I always start with harbor freight. When I break that one, I buy a nice version of whatever it was. I don’t buy “nice” tools very often. HF is nearly always “good enough.”
I had a Harbor Height cordless drill that worked just fine for like six years, to my surprise and delight. I’m a light duty user, so I upgraded to a brushless Ryobi.
My wife and I have been abusing our Ryobi for like 10 years. I thought it was finally dying, but then I got a new battery, still going strong.
Be prepared for endless mockery no matter which direction you go. Best of luck sir.
I’m a cheapskate, I usually end up with ryobi.
I went with Ryobi under the rubric of “if you use it enough to break it then buy a good one”. I have a wall of green tools because most of them are used only occasionally. My hammer drill is the one that is gonna go. And yeah. I will buy something f’in awesome. Because using an underpowered hammer drill sucked.
Hilti. Or Duss.
After three and a half years of semi professional use, my ryobi impact driver has a lot of play in the shaft making it rather difficult to use and it can no longer do heavy jobs. But for the price, 3.5 years was worth it.
Plus I like obnoxious green as a color.
Yeah I’ve got DeWalt drills and Ryobi everything else
Dewalt if you want it to last forever
Milwuakee if you want to put it in a cool box
Ryobi if you’re broke but dont live near a harbor freight
Festool if you have a trust fund
While I generally agree, I must say that my Ryobi tools are doing just fine after 15ish years of use. Primarily the drill is what’s used, and it’s seen some shit but aside from a little cosmetic issue (rubber peeling off here and there) it’s in great working order. I can afford better now, but I’m happy enough to keep what I’ve got.
I’m just a handy home owner, so it’s not like I’m abusing these things.
I started with Ryobi but they kept busting. I’m the type of home owner thatll remodel a kitchen or bathroom so I use them a little above average.
Red boxes fit all brands :)
Burn the heratic
I wish Dewalt could make half do half as good as the pack out but every new system has been a big miss.
You can buy a Snap-On hat even if you don’t own any of their tools
I used to live next to a guy who did site visits for snap-on. I’ve got a bunch of swag, and I didn’t pay for it, and I don’t own any of their tools!
It’s not even illegal?
I’m sorry, I thought this was America
Bosch: never the best choice, but always a good one.
Depends on what you’re doing, and how often you’re going to be doing it.
For mechanical tools, I like both Harbor Freight and Gearwrench. I like Gearwrench a lot more, but I haven’t managed to break any Harbor Freight tools yet that weren’t air or electric. For basic sockets, etc., it will be fine for almost everyone. (Spend more for torque wrenches though; don’t cheap out on those.) HF tools have pretty limited sizes though; they don’t have anything really large, like about around 25mm. Unless you are a professional mechanic, you probably shouldn’t waste your money on Matco or Snap-On.
For most cordless general and woodworking tools I like Makita. For more specialized powered hand tools I love Festool, but do not try to fill a shop with them. Just get the ones that no one else makes an equivalent of, like their Rotex sanders, or the domino joiner.
For woodworking shop tools–things that aren’t portable–buy old Delta or Powermatic, particularly stuff that is in no way shape or form portable. Trying to do any serious cabinetry on a job-site table saw is an exercise in frustration and wasted material. A tabletop jointer won’t give you good results.
And for hand-powered cutting tool, like chisels, pull-saws, planes, etc… Be prepared to start spending a lot of money. Hand planes alone can set you back a few hundred each, like for Lee Valley ‘Veritas’ planes. And that’s not even getting into the water stones that you’re going to need to keep them working in perfect condition.
I have an old corded Milwaukee drill that I inherited from my dad. The torque is so strong it will fly out of your hand if you’re not careful, and the whole body is made of metal. If you happen across old tools like that, snatch em up.
In honor of my dad, I also bought a new Milwaukee to go along with it. I adore that thing.
Ryobi cordless tools because I’m a light duty user. Wiha screwdrivers because I’m worth it (and they are worth it). And the nice Hakko soldering tools because I use those more.
Yep. Had a family member buy me Ryobi and 2 batteries. Guess I’m a Ryobi man now
Fwiw i have adapters that allow the use of dewalt batteries with nondewalt tools
You can print adapters for all brands while filling your lunds with some more plastic vapours
It depends on what you’re doing. Metabo makes the best angle grinders. DeWalt makes the most reliable hand drills. Milwaukee is affordable. Imo best bang for your buck is good used tools. S&K made the best rachet set in the world for a time. Starrett and Mitutoyo stuff used to be practically bulletproof. Most modern brands don’t hold a candle to the quality of tools made 40-50 years ago
Milwaukee is affordable?
Compared to which brand?
They were the “still cheap but not horrendous trash” option compared to husky at the local home despot last time I looked, which admittedly was a few years back.
I’ve been an electrician for a decade and milwaukee has always made great tools and were never “cheap” as long as I’ve been in the trade
There’s nothing wrong with going back to old hand tools that were made when James K. Polk was in the White House. Who needs a DeWalt when you’ve got a hand drill?
Hear hear. Back in my day you had to earn your musculoskeletal chronic pains, they were not handed to you easily like today.
No matter what level of effort you’ll be using… don’t get the Walmart brand. Yeah, they’re good for beginners and can handle the occasional weekend project. But even you don’t use them enough to wear them out, the other dads/men will make fun of you for having the hardware equivalent of velcro shoes from the dollar store.
Honest answer: I started with DeWalt. Had issues. Went to Milwaukee. Never regretted it.
We have those walmart brand equivalents in Germany, from supermarkets like Lidl, Norma and co…
In my world, people who come to the task with a brand new, expensive Makita drill deserve way more mockery than people who come with a cheap, well used Lidl drill.
