Which cordless tool manufacturer?

[ChocolateFrog]

I'd start a poll but don't seem to have the option.

I've been Team Teal for the best part of 30 years. Recently though I've not been impressed with their stuff and I'm contemplating jumping ship, feels a bit like disowning your own team.

If you were starting from scratch then what would you go for? Obviously £5k worth of Festool would be great but realistically for a DIYer who doesn't want to spend thousands that rules that out.

Half tempted by Ryobi, I know they're the butt of the jokes if it's your job but maybe they're fine used a few times a year? And they seem to loads of tools at reasonable prices?

Or would Milwakee be a better bet?

[Kwackersaki]

I always buy Worx stuff.

The battery on the mini drill driver I bought 15yrs ago is finally giving up the ghost after being used and abused. Good quality for the price.

[Belle427]

I have always been a bit of a tool snob, was always Milwaukee when I worked on sites but bought Ryobi years ago mainly for diy use and have been very impressed with it.
Have around 10 items now and wouldn't hesitate to get more.
I have 2 x 4 ah batteries and 1 2.5 ah, I'd always aim for the 4ah though if buying from scratch.
To be honest all the big names are very similar reliability wise.

[Scrump]

I have fallen into Makita. The tools I have are all great but I do sometimes look at Ryobi and see a wider range of tools aimed a bit more at the home user.
I am contemplating getting a battery adaptor to enable me to use a ryobi tool with my Makita batteries.

[WrekinCrew]

Maybe worth a watch...

[bennno]

Hikoki (formerly hitachi) can be brought online for sensible money and you get Japanese build quality, professional grade tools, the brushless ranges are very good kit.

Personally dislike Ryobi, cheaply built down to a price for the sheds to sell.

[Mr Pointy]

bennno said:

Hikoki (formerly hitachi) can be brought online for sensible money and you get Japanese build quality, professional grade tools, the brushless ranges are very good kit.

Personally dislike Ryobi, cheaply built down to a price for the sheds to sell.

But the basic products are entirely adequate for DiY use. You don't need a £200 36v brushless drill to do the majority of what is required & if the tools are a bit cheaper then you can buy more of them. DeWalt & Makita don't highlight that not all of their range is created equal.

[J6542]

nuyorican said:

What colour do you like best?

I think they’re all similar. I’m with Milwaukee as that was what was on offer when I bought the original drill. Fantastic tools.

12v Milwaukee is still decent kit. The 18v stuff has become cheaply made non repairable crap in the last few years.

[bennno]

Mr Pointy said:

bennno said:

Hikoki (formerly hitachi) can be brought online for sensible money and you get Japanese build quality, professional grade tools, the brushless ranges are very good kit.

Personally dislike Ryobi, cheaply built down to a price for the sheds to sell.

But the basic products are entirely adequate for DiY use. You don't need a £200 36v brushless drill to do the majority of what is required & if the tools are a bit cheaper then you can buy more of them. DeWalt & Makita don't highlight that not all of their range is created equal.

Buy why bother when you get pro quality for so little

https://hikokipowertoolsdirect.com/products/hikoki...

https://hikokipowertoolsdirect.com/collections/imp...

[Bikesalot]

Ryobi have always got deals on. You can get a lot for not much money with a variety of batteries. Everything comes with a 3 year warranty. Takes a bit of time adding all the make/models/tools/batteries/chargers to their online system to activate it but seemingly worth it

[skeeterm5]

I am team DeWalt here.

In my view they strike a good balance of performance, durability and price. Never had a problem with them and like other brands have a very wide range.

[J6542]

nuyorican said:

J6542 said:

12v Milwaukee is still decent kit. The 18v stuff has become cheaply made non repairable crap in the last few years.

Is that right?

Damn. I might have bought my brushless 18v drill/driver set about five years ago and it’s been amazing. I’ve only bought a vac and a sander since and they’ve both been fine.

Good to know though, cheers.

Their stuff has notably gone down hill since 2021. There is a guy on YouTube called Dean Doherty that works for a builders merchants in Ireland as a tool repair man. He has hundreds of strip down and repair videos of every tool you can think off. In his Milwaukee tear downs he explains how badly made the new stuff is. And it’s not just the cheaper sets like you get from Screwfix it’s the expensive stuff as well.
It’s sold as a premium product but it no longer is. I have no skin in the game since I own several hundred pounds of Milwaukee gear.

[White-Noise]

I was only thinking about this yesterday and ryobi caught my eye.

Can anyone give me an idea of the supposed hierarchy here please?

I always assumed dewalt was at the top with milwaukee then something like makita below then I heard about ryobi.

I don't need professional grade stuff for the odd bit of DIY but the ability to mix with other stuff like gardening tools does appeal.

Thanks

[Antony Moxey]

skeeterm5 said:

I am team DeWalt here.

In my view they strike a good balance of performance, durability and price. Never had a problem with them and like other brands have a very wide range.

Same here. Most brands are much of a muchness so once your happy stick with them, especially as most cordless stuff comes without batteries and cases these days.

[Belle427]

White-Noise said:

I was only thinking about this yesterday and ryobi caught my eye.

Can anyone give me an idea of the supposed hierarchy here please?

I always assumed dewalt was at the top with milwaukee then something like makita below then I heard about ryobi.

I don't need professional grade stuff for the odd bit of DIY but the ability to mix with other stuff like gardening tools does appeal.

Thanks

Dewalt were the Rolls Royce of tools many years ago when they first came out but like everything quality goes slowly downhill and companies get bought out.
For Diy use they are fine as are most of the others, we have one at work and it feels pretty good in the hand to be fair.

[Mr Pointy]

bennno said:

Mr Pointy said:

bennno said:

Hikoki (formerly hitachi) can be brought online for sensible money and you get Japanese build quality, professional grade tools, the brushless ranges are very good kit.

Personally dislike Ryobi, cheaply built down to a price for the sheds to sell.

But the basic products are entirely adequate for DiY use. You don't need a £200 36v brushless drill to do the majority of what is required & if the tools are a bit cheaper then you can buy more of them. DeWalt & Makita don't highlight that not all of their range is created equal.

Buy why bother when you get pro quality for so little

https://hikokipowertoolsdirect.com/products/hikoki...

https://hikokipowertoolsdirect.com/collections/imp...

Come on, you've cherry picked two items on sale. They look like nice tools but they'd really like you spend over £640 on a SDS drill: some of it is entering Festool territory.

[gtidriver]

I've had Makita, batteries are CRAP. Dewalt is ok, Bosch is ok but again 12v batteries don't last, Festool is just awesome, no problems in the 4 years I've been using them. Yes, people will moan about them being expensive but none of mine have died, i gave my son an older 12v Festool drill the other day id bought but not used and it still had a lot of life in the batteries. Festool for the win.

[jimothyc]

I've deep into a Makita hole and I love them. Not bought a bad tool yet. Batteries are great, never had one fail. I'm still regularly using the 4ah I got with my first drill 10+ years ago.

But ultimately they're all much the same, so pick you favourite colour and go for it.

[R6tty]

I know the answer. But I can't tell you because you'll probably buy Festool. A triumph of marketing over substance.

[Escort3500]

Couldn’t justify the cost of Milwaukee or DeWalt for basic domestic DIY stuff so bought a range of Ryobi and it’s been robust and reliable so far (2 years or so). Perhaps surprisingly, a sparky doing some wiring for us had a mix of Milwaukee and Ryobi kit and rated both highly for their respective price points