In general, which of the following brands of power tools do you think are best and which ones are worst? I realize some brands may make some things better than others and worse than others and that no one brand necessarily makes everything the best.
If I had time to give my opinion on all the tools I believe my reply would turn in to something more like a book.
But in short it is true it is not the maker it's the tool.
As example Dewalt makes the best job site table saw out there but their 1/2'" hammer drill is lacking.
Milwaukee makes a much better 1/2" hammer drill.
Ryobi makes tools for Craftsman so except the name on the side of them they are pretty much the same.
And they have one of the best in line belt sanders out there.
I decide what I going to buy and how much I'm willing to pay by how much I'm likely to use it.
Recently I bought A little 110 volt jack hammer at Harbor Freight for $400 (The Bosch was $1400.) because I know I will use it only a few times a year.
I'll put my Black & Decker commercial grade tools, many of them well over 20 years old, up against anything you own. All of the original DeWalt was the B&D commercial model done up in black and yellow.
In general, I like all of these pretty much the same except for Ridgid. I tend to pick and choose carefully with them. All of the others you listed (but I deleted) I wouldn't want.
To my surprise as well. I bought a heat gun from them and it only lasted halfway through the second use. Total crap.
Milwaukee, Delta, Skill, Bosh they are about the best on your list. The rest are pretty much low end.But you should be more specific in what your looking for each CO. has it good and bad points. If you getting into table saws, drill presses. band saws and other stationary tools look at Powermatic, Luguna.
Depends on your use. While I won't have a B & D, Skil, or Ryobi tool, they make sense for the homeowner that uses the tool once a year. For that person, they may qualify as best on a cost per use basis. For a pro using them every day, they won't hold up. Craftsman has both cheap and good tools depending on who makes them.
Add Porter Cable to the list of good tools, Panasonic for cordless drills. Buy from dealers that handle good tools at good prices, like
I don't think you could go wrong with Milwaukee and many time doesn't cost any more than the other name brand tools. If you want something better you need to look at Hilti.
Worse wound be B&D and Skil although the old B&D worm drive circular saw and the Skil 77 are two of the best saws ever.
For the home owner, Ryobi tools has one of the best price to performance ratio.
I have both the HF jack and rotary hammers and its a work horse for the past couple of years for the active DIYer. It's not as pretty (fit and finish that is) as the name brand tools but works really well and cheaper than renting.
Me too. My B&D cordless drill stop working with less than 1/2 hour of use and ended up in the trash. B&D commercial line is not available in any of the local stores and all you see is B&D junk everywhere like in Target and Home Depot.
Just like the computer wars, Mac versus PC, you are going to get conflicting answers to such a question. People get religious about their power tools. The best thing that you can do is to buy some things and get burned a few times. Only the worst crap will make you regret buying it and only the very best equipment will be memorable enough to convince you to buy more.
The vast majority of the major brands will do the job well enough to keep the average home user happy.
I'd probably go with Bosch for a 14.4 volt drill. The main reason is battery price. I have a Dewalt but the price of replacement batteries is ridiculous. Someone sells Bosch batteries on Ebay for about half the price of the Dewalt batteries. The Bosch drill is a good unit.
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