Re: good price for deWalt cordless drill with 13mm chuck?

[Grunff]

ROFL!

I don't believe you.

New mini or old mini?

[Tony Bryer]

Kress is a name I've had lodged in my brain for a long while: IIRC our local BMJ Centre used to sell them. Their website

doesn't list a UK contact but this may well be, as you suggest, that here they've decided to let Wickes do the marketing. It does though say "Kress electric power tools are produced in Germany and Switzerland" so we are not talking Chinese-made PP stuff. Certainly my Wickes grey SDS drill has taken everything I've thrown at it.

[Andy Hall]

What are you talking about? I presume you mean Porter Cable. They make some product in the U.S. and the remainder comes from factories in the far east, presumably the same ones that Kress use.

Clearly the market doesn't agree.

Why would I waste my time. You made the assertion, so you justify it .andy

To email, substitute .nospam with .gl

[Grunff]

Yes, they do.

I don't really have anything against Toyotas, it's just that they are

*extremely* dull to drive (I've driven a fair few different ones). If dull and reliable is what you want, then sure, why not.

[Andy Hall]

For sale in Wickes? ROTFL.

That doesn't make the products unsuitable. You seem to have a fixation that DIY automatically has to equate to low tool prices. In reality, there is no correlation between the two - it depends on individual choice.

So?

An OEM warehousing outlet is not the same as a a brand label dealer.

Really? So why aren't they all over tool catalogues and web sites?

I think you'll find that the prestigious U.S brands source some product in the same Chinese/Taiwanese factories as Kress.

.andy

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[IMM]

1966.

[IMM]

Andy stop making things up.

[Tony Bryer]

Kress's website says that their tools are made in Germany and Switzerland. What evidence do you have that they are not?

[IMM]

Yep.

They are one of the USs top brands and Kress are made in Switzerland and Germany.

Clearly you are confused. The survey came from the market.

You want the service agent, I told you where to get it. Cheeky sod! You obviously want a Kress/Wickes tool.

[IMM]

I rented a Camry in the USA and it was very nice. The new Camry is also v good.

[Grunff]

If this is true, then you have just gained a grain of my respect.

[IMM]

Your ignorance hold no bounds. Ever been to Wickes? It is NOT DIY. Ever notice the builders vans packing the car parks?

It does.

NO! Appropriate tool prices for the level of use. Makita is just way too expensive for DIY.

The price/performance, quality and service are all that matters to normal people, and Kress have it all.

Maybe because they don't advertise in the mags. the mags are full of advertotials.

Stop making thing up.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Then what are they sold for given you seem to think all tradesmen use wicks or other such no name junk?

[Andy Hall]

That is some products of their own brand.

One does not see Kress brand products commonly in the U.S.

It is the usual global brands plus Porter-Cable, Milwaukee in portable tools.

There is no way that they can be making OEM products for Wickes at their prices in Germany or especially Switzerland.

Yeah sure...

.andy

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[Andy Hall]

Common economics. There is no way that the products sold through Wickes can be at the prices involved.

At best, they are playing the local EU content rules and importing sub-assemblies - more likely offshore manufacturing.

.andy

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[IMM]

Which is a lot of Kress.

But they do.

I thought so.

[IMM]

He doesn't, he makes it all up.

[IMM]

STOP making things up! You don't know.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

They go with the IMM image - in his mind. Which has been softened by too many Martinis.

007 doing the Tango. Fleming must be turning in his grave.

[RichardS]

Oh, I won't argue that they aren't Kress as they so obviously are. What I mean is that they are a rebadged OEM version of the Kress tool, from Kress, and this is not necessarily the same tool at all.

Atlas Copco make drill/drivers (amongst many, many other tools). Bloody good ones too, Industrial rated to the core. Now, AC group also own the AEG power tool brand. You can buy a drill/driver with the same voltage rating, and looks _identical_ to the AC drill/driver, but it's a lot cheaper. you might be forgiven for thinking that the AEG tool is just an OEM rebadged version of the AC tool, but it isn't - the specs are very different, from the battery capacity to the torque to the chuck that's supplied with it, & they have different motors.

I've played with the Wickes range of tools, the pro range as well, and they fall far short of the quality of industrial tools.

(I'm no fan of DW, btw. Their top end stuff is nicely made kit., but expensive. The bottom end stuff is just yellow B&D. Hearing a couple of pros referring to them as "De Fault" in the tool shop recently didn't do much to inspire confidence. The routers are decent, but then they're still Elu routers with a different cover).

So, the wickes kress special-line SDS is approx £120. The Makita 2450 SDS is approx £120. Where's the big difference in that price?

IIRC BMJ went belly up.

"go to a Kress dealer" you say. There are no Kress main dealers in the UK as far as I can see. So basically the whole of this thread is based upon the fact that you know Kress do oem for wickes, and you can read the product range on their website.

-- Richard Sampson

email me at richard at olifant d-ot co do-t uk