Jump to content

Recommended Posts

14 hours ago, fm2176 said:

I'm just about tooled out now...with mostly DeWalt 20v max, some higher demand Milwaukee Fuel tools and a few of their lights, and a few Ridgid tools to boot.  Bringing different batteries and chargers for everything isn't too horrible, especially since the Milwaukee Rocket light and DeWalt portable power station have chargers, and I'm glad I found what I've got for the prices I paid, but honestly Ryobi would have sufficed nicely for 95% of what I do.

See, that's the thing, your Ryobi and Rigid would also probably do just fine for most of the really over the top brand snobs, as well. Most brand snobs aren't even pros, they just like having an all Yellow, Red or Blue garage, all neat and shiny. I think most of us buy the top 4 or 5 brand tool that's either on sale, can swap a battery with another we have or is the highest rated. There is also something to be said for tools just fitting your hand better. An example of this is Dewalt drills, for whatever reason just seem to fit my mits best. Bosch may not have the best angle grinder on earth and is certainly not the cheapest, but I found the Slim model to fit me best. Of course, they discontinued it, so I bought a few reconditioned on Ebay. I'll go to my grave with a Bosch angle grinder :)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 5 months later...

Was extremely loyal to just 18v Makita tools at first. Now accumulating 4 4.0ah batteries, 10 3.0ah batteries, and 5 1.5ah. My cordless collection is all brushed which includes, 6 1/4 inch impacts, 2 hammer drills, 4 driver drills, 2 jigsaws, 2 6 1/12 circular saws, 2 reciprocating saws, 2 5 inch angle grinders, and 1 multi tool. I'm probably forgetting some. 

 

But I got given a brushless Ridgid hammer drill with two 4.0 batteries the one day love it. I was looking for a jobsite radio at Home Depot earlier this year and seen a deal if I buy a brushless impact and hammer drill combo I get the radio for free. So I was like sure, love them both. Impact is insanely powerful, radio gets good signal, puts out good sound but doesnt charge batteries that's the only draw back. So now my cordless brushless Ridgid collection in total equals too, 3 4.0ah batteries, and 3 2.0 batteries. 2 1/4 inch impacts, 2 hammer drills, radio and cordless Hyperdrive 18ga Brad Nailer. I plan on buying many more cordless brushless Ridgid tools they are very durable and really good on price. 

 

So all in all my brand loyalty was split into 2 for cordless 18v tools. 

 

But all performed beautifully to help me finish this beauty cottage this spring

IMG_20180530_123650_525.jpg

  • Like 5
Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 3 weeks later...

I owned Porter Cable, and Craftsman cordless gear, but both let me down because of the constant upheaval in their battery platform, and it was aggravating when you spend your hard earned cash only for the stuff to be obsolete in 3 years.  So I decided I needed to go with one of the "major" brands to assure myself battery compatibility and a stable configuration.  I eventually chose Milwaukee but fully realized that no brand makes everything "better" than another but if I invest in one of the "pro" level brands I'm likely to be happy with all their offerings even if other MFRs may make a better version (I'm a DIYer, not pro, I'm an Engineer by profession).  Since I made my first Milwaukee cordless purchase I've gone on to purchase many many more in both M18 and M12.  I recently purchased a Hitachi NR1890DR 18volt framing nailer for a project I have coming up and that's simply because I don't own a compressor, hoses and pneumatic gear and didn't want to invest in it for one tool that Milwaukee just doesn't make. As far as corded tools and hand tools I try to buy what best suits me absolutely no loyalty there I have a beautiful Ridgid 12" sliding compound miter saw, Ryobi Pressure Washer, Skil Saw circular saw, etc...

I think it is economical and the intended consequence of each company's having their own battery platform that drives folks to naturally stick (primarily) with one brand.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Japanese steel. While the technology in power tools has increased in recent years, it is nothing approaching what is going on in a computer. Pulse width speed control can be found in a 10 year old treadmill. There are US companies that can make control boards but most of the components will be inported. Even US chip manufacturers have plants all over the World, often in smaller countries like El Salvador

I’m entirely against brand “loyalty” although I’m fine to acknowledge one brand did “win” me over to be my primary platform...for now. Same time a realist has to acknowledge any platform can have the lead over any given segment of the market. Like I would estimate Makita as being the industry leader in impact drivers, Milwaukee in impact wrenches, and Dewalt certainly seems to excel in drills. That could change in a heartbeat though and tomorrow I’ll say something else if that’s what the evidence shows.
 
