What is your favorite power tool brand?

I'm not a pro, so my needs are not the as severe. One of best drills I have owned is a Hitachi (3/8"?) hammer drill. The other is a Bosch 1/2" hammer drill. Great tools. The worst corded drill I have is a Milwaukee. It must be an exception, judging from the comments here. The only battery operated drill I have is a DeWalt. Works great. I got tired of replacing the expensive batteries and converted it with a cord to connect to an external 12v battery. Has worked great for over 20 years. My Hitachi router is a quality tool. The Porter Cable skilsaw competition is ok. Before I learned better I got several Craftsman power tools. They are not in the league that their hand tools were years ago.

It is disappointing that some of the major companies have lent their names to inferior products. I bought a shop stool with a major company's name on it. It was a POS. I returned it. A set of drill bits with a big name are worthless in steel.

Other companies have taken advantage of stellar reputations and produced junk. IMO, B&D leads that pack.

 

It was a very sad day when Craftsman started having their hand tools made in China and India.... that coupled with the fact that I dont think their power tools ever compared with the leading brands has really diminished Craftsman in my eyes.

 

https://www.foxbusiness.com/retail/stanley-black-decker-craftsman-production

Good news on that front!

 

That's awesome!

 

I’m bored so thread revival!!

I have both M12 and M18 Milwaukee in a lot of different tools. Mostly like them because Milwaukee seems to stay ahead of innovation a little better then others. MOSTLY though, I have multiples of those sets because of using the same batteries. Other then additional tool options, most are on par with others.

Lots of brand overlap with parent companies though.

Big power tools typically range between Bosch, Ridgid and Porter Cable. Those are typically review based. Battery tools are consist due to battery compatibility.

https://www.popularmechanics.com/technology/gear/a28359/megabrands-tools-graphic/

 

Long before li-ion tools came out, my favorite was Makita but I never actually owned any cordless Makitas, just an angle grinder. My first real cordless drill was a Dewalt XRP, nicad, the lithiums weren't arou d yet. Finally when both batteries died, rather than getting new batteries I upgraded to the Dewalt lithium drill & nut driver.

They served me well until they got stolen. My work replaced them, well they cashed me out so I then went with Milwauke M18 which I absolutely love. I'm well invested in the M18 line + a M12 ratchet.

Irrelevant but one of my lil brothers is a M12 guy & my youngest brother is a Bosch guy. My buddy is still a die hard Makita guy but his father who works in construction is a Milwaukee guy. I always hear him talk smack about Dewalt, he calls them glorified Black & Decker. The Dewalts I had worked fine for me but I doubt I will ever switch back to them.

 

I’ve had Dewalts for 20ish years or so but damn the batteries always sucked.

Thinking I’ll soon switch to the Milwaukee.

 

Currently use Rigid 18V as my primary battery tools. I use the impact driver for lugnuts and it works just fine. Looking to purchase some corded tools (drill, recip saw). What's your guys' experience with Bosch corded tools? How about the bosch 12v line?

 

We had an old Milwaukee sawzall in the trailer shop I worked in. Boss bought 4-5 Dewalts and they all failed while that Milwaukee was chugging right along.

I recommended he stop buying Dewalts and buy another Milwaukee. He did and it was the last sawzall he had to buy while I was there. Good products.

Went thru the same process with Dewalt chop saws. Foreman bought 2 and they were always broke/being repaired/warrantied while an ancient white Makita bolted to the bottom of a 55gal drum kept making money. I suggested another Makita and the 2 Dewalts remained broken while the new and old Makitas worked flawlessly.

The Skil worm-drive 7 1/4" saw is one fine piece of machinery. I cut trailer wrecks apart with them with them binding and kicking back ruthlessly sometimes going thru 15 blades when cutting steel clad composite plateside trailers apart. Never had one fail and 90% of what we cut with them was aluminum and steel.

ETA: Hilti makes some very nice tools as well. I have a 3/8" reversible corded drill I used in a trailer shop when the compressor was always running short on air. Drilled hundreds of thousands of holes with it. I see Hilti is now making cordless tools. I'd bet they are pretty well built but pricey.

 

Started with craftsman when we bought our first house. Older now and can afford Milwaukee. Picked up the M12 combo kit last father's day. This COVID-19 thing is giving me PLENTY of time to put my dream list together. Gonna need a second job. Haha

 

Milwaukee.

 

That thing kicks ass!

I have a Milwaukee tool problem

 

I only have one problem with Milwaukee tools. I'm running out of storage space.

 

Another vote for Milwaukee.

 

I like Milwaukee tools generally (my impact and mag drill are both excellent) and have quite a few, but there are some categories were I don’t think they offer a great product.

