Best power tools? Not Bosch!!!

[theanalyst]

skrufix.
makita 18v combi 2 batts 30min charger £80?.
any good?.

Yep!!!

Ive had my Makita 18v for several years. Its been hammered repeatedly and daily (excuse the pun)
and its still going strong.

Both batteries have decent charge capacity still and dont take long to recharge.

The drill is still as good as when it was new which is saying a lot!!

 

[carpstu]

bosch (blue) makita or aeg are my thorts only go for 18 volt with 2.6 amp hour batterys anythig less dont have the grunt i am a carpenter by trade and wouldnt use anything else
most come with two batts an a 15 min charger nowadays
o an dont leave them in the van only night the cold drains the batterys

 

[philtheflush]

yes i agree bosh blue the wife even likes them she puts them in her rabbit

 

[Gray0689]

go lithium only way

 

[Bernie2]

Hmm!

De Walt are part of Black and Decker is probably well known. But did you know Milwaukee, Ryobi, AEG, Regina and few other well known brands all belong to TTI?

Hmm!

Might find out only two people really write to the forum, everybody else is the same person using different names?

Globalisation isn't it?

 

[shaunhighcock]

dewalt and makita all the way

 

[oldplumber]

dont you mean yellow black and decker and makita lol

 

[Dannypipe]

I'm sure I've moaned about this tool elsewhere, but I bought two Makita drills to replace mine after a theft.

I bought a Makita BTP140RFE 18V Li-ion Cordless Combi Drill, which retails at Screwfix for £380.00 (I paid £310) and a big BHP451RFE, which will set you back another £300.

The combi drill is the WORSE peice of rubbish i ever owned and it's not just me. My mate bought one too and actually killed his on the first day, so got his money back.

I put a 18mm hole through a joist with mine, and it chucked out a load of thick grey smoke. It gets hot just driving in a few screws.

The bigger BHP451RFE, isn't too bad, but has 3 gears and crunches horribly if you tighten the chuck in anything but 1.

I miss my old Makita, I still have a Metabo, Lith Ion that I can't kill. WHich I suppose is a good sign!!!

 

[oldplumber]

i still have a metabo corded hammer drill bought30 years back, no faults yet. draper also provide a great back up if you have any problems from my experience when looking for parts etc, unlike some companies that make you use a premium line to call them

 

[tamz]

Metabo do excellent stuff but i have mainly Hilti now. Expensive but really can't be beaten. Best screwdriver i ever had was the old makita 9.6 with the long handle. Perfect balance, light weight, good torque just a brilliant machine. I think they are still available but are not cheap. Panasonic also do good stuff.
It depends what you want to use it for. A 9.6v will drive most screws easily but is sh... (self edited) rubbish for drilling but if you are doing a lot of screws it won't tire you. Horses for courses i suppose.

 

[shaunhighcock]

dewalt and makita can't beat them. i've got a set of dewalt 18v drills circular saw and jig they are brilliant and i have makita hammer which never misses a beat can't beat them no way!!!!! i also have bosch combi drill and it seems that the battery runs out to quick and it never has as much power as my dewalt!

 

[Dannypipe]

Metabo do excellent stuff but i have mainly Hilti now. Expensive but really can't be beaten. Best screwdriver i ever had was the old makita 9.6 with the long handle. Perfect balance, light weight, good torque just a brilliant machine. I think they are still available but are not cheap. Panasonic also do good stuff.
It depends what you want to use it for. A 9.6v will drive most screws easily but is sh... (self edited) rubbish for drilling but if you are doing a lot of screws it won't tire you. Horses for courses i suppose.

As you and Oldplumber say, Metabo do quality tools. Shame they're not better known.

Makita has had it's day. Even though I own loads of Makita, I'm pretty sure the build quality has gone down....just like Dewalts. They used to make good tools. Now they're like DIY quality.

I'd love to buy Hilti, but not many people stock it. Buying from them direct is also very tricky.

Where do you buy your Hilti kit?

I hear Festool make good kit...but never used it.

 

[tamz]

Hilti have a branch near me, just off Ferry Rd in Edinburgh.
Look up their website to see if they have a branch near you. You can also buy them from the website or they do a contract hire thing if it suits.
Be careful with them if you do buy them. Everybody else likes them too

 

[oldplumber]

I never thought an old git having a winge would generate a post going on for so long that people would look at, must have another proper moan about something soon

 

[Dannypipe]

I never thought an old git having a winge would generate a post going on for so long that people would look at, must have another proper moan about something soon

Ah but you're talking power tools. I've never met a trademen yet that doesn't love a bit of power tool chat. Me and the guys I work with all bought new tools back in March and we talked about them till April!!

