Tools & equipment that are fantastic.

[scootr]

I've been a Ryobi fan for 20 + years. I used to work daily with them. Still have then and a bunch of batteries. Chargers in the barn, in the shop, in the garage. Always a fresh battery someplace. Drills 3/8-1/2 inch, sawzall, circular saw, impact gun, leaf blower, vacuum, flashlights, and more. they are all good. For benchtop use I chose Milwaukee 12v black and white series. I have 3 of these in quick connect hex drive and a battery always on charge. They have been very good for small or light duty stuff. Retired Carpenter Scootr.

 

[WinterDeere]

Milwaukee disappointed me when they moved all their production off shore with possibly the exception of sawzalls. I still have a huge Milwaukee rotary hammer drill (corded) made in USA, but it’s 20 years old.

Similar situation, here. With the exception of a handheld bandsaw I bought last year, all of my other Milwaukee tools are 20 years old, or more.

But it's hard to blame them for moving manufacturing. As much as people like to talk about buying "made in USA", far fewer are really willing to pay for that badge. If Milwaukee's competition is manufacturing at lower cost, thanks to moving offshore, it leaves them very little choice other than doing the same.

Any word on what Euro tool manufacturers are doing? Do the Festool fanboys get upset when they move manufacturing from Germany to China? I suspect at the prices charged by both Festool and Fein, combined with the German and other similar Euro tariff systems (if still valid), they've found some way to keep manufacturing in their countries of origin. But at what cost?

 

[Hay Dude]

Similar situation, here. With the exception of a handheld bandsaw I bought last year, all of my other Milwaukee tools are 20 years old, or more.

But it's hard to blame them for moving manufacturing. As much as people like to talk about buying "made in USA", far fewer are really willing to pay for that badge. If Milwaukee's competition is manufacturing at lower cost, thanks to moving offshore, it leaves them very little choice other than doing the same.

Any word on what Euro tool manufacturers are doing? Do the Festool fanboys get upset when they move manufacturing from Germany to China? I suspect at the prices charged by both Festool and Fein, combined with the German and other similar Euro tariff systems (if still valid), they've found some way to keep manufacturing in their countries of origin. But at what cost?

It’s nearly impossible now to buy things made in USA, but I like the effort DeWalt has made. So I stick with them. 9 of 10 DeWalt tools I have purchased have been fine.
Battery Chain saw is “ok“, battery blower broke quickly, but I bought it used off CL. Will buy another new one soon.
Their battery power carpenter tools and nail guns have been excellent.

I have a set of made in USA Milwaukee tools that are excellent. Some have metal gearboxes with plastic handles.

 

[jjeff]

Quick story/experience with DeWalt. Bought a 18volt kit in 2006, included sawzall, circular saw, grinder, impact, hammer drill, flash light, small cordless vac. When I had a job where I used this stuff daily drilled thousands of holes in 3/16 steel angle, drove in 1000s of tapered semi self tappers, 1000s of 1/2"+ carriage bolts, and lags with an impact Almost 3 yrs after owning, the drill and impact were completely trashed, took it to the DeWalt factory store they completely rebuilt both free of charge. Still have one or two original nicad batteries that hold a charge (barely) and aren't really usable. In 2006 anyway DeWalt used smarter chargers than Milwaukee. Over more recent yrs went with newer 20volt stuff none of it has given me any problems and a lot of there bare tools can be bought at reasonable prices
For me anyway DeWalt is worth the extra cost mostly for the ease of mind and fact if I need it to do something requiring my DeWalt tools it's going to work.

 

[Hay Dude]

Quick story/experience with DeWalt. Bought a 18volt kit in 2006, included sawzall, circular saw, grinder, impact, hammer drill, flash light, small cordless vac. When I had a job where I used this stuff daily drilled thousands of holes in 3/16 steel angle, drove in 1000s of tapered semi self tappers, 1000s of 1/2"+ carriage bolts, and lags with an impact Almost 3 yrs after owning, the drill and impact were completely trashed, took it to the DeWalt factory store they completely rebuilt both free of charge. Still have one or two original nicad batteries that hold a charge (barely) and aren't really usable. In 2006 anyway DeWalt used smarter chargers than Milwaukee. Over more recent yrs went with newer 20volt stuff none of it has given me any problems and a lot of there bare tools can be bought at reasonable prices
For me anyway DeWalt is worth the extra cost mostly for the ease of mind and fact if I need it to do something requiring my DeWalt tools it's going to work.

I switched to the 60V stuff from my failed Milwaukee V-28 tools. Never looked back. The impact is sick. It’ll remove bush hog blade bolts and large tractor wheel lug nuts. The hammer drill will break your wrist if you aint careful.
I like the weed wacker, but the string head has been a problem.

 

[WinterDeere]

Bought a 18volt kit in 2006... For me anyway DeWalt is worth the extra cost

DeWalt was definitely out ahead of the rest, in developing the first good battery tools. But they also seemed to go thru a period of some pretty serious quality and customer service issues in the early teens. Are you convinced they're still head and shoulders ahead of Milwaukee, Bosch, Makita, and others??

 

[LD1]

DeWalt was definitely out ahead of the rest, in developing the first good battery tools. But they also seemed to go thru a period of some pretty serious quality and customer service issues in the early teens. Are you convinced they're still head and shoulders ahead of Milwaukee, Bosch, Makita, and others??

Milwaukee was the first to develop and market the lithium batteries that have now become the norm.
There are several good cordless too makers out there....and they all do the job and are leaps and bounds better than the ni-cad tech of 15-20 years ago.
But my real world experience with the tools and makes I have used.....personally I'll stick to milwaukee. But dont fault others if they choose dewalt, hitachi, makita, etc

 

[BigBlue1]

The Ridgid set of 18V cordless tools I bought back in about 2003 was ahead of its time. The drill, hammer drill, circular saw jigsaw, flashlight and sawzall have been bulletproof. Even the batteries, of which most brands were pretty crappy 20 years ago, held up pretty well over time. The lifetime battery warranty has been used to replace all the batteries over time but some lasted 15+ years and with newer batteries the tools are still holding their own in capabilities.

I now use both Ridgid 18V and Dewalt 20V stuff and have some newer Ridgid stuff too - a 16ga finish nailer and their class-leading 1/2" full size impact gun. I'm not saying these are necessarily better than other brands today, just that Ridgid was a leader 20 years ago and is still great.

 

[jjeff]

DeWalt was definitely out ahead of the rest, in developing the first good battery tools. But they also seemed to go thru a period of some pretty serious quality and customer service issues in the early teens. Are you convinced they're still head and shoulders ahead of Milwaukee, Bosch, Makita, and others??

Not anymore probably however when Milwaukee started using lithium ion batteries they were still needing to be replaced frequently. (Real world example from my buddy who bleeds black and red) these days however they all seem pretty equal as long as DeWalt keeps up to the rest of market and maintains the quality I'm used to ill keep buying them. I've owned and tried other brands and nothing was more frustrating of putting a battery in it and its either dead or dies after 30 seconds.

 

[BigBlue1]

Yes, battery technology improvements have been hugely impactful to these tools. I remember the days when they only lasted minutes. Now, my cordless tools and flashlights, which I don't use daily but get used nonetheless, can go months before I need to charge batteries. Only my Dewalt angle grinder is a battery hog.