Tools you wish you'd bought sooner...

[TimmyMallett]

Mars said:

It just turned-up. The box was too large and too heavy for me to lift it so I unpacked it where the delivery guy left it. No assembly required apart from moving the handle from storage-mode to jungle-attack mode.

The yellow part is steel which accounts for its weight.

I have only test-fired it on the driveway so far but it sounded far more convincing than my weedy Bosch. If it's dry tomorrow, I'll test it for real.



£469 from FFX - no batteries but I used this as an excuse to buy a couple more anyway and a double battery charger.

Is that an 18v one?

I was thinking about this as I have some other 18v DeWalt tools and you get 2x5ah

https://ffx.co.uk/products/dewalt-dewalt-dcmw564p2...

[JimM169]

This little chainsaw is proving indispensable where the petrol one is to unwieldy. The jawhorse is great too

[JimM169]

And this is a game changer for the smaller stuff from the hedge

[ferret50]

Trustmeimadoctor said:

TimmyMallett said:

Trustmeimadoctor said:

Even really good quality roller sleeves don't cost much in the scheme of decorating properly. And getting them properly clean is too much of a mission as you really need to wash them scraping paint off doesn't cut it if your wanting to change colour.

Then you need extra sleeves anyway while they dry after washing. Easier to bin em

First - the packets rollers come in are often sealable ones so you can seal in-between coats and not wash.

Secondly, a Purdy, or any non branded curved scraper means you can clean a roller in less than a minute, it really is a 'game changer'.

i do wrap between coats, im not advocating chucking after every coat

i tend to use these https://decoratingdirect.co.uk/viewprod/c/CDDSS12S...

as i rock a mighty 12" rather than the standard weedy 9"

Clearly a powerfully built doctor as well!

[GeneralBanter]

geeks said:

I mean I'd rather sacrifice a screwdriver than attempt opening a tin with that

Me too, it won’t work as the photo as it’s straight and the lip is curved!

[GeneralBanter]

JimM169 said:

And this is a game changer for the smaller stuff from the hedge

I’m looking at these currently- what hp is it and what size wood will it do?

[Mars]

TimmyMallett said:

Mars said:

It just turned-up. The box was too large and too heavy for me to lift it so I unpacked it where the delivery guy left it. No assembly required apart from moving the handle from storage-mode to jungle-attack mode.

The yellow part is steel which accounts for its weight.

I have only test-fired it on the driveway so far but it sounded far more convincing than my weedy Bosch. If it's dry tomorrow, I'll test it for real.



£469 from FFX - no batteries but I used this as an excuse to buy a couple more anyway and a double battery charger.

Is that an 18v one?

I was thinking about this as I have some other 18v DeWalt tools and you get 2x5ah

https://ffx.co.uk/products/dewalt-dewalt-dcmw564p2...

Well, it's 2x 18V = 36V. The point (for me) is that I can use my existing 18V batteries, although I did use the opportunity to buy another couple too.

The one you quoted is a discontinued model - a bit smaller blade than mine - however that is an undeniably good price as it includes £110 worth of batteries plus a charger.

[Harry Flashman]

Ryobi have a sale on. A few things are well discounted. Notably if you buy a 2ah battery and charger you get a free mouse sander, so that's 70quid for sander, battery and charger.

Some of the tools aren't that well discounted but there are a few good buys. Ends 31 May.

They aren't professional grade tools by any means, but I have a load of them for DIY and they are great for that.

https://uk.ryobitools.eu/campaigns/ryobi-days/?wgd...

[hotchy]

Mars said:

It just turned-up. The box was too large and too heavy for me to lift it so I unpacked it where the delivery guy left it. No assembly required apart from moving the handle from storage-mode to jungle-attack mode.

The yellow part is steel which accounts for its weight.

I have only test-fired it on the driveway so far but it sounded far more convincing than my weedy Bosch. If it's dry tomorrow, I'll test it for real.



£469 from FFX - no batteries but I used this as an excuse to buy a couple more anyway and a double battery charger.

