All over the map, but ~7 years ago when I moved into my new house I bought a set of Porter Cable cordless 20V that has served me well. DeWalt table saw and drywall screw gun, Hitachi and Makita nail guns. Bosch router and sander. Old school Milwaukee sawzall. Old American made Craftsman socket set. Makita compressor.
The big issue with the PC is that they just don’t have a very big tool eco-system.
I got the Porter Cable because I previously had a small set of DeWalt tools and felt like I under utilized them over 20 years. So instead of going contractor grade I went more prosumer. In retrospect I wish I’d bought Milwaukee, because I’ve used the hell out of the PC, but they’ve served me well.
I bought most of the porter cable 20v range when Lowe’s clearanced them out right before I bought my house a few years ago figuring they would last me a few years and I could upgrade to one of the pro-sumer brands. I’ve put the drill and impact through hell and they keep coming back for more.
ProTip: Mixing mortar will kill the drill fairly quickly, but slower than I expected. This is the non-brushless one for the record.
Also ProTip: You can often find them for $20 on ebay. $80 for the brushless, NIB.
Been a real workhorse.
+1 for Makita, I have cordless and corded tools, some of them used in construction business, they are solid.
We’re a Makita home, but I wouldn’t mind other nice brushless based tools from other brands. I’ve considered custom printed battery adapters to be able to make other brands compatible with my Makita battery investment.
Shit, my man, ever since Craftsman stopped really being Craftsman, all bets are off.
In case anyone is curious, the Lifetime Warranty on Craftsman hand tools is still in effect. You need to walk into a Lowe’s with your broken ratchet, now, but they’ll still swap you another one for free. It just hurts a little trading in your 20-year-old Craftsman ratchet, which is lighter, better built, and shows attention to detail, for a lump of Chinesium that’s just bluntly stamped also-ran stuff. Definitely a downgrade. But the warranty is still there, so that’s something.
Now, shit, who knows? My stuff is still mostly Craftsman, but stuff has been replaced with lesser brands as it fails or gets lost, it’s whatever, now, for hand tools.
I’ve heard good things about Makita, lately. Make sure you follow TorqueTestChannel on Youtube for the real man news, they’ve got a whole setup for testing power tools to see if they’re worth the price.
Husky tools were recommended to me by a diesel mechanic. Home Depot brand. The tools are pretty nice and warranty has been solid.
Craftsman has brought back a lot of their manufacturing back to the USA: https://www.craftsman.com/pages/where-its-made
+1 for Makita. I beat mine up and they are still kicking 8+ years.
Thanks to their test performance, I’m slowly saving up for a Makita electric impact I don’t need that badly, so hopefully the quality stays up. $5 in the piggy bank every couple weeks doesn’t buy impact wrenches very fast.
Milwaukee. I bought early into the launch of the brushless fuel line when they were clearly above the rest, and now I’m in their ecosystem. Anything corded or doesn’t have it’s own battery I’ll use whatever I meets my needs best though.
My cordless tools do get used professionally though. I might add some Ryobi to my kit for some of the odd ball items that only exist in their ecosystem like the extended power brush.
I’m Milwaukee as well, and I buy the non fuel version if I need a sometimes/oddball tool. I’m not worrying about a slew of different batteries.
Same. I bought an electric impact and used it for working on cars for something like three years. I think that was like six or seven years ago and it’s still going strong.
I needed a lawn mower for my tiny patch of grass so I went with Ryobi. I’ve since bought/been gifted Ryobi for every yard tool I have.
My drills and impact driver are DeWalt. Way better than the shitty Black & Decker drill that I got in a free gift from work.
Ryobi.They’re cheap and work fine --no problems yet. Their bits and blades are garbage tho.
I went with Dewalt when their 20v tools came out, so i stuck with them. It’s nice to be able to use the same batteries for all my tools. Kind of want to switch to Milwaukee though, they seem to perform a little better, but I don’t use them enough to justify changing at this point.
Milwaukee is kind of over-priced for what you get. It’s good, but from what I’ve seen, not better enough to warrant the price. The corded Sawzall is the exception. It’s the only Sawzall to get.
I remember agonizing over this before finally committing to Milwaukee. I knew I’d be stuck in an ecosystem and I wanted to not have different batteries and chargers confusing me.
Over the pond here on belgium we have 2 main consumer brands that are quality: Makita and Bosch.
Then for more professional use there is Festool that is a pretty penny.
Less options but in the US, most of the “options” are owned by the same 2-3 companies anyway.
Dewalt at home because when i started buying them they were the best.
Milwaukee m18 at work because they are the best quality and have the biggest selection.
I use the orange one. I don’t know the name. One brand, that way all the batteries fit. They’ve been fine.
Ridgid from Home Depot? That’s what I use.
Same. Great drill, so I got the rest the same
if you ever find yourself craving for a tool from another brand it’s possible to have an adapter for the battery of other brands. Don’t ask me where to find them tho, I’ve just seen them in the wild here and there.
Milwaukee & Ryobi - start with Ryobi unless it completely sucks then upgrade down the road if I use it alot or the Ryobi eats it
I’m not paid to shill for the tool company I buy my kit from. They all use the same battery, so it’s cheaper to not mix and match.
I would probably only recommend my Bosch sliding compound mitre saw of all the tools I’ve owned - my only complaint about it is that the laser is not adjustable enough, but cuts are quality, angles are repeatable and I’m broadly very happy with it.
Anything else is much the same as every other tool on the market.
Lol, not being paid to shill and having an opinion are two different things.
Separated only by expressing it.
Companies with an advertising budget larger than all the currency that will come through me in a lifetime, especially as they’re all owned by more or less the same parent corporations totally eliminating competition or variance, don’t need my voice.
I use EGO because they have better battery guarantees than the other electric brands. Im surprised I havent seen that mentioned yet
I have the EGO mower and Weed whacker. They have been fantastic. Not having to deal with gas and oil and a fucking ripcord is a godsend.
Side note: Originally didn’t think I needed the blower. Now I can’t stop thinking about getting one. The girlfriend still mocks me whenever I use the push broom to clean up the driveway and sidewalk.
I have the blower and I guess you cant win either way. I like the mini EGO blower i got but I still feel a little silly trying to blow all the debris back onto my lawn instead of into the street or into my neighbors lawns, but it feels silly because often it seems like Im just blasting stuff into the air to get blown back onto me lol. So either youre sweeping manually or blowing shit all over the place lol
