Tools you wish you'd bought sooner...

[J6542]

The Gauge said:

My Makita cordless DGA452Z 115mm angle grinder packed up today, think I over worked it cutting away loads of mortar from the ridge tiles i'm replacing. It's a tool I've found very useful and used a lot, though only for lightish work. Might replace it with the brushless model.

To all those tools killed in action, we will remember them..

No wonder it burnt out, you were using it with the side handle, everyone knows you chuck it and the blade guard in the bin whenever you buy a new 4 1/2 inch grinder

[mikeiow]

CrouchingWayne said:

Thanks for the feedback - I’m not too fussed on brand so agree it could be overkill. I thought the offer seemed an OK. I was initially looking at Ryobi given my amateur requirements. Unfortunately the kit I linked is not available near me.

Bigger batteries are helpful for garden tools when I was looking Ryobi but maybe having smaller ones is helpful too

Any recommendations for other decent starter kit deals?

I’ve bought almost all my Ryobi kit online. Often some deals on at https://uk.ryobitools.eu/?wgdp=ppc&gad_source=... or https://www.cbspowertools.com/PBSCCatalog.asp?CatI... & occasionally Amazon.

Tools approved by our pals doggo:


I would go brushless if you can….makes a difference. Start with what you really need & build up over the years ahead!

Fave tools for me: garden lopper, impact driver, tyre inflator, hedge trimmer. Of course the ubiquitous drill.
…but I appear to have amassed rather a large collection over the past 10-15 years….

If you go Ryobi, always remember to register the kit within 30 days for the extra year of warranty (3 instead of 2). I did have an early lopper break, & they sent a replacement which had a better design!

[The Gauge]

CorradoTDI said:

The Gauge said:

My Makita cordless DGA452Z 115mm angle grinder packed up today, think I over worked it cutting away loads of mortar from the ridge tiles i'm replacing. It's a tool I've found very useful and used a lot, though only for lightish work. Might replace it with the brushless model.

To all those tools killed in action, we will remember them..

It will be repairable most likely - the brushes burn out on those, my local Makita repair place always has a load on the shelf to be looked at.

Hopefully, it wont turn on at all so might order some brushes seeing as they are only about £4

[CorradoTDI]

The Gauge said:

CorradoTDI said:

The Gauge said:

My Makita cordless DGA452Z 115mm angle grinder packed up today, think I over worked it cutting away loads of mortar from the ridge tiles i'm replacing. It's a tool I've found very useful and used a lot, though only for lightish work. Might replace it with the brushless model.

To all those tools killed in action, we will remember them..

It will be repairable most likely - the brushes burn out on those, my local Makita repair place always has a load on the shelf to be looked at.

Hopefully, it wont turn on at all so might order some brushes seeing as they are only about £4

Yeah I'm sure he mentioned something that melts too but they are repairable

[dickymint]

The Gauge said:

CorradoTDI said:

The Gauge said:

My Makita cordless DGA452Z 115mm angle grinder packed up today, think I over worked it cutting away loads of mortar from the ridge tiles i'm replacing. It's a tool I've found very useful and used a lot, though only for lightish work. Might replace it with the brushless model.

To all those tools killed in action, we will remember them..

It will be repairable most likely - the brushes burn out on those, my local Makita repair place always has a load on the shelf to be looked at.

Hopefully, it wont turn on at all so might order some brushes seeing as they are only about £4

Often one of the brushes will just be jammed - remove both and replace and off to go for another year or so. But yes spares are always handy.

[carlo996]

Labeller. Had an old one out of the business but it eats batteries and had loads of tape jams.



Has all sorts of formatting. The ability to print on shrink tube is great.

[The Gauge]

dickymint said:

The Gauge said:

CorradoTDI said:

The Gauge said:

My Makita cordless DGA452Z 115mm angle grinder packed up today, think I over worked it cutting away loads of mortar from the ridge tiles i'm replacing. It's a tool I've found very useful and used a lot, though only for lightish work. Might replace it with the brushless model.

To all those tools killed in action, we will remember them..

It will be repairable most likely - the brushes burn out on those, my local Makita repair place always has a load on the shelf to be looked at.

Hopefully, it wont turn on at all so might order some brushes seeing as they are only about £4

Often one of the brushes will just be jammed - remove both and replace and off to go for another year or so. But yes spares are always handy.

Turning the disc by hand makes a grating noise which I don’t think it used to. Could that be a jammed brush perhaps? I’ll inspect it tonight when I’m home from the cinema

[donkmeister]

mikeiow said:

CrouchingWayne said:

Thanks for the feedback - I’m not too fussed on brand so agree it could be overkill. I thought the offer seemed an OK. I was initially looking at Ryobi given my amateur requirements. Unfortunately the kit I linked is not available near me.

