Power tool brands

[Sukhoi]

One of my co-workers used to be a design engineer at TTI so I asked him his opinion on the quality levels of some of the major tool brands. He's done a lot of competitive tear downs as well as work on ITW brands.

Top tier is Milwaukee, Makita, and DeWalt. Thinks Milwaukee is a smidge better because they have some patents on electronics that allow them to do better motor protection.

Rigid electronics/motors are as good as top tier but the housings and whatnot are costed down.

Ryobi is still good but definitely costed down more than Rigid.

 

[mindless1]

Overgeneralizing. There are deals to be had on the internet but in general, you get what you pay for. Dewalt, even Ryobi have different tiers of tools at different price points.

Dewalt's $100 drill kit isn't significantly different than Ryobi's $100 drill kit. If you have a use where it is justified to buy a $250+ Dewalt drill, then sure, it's going to beat Ryobi's $150 drill kit.

Rigid is not that much different than Ryobi's higher end tiers.

The funny thing is when people try to talk about contractor grade. I understand the concept perfectly, and yeah, once upon a lifetime ago I was a contractor, using the TTI Craftsman tools which were equivalent to Ryobi at the time, and managed to get the work done, while today, those tools are nowhere near as powerful or well engineered as what is now available.

IMO, a lot of people try to use tunnel vision when picking tools instead of taking into account all the variables that determine which tool brand is right for them.

If money is no object and more importantly, one of the top tier brands has all the types of tools you need, then it is a clear choice. Otherwise, you really have to look at how often you use a particular tool and even then, whether you are going to try to leverage the same batteries for your outdoor lawn/garden too, in which case the Dewalt 60V system makes a lot of sense as it can also work on the 20V tools, and yet, I hate buying into this kind of tech because it usually means the batteries change over time, while this is one very strong reason to go with Ryobi, that their batteries have remained compatible for longer than anyone else, by far.

Then there are youtube videos where idiots just do some kind of race to see what is fastest, which is important if that is tied to your production rate and earnings but for the average person, not so much.

The main thing to keep in mind is the limitations of the build quality you choose. If you buy a budget line product, do not push it till smoke pours out. Any tool has a limit and trying to push it to that is asking for premature failure. The limit is higher on high end expensive tools but it is still there and all the more expensive a loss if you exceed that limit.

 

[Greenman]

The thing is, once you buy into an ecosystem, it's expensive to change. All those batteries cost a fair pile of money. For a weekend worrier, I don't see how you could do much better than Ryobi. For a fellow like me that has a crew using his tools, they need to be durable, so I buy top of the line and hope for the best.

I had a guy once break a corded Milwaukee sawsall in half. The blade bound up and he just tightened his grip and leaned into it. Snapped all four of the bolts that held the forward and rear parts of the case together.

 

[herm0016]

perfectly happy with my rigid stuff.

I use it every day now, but was more pro-sumer a year ago. holds up and sometimes impresses my Makita and Milwaukee toting coworkers.

 

[Greenman]

perfectly happy with my rigid stuff.

I use it every day now, but was more pro-sumer a year ago. holds up and sometimes impresses my Makita and Milwaukee toting coworkers.

I have very little experience with Rigid tools. The one I owned was a top of the line Rigid tile saw that was marginal at best. Had a laser line system that was imposable to properly adjust, and while it was designed to cut large format tile, I was never able to get it closer than a sixteenth across a 24" tile. It spun the transmission gears a couple weeks back, parts were around $150. I tossed it in the dumpster as the tool wasn't worth spending that much money on.
I have a 35 year old MK that makes perfect cuts, but is weighs near a hundred pounds and won't cut large format tile.

 

[herm0016]

I have very little experience with Rigid tools. The one I owned was a top of the line Rigid tile saw that was marginal at best.

my battery tools and circ saw have been very good. They have some unique lighting, like the LED matt that is really quite great. Their rolling tool box stuff is a very good value compared to DeWalt and Milwaukee. generally a good value proposition compared to Milwaukee and other more expensive brands.
sounds like the arm was not aligned to the rails. The tile saw we have is a HF black Dimond and it's much better than expected, though I have only done up to 12x12 on it.

have you seen much adoption of FLEX tools out there? I don't think I have seen a single one in the field. I was considering it, but that fact that i have to walk into a lowes kinda kills it for me. Lowes around here has terrible customer service.

also, i'm looking for a cross line laser... considering the bosch 50 ft with tripod. is upgrading to the green worth it? we need something more portable than our giant 20 year old dewalt.

 

[Lost_in_the_HTTP]

When talking brands we have to remember that brands aren't what they used to be. Rigid isn't Rigid any more. Porter Cable isn't Porter Cable. Even Skil and Black and Decker aren't what they used to be.

Most of them are owned by two or three umbrella companies now and have been modified for dollars rather than durability and reliability.

 

[herm0016]

When talking brands we have to remember that brands aren't what they used to be. Rigid isn't Rigid any more. Porter Cable isn't Porter Cable. Even Skil and Black and Decker aren't what they used to be.

Most of them are owned by two or three umbrella companies now and have been modified for dollars rather than durability and reliability.

Milwaukee, Rigid ( orange) and Ryobi along with some others are all made by TTI. Rigid ( red line) is still owned by Emmerson, mostly plumbing and pro stuff.

Chervon makes flex, skill and ego and some pro stuff in the body shop world

Stanley black and decker owns most of the rest. dewalt, porter cable, craftsman, facom, proto, mac...

matabo/hitachi are together now as well.

apex owns about a lot of tool brands that stanley does not own. cresent, sata, gearwrench....

great star is a newer player with brands like SK, shopvac, Pony, Arrow

 

[Greenman]

my battery tools and circ saw have been very good. They have some unique lighting, like the LED matt that is really quite great. Their rolling tool box stuff is a very good value compared to DeWalt and Milwaukee. generally a good value proposition compared to Milwaukee and other more expensive brands.
sounds like the arm was not aligned to the rails. The tile saw we have is a HF black Dimond and it's much better than expected, though I have only done up to 12x12 on it.

have you seen much adoption of FLEX tools out there? I don't think I have seen a single one in the field. I was considering it, but that fact that i have to walk into a lowes kinda kills it for me. Lowes around here has terrible customer service.

also, i'm looking for a cross line laser... considering the bosch 50 ft with tripod. is upgrading to the green worth it? we need something more portable than our giant 20 year old dewalt.

Haven't seen a Flex tool in the wild. Though I don't cross paths with many other contractors. Subs around here tend to have old crap tools that are beaten to death. My floor guy has a table saw that appears ruined to me. My tile guy has a Ridged saw that works, for reasons I'll never understand. Thing is piece of garbage.

I had a green crossline until it was stolen. Great inside, outside it's visible range was maybe eight feet greater than the red laser. I'd still spend the extra for the green.

 

[evident]

I'm an avid home DIYer that's been fixing up my home for years. I was trying to consolidate all of my tools into one ecosystem but somehow i ended up having a bunch of mostly 18V ryobi tools, some milwaukee 12v, and now 40V ryobi because they are the only company that made a battery powered earth auger. I've been pretty happy with all of my ryobi tools for projects around the house. My milwaukee tools definitely seem better quality though, but that's not talking bad about ryobi at all.