Best power tools? Not Bosch!!!

[oldplumber]

I bought a bosch combi drill 13 months back, 🙂 now one af the NimHd batteries is already shot (despite running it flat prior to charging)😡. Bosch offered a 3 year warranty on the drill but its not muchgood if the batteries die after 13 months, and you find the batteries arent part of a 3 yr warranty. what really ****es me off isIve got 3 NiCad batteries fm Bosch that are 4 yrs old and as good as the day I bought that drill, which is now back in the van. It seems that the more tools cost now the less they last, especially if the makers add "Professional" to the title


Any opinions on the best kit to buy nowadays, Milwarkee seems to be top of the polls in my area

 

[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 years🙂regards 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.

 

[Avatar]

You lot are fixated by cordeless drills - if you use a cordless all day, it will die on you!

The best thing is to get a nice 2kg sds plus, and use it for 90% of your masonry drilling - oh and get a corded one!

I have a £300 Makita lithium combi and it is the dogs bits, I do not drill holes with it all day long, and even have a 10v bosch driver and impact driver to deal with screws.

look after your gear and dont be lazy!

if you buy cordless the make sure the batteries are 2.6 amp plus, and lithium only . . .

 

[oldplumber]

since starting this thread my bosch charger blew up with a very enthusiastic bang, nice an scary, of course this isnt covered by the 3 year warranty, so when I saw a new charger costs £85 I went and bought the bosch site radio/charger £150. we'll see how it goes but the gofer/apprentice will be happy as its very loud, but only gets radio 2/4 , when im around

 

[Plucky]

I have an 18v Metabo with 2.2ah Li batteries. It is 7 years old and is as good as the day I got it!

I have a bocch 36v cordless SDS and well chuffed with it so far. It does get hot quickly though 😕

 

[Bad Religion]

Got a Hilt 36V Lith and 14.4V drill driver, they haven't missed a beat in two years. Would only ever use Hilti stuff now and Protool, Festool's first fix sister company. If I couldn't have afforded the Hilti stuff at the time would have gone for either Bosch or Milwaukee

 

[Ockyvines]

Try working on a building site with no power with your corded tools.
People who dont use cordless are usually the lazy ones,prob on the cards working for someone else and dont care if it takes 10 mins to roll out a lead to drill 1 hole.
This is 2010, cordless rules if you are prepared to pay for quality and keep drills etc sharp

 

[Vic Cowell]

i thought theywere on yhe same par as makita😱

They are made made by makita, but they're the budget line version. i'm a hilti man myself. i know i hear the cries of how much, but ya pay for what ya get.

 

[fuzzy]

ive had a black and decker 14v for nearly 10 years and its still great, very surprised

 

[bcp]

Milwaukee for all my power tools. Drills are metal gears and that makes a huge difference.

 

[muggles]

All my tools are Bosch, and almost all 36v or 10.8v cordless, only had one warranty issue with a drill chuck that wasn't gripping, sent it to Bosch who sorted it with no quibbles at all. The secret is not to return it to where you bought it from, but to deal with Bosch direct using their warranty hotline, you call them on day one, they'll collect from wherever you tell them to on day two, they have 48 hours to repair or replace and it's back to you on day five.

I'd look at Hilti if I could afford it, having said that I'm not convinced it can be all that much better than Bosch.

 

[MDH.PLUMBER]

hilti never lets you down