12.99 battery drills in rober dyas

[:::Jerry::::]

I think we can all make up our minds just who is talking drivel....

[IMM]

[usenet]

Surely the problem is not that "they'd be the laughing stock of their colleagues" but that the time lost would cost them more than they'd saved by using a cheap[er] tool.

I'm reserving judgement on the reliability (or otherwise) of my 'professional' Metabo compared with that of my other 'diy' cordless tools. Certainly my ancient Skil cordless has put up with endless abuse, including being dropped onto concreted floors from some height several times.

[IMM]

I know a few pros who buy mid priced tools and buy two or three of them and still have change over a DeWalt. If one drops out they pick up another. The downtime kills them, and all tools break down, especially if dropped from a great height.

If a pro had a cheap Challenge drill he may have the mickey taken out of him by his mates, but I have never seen anyone get the piss ripped out of them for buying the PP Pro range. I have seen a few pros handle them in admiration when told the price and probably thought its one of those next time. I know many heating engineers who buy Wickes pro range tools. The days are gone when poros only bought Dewalt, Bosch and Makita. Some have been bitten hard and have looked at the important downtime problem from a different angle.

[Mike]

Oh come on. People take the piss out of PPPro on here all the time. Personally I think they are good value for money for the amateur and do have quite a wide selection of them. But I've also got DeWalt and Bosch professional stuff where it's really needed such as SDS drills and jigsaws.

[IMM]

I said "I have never seen anyone get the piss ripped out of them for buying the PP Pro range". When the pick it up and feel the solidity and cushioned handles they never take the piss.

[Pete C]

Rubbish, a true pro will do the job right in the minimum of time. This doesn't _necessarily_ _require_ the use of 'pro' tools.

For a tradesman it's not just about reliability but also about use/usability/cost.

Bit of an exaggeration there, there might be a bit of humour but IMHO only a prat would make a big thing about a collegue using cheaper tools.

cheers, Pete.

[:::Jerry::::]

Most pro's buy on function and not on looks.....

[:::Jerry::::]

When choosing tools the experienced pro will also cost in the 'down-time' a breakdown will cause, when that is taken into account (either getting the job done or not) then reliability becomes the most important issue, then use/usability and cost last.

[IMM]

and price and feel and guarantee.

[Andy Hall]

ROTFLMAO.

[IMM]

Having never been on a site you would do.

[Andy Hall]

Wrong, and I'm still LMAO.

Even B&Q, who sell the PPPoo stuff have a separate section for professional tools from Makita, Bosch, DeWalt, Metabo and so on in the trade counter area.

[srp]

snipped

I forgot to mention that the =A349 Bosch is reduced from =A379. I have been playing with the agojamo drill and it is amazingly powerful, you can screw a 1.5" by .25 inch woodscrew directly into wood with no pilot whole. No problem with torque.. :)

Having said that the bosch is quite a bit smaller which would have been nice. I might give them a call to see if they have any left ! simon

[usenet]

I think all of my cordless drivers can do that with no problems at all, even the really cheap green Bosch 9.6 volt one. If a driver couldn't do that I'd certainly regard it as faulty.

What I call serious torque is the ability of my Metabo to drive 8mm x

120mm hex head screws into wood (no pilot holes).

[nick smith]

Balsa wood or Oak ?

The Nu-tool offering at £15 to £20 seems good ! I have worn one out (!) with extensive use over two years (using most days) and batteries are charged "intelligently" - no batteries failed in that time - they also shear 6 x 80 screws if they get stopped by something which I reckon is torquey enough for most battery powered uses - more than that and you should probably be using a seriously expensive tool to better that.....

Nick

[StealthUK]

There's a limit to the amount of torque needed for screwing before the head of the screw shears, surely?

[Kaiser]

I have an old Skil Duran saw that must be quite a few years old now and has suffered a fair bit of abuse in it's time, so I'm certainly not surprised at the Skil cordless that you have. I was told that Skil are made by Bosch.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

With cordless it usually does, due to the much better batteries/chargers used. This might on its own account for the difference in price.

My experience of heavy use of cheap tools is that they *will* break, and the effort and time wasted in replacing them - and the down time - makes them more expensive. Of course IMM would say simply buy two or three of the cheap ones for the same price - but who would want to carry spare drills etc round for the sake of a few quid?

I meant if they kept on breaking.

[usenet]

Somewhere between those two extremes! :-) It's mostly into fence posts which, in my case, are a mix of various hardwoods but rarely as hard as oak. Occasionally it can be oak though and the Metabo manages that OK. I believe it would shear 8mm screws given the chance.