Quality of Vonhaus tools?

[Mike Halmarack]

I'd ideally go for Makita but that be a younger man's investment strategy.

[Theo]

VonHaus aka DOMU Brands is a made-for-Amazon brand, presumably all made by contract ODMs in China. I very much doubt they do more than branding and marketing.

I have no experience of their tools[1] but I wouldn't treat them as much more than disposable, roughly on or slightly below the level of Aldi, Lidl, etc. Don't expect to be able to buy spares or get support beyond simple replacement.

Think of it as slightly more convenient than shopping on Aliexpress.

Theo

[1] I bought a griddle hotplate once. It got hot, but the heating pattern was sufficiently uneven to be no good for what I wanted it for. While not very impressive for cooking eggs, its lack of suitability was not entirely their fault as they didn't advertise it for soldering.

[Mike Halmarack]

Thanks, I'' give them a miss on that basis.

[Mike Halmarack]

So then I bought a used Makita Cordless Jigsaw DJV140RFE 14.4V / 2 x

3.0Ah Li-ion Batteries on eBay. Here's hoping.

[Dave Plowman (News]

My experience is you can't beat Lidl for budget tools. Snag being they are only on special offer, so you can't buy them when you want. The three year money back warranty being better than most. But do keep the receipt in case. Not that I've ever needed it.

Of course this is for DIY use. If a heavy user, Makita etc likely makes more sense.

[Mike Halmarack]

I love Lidl's fresh veg. Not had quite so much luck with the tools, though that's mainly my fault for not keeping the receipts. Then again, as you say, if the Lidl tools were there when you wanted them, that would be more of an inducement.

[Dave Plowman (News]

Out of interest, what did you buy you didn't have luck with?

It would, but keeping a stock would make them much more expensive. My guess is they go to a maker and ask what they have excess capacity for to get the very best deal. Although they might have the Lidl brand name on them, they seem to come from lots of makers.

[Theo]

Likewise Aldi. What I like about them is the tools are actually made by a genuine tools manufacturer (usually German/Austrian/Swiss) whose name is on the box or in the manual. No doubt they are made in China down to a price as well, but there is someone in the loop who knows technically about tools and (might) apply some kind of quality control. There are also typically spares available like spare batteries.

Meanwhile, the model for someone like VonHaus/DOMU is they go somewhere like the Yiwu Market in China:

they strike a deal with an ODM to sell them a container of drills. ODM manufactures and puts them on a ship. When landing in Felixstowe, the container goes straight to the Amazon warehouse, from where Amazon will sell you a drill.

All DOMU has to do is send the purchase orders, do a bit of 'brand management' (ie encourage some reviews by sending people free items, pay for some Google ads, wangle their priority in Amazon searches), and collect the cash. If you have a problem they just refund or send you another one. When the stock is running low they order another container from whatever ODM they got a new deal with today. This is how they can stock such a wide variety of items, because they are just box shippers without caring what's inside.

Which is fine for basic items like tableware, but less good for things like power tools.

Theo

[Mike Halmarack]

It was the heavy duty SDS drill. Second time of light use and it locked up completely. I did write to Lidl about it but as I'd mislaid the receipt in a house move I didn't get a positive response.

I'm still open to the possibilities but next time I'll take better care of the receipt.

[ARW]

ALDIs tape measure lasted 2 days.

[Adrian Caspersz]

ye get what ye pay for ...

Electrician Tries The Cheapest Drills On Amazon - CJR Electrical

Also search on youtube "wranglerstar drill test"

He's smoked a few ...

e.g.

Testing The Toughest Cordless Drills On AMAZON

[alan_m]

.... but often up to a price point. Once you get to certain price paying more doesn't necessarily get you better quality or performance.

[Adrian Caspersz]

Hmmm... could be written as 'ye normally get less than ye pay for'

The delight is finding something exceptional that breaks the rule.

[Chris Green]

... and in my experience that's not so difficult.

Especially when you search for something on eBay or Amazon and see what is obviously exactly the same item at wildly different prices.

[RJH]

But maybe better ethical provenance - impact on animals and environment etc?

[Tricky Dicky]

The only Vonhaus item I have got is a roller support stand, seems well enough made for the job it has to do. It is fairly light weight folds up easily and although it will not support say an RSJ it is certainly more than adequate to support the timbers I am likely to be cutting to length.

Whilst our kitchen was out of action we bought a single plate 2000W induction hob badged as Vonchef, don?t know if it is the same Chinese company but it was a life saver, very fast heating, blink and the pan was boiling.

Richard

[Dave Plowman (News]

Ah - right. I bought one of the original De Walt lightweight SDS drills not long after it first came out (expensive) and it is still fine, so not needed the Lidl one. I've no need for a heavy duty one.

I stick them all in a small folder. ;-)

I was doing some brickwork for a new window opening. And decided a 9" angle grinder would be useful. Not having needed one before looked into hiring. At about that time Lidl had one on offer. Bought it and a diamond blade for about the same cost as hiring for a weekend. It did the job, and a later window too. And has been lent out a few times. And still works fine. It is soft start too.

I'm certain a Makita would be a better buy for a pro who uses it every day. But I'd rather have three different tools for the same money for DIY.

[Mike Halmarack]

If I manage to adopt your very rational attitude to these matters, I can only hope I have the same level of luck in doing so.

[invalid unparseable]

The main reason for that is that the listing pricing system encourages sellers to change the price to high when they don?t currently have stock.

[NY]

We have been impressed with the build quality of our two-wheel wheelbarrow, although I had to use my common sense because the instructions told me to fit a couple of bolts upside down: I forget why that was less good than the way I did it.

But that's for something simple: not electric or petrol-engined.

Their website

refers to "our Manchester head office" but I bet all the support and after-sales is contracted-out to people whose first language is not English - and not German as the brand name might suggest.