Bigger batteries are helpful for garden tools when I was looking Ryobi but maybe having smaller ones is helpful too

Any recommendations for other decent starter kit deals?

I’ve bought almost all my Ryobi kit online. Often some deals on at https://uk.ryobitools.eu/?wgdp=ppc&gad_source=... or https://www.cbspowertools.com/PBSCCatalog.asp?CatI... & occasionally Amazon.

Tools approved by our pals doggo:


I would go brushless if you can….makes a difference. Start with what you really need & build up over the years ahead!

Fave tools for me: garden lopper, impact driver, tyre inflator, hedge trimmer. Of course the ubiquitous drill.
…but I appear to have amassed rather a large collection over the past 10-15 years….

If you go Ryobi, always remember to register the kit within 30 days for the extra year of warranty (3 instead of 2). I did have an early lopper break, & they sent a replacement which had a better design!

I'm another one in the "Ryobi are perfectly fine" camp.

My main brand is Hitachi/Hikoki, and I'm invested in both the 18V and 36V battery systems. However, Hikoki is pretty much just a trade/pro brand, and the only places that sell the impact wrenches I so desperately needed one Saturday afternoon were not open until the following Monday.

So, off to Halfords I went, to buy what I expected to be a cheap and nasty Ryobi. I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, it's not the most powerful impact (although it would apparently be a bit stronger with a bigger battery) but value for money is great. Cheap, but definitely not nasty. I still use it when I don't need the subsequent big boy Hikoki's torque as it's relatively small and light.

I've since been bought more tools in lemon & lime flavour. If it's something where I'm really not going to benefit from spending more on Hikoki I get Ryobi. So I've got 5 or 6 items now.

[98elise]

donkmeister said:

mikeiow said:

CrouchingWayne said:

Thanks for the feedback - I’m not too fussed on brand so agree it could be overkill. I thought the offer seemed an OK. I was initially looking at Ryobi given my amateur requirements. Unfortunately the kit I linked is not available near me.

Bigger batteries are helpful for garden tools when I was looking Ryobi but maybe having smaller ones is helpful too

Any recommendations for other decent starter kit deals?

I’ve bought almost all my Ryobi kit online. Often some deals on at https://uk.ryobitools.eu/?wgdp=ppc&gad_source=... or https://www.cbspowertools.com/PBSCCatalog.asp?CatI... & occasionally Amazon.

Tools approved by our pals doggo:


I would go brushless if you can….makes a difference. Start with what you really need & build up over the years ahead!

Fave tools for me: garden lopper, impact driver, tyre inflator, hedge trimmer. Of course the ubiquitous drill.
…but I appear to have amassed rather a large collection over the past 10-15 years….

If you go Ryobi, always remember to register the kit within 30 days for the extra year of warranty (3 instead of 2). I did have an early lopper break, & they sent a replacement which had a better design!

I'm another one in the "Ryobi are perfectly fine" camp.

My main brand is Hitachi/Hikoki, and I'm invested in both the 18V and 36V battery systems. However, Hikoki is pretty much just a trade/pro brand, and the only places that sell the impact wrenches I so desperately needed one Saturday afternoon were not open until the following Monday.

So, off to Halfords I went, to buy what I expected to be a cheap and nasty Ryobi. I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, it's not the most powerful impact (although it would apparently be a bit stronger with a bigger battery) but value for money is great. Cheap, but definitely not nasty. I still use it when I don't need the subsequent big boy Hikoki's torque as it's relatively small and light.

I've since been bought more tools in lemon & lime flavour. If it's something where I'm really not going to benefit from spending more on Hikoki I get Ryobi. So I've got 5 or 6 items now.

The biggest benefit of Ryobi is the range of tools. All my garden tools are Ryobi.

[markiii]

get makita batteries then you can use Makita or ryobi tools

[TimmyMallett]

markiii said:

get makita batteries then you can use Makita or ryobi tools

Is that some hack that Ryobi batteries fit Makita, but Makita don't fit Ryobi?

[Trustmeimadoctor]

you can go both ways but battery adapters while they do work arnt exactly great

[eltax91]

You sure?

[Cold]

eltax91 said:

You sure?

Twenty five quid on Amazon.

[defblade]

I'm having to dig out a broken rainwater drain pipe.
The first hole took 3.5 hours, roots were terrible trouble - not surprising as the pipe is full of them.
Hiring even a micro-digger not possible due to having to work on top of a large brick-built Victorian septic tank... if it did collapse, I would be literally in the st!

