 40 volt stuff. If I ever need anything fancier I’ll probably start investing in milwaukee. At some point I plan to invest into a tool storage system and milwaukee may win that decision…
For corded stuff, brand loyalty isn’t that useful. I have a dewalt portable/job site table saw I really like.
My jigsaw and circular saw are skil, so I could probably stand to upgrade, but they work well enough.
Just bought a kobalt powered screwdriver that uses usbc to charge and seems fine for household use (when a drill driver is not needed)
Still have an old dewalt drill on a dead battery platform that refuses to die.
If you're looking for a solid storage system, check out toughbuilt or flex. As someone with the rare experience in several different mobile tool chests, flex and toughbuilt kick the hell out of the packout. I run the toughbuilt stacktech myself, and it's got everything I could have hoped for. Tough as hell, metal corners, waterproof, no fumbling to lock or unlock pieces as they connect automatically, and they're a good bit cheaper to boot.
House Makita brings honor to our projects with powerful Nippon steel.
Seriously though, back when I worked for a small construction outfit. There were two teams of contractors. One vietnamese, the other Bosnian. They all bought used Makita tools.
I had no idea there even was a market for used tools back then. But it was enough to sell me on them myself. But man, are they pricier.
No love for Porter-Cable?
Boooooo.
They're being replaced by the zombie corpse of craftsman, basically discontinued
Goblin magic is powerful but kept from the civilized world.
How dare they ignore the fifth and oldest house, House Craftsman
As a plumber milwaukee is where it's at, only brand that has a cordless snake/augur, air snake, compact propress, expansion pex and copper cutter tools.
I am from the Metabo house. Its a German company I used to work for. Pretty decent gear. They have a deal with a lot of smaller, specialised brands to share their battery system.
I'm scared to mention Kobalt in here
………..boi
😶🌫️
Nearly every single kobalt tool I've had has broken or just stopped so quickly. They are such a small step above harbor freight that it isn't worth my time anymore.
The power drill my dad got me a decade ago still works, and locked me in... I have done some med-duty ranch work with it and it still drills
I've goy thay Kobalt router table, and it's pretty good.
I dream of owning Kobalt tools one day as I use my Harbor Freight cheapies.
So DeWalt is Gryffindor right?
Is Milwaukee ravenclaw or Slytherin?
Ryobi is 100% Hufflepuff
Milwaukee as raven claw and Makita as Slytherin seems fitting
hufflepuff
I would argue Ryobi is the Hufflepuff of these four.
Me with my Ryobi miter saw, Milwaukee toolkit, Black & Decker powerdrill, and Mastercraft oscillating saw like i'm collecting infinity stones
Is House Craftsman like the Reynes of Castemere or something?
Edit: sorry, wrong fantasy world...
They're house Tyrell. They used to be great, then they fell apart, now they're trying to come back.
Kobalt gang 😎
How about dads who went with the discount hardware store's brand. It's easily 1/4 Dewalt prices and comes with a 5 year no questions asked warranty? I spent like 80euros on two 18V cordless drills. I keep the receipt in the case they came in, and in the last 8 years I've abused the shit out of them, and have had at least one replacement. Just like Dewalt, makita, milwaukee, and ryobi, I have several batteries and charges, and a plethora of tools with the same battery.
I went to the store with a beat up drill, and the pimply faced teen at the register was like wtf?!? But the manager didn't want the full story on the phone. Only three questions "is it [store brand]?" "is the receipt less than 5 years old?" and "what are you calling me for then?". New drill, new case and new receipt. Oldest drill is about 4.5 years old now, so I guess that I have to torture the hell out of it and get a new one with 5 more years.
People talk shit about Harbor freight, but I have walked into that store with a box full of burnt up power tools and had absolutely no problems getting my money back or new tools. That bonus warranty for two dollars has paid for itself I don’t even know how many times. And you don’t have to buy a new warranty on every tool. You just have to buy that once and you get unlimited exchanges.
FYI there are adaptors for all of these batteries so you’re not actually stuck. I got one on Amazon
Just make sure whatever tool/battery combo you end up using still some sort of battery protection. Most brands have it in the tool but a few have it in the battery.