Fancy one of these when my trusty self propelled (doesn't self propell anymore) 15 year old petrol never been serviced lawnmower gives up on life.. just keep chugging along though.

[Voldemort]

Mars said:

...The box was too large and too heavy for me to lift it ...

That's why you need an electric sack truck!



https://www.workplacestuff.co.uk/product/armorgard...

[TimmyMallett]

Mars said:

Well, it's 2x 18V = 36V. The point (for me) is that I can use my existing 18V batteries, although I did use the opportunity to buy another couple too.

The one you quoted is a discontinued model - a bit smaller blade than mine - however that is an undeniably good price as it includes £110 worth of batteries plus a charger.

Some appear to use 2 batteries in parallel and some in series by the looks of things. I think I'd rather have more power and less capacity with my garden. How long does your last?


It's either this or Ryobi as I have a bunch of one+ stuff. As harry mentioned its not the same standard but priced lower. The inly one if those that I want though is the 36v one, which loses the whole benefit of using my existing 18v packs as it has a specific single 36v pack.

Edited by TimmyMallett on Saturday 25th May 20:42

[Mars]

Voldemort said:

Mars said:

...The box was too large and too heavy for me to lift it ...

That's why you need an electric sack truck!



https://www.workplacestuff.co.uk/product/armorgard...

When DeWalt makes one...

[Mars]

TimmyMallett said:

Mars said:

Well, it's 2x 18V = 36V. The point (for me) is that I can use my existing 18V batteries, although I did use the opportunity to buy another couple too.

The one you quoted is a discontinued model - a bit smaller blade than mine - however that is an undeniably good price as it includes £110 worth of batteries plus a charger.

Some appear to use 2 batteries in parallel and some in series by the looks of things. I think I'd rather have more power and less capacity with my garden. How long does your last?


It's either this or Ryobi as I have a bunch of one+ stuff. As harry mentioned its not the same standard but priced lower. The inly one if those that I want though is the 36v one, which loses the whole benefit of using my existing 18v packs as it has a specific single 36v pack.

Edited by TimmyMallett on Saturday 25th May 20:42

I believe the DeWalt one uses them in parallel for a 36V total.

I started my cut today using my old batteries while the two new batteries finished charging. I got about 20 mins from them but I have suspected they weren't in tip top condition for a while.

I swapped to the new ones and did another 20-ish mins and as they had plenty left in them, I then used them with my strimmer and then the blower. They were still only about half empty when I had completely finished.

Thoughts about the lawn mower itself... It constantly changes the amount of torque it assigns to the motor based on revs - it tries to maintain a constant speed but it does bog down and cuts out on occasion however I had deliberately set the cut height to its lowest to try and give the mower a bit of a challenge. Usually I like to leave my grass a bit longer. My garden is bumpy so when the blades bottomed out, the motor would cut out.

The handle power lever is easily the most comfortable one I've ever used and the grass bag is really good. Being a mesh type of bag, air can escape very easily so it collects a lot of grass before you start to see lines of cut grass on the ground.

Overall I think I was hoping it'd be a little more powerful but that's exactly where the flexvolt version would fit albeit at a significant premium over mine. At my normal cut height I might get away with only using one pair of batteries (the new ones) and it probably wouldn't bog down.

It's significantly quieter than my mains powered Bosch mower and I really like not having to worry about a power cable. If I had to choose whether to buy it again, I still would.

Edited by Mars on Saturday 25th May 23:42

[donkmeister]

Mars said:

Thoughts about the lawn mower itself... It constantly changes the amount of torque it assigns to the motor based on revs - it tries to maintain a constant speed but it does bog down and cuts out on occasion however I had deliberately set the cut height to its lowest to try and give the mower a bit of a challenge. Usually I like to leave my grass a bit longer. My garden is bumpy so when the blades bottomed out, the motor would cut out.

What you need is a lawn lute!!!

[JimM169]

GeneralBanter said:

JimM169 said:

And this is a game changer for the smaller stuff from the hedge

I’m looking at these currently- what hp is it and what size wood will it do?

