My thought's on Dewalt

[farmerboy]

I basically do not post as I have little to add,

I basically have dewalt brand tools mostly the 18 volt platform, and corded tools, 

I buy use and for the most part have little complainants, they mostly work as advertised,  are dewalt the best, I do not know.  I doubt if there the best, but I do know there normally good, and I can usually go buy the dewalt brand and be reasonable assured it will perform and do a  good job for its intended purpose, 

I do have a concern tho it seem like there doing just like they did with the old Black and Decker line,  start off with a tremendous tool and slowly cheapen it down to junk,  (is it junk now NO, they there constantly changing and dropping off the old line proven tools),  and the replacements may be just as good but they are not as heavy or tough looking (wild cat grinder for example),    and I have seen now for a few years a cheap looking little 4 or 4 1/2" grinder.

If I have a suggestion keep your tools in the professional and industrial category, do not go head hunting for the home owner,  that is what you did to the Black and Decker line and nearly destroyed the line in the process with the professional and industrial side of it, 

really buying back the Dewalt name and re branding the old Black and Decker pro and industrial lines Dewalt was a marking stroke of genius. 

but then Black and decker ran the Dewalt radial arm saw into the ground as well with poor decisions  and marketing,  when they bought it. (if I find the link on the book I will post it later).

I want a good long lasting tool for a reasonable price.   

a concern I have is there coming out with new tools it seems like often, and tools have nearly become throw away items,  I need a part for a Dewalt drill, and looked up on the net and found a on line parts place, there were three or four small single spaced pages of drills (I think all cordless),  now how can one adequately service that many models of tools, 

any way those are some of my concerns and likes and dislikes on Dewalt,   

[farmerboy]

you can down load the first chaper, "how to master the radial arm saw" by Mr saw dust http://www.mrsawdust.com/samples.php

[kanxrus]

Thanks for your post Farmerboy. It's good to hear your opinion.

I'd like to offer in a few cents of my own.

I to own a lot of Dewalt tools. I agree with you that not every Dewalt tool is a industry leader in quality and durability. However I feel like certain Dewalt tools are second to none. No powertool manuf. has it right in every product line.

A few years ago Dewalt had much more than half of the cordless market. Having the largest piece of the pie, I think they took there eye off the ball and let a few things slip. In 2005 when Lithium was launched, that's when the cordless market started to get very competetive. The consumer demaded a smaller, lighter, more powerfull cordless tool. Engineering marvels and technology advances have led us to this point. Do I think that the DC720 compact drill is of lesser quality than it's predicessor DC759, no. The DC720 is smaller, lighter, more compact, and will outperform the DC759 and most other compacts in it's class. I do however think that Dewalt should have skipped the XRP 4th generation and went straight to the XRP 5th generation they just launched. Let's face it, there was liitle improvement from the XRP 3 DC988 to the XRP 4 DC925. The DCD950 is a marvel in it's class. I think it might be the new industry standard for heavy duty cordless drills to come.

I don't believe B&D ran the radial arm saw into the ground. I think it was an industry shift with the popularity of the compound miter saw. It's much more portable than the radial arm saw. It's also much more versatile. I think in the late 80's B&D made the right choice to hault it's US manufacturing.

Service is always a huge issue! Lucky for me I have a factory owned Dewalt service center 3 miles from my home. I've never waited more than 5 day's to get a tool repaired there. They have rows of storage bins to hold a lot of inventory. You should probably go do the dewalt service net for parts if you plan on doing the work yourself, rather than some other online parts store.

[farmerboy]

the nearest service  is over 150 miles down the road,  so getting to one is not easy, so that is why if I can I do my own repairs,

the truth is I have only needed a few small items on my Dewalt tools,  the Internet has opened up huge doors for me in availability and reasonable prices for tools but since I can not go into a store and handle and play with some thing,  I usually end up ordering yellow as I am reasonable assured of a tool that will meet the challenges I know it will face, I use my tools hard but I try not to abuse them either.