I'm pretty satisfied with Hart which is a Walmart brand. Keeping my fingers crossed, but no issues so far after a couple years.
The same company that makes Ryobi and Milwaukee tools also makes Hart.
DeWalt for drills, etc.. I used to work in a hardware store (a small town store, not a Lowes/HD big box place) and sold DeWalt, so that's what I gravitated toward when I was buying tools for myself.
But for yard tools, 40v Ryobi.
I have a mishmash thanks to some battery adapters I found on Amazon. I swap between Dewalt, and two Milwaukee ecosystems seamlessly
Remember Wen....
I have a Wen metal shear tool...it's AMAZING. Slices through sheet aluminum and steel like they're butter.
I think I have a pancake air compressor from Wen. It was the cheapest I could find on Amazon and the gauges are broken from shipping but it does work so....
Where’s Facom
My dad rejected those answers, instead, he chose something different, he chose... Festool!
I guess when you have Malfoy money you can afford to go full death eater.
.......snap-on?
Let's get you back to the home
I think it might be because I fix cars more than houses, and I'm in my 20s.
Good news everyone! Apparently, EU went for it https://youtu.be/eKOvXigyrXA?si=XiTMEQfNU1XmF2LQ
What about us who only have one accurate drill to assemble and mount IKEA furniture and then buy everything else corded as we will use it once in 2 years or maybe never, but we want to have it as we're thinking about having a small shed one day so we can finally make those 5 shelves for pantry and 2 cubic meters of storage space in the loft/garage?
I was sorted long before my kids were born
I'm a middle aged Dad. I testify in the affirmative this is the holy truth.
In Australia
Ryobi: for DIY, apprentices or otherwise cheapskates. No shame in it. Best bang for buck if you don't wear them out and the best part is you're not going to be worried that someone will nick off with them. A lot of their range isn't brushless and these tools will let you down the moment you need to do something moderately demanding.
Milwaukee: has won the trades tool war. They have a huge range of tools and their customer service with regard to warranty replacement can't be beat. Tradies are very comforted that know that they can abuse the crap out of their tool and not be out of pocket.
Makita: my house. I consider more of a gentlemans tool even though many swear they are the most rugged things out there. I think their batteries are better than the competition in terms of overall cycles so long as they are not abused. Their carpentry tools are so so buttery to use. Wish they had a bigger tool range.
Bosch: Not as good as the above two but priced the same or higher. Limited tool range. Batteries are really not amazing. Sad to see but the only persons using these are really those who insist on buying only a german/european branded product.
Dewalt: Yellow is not as good as red or teal and is priced accordingly. Weird second best niche. Batteries kind of trash imo.
Ozito/Ferrex/etc: Chinesium. Bit of a roll of the dice. Some stuff may last but generally expect these tools to fail at some point even with light usage. Generally not fun/comfortable to use either.
With how long they last, you could be a Makita grandad
I'm not a dad, and I'm pretty heavily bought into SB&D's Craftsman V20 ecosystem. Some of them are clearly discount DeWalt, especially the brushless tools.
Corded tools, I have no loyalty. My table saw and planer are DeWalt, my drill press and jointer are Wen, I've got a Kobalt router table, and so on.
Shiiiit, here I thought my pops was just poor, he was being worldly buying whatever brand was the sale.
Huh... Which school are HART and Hyper Tough from if it's not Hogwarts? 🤔
Back of the package instructions for gags bought from a muggle magic shop found in a Vegas airport school of wizardry.
All of their alumni can be found performing at swap meets before AA meetings, I mean defense against dark potions class.
I have mostly Black and Decker. Out of those four, it's a shame only DeWalt looks nice. That's probably what I'd go for based on looks and reputation. Otherwise Hilti is what seems to be recommended the most.
Idk what its called but if my daughter comes home with a dude who prefers anything other than those neon tools I'm sending him home.
Milwaukee = Gryffindor
DeWalt = Ravenclaw
Makita = Hufflepuff
Ryobi = Slytherin
Colours match but that's about it. This doesn't match the house traits even one little bit
Ryobi is garbo.
Harbor Frieght is the Ikea of the tool world.
Well said 👏