It's about 15hp and says it will do up to 100mm on the specs but haven't put that to the test as anything that sort of size goes in the firewood pile. Probably the biggest I've put through is 50mm which it didn't bat an eye at. Only been using it a coupe of weeks in a domestic environment but can't fault it.

[S6PNJ]

GeneralBanter said:

JimM169 said:

GeneralBanter said:

JimM169 said:

And this is a game changer for the smaller stuff from the hedge

I’m looking at these currently- what hp is it and what size wood will it do?

It's about 15hp and says it will do up to 100mm on the specs but haven't put that to the test as anything that sort of size goes in the firewood pile. Probably the biggest I've put through is 50mm which it didn't bat an eye at. Only been using it a coupe of weeks in a domestic environment but can't fault it.

I might need something slightly larger, and it needs to go conifers which clog up a lot of chippers.

Greenmech CS100 - https://greenmech.co.uk/products/cs-100-18hp/
or
Jo Beau M300 - https://www.jobeau.eu/en/store/woodchipper/profess...

or anythign else from their ranges but bigger!

I have the M300 but used to have an Entec (now Timberwolf) that would happily much on a 6" 'log' all day long...

[PomBstard]

TimmyMallett said:

Some appear to use 2 batteries in parallel and some in series by the looks of things. I think I'd rather have more power and less capacity with my garden. How long does your last?


It's either this or Ryobi as I have a bunch of one+ stuff. As harry mentioned its not the same standard but priced lower. The inly one if those that I want though is the 36v one, which loses the whole benefit of using my existing 18v packs as it has a specific single 36v pack.

Edited by TimmyMallett on Saturday 25th May 20:42

I’ve got a Ryobi 18V mower - does fine for what I need but as with the DeWalt it will get bogged in thicker grass and then cut out. Bag design looks the same too. I’ve also got a stack of other Ryobi stuff so have about 8 batteries around the place, usually all charged!

As for tools I wish I’d bought sooner, we’re having some work done on the house and the builders have left there vacuum here over night - it’s a simple Karcher that seems to pick up just about anything. When ours gives up, I’ll be heading to a tool shop, not a home electrical shop, for a replacement.

[dickymint]

PomBstard said:

TimmyMallett said:

Some appear to use 2 batteries in parallel and some in series by the looks of things. I think I'd rather have more power and less capacity with my garden. How long does your last?


It's either this or Ryobi as I have a bunch of one+ stuff. As harry mentioned its not the same standard but priced lower. The inly one if those that I want though is the 36v one, which loses the whole benefit of using my existing 18v packs as it has a specific single 36v pack.

Edited by TimmyMallett on Saturday 25th May 20:42

I’ve got a Ryobi 18V mower - does fine for what I need but as with the DeWalt it will get bogged in thicker grass and then cut out. Bag design looks the same too. I’ve also got a stack of other Ryobi stuff so have about 8 batteries around the place, usually all charged!

As for tools I wish I’d bought sooner, we’re having some work done on the house and the builders have left there vacuum here over night - it’s a simple Karcher that seems to pick up just about anything. When ours gives up, I’ll be heading to a tool shop, not a home electrical shop, for a replacement.

Before you do check this out for 40 quid....................

https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb774vac-1300w-1...


Put my Henry to shame when it came to sucking

[bodhi]

dickymint said:

Before you do check this out for 40 quid....................

https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb774vac-1300w-1...


Put my Henry to shame when it came to sucking

Our Bosch one, whilst being twice that price is also pretty damned effective - I have vague memories of accidentally lifting up some carpet with it. The cats probably started the process, but the Bosch finished it with style.

https://www.wickes.co.uk/Bosch-Universalvac-15-Cor...

[JerryEXE]

dickymint said:

Before you do check this out for 40 quid....................

https://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb774vac-1300w-1...


Put my Henry to shame when it came to sucking

I bought that one based on a recommendation on here many hundreds of pages ago. It lives in the garage and gets a fair bit of abuse but just keeps on going. Very good value for money.