If I could road test a dozen tools and then pick the one I like I may have more colors than I have, but for now I am reasonable satisfied with the Dewalt line,

probably over a third of my yellow  tools are the reconditioned units, and only found one that I returned as they missed a cracked housing,

besides my farming I worked construction for nearly 30 years, as a general contractor, and custom cabinet maker.

In my opinion the arm saw was not marketed like it was under AMF, and was waining in popularity before the compound miter saw come into the picture, but yes the compound miter saw is a wonderful machine  (where does mine set on the arm saw), which one gets used, the miter saw,  and it will do 90%  of what most use a arm saw for.  yes I do think the compound miter saw was the Nails in the coffin lid for the Arm saw, except for some specialty cuts and purposes,  (I do believe the miter saw is much safer), I about got a hand taken off by a cheap B&D arm saw, they put out in the late 1970s' it had a light weight tubular frame and it would flex and would let the motor (blade) run up and over the stock being cut,  it did that once and just missed my hand that was holding the stock, (at the time I thought it would be a great job side saw, light and easy to move, it was powerful but not adequately built),  I got rid of that soon after that situation.  I then got a 12" Dewalt  it is a nice saw, and has been used much over the years  (it only took 12 months to get it after ordering it though my local hardware store back then early 1980s') I would not part it,  it is a very good saw a very intricate part of my cabinet shop when I am building things in the wood shop.

I know the tool world has changed and is changing faster than one can imagine, 

I know I see tools come out by companies that a few years ago nobody even had thought of powering some thing to do the job,

one another forum some one posted a "Laser guided hand saw"  it had a laser in the handle so  one In theory knew were one was cutting, 

and I am amazed when some one wants a "power" every thing for ever job regardless how small it is, another forum some one was asking on if one could cut a few pieces of tubing on a table saw,  (I suggested a hack saw, or a tubing cutter),  I think I saw where Milwaukee came out with powered copper tubing cutter,  WHY?  how much tubing would one need to cut to make that pay?  and as pex is taking over, copper is losing market share.  I guess I am too old school for to days world, LOL.

I still use a shovel to dig up some things, but I did get tired and did build me a back hoe for the back of one of my tractors, (and I did use Dewalt grinders in the building process) but I will still use a shovel  or a post hole digger, to dig up a water hydrant for repair.

[Steven]

In my opinion, for the most part, DeWalt is #1 for power tools.  Even though not every DeWalt tool is the best in its class.  I know several people who have other popular brands, but I have used their tools and was not impressed.    As far as cordless power tools are concerned, I have had a BUNCH of different kinds of drills in my life, and I can tell you that cordless drill technology has come a long way in the past 20 years.  I remember years ago when one of the first cordless drills I bought was a top of the line Craftsman 4.8v single speed with a non removable internal battery.  Single speed - it was either on or off, 0 RPM or 300 RPM, that was it, no other bling-bling to it.  Then a year or so later they came out with 6.0v, then 7.2v, then 9.6v...  Then they came out with removable battery packs, then they added a clutch, then variable speeds, then a keyless chuck, then different gears, then reversable, then hammerdrill versions... (not necessarly in order).  Then they added different types of cordless power tools.  Its hard to believe that DeWalt's mother company is Black & Decker (B&D).  I must say the actual B&D line is at the bottom of my list.  I owned one of their 14.4v Firestorm drills (approx. 2001 model) and the batteries lasted only 1 year.  DeWalt's prices are high, but you get what you pay for.  While everyone else changes to their new Li-Ion battery technology thats not compatable with their older Ni-Cad tools, DeWalt's are all compatable.  One 18v (newer or older technology) battery fits over 40 tools!  You can get DeWalt tools/batteries at any decent tool store - Home Depot, Lowes, Sears, small hardware/tool stores, online....  DeWalt has service centers everywhere.  DeWalt has a lot of pluses to them that no one else can match.