For higher torque/lower speed drilling (generally in metal) I like Fein. Four speed gear box and a nice chuck—WORLD of difference over my Milwaukee cordless. For corded grinders, Metabo.

 

I enjoy, and have great luck with, Ridgid tools. I have owned cordless and corded Ridgid tools that have been used extensively since 2010, and have not had an issue or warranty claim yet (lifetime warranty on tool and batteries!). I like the ergonomics and find the batteries last well.

I currently have - corded: belt sander, 6" ROS, and 12 gallon wet/dry vacuum. Cordless (all 18V): 1/2" drill/driver, jigsaw, 5" ROS, flexible light, 1/2" impact wrench, trim router and 3 gallon wet/dry vacum.

Actually, my favorite Ridgid tool overall is the cordless 3 gallon wet/dry vacuum...it is awesome! Can use it for a quick clean of the Taco, boat, garage or DIY jobsite - doesn't matter where the mess is.

 

The Milwaukee corded drills in 2000-2010+ (?) era SUCK. I killed two in short order, not drilling anything that tough in particular burned the motors up. And Milwaukee Customer service is USELESS. Soured me on Milwaukee tools to the point of specifically not buying their cordless tools (yeah a bunch of people are Milwaukee Fan Bois) and maybe made me shy away from some good tools, but twice burned and all.

That said, my corded tool collection is all over the map. Name the brand, I have it. Without batteries in the equation you can get the better tool in that category. The only corded tools so far that turned out to be pure shit were the Milwaukee corded drills. Uggh. I even have a fairly ancient B&D circular saw that needs bushing/bearings, but still will cut and motor is ok (use for some destructive cutting). But my go to corded circular is DeWalt, it's been bullet proof. My Bosch jigsaw is quite nice. I even have a thrasher Ryobi corded recipro saw from the 1990's that still works OK, I bought when working on an out of town rental.

Cordless? I cut my cord/teeth on Makita 9.6V (and I have a 7.2V drill as well) in the 1980s - those drills served me well for near 2 decades. The saws were a bit pathetic, the jigsaw wasn't horrible. The batteries (NiCd) from the era are in modern comparison are very sad - memory, power, life - weak.
Since the "20V"Max DeWalt came out, I jumped on that bandwagon. I have been over the top pleased with the tools. THREE ISSUES: I killed one drill years ago, DeWalt shipped me a new drill the next day! I agree 1000% the 20V Impact gun is very puny in power, heavy a hell, but sadly weak. And lastly the jigsaw blade holder is strange and lets go when cutting anything sticky (can't do metal beyond some aluminum- maybe) . But the batteries are great and the circular saws awesome. So - I have and love DeWalt 20V. But the stuff is pretty large. Oh and The Lovely Wife (TLW) just got me the 20VMax grease gun for Christmas. Thing is a monster. Can't wait to hit on some zerks!

For a general cordless circular saw, nice and light yet powerful DeWalt DCS570 7 1/4" Brushless is super handy. I built whole cedar fences and sections of fences with no cords (amazing to a geezer like me ). I even ripped fence boards on the lawn. Drill, driver, saw - 3 or 4 batteries and GO! For small work the DEWALT ATOMIC 20V MAX Circular Saw, 4-1/2-Inch, DCS571 amazingly strong for a mightymite. I crosscut some hard oak flooring in place, plunge cut like a dream. Of course a specialized tool - if the diet is 2X lumber, too small.
So I just ordered the 6 1/2" offering!

For years I had the Milwaukee M12 pipe cutter. That thing is zippy. Then this fall I saw a tool pack offer with tool bag for M12 at HD for a very low price. Definitely the cheaper end tools in the range - drill, driver, ratchet, light, mini-saw. But so small and perfect and under $200. I like them so much, if they poop the bed I will replace with the better brushless M12 tool in the range.

I guess maybe the point of this isn't to defend DeWalt, but like any tool, it's always a balance between buying the best tool for the money and a tool that will get the job done NOW and maybe your entire lifetime. I really hate the fact that batteries pin us to a brand. Can you imagine a cordless tool market with universal batteries - Low volt: 9V-12V, Medium volt: 18V-24V, High volt 36-72V?

 

Typically Milwaukee and Makita. I have some old Craftsman Industrial that will likely last forever. One I use a lot is a 3/8 Craftsman Industrial drill. I have a love/hate relationship with it. It is super torquey and drills anything without complaint. It has also caught on occasion and about broke my wrist. Ive had the CI drills in 3/6 and 1/2, and a reciprocating saw for about 35 years. I think I have recorded every one more than once. I replace the cords with really long 12 ga units. I have some cordless stuff but I don't use it much. Cords and air drive most of my power stuff.