Festool is not on this list because Festool owners NEVER GET ANYONE PREGNANT.
Because you have to choose: children or Festool. Only the few elite can have both.
If I had enough money for Festool stuff I would probably just pay someone else to do the job instead!
Can confirm, had a vasectomy years ago.
Love the very, very few Festools that I have. But the price is painful.
I dropped my locking, variable speed, single direction, corded drill with the chuck key electrical taped to the cracked plastic cord on a board and the hole I needed formed naturally out of fear.
You need to know that most power tools are ultimately owned by only a few brands
Milwaukee and Ryobi for example are both owned by TTI but the Marketing is strong.
https://www.protoolreviews.com/power-tool-manufacturers-who-owns-them/
Its also worth mentioning that adapters are available to convert between battery systems. If you’re on Milwaukee and want to buy a DeWalt palm router (which is superior IMO) then you can just get a converter to use it with a Milwaukee battery. You can keep the converter in the tool itself, and most tools don’t mind this.
The exception is Ryobi. Converters only exist one-way, since Ryobi still uses “stick” type batteries for low voltage stuff. The opposite converter could theoretically exist (say, to use a Ryobi battery with a DeWalt router) but it would be very large and bulky and so nobody really makes them.
Ryobi batteries in general are very bulky. That 12 AH is like strapping a boot to your tools. It’s also seemingly their weak spot, as all I read is people complaining about their batteries.
Heck yeah! Makita is just Makita!
Japanese and over 100 years old…
House DeWalt: The Builders
House Ryobi: The Slapjobs
House Milwaukee: The wishes they were house DeWalt
House Makita: Quality prevails regardless of how little I use my tools.
Unmentioned:
House Bosch: House Makita but doesn’t like Asians
House Metabo: House Milwaukee but green
House Rigid: wow these are fuckin cheap
House Worx: Tools take a backseat to Yardwork
House Metabo HPT: My wife says they’re great
Rigid are mostly Milwaukee tools but cheaper.
House Bauer/Atlas/Hercules/Warrior: Life is transient, why does your tool or battery need to last longer than the job?
House Harbor Freight: Safety squints aren’t enough danger
Nah Makita is trash, unless you’re talking LXT, which is 36 volt. Most of the Milwaukee stuff comes out on top on the torque test channel on YouTube.
But also don’t forget House Skil: Issue
DeWalt gang, stand up!
Can’t, sold my kidneys to afford these and I’m too sore.
Quality-wise, Makita > DeWALT ≥ Milwaukee > Ryobi, at least, if you watch teardowns by guys like AvE.
Power tools are like cars; companies hold several brands and target them to different market segments, like Porsche and VW.
Ryobi is owned by the same company as Milwauki; it’s the budget line, Milwauki being their premium line.
DeWALT and Black & Decker are owned by the same company; DeWALT is their premium line.
The exception in this list is Makita, which is its own company. They’re also objectively more well-built than the others (here), and correspondingly usually more expensive.
The premium lines are better quality (not just more expensive) but also tend to have smaller battery-tool options. Despite being a budget line, I mostly own B&D because most of my tools these days are 24V and there are more tool options there. The few, select, DeWALT tools I have are noticably better quality.
I don’t use power tools enough to justify Makita, but also, their battery-powered line is comparatively tiny. As someone else said, there’s a lot of motivation to pick a (compatible) lane, whichever it is. For most home-gamers, the quality difference will probably not matter much. If I were made of money, though, I’d have everything Makita except for the things they don’t make.
Ryobi is a distant fourth tbh. It’s basically harbor freight tools but, Home depot.
Yeah, this is like a game of, “one of these things is not like the other.” Ryobi is not in the same league as the others.
It drives me nuts that Milwaukee used to be the best line about 10 years ago. They sold out their good name and started selling shitty tools after I bought into their battery system. Grrr.
I could have been a member of house Makita, but house DeWalt was slightly closer and it was raining on the day I needed a drill.
I really like DeWALT. I think it’s a solid choice, and I doubt anyone who isn’t a professional will notice the difference in quality between those and Makita. Plus, they have some neat tools that have unusual features that make an unexpectedly large improvement in ease-of-use.
I’m in that fifth house that no-one ever seems to talk about: BOSCH.
J/K, I’m mostly Bosch, but I look towards whichever manufacturer makes the best version of a tool I currently need. For example, my chainsaws and yard/orchard power tools are Stihl, my lawnmower is Husqvarna, my circular saw, worm drive saw and abrasion/steel cutoff saw are all Skilsaw (not Skil!), and my oscillating multi tool is Fein.
Plus, many of the domestics are vintage, from before production was outsourced out of America, which makes them much more reliable and robust than modern tools. Even some of the other tools are vintage – my Stihl 076 Super can cut through a 60cm log like a hot knife through butter. And I have both 36″ and 72″ bars to go with it.
I always lean towards Bosch where possible, mainly because of their charitable work. The founder set things up so that it’s perpetually funded from the company profits. That just appeals to me as the tiebreaker when deciding between a bunch of similarly priced tools that will otherwise do the job well enough.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Robert_Bosch_Stiftung
That said, I tend to go for corded options where practical. I have some corded tools that I’ve owned for over thirty years now that still get occasional use. Battery tools are convenient for their portability, but they do have a limit to their useful life.
Straight up Ryobi here. It’s not pro-hardcore, but for homeowner DYI and the variety and range of devices, it’s been solid.
Pretty funny how Home Depot has stayed neutral and carried all those brands.
20v to house DeWalt!
We are a cheap garbage household 💪💪💪💪💪
Not a dad but heavily into the Makita gang. As a German I should be into Hilti or Metabo but Makita just hits the sweetspot of quality and pricing for me.
You forgot Bosch! It’s a shit company in my opinion though… they also produce in Chinese prison camps
Which ne is the Harbor Freight’s Warrior & Hecules house?
GryffinDeWalt
Milwauflepuff
Ravenkita
SlytheRyobiWent looking for my Craftsman brothers, but I’m afraid I may stand alone.
IIRC, that might be because their quality & reputation took a dip for a while. They were, after all, a Sears brand, and Sears got run into the ground by some blood-sucking leadership.
That said, they used to have a great reputation, and were sold to Black & Decker in 2017, who seem to be handling the line up much, much better.
Most of my SB&D Craftsmam stuff is ptetty good.
I stand in solidarity with you brother!
