So what brands are we all using for power tools?

[bjouis]

I'd always been a Makita kinda guy but i must say i'm not impressed whatsoever by their recent stuff, from about 2016 onwards. The chucks on the cordless drills are absolutely dreadful and the battery life leaves a lot to be desired.

They used to be my go-to but all i can assume is they've outsourced stuff to somewhere else.

I'm partial to blue Bosch stuff but it's pretty expensive.

So, what do you use and why?

 

[buzzlightyear]

most of my gear is Makita ,the odd bits ,so if you require a yellow banana with a motor inside try a DeWalt Disney .lol.

 

[telectrix]

my kit is: makita for 110V. hitachi for 24V SDS, AEG and Aldi workzone for cordless combi drills and multitools.

 

[bjouis]

my kit is: makita for 110V. hitachi for 24V SDS, AEG and Aldi workzone for cordless combi drills and multitools.

How are the AEG tools? They sell a lot of them here but i've never used one.

 

[telectrix]

How are the AEG tools? They sell a lot of them here but i've never used one.

had my 18V AEG combi for 10 years. only prob was apprentice burnt motor out 4" cutting cement board. it also took all the teeth of the holesaw out. ne motor was £40 fitted in 1/2 hour.

 

[Gavin John Hyde]

Use Dewalt 18v range. No issues with them. I like the range as I can upgrade to the new 54v sds if needed and the batteries are backwards compatible.. I like having the flexibility. Also its quite competitve on pricing.
Did pick up a heavily used makita combi drill a couple of years ago and bought a battery adaptor so my Dewalt batteries would work with it. Thing packed up b I t still have the adaptor somewhere.
It's worth knowing about the battery adaptors if you switch brand or are on site and need to borrow a battery.

 

[Timbo]

Milwaukee, Milwaukee, Milwaukee, and Festool for cutting.

 

[pc1966]

The only AEG stuff I have is a mains-powered SDS drill from over a decade ago which works very well.

Recently it has been a few Milwaukee battery tools I have acquired (drill, impact screwdriver, and 1/2" drive impact wrench) and they seem pretty good but I have not used them for anything tough as yet.
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I also have an old Makita 6096D battery drill, it has been lightly used and is great as it is quite light so not much strain if drilling at arm's length, etc. Sadly no longer made!
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That is another factor to consider, for some jobs you want the toughest drill with 18V (or more) battery packs so you can cut through a lot of material.

But in some other cases you will have limited space and/or strained arms holding the thing so getting a light but low-power battery drill that can double up as a screwdriver is a good thing.

Just don't use them tightening electrical terminals! (I think one brand such as Wiha makes a battery-assisted screwdriver for that with very limited torque, but its not cheap).
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Here it is, for the princely sum of £276

https://cpc.farnell.com/wiha/42267/screwdriver-speede-set-2-uk-spec/dp/TL19981?MER=sy-me-pd-mi-alte

 

[MJPD29]

All milwaukee except a couple of Erbauer items I bought cheap from screwfix to abuse such as a grinder for chasing walls and a recip saw and they have been fantastic I recommend both brands highly

 

[Andy78]

I use Milwaukee 18v and 12v stuff. It all performs well and lasts for ages so I have no reason to change, but I'd be happy trying Makita, DeWalt or Bosch as they all seem to have plenty of happy customers

 

[Risteard]

Hilti for me.

 

[pc1966]

Other things to consider are the range of tools you might need, and any fancy features a given manufacturer offers:

For example, part of my reason to buying in to the Milwaukee range was the desire for some things in the future (like a 3/4" drive impact wrench) that not all of the brands offer. Once you have a couple of batteries and a charger or two, you really want to stick to the one system. Which they know...

They (Milwaukee) also have some fancy features using Bluetooth on many (but not all) tools such as quick setting of torque values and locating tools that have gone walkabouts. Now for me it makes no difference, but it might just be a feature you want/need.

 

[Pauls0212]

The problem with makita is that they are trying to get all of the market... the lower end is not so good but the high end stuff is as good as it has always been. Still using my 2009 impact driver every day and no problem... replaced brushes once, liking their brushless stuff also

 

[rapparee]

Hilti for me.

Big balls. Do you rent or own.

I'm using Hitachi/Hikoki a mixture between 18v and 36v. I like the way they are dual fuel and can be interchangeable.

 

[bjouis]

The problem with makita is that they are trying to get all of the market... the lower end is not so good but the high end stuff is as good as it has always been. Still using my 2009 impact driver every day and no problem... replaced brushes once, liking their brushless stuff also

Their new 12v stuff is rubbish. My dad's got the older black/white 18v stuff, over ten years old now and still as good as the day he bought it.

 

[Phil Thompson]

Dewalt for me, have a mains Metabo chaser, but everything else is Yellow and Black.

Mate has an old AEG chaser, its a good job, dont think they make them now, but id have been buying it over the Mfe30 at the time if they did.

 

[Vortigern]

Hitachi nice and cheap or was until it was called Hikoki. Chucks, replaced twice. 18v 5ah battery (got 4) 2 with the drill. Also Hikoki jig saw, grinder and circular saw all very good at their job. Never owned Makita too expensive and have heard of problems, which for the price, well I won't pay for a name. Can work all day with the drill had it for eight years no probs.

 

[AJshep]

Moved from blue Bosch to Milwaukee, I've used Dewault but it's never lasted, even the Xrp drills have only lasted a couple of years.
I think us electricians are pretty hard on our drills in general, so whatever brand you buy make sure it's a top of the range version, especially if your going to be drilling through joists.

 

[davesparks]

If you want to see some honest, and fun, tool reviews, look up AvE on YouTube.

