Battery powered tool systems

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#3099419 4-Jul-2023 07:20

B&D tools are Ok too. I have a bunch of them. They almost all do the job, well. The only one I've had trouble with is the jigsaw, a cast iron component that sets the angle of the cutting deck broke. It's also the only one that seemed underpowered.

I'm slowly switching to Makita XGT (40v) gear. It's sensational but very spendy. The air blower is fantastic tool for cleaning - like blowing dust/water off things or sweeping the garage floor after woodworking.

Mike

openmedia

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#3099436 4-Jul-2023 08:41

I'm also using the Ozito PXC system. Terrific value and the 5 year Bunnings warranty is excellent.

Couple of issues with the garden tools. The basic weedeater wasn't good enough for our garden and packed in twice. Bunnngs let us upgrade to a better model.

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LookingUp

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#3099589 4-Jul-2023 12:33

I use Makita at work and Ryobi at home.

Despite considerable abuse I've only had a minor negative experience with Makita - but they're certainly a better quality tool but at a higher price point. Big ticks are that I dropped a Makita battery drill into an irrigation race and couldn't reach it, so it stayed under 1m of dirty water for 24hrs before it got recovered and left for a week to dry. That was the second time it had been underwater, and incredibly it STILL WORKS, including the battery on the last dunk! On the downside I've have a couple of batteries fail - one for no apparent reason, and the other following the first 5-10min swim the drill had. We have a fair amount of other Makita kit at work, and I'm not aware of any other battery issues, so maybe I was just unlucky.

Ryobi has been fine at home, and we have a number of +1 attachments. The drill (not the cheap one) isn't as grunty as the Makita, which will wrench itself out of your hand if the bit jams (hence 2x swims), but my wife loves the Ryobi power pruner, reciprocating saw, and extension chain saw. They have saved a lot of sweat in the garden as she can now create whatever carnage she desires without need for involvement from me.

I went Ryobi at home not only for the cost, but because I read that you can disassemble and manually recharge/re-balance failed batteries, whereas Makita are tamper-proof so when they're dead they're dead and make expensive paperweights. Thankfully I haven't had to try this on my Ryobi yet...

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BlargHonk

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#3099624 4-Jul-2023 13:38

LookingUp:

...but my wife loves the Ryobi power pruner, reciprocating saw, and extension chain saw. They have saved a lot of sweat in the garden as she can now create whatever carnage she desires without need for involvement from me.

Which of the Ryobi Reciprocating Saws did you get? There looks to be 3-4 different ones and the reviews seem to be mixed (except for the cheapest one which is pretty bad)

richms

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#3099627 4-Jul-2023 13:47

I would not call any of the B&D tools I have touched recently as being anywhere near "good" - bottom tier junk cashing in on peoples nostelgia for the brand - just like the stanley fatmax tools.

I got the cheapest ryobi recip saw when my bunnings had a specail on the kit with a charger and 2ah battery for $99 - I got 2 of them thinking that it would save me from blade changing.

The first one broke on the first use with a moderate sized demolition blade on it cutting thru a wet 6x2 and nails. The thing got so hot that it melted its fan and spat the blades out all while smoking. I couldn't see the smoke because my safety glasses were all fogged up.

Richard rich.ms

MikeAqua

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#3099720 4-Jul-2023 15:32

richms:

I would not call any of the B&D tools I have touched recently as being anywhere near "good" - bottom tier junk cashing in on peoples nostalgia for the brand - just like the stanley fatmax tools.

I wouldn't recommend B&D to tradie or daily tool user, but for weekend warrioring doling light-moderate they seem absolutely fine to me. I use my tools most weekends for various things and I have a bunch of their 'brushless' tools that I've had for between 5 and 10 years.

Mike

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johno1234

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#3099753 4-Jul-2023 17:11

Have an EGO mower and line trimmer but all the hand tools are Ozito PXC brushless. Cheap as chips, solid warranty at Bunnings and perfect for home handyman use. Have had some of them (drill, impact driver) a few years now and they've more than paid for themselves. The 4ah batteries that have been thrashed in the leaf blower/vac are starting to run out before I complete the property but they've had a tough life.

If any of these tools did blow up tomorrow I'd buy again... they're so cheap.

Technofreak

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#3099770 4-Jul-2023 17:58

I looked around a couple of months ago at the various battery tool options and narrowed my choices to Makita and Milwaukee. My main reason for settling on these brands was the range of tools each brand had available ranging from garden tools to wood working tools to workshop tools and their quality and reliability and feedback from friends.