So I went and bought the tools I now wish I'd bought sooner, £60 all together:

Trowel as our garden one was just bending
Loppers 'cos I snapped the handle off our old ones on a root (been dodgy for ages, tbf)
Micro spade as there's been loads of love on this thread for them... and you're all correct!
Big mattock which is making much quicker work of breaking through the soil and roots than a spade did
Little pickaxe, which is my favourite now - really good for grubbing along the pipe, dispatching smaller roots etc - and all of 8 quid.

[TriumphStag3.0V8]

98elise said:

donkmeister said:

mikeiow said:

CrouchingWayne said:

Thanks for the feedback - I’m not too fussed on brand so agree it could be overkill. I thought the offer seemed an OK. I was initially looking at Ryobi given my amateur requirements. Unfortunately the kit I linked is not available near me.

Bigger batteries are helpful for garden tools when I was looking Ryobi but maybe having smaller ones is helpful too

Any recommendations for other decent starter kit deals?

I’ve bought almost all my Ryobi kit online. Often some deals on at https://uk.ryobitools.eu/?wgdp=ppc&gad_source=... or https://www.cbspowertools.com/PBSCCatalog.asp?CatI... & occasionally Amazon.

Tools approved by our pals doggo:


I would go brushless if you can….makes a difference. Start with what you really need & build up over the years ahead!

Fave tools for me: garden lopper, impact driver, tyre inflator, hedge trimmer. Of course the ubiquitous drill.
…but I appear to have amassed rather a large collection over the past 10-15 years….

If you go Ryobi, always remember to register the kit within 30 days for the extra year of warranty (3 instead of 2). I did have an early lopper break, & they sent a replacement which had a better design!

I'm another one in the "Ryobi are perfectly fine" camp.

My main brand is Hitachi/Hikoki, and I'm invested in both the 18V and 36V battery systems. However, Hikoki is pretty much just a trade/pro brand, and the only places that sell the impact wrenches I so desperately needed one Saturday afternoon were not open until the following Monday.

So, off to Halfords I went, to buy what I expected to be a cheap and nasty Ryobi. I was pleasantly surprised. Sure, it's not the most powerful impact (although it would apparently be a bit stronger with a bigger battery) but value for money is great. Cheap, but definitely not nasty. I still use it when I don't need the subsequent big boy Hikoki's torque as it's relatively small and light.

I've since been bought more tools in lemon & lime flavour. If it's something where I'm really not going to benefit from spending more on Hikoki I get Ryobi. So I've got 5 or 6 items now.

The biggest benefit of Ryobi is the range of tools. All my garden tools are Ryobi.

I went with Worx. The current range is vast (I have several drills, impact driver, SDS drill, Jigsaw, leaf blower, jet washer, mower and hedge trimmer). Quality is fine, although a little below Ryobi and Makita, but then so is the price.

[Sford]

defblade said:

stuff

All roughneck too, top marks. I swear by the brand for heavy home use. I've used the big mattock, small mattock and pick to remove many a stump/root in awkward places. They make short work of almost all things in their way. Other thing is one of their long wrecking bars; excellent tool.

[Bill]

Sford said:

defblade said:

stuff

All roughneck too, top marks. I swear by the brand for heavy home use. I've used the big mattock, small mattock and pick to remove many a stump/root in awkward places. They make short work of almost all things in their way. Other thing is one of their long wrecking bars; excellent tool.

And if you have kids* those trenching shovels make for epic sand castles!



* Not strictly essential.

[B'stard Child]

Sford said:

defblade said:

stuff

All roughneck too, top marks. I swear by the brand for heavy home use. I've used the big mattock, small mattock and pick to remove many a stump/root in awkward places. They make short work of almost all things in their way. Other thing is one of their long wrecking bars; excellent tool.

Not quite but even rolson stuff can be half decent

[The Don of Croy]

The Gauge said:

Turtle Shed said:

A mixing paddle:

https://www.toolstation.com/minotaur-mixing-paddle...

Nine quid and how I've never bought one of these is beyond me. Wanted to mix up a bit of tile adhesive and grabbed this cheapy, thinking that I might need a better drill than my Wickes Cordless thing, but it did the job brilliantly.

But the quality of the mix... wow, like a wonderful combnation of butter and aero chocolate.

I bought one recently for mixing some mortar in a bucket using my cordless drill, mixed the sand & cement first with it, then mixed in the water. Worked well.

In the spirit of thread I will share a secret with you...there’s a long founded German manufacturer called Collomix who make a huge variety of paddles.

They even shared part of their factory with Audi back in the 1990’s for extra PH points.

There’s also EPI in Deutschland who do much the same.

And, if you want to knock up creamy smooth plaster you use a negative twist - mixes downwards.

Not that I’ve ever seen prices from them as low as that featured item, but do you want Wera or a copy?