Within these limits you could let your priorities dictate which line you pick up if you only want one battery platform. But at the same time if you’re just getting a few generic tools you can also go for whatever color you like and it’s not like it would really be the “wrong” decision. Milwaukee and Dewalt make some awfully good impact drivers. Dewalt and Makita have some really good impact wrenches. Milwaukee and Makita have some pretty solid drills. Skip them all and go for Bosch, Festool, Hilti, whatever. And sometimes whichever company has the best product at any given time has more to do with who has the most recent release than anything anyway.
 
Thing to me from my experience across all my hobbies, no matter how much you may like a given brand one year, five years down the road someone buys them out, or they restructure, whatever, and they go down the tubes...will you have wasted a bunch of money continuing to buy them “just cuz” or are you going to be smart and hop on board the company that rises up in its place? I make it a point to be the latter guy anywhere I can.
 
The issue of “made in America [with global materials]” seems to have drawn some attention in this thread. I’m fine with a global economy, but even if “Made in America” mattered to me, I can’t help but be REALLY cynical about the “with global materials” qualifier. Because I don’t see Dewalt or anyone else deriving any benefit or heck perhaps even having any ability to source a lot of the parts that go into modern tools domestically. Does anyone really think you’re going to get superior LEDs manufactured in the states? Circuit boards with pulse-width modulating controllers? Or would doing such just leave you with a shoddier tool that ALSO cost more to make? Anyone in the states qualified to supervise the manufacture of such things with any level of competency are already getting paid too much at Intel or Microsoft to waste their time with that sort of thing. Not researching it myself but hard to me to not think all the difficult work is done in China and most of the “made in America” thing is $13/hr kids working part-time doing final assembly. Better ways to help America’s economy out IMO. Maybe some of the steel bits and such could be done here. Still hard to beat American steel.


Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk

Link to comment
Share on other sites

22 hours ago, Mycrossover said:

Japanese steel. While the technology in power tools has increased in recent years, it is nothing approaching what is going on in a computer. Pulse width speed control can be found in a 10 year old treadmill. There are US companies that can make control boards but most of the components will be inported. Even US chip manufacturers have plants all over the World, often in smaller countries like El Salvador

 


Sent from my SM-G900V using Tapatalk
 

 

 

Electronics are all Lego components outside of some really high-end break-out technology. At the shop, we worked on a McIntosh MC2KW Monoblock Power Amplifier a $75,000 mono amp...Amazing piece of equipment, off the shelf components on the boards. Damn good off the shelf parts but they're off the shelf. Japan and Korea makes some amazing electronic components, China...meh. They're getting better but the good stuff comes from Japan and Korea. Very little components made in the US and I don't blame them. Mesa Boogie claim a lot of their components are coming from the US but I highly doubt their claims.

 

The thing about USA-made is a lot of blind pride over practicality. US steel and Japanese steel are damn good, Chinese steel has proven to be pretty bad but it seems they're starting to import better steel(for select brands). The only REAL benefit is QC and speed of fulfilling orders...but that can be had if they build in Mexico. It's too damn expensive to pay for labor in the US and, I'm sorry, but an American is no better at pushing a button or screwing two pieces of plastic together.

 

The Chinese are getting better on all fronts but as long as they build cheap crap we (Americans) love to buy they're going to have the bad reputation. It amazes me when people buy a $300 50" TV and they're mad that it only lasted a year. 

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Join the conversation

You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.

Guest
Reply to this topic...

×   Pasted as rich text.   Paste as plain text instead

  Only 75 emoji are allowed.

×   Your link has been automatically embedded.   Display as a link instead

×   Your previous content has been restored.   Clear editor

×   You cannot paste images directly. Upload or insert images from URL.

  • Member Statistics

    18,156
    Total Members
    6,555
    Most Online
    Ballen1114
    Newest Member
    Ballen1114
    Joined
×
×
  • Create New...