 

[PEG]

I've got a good mixture of marques...Hilti has always been a favourite (except their jigsaw...the royal child they should have hid in the dungeon)

For emergency/throwaway/single job use,i have used Erbauer...and feel ashamed as some of their kit is really good ...their corded reciprocating saw has out-worked and out-lived,many of my pals expensive copies.

I also have a Hilti TE72 which must be 30+years old...it will not fail or die,and will sink any earth rod,all the way to hot magma

 

[ryan1988]

Used to use Makita then my kit packed up and also had some bits stolen from a site.

I have some Hilti tools, and I have a few Makita 230v and 110v tools still.

However most of my kit is made up of the Erbauer EXT range. In all honesty it's what I could afford at the time and for the price of their tools with the 2 year warranty at any screwfix it was a no brainer for me.

And they have lasted a while already and been through the wars being put through their paces of 1st fix, various maintenance and install jobs.

Pretty happy with them to be fair they have surprised me

 

[Strima]

Dewalt 18 volt which does me. Mainly because a previous employer didn't want a lot of it back...

 

[Edtwozeronine]

DeWalt 18 volt for me too, used a driver and drill in some fairly wet conditions once due to needing to get a days work done on a roof - when in came an incredible down-pour! Wiped them off afterwards and put them next to a boiler in the kitchen overnight; tested them the next day, no problems at all! Been using them ever since.

 

[ferg]

Dewalt 18v for me.

Reasonably priced if you shop around and I have no complaints.

 

[telectrix]

Dewalt 18 volt which does me. Mainly because a previous employer didn't want a lot of it back...

didn't want, ot couldn't find you???

 

[FatAlan]

Committed down the Dewalt route now. Accumulated a few batteries now so able to buy bare units. Have a couple of the 54v tools but recently one of the batteries has started playing up and not charging. Anyone else had similar problems?

 

[Strima]

didn't want, ot couldn't find you???

They weren't on my tooling list, same as the ladders, PPE, drill bits, hand tools etc.

All that was there was my test equipment and a bare 18 volt reciprocating saw which I wanted to keep...

 

[sam400]

I committed to Makita a few years ago and currently have over ten 18v tools. I have decided there pretty poor.
Most of them have broken and had to be repaired or completely burnt out. Last purchase was the 481 drill - paid about £150 body only it is absolutely dreadful! can’t stand using it.

If I had the money I would replace it all with Hilti,
Prob going to move over to Bosch next.

Having said that I have access to the De Walt 54V
grinder and recip at work and they are solid well built bits of kit with mains performance

 

[bjouis]

I committed to Makita a few years ago and currently have over ten 18v tools. I have decided there pretty poor.
Most of them have broken and had to be repaired or completely burnt out. Last purchase was the 481 drill - paid about £150 body only it is absolutely dreadful! can’t stand using it.

If I had the money I would replace it all with Hilti,
Prob going to move over to Bosch next.

Having said that I have access to the De Walt 54V
grinder and recip at work and they are solid well built bits of kit with mains performance

I'd always used Makita but my recent experience with them is shocking too. And they're expensive.

The little 12v impact driver i've got is pretty good with a full battery but the cordless equivalent is the worst drill i've ever used aside from a green Bosch. The chuck came loose so you can literally swivel it around and it never fully bites on a bit, always fall out as you're working. Shocking and battery life is terrible too.

Considering i'm not using it for anything heavy it's a disgrace really. Will never use them again. I had a crappy Pro Tools hammer drill that literally broke up concrete all day every day without problems. It only failed when i dropped it up a ladder and the handle smashed off, and even then with some tape it kept going for a while before finally the hammer function wouldn't stay on anymore. I think it was like 40 quid new or something.

 

[sam400]

Yea it’s the chuck that really annoys me too!
Every single hole you drill the bit falls out,

 

[pirate]

DeWalt 18V here, for the stuff I use most. However, I am a fan of some of the cheapo stuff too.
I have a planer, a mini router and 2 drills from Ferm. One of the drills is a 24V battery job that's probably 10 years old or more, but of course the batteries died ages ago and i don't think spares are available. However, it took a battering and was pretty effective. The other is a 240V SDS which has broken up concrete and done lots of tough jobs and just keeps going, all for £49., so it owes me nothing.

 

[telectrix]

DeWalt 18V here, for the stuff I use most. However, I am a fan of some of the cheapo stuff too.
I have a planer, a mini router and 2 drills from Ferm. One of the drills is a 24V battery job that's probably 10 years old or more, but of course the batteries died ages ago and i don't think spares are available. However, it took a battering and was pretty effective. The other is a 240V SDS which has broken up concrete and done lots of tough jobs and just keeps going, all for £49., so it owes me nothing.

thought you'd be more into spades, lockpicks and angle grinders fordigging up and pillaging treasure chests, and marlin spikes. and i bet you smoke Capstan Full Strength.

 

[pc1966]

thought you'd be more into spades, lockpicks and angle grinders fordigging up and pillaging treasure chests, and marlin spikes.

Bottles of rum and dead men's chests!

 

[telectrix]

Barrels of rum and dead men's chests!

corrected that 4U. .

 

[pirate]

No, I get the crew to do the digging, then I "finesse" the booty (!).
and yes, many years ago i did actually smoke Capstan Full Strength...now THAT was a proper ciggy!

 

[BLBelfast]

Yea it’s the chuck that really annoys me too!
Every single hole you drill the bit falls out,

I have all Makita 18volt. I love their gear. Powerful, have had them a good few years, batteries great but now you say that I've suddenly realised the bit falls out of the combi drill everytime I use it. Happens that much I've blanked it out of my concious haha.