I think Ryobi is OK too but I avoid anything where I have to deal with Bunnings.

In the end I went the Milwaukee route and so far early in the journey I'm more than happy with my decision. My initial decison to go with Milwaukee V Makita was driven by the partucular tool I was buying. Both Milwaukee and Makita are specced well above what I need and I could have bought cheaper tools that most likely would have been sufficient. However I have the luxury of being able to afford the dearer tools and appreciate having and using good gear.

My motto is buy the best you can afford as long term that is probably going to be the cheapest option and within reason the dearer tools have most probably had more R & D spent on them and have better ergnomics and more handy, useful features making them better to use. The only time I would consider a cheap tool would be if you were buying it for a one off job and or you were going to be using/abusing it for that one job.

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prevaljo

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#3099774 4-Jul-2023 18:12

My tradie son swears by DeWalt but the cost is fairly high compared to Ryobi and Ozito.

FlyingPete

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#3099900 4-Jul-2023 19:57

Hmmm some good points there.

Someone said the Ryobi brushless stuff is good and in my experience I agree.

I might look at upgrading those and stay Ryobi if there are options, such as the reciprocating saw, I have the base model and it is near unusable!

I have been buying mains powered tools of no specific brand when the Ryobi 18v option is particularly bad (I'm looking at you plane).

The Ryobi 18V angle grinders design is pretty unforgivable, they are the only ones I am aware of that you can't use flat on as the battery sticks out too far, I did look at the US website and it looks like they have models over there that solve that issue, who knows if and when we will get them. On that note I see they have 280+ tools to our 140+ tools.

angski

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#3099993 4-Jul-2023 22:27

Nowadays, with battery adaptors, you can use Dewalt battery on Makita bare tools or Milwaukee tools. As long as there is an adaptor, you can buy any bare skin tool.

If you stick with Dewalt or Makita battery, you literally can use tools from both camps. All you need is a battery adaptor. I have a Metabo battery and with Milwaukee adaptor, I can use all Milwaukee tools.

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shrub

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#3099994 4-Jul-2023 22:40

I was a DeWalt guy but it's just not worth it compared to ryobi. You can get 2x the tools that do a fine job and it's a quick walk into any bunnings and swap if it breaks.
The my Ryobi site has all the warranty records and keeps copy's of the receipts can't beat it.

FlyingPete

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#3100092 5-Jul-2023 09:53

angski:

Nowadays, with battery adaptors, you can use Dewalt battery on Makita bare tools or Milwaukee tools. As long as there is an adaptor, you can buy any bare skin tool.

If you stick with Dewalt or Makita battery, you literally can use tools from both camps. All you need is a battery adaptor. I have a Metabo battery and with Milwaukee adaptor, I can use all Milwaukee tools.

Would be interesting to see which battery system is most cost effective, I was on the Bunnings site last night and noticed the Ozito stuff is considerably cheaper than Ryobi.

Ryobi batteries would be a bad idea to use for everything due to their sticky out bit, looks like they are the only one that still does that.

Ge0rge

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#3100108 5-Jul-2023 10:33

Technofreak: I looked around a couple of months ago at the various battery tool options and narrowed my choices to Makita and Milwaukee. My main reason for settling on these brands was the range of tools each brand had available ranging from garden tools to wood working tools to workshop tools and their quality and reliability and feedback from friends...

...In the end I went the Milwaukee route and so far early in the journey I'm more than happy with my decision. My initial decison to go with Milwaukee V Makita was driven by the partucular tool I was buying. Both Milwaukee and Makita are specced well above what I need and I could have bought cheaper tools that most likely would have been sufficient. However I have the luxury of being able to afford the dearer tools and appreciate having and using good gear...

We use a significant amount of Milwaukee at work, and one thing we have found is the drill chucks tend to slip after a while, both ruining drill bits and becomming essentially useless themselves. Getting a replacement chuck for them proved to be rather difficult.

When it came to buying stuff for home, I wrote them off for this very reason - which was a shame, because the range and quality of the rest of their tools seems quite good - but I wasn't going to buy a different drill then the rest of my tools. In the end I went for Bosch tooling, and have been very impressed with what I have got.

Loismustdye

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#3100284 5-Jul-2023 16:42

I’ve got a bit of ryobi stuff, however like many looking at gradually swapping everything over to the ozito from bunnings due to the price being better and you can frequently get some of the ozito stuff on sale, whereas ryobi never is. Also rather frustratingly I’m on a ryobi Facebook group and to see the numerous sales and promos ryobi does in Aussie does rub a bit lol. Fortunately I’m only about 7 tools deep at this stage

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