I went with Ryobi under the rubric of “if you use it enough to break it then buy a good one”. I have a wall of green tools because most of them are used only occasionally. My hammer drill is the one that is gonna go. And yeah. I will buy something f’in awesome. Because using an underpowered hammer drill sucked.
While I generally agree, I must say that my Ryobi tools are doing just fine after 15ish years of use. Primarily the drill is what’s used, and it’s seen some shit but aside from a little cosmetic issue (rubber peeling off here and there) it’s in great working order. I can afford better now, but I’m happy enough to keep what I’ve got.
I’m just a handy home owner, so it’s not like I’m abusing these things.
Depends on what you’re doing, and how often you’re going to be doing it.
For mechanical tools, I like both Harbor Freight and Gearwrench. I like Gearwrench a lot more, but I haven’t managed to break any Harbor Freight tools yet that weren’t air or electric. For basic sockets, etc., it will be fine for almost everyone. (Spend more for torque wrenches though; don’t cheap out on those.) HF tools have pretty limited sizes though; they don’t have anything really large, like about around 25mm. Unless you are a professional mechanic, you probably shouldn’t waste your money on Matco or Snap-On.
For most cordless general and woodworking tools I like Makita. For more specialized powered hand tools I love Festool, but do not try to fill a shop with them. Just get the ones that no one else makes an equivalent of, like their Rotex sanders, or the domino joiner.
For woodworking shop tools–things that aren’t portable–buy old Delta or Powermatic, particularly stuff that is in no way shape or form portable. Trying to do any serious cabinetry on a job-site table saw is an exercise in frustration and wasted material. A tabletop jointer won’t give you good results.
And for hand-powered cutting tool, like chisels, pull-saws, planes, etc… Be prepared to start spending a lot of money. Hand planes alone can set you back a few hundred each, like for Lee Valley ‘Veritas’ planes. And that’s not even getting into the water stones that you’re going to need to keep them working in perfect condition.
Second harbor freight and dewalt. I work industrial maintenance and use Pittsburgh impact sockets and wrenches,and dewalt for power tools. No problems at all. If you want tool truck quality,def gear wrench and even icon(their wrenches were tested and proven to beat snap on),for a fraction of cost. I use and abuse a set of icon chrome sockets,and they take a beating and keep going.
I’m sorry, is this some sort of suburban thing that I’m too metrosexual renter to understand? All I have or need are sundry decent-quality hand tools and a plug-in electric drill.
I always start with harbor freight. When I break that one, I buy a nice version of whatever it was. I don’t buy “nice” tools very often. HF is nearly always “good enough.”
I had a Harbor Height cordless drill that worked just fine for like six years, to my surprise and delight. I’m a light duty user, so I upgraded to a brushless Ryobi.
Power tool batteries are expensive and are not interchangeable between brands (without 3rd party adapters that can be a bit risky). I only own DeWalt power tools because I want one set of batteries and chargers.
I have no brand loyalty to hand tools, however. Well, except for Knipex. My pliers-wrench has been life changing.
Meh, fuck brand loyalty. Keep an eye out for used tools. If it’s tough enough to make it to round 2, its demonstrated some selection bias. For some stuff you just need to weigh how much you’re going to use it to decide how much you want to spend. If you’re using it enough to be frustrated with it every time you take it out, time to upgrade that one.
Going to work on cars? Milwaukee. Not going to work on cars? Can save a few bucks with Dewalt, the nailguns and saws are real nice. I say this as someone who has a LOT of Ryobi but they just don’t work as well as the better stuff. If I had either of the two big brands I could probably ditch my corded circular, jig and reciprocating saws. Same with the 4in grinder.
Hand tools just mix and match, they don’t need to be the same brand.
I’m a big fan of buying power tools twice. I happen to go Ryobi for the first round but Harbor Freight / Northern Tool are probably similar.
If you can stand the fuss, buy corded tools and skip the brand loyalty that comes with batteries.
The biggest killer of cheaper power tools is generally heat. There are plastic components in the drive train. They hold up great to short jobs, but heat is their kryptonite. If you let a Ryobi tool cool down whenever you notice it getting warm to the touch it’ll last a long time. If you need to run a tool for hours at a time then skip the fuss and go straight to a more brand with a good reputation like DeWalt, Makita, Bosch, or Milwaukee.