Cheers for the advise Tamz, as ever mate!

 

[REDSAW]

i am after a dewalt combi at the moment.
i have my eye on a xrp 14.4 volt, yes i know the 18v is the norm, but they start getting heavy and the 14v kicks a good punch and replacement battery is cheaper too.

the one i have spotted at my local outlet is a 985 xrp with 2 x 2.6 nimh xrp and 30min charger and case... for £100.

what do you recon?.

shall i buy one?.

 

[tamz]

Why not. It will be a good xmas present for the weans

 

[Dannypipe]

A lad that works for me killed my SDS today.

We were chasing and he had a 40mm chisel in there, and gloves on. It got so hot, all the oil from inside the chuck had run down his gloves which were melting!!

New one will be £150 from Screwfix, but it's 10% off from 1st of July.

It was a BOSCH GBH 2-26DRE 2kg - they're great tools. Everything has its breaking point.

 

[macplumb]

I like makita quality stuff

 

[Dannypipe]

I like makita quality stuff

I used to - it's not what it once was, but then who is!!!?

 

[tracygg]

i think so, any boby have some good idea about it

 

[shaunhighcock]

dont you mean yellow black and decker and makita lol

yellow black decker? when did they get so good? lol

 

[Richard]

I am a De Walt man. Best stuff by far. XRP drills with Ni cad batteries, (you can interchange DeWalt batteries) just last and last. I used to buy Makita but I never got on with it. My 18V makita drill cost £350 and is ****e badly balanced and gets very hot. Corded Makita tools have enough lead to get to a Japanese ceiling ie about 5 feet Useless! The fences on all makita saws and routers are worse than useless. I just don't know who designs them. Reliable maybe but crap to use. De Walt as I suspect is Milwaukee seems to be designed by tradesmen. My De Walt chop/mitre saw is just a beautiful piece of engineering The Makita one is a joke by comparison. Abbeypower have an ebay shop for De Walt. They have sold De Walt for years before ebay and converted me. Nimh batteries just do not seem to work on power tools. I haven't tried lithium but my De Walt NiCads have lasted for years and go in all my cordless tools old and new. My Makita NiMh batteries have all been repaired and do not last half as long as De Walt Ni cads despite what the amp hour rating says.

 

[rooman]

Metabo - is what i use up on roof is robust, light and reliable...and of course i dont pay full price i dont make that much money but if can afford it well worth it! Also festool, and i had a go on a fein multimaster other day...perfect for everything.

 

[Gray0689]

It's a wide range and we all gave our fav tools but mine is still Bosch 36volt lithium all the way lol

 

[tamz]

When i was younger i used to love my Unifix drill. Can't remember the model but it was a big heavy powerful percussion thing. That relationship came to an end when the bstd broke my wrist when i hit a reinforcing bar. (no clutches in them days) Never used that again

 

[turnpin]

got a dewalt 18v xrp good alrounder for me got an older 24v bosch still good.. for the really hard concrete I`v got a hilti te17 have to use with caution has no slip clutch eats through concrete also in reserve have a spit 123 hammer drill trouble is it only takes spit bits have all paid for their keep over the yearsregards turnpin

 

[tamz]

And i thought i was the only one still to have a spit hammer with the tri shank. Never used it for years but it was a good gun. Still got a 321 that works somewhere. Was the first sds i ever had in the 80's.

 

[Bernie2]

Hmm!

I like Hilti, good stuff, but dear. I once had an old Wolf drill that weighed a ton but could drill all day long and did for years until it went "walk about!"

Today I would still regard Hilti as good and so is the Japan made Makita, I am unsure as to the Makita's made in other places. Never used Metabo but seems good.

Black and Decker I think took over Kango a well known workhorse and good stuff, they then as far as I know started to use Kango technology for De Walt.

There was also a US made Black and Decker that was very good. But now days the ordinary Black and Decker seems to be DIY and not very good. I think De Walt is possibly going the same way on some tools.

Bosch industrial seems to be good stuff as well. Usually though the workhorse is Makita.

 

[Rodreguez]

it might be jus me but i got all hitachi cordless had over 2 years and never had a problem.