Dewalt

My experience has so far been very positive. Last year I burnt out my DeWalt SDS drill (entirely my fault), and was able to source a replacement armature very quickly and cheaply (~£25 IIRC).

I have no personal experience of DeWalt other than a 25 year old radial arm saw - but things was built different way back then.

I do call on lots of tool hire shops in my day job and whilst most sell DeWalt very few have them in the hire fleet - which speaks volumes to me.

Makita, Bosch & Hitachi seem to be used in the hire fleets.

Dave

It's one of the biggest cons that flattening a Ni-Cad will extend its life. It may - or may not - be worth making sure it's reasonably discharged before re-charging it, but you certainly don't want to discharge a nearly full battery purely to re-charge it. So if you have some tools that get so little use the batteries last 2 months without re-charging, that battery will last for a much longer time than one which needs charging every day.

Apparently it's based on the misunderstanding about learned charges in satellites where they are recharged like clockwork whether they need it or not. It depended on their orbital cycle how often they got charged so the battery only charged to that level.

Or something like that (I believe I read it on a newsgroup so what the truth is is anyone's guess.)

That aside, it looks like the OP is just trying to find an excuse to waste money. I wouldn't mind a DeWalt screwdriver though. It knocks spots off an ordinary drill if you are doing plaster-boarding. And if you are using that tin crap for studding it is a must have.

Pretty good in my limited experience. I've been using the 14.4 drill/driver for a year or 2 now (though the batteries are noticeably losing capacity now) and have an 18V jigsaw (mostly good but PITA blade change mechanism) and angle driver (fiddly forward/reverse switch) and have just ordered an

I got a dwalt 18v hammer drill, and I love it. Its from the US, so aparently the UK fixing centeres won't touch it.

I also have other dewalt tools, I broke my belt sander, the UK fixing center was great, once they see the receipt, they just fix it, no enquiry about how much abuse I was dealing out when it broke - OK I was sading my oak purlins in the rain ...

Rick

Does DW stuff have a lifetime guarantee then?

No, Dewalt has 1 year guarantee. But Bosch has 3 years on blue products and

New dewalt, buy the black and decker versions!

Average quality (B&D underneath), big price. Best go for Wickes (Kress), Makita, Hitachi and Ryobi (which is excellent value).

Is there any other make that produces a full range of tools that use the same battery pack?

I have a DeWalt Router which has been fine but then it doesn't get abuse like a drill would. I'd go for the premium Ryobi stuff. Had one of their cordless combi drills for some time now and it has been wonderful with daily usage. Plus you get a 2 year warranty.

Ryobi.

Ryobi has never struck me as being that good quality, would it stand up to constant hard use?

Yep. I know many tradesmen who have gone over to them. They are pro tools from a large Japanese company.

We've had this discussion before.

Ryobi of Japan no longer makes hand power tools and sold the power tool brand to a Hong Kong company, Techtronic Industries, who apply the Ryobi label to a generic product that they also produce for a number of outlets on an OEM basis.

But you also claim to know 'tradesmen' who use PPPro.

Are you claiming all their products are made in Japan?

They aren't.

The manufacturer (Chinese, not Japanese), TTI Group, positions Ryobi as its "home improvement" brand, mentioning "value conscious contractors" (euphemism) as a possible user.

Their professional brand is Milwaukee.

Personally, for a rechargeables range, I still prefer Makita.

They are.

I am surprised.