Today I acquired...........

[MattF]

I think it depends what you want them for. If you’re a mechanic then Milwaukee are probably best. I like the makita for DIY sort of stuff but it’s obviously for trade guys too.

I have both Makita & Bosch gear, & they both do their job well. My personal preference is Bosch, but the Makita gear got some fair old stick on site, & all still works fine.

As Kayos says, it boils down to personal preference as much as anything else.

One point which can make a notable difference is the range of tools. Certain brands tend to cater better for certain trades over another.

 

[Kayos]

I have both Makita & Bosch gear, & they both do their job well. My personal preference is Bosch, but the Makita gear got some fair old stick on site, & all still works fine.

As Kayos says, it boils down to personal preference as much as anything else.

One point which can make a notable difference is the range of tools. Certain brands tend to cater better for certain trades over another.

For years I used Bosch sds drills, first the 24v then the 36v in both standard and compact, the compact took some proper abuse

Other brands caught up and having one battery appealed, can now drill with an 18v that would have been mains or 36v only a few years ago

 

[MCKDAVID]

each to there own, I was makita for many years, found them excellent, tried dewalt, found it too fragile and not worth the hype with the exception of the 24V sds that's excellent, and the only one I kept. Recently gone over to milwaukee, and for what I use it's been fine, only thing I don't like is the drill chuck slackens off regularly and you have to dog it down far too tight for it to grip properly. (might be worth changing we'll see). Their little impacts guns, I have 2 off the M12) are perfect for the 1/4 stuff which is what I mostly use for the small engine kit repairs, they're excellent, light, small and easy to get in everywhere... for the bigger stuff I mostly use air tools anyway.

have an old skool AEG battery drill for the van, 14.4v, but the batteries are getting tired so want to do a 18650 li ion upgrade, more out of curiousity to see if there's any benefit more than any cost reduction.

at the end of the day it's a case of choose your colour...... mine is pretty much any except yellow....

 

[Kayos]

each to there own, I was makita for many years, found them excellent, tried dewalt, found it too fragile and not worth the hype with the exception of the 24V sds that's excellent, and the only one I kept. Recently gone over to milwaukee, and for what I use it's been fine, only thing I don't like is the drill chuck slackens off regularly and you have to dog it down far too tight for it to grip properly. (might be worth changing we'll see). Their little impacts guns, I have 2 off the M12) are perfect for the 1/4 stuff which is what I mostly use for the small engine kit repairs, they're excellent, light, small and easy to get in everywhere... for the bigger stuff I mostly use air tools anyway.

have an old skool AEG battery drill for the van, 14.4v, but the batteries are getting tired so want to do a 18650 li ion upgrade, more out of curiousity to see if there's any benefit more than any cost reduction.

at the end of the day it's a case of choose your colour...... mine is pretty much any except yellow....

I had Dewalt 18v plug in battery stuff, including the rare lithium batteries released before the change to slide on. These got stolen and were replaced with whatever I could to keep working.

Looking at the newer Dewalt and I was unimpressed, definite cheapening going on

 

[roblane65]

I think personal choice is the key here , Had all sorts over the years some excellent some not so good I like the big M build quality etc but I also find them to big and bulky when you could be using it all day long it needs to fit nicely in the hand and not be over heavy imo.
also keeping to a brand saves, having loads of different batteries and chargers and yes I know you can get adapters for the batts I've been running hikoki/ hitatchi for some time now without any real issues I'm also liking the 18/36 multivolt to.

 

[James1979]

It’s personal choice and application. I ran dewalt for years and loved it. Sold the lot and migrated to Milwaukee as they’re more engineing / mech based and I refuse to have 2 battery platforms. I’ve the 1/2” and 3/4” impact and yeah on HGV Wheels they are spot on. Guy I’m with today has all makita and it’s ok but more building trades I would have said.

@KimB this one?

It’s fine. Not like a proper drill but it’s good for where you can’t get. I don’t use it much, actually. I tend to use my desoutter collet drills for tight spaces. Usually it’s snapped bolts or something. 90 degree die grinder is worth every penny if you’re on a shopping spree

 

[Onoff]

Scaffolders the other day had an 18V Makita impact gun. I looked the spec up and it was over 500Nm! It was tiny.

 

[KimB]

It’s personal choice and application. I ran dewalt for years and loved it. Sold the lot and migrated to Milwaukee as they’re more engineing / mech based and I refuse to have 2 battery platforms. I’ve the 1/2” and 3/4” impact and yeah on HGV Wheels they are spot on. Guy I’m with today has all makita and it’s ok but more building trades I would have said.

@KimB this one?
View attachment 323775

It’s fine. Not like a proper drill but it’s good for where you can’t get. I don’t use it much, actually. I tend to use my desoutter collet drills for tight spaces. Usually it’s snapped bolts or something. 90 degree die grinder is worth every penny if you’re on a shopping spree

That’s what I meant earlier. Their impact guns are good. Although my makita impact guns are really impressive. Well the big one is, I undid my truck wheel nuts when I first got it.

Amazingly the snap on stuff are total rubbish. One of the guys I work with has some snap on bits, I think they’re awful.

That’s the one. I liked it. More so because it’s so small. The makita 18volt one is pretty big in comparison.
I was thinking about that die grinder. Why not

 

[James1979]

Do it It’s got me out the **** so many times. Mine was one of the early ones. I pre ordered it before it was released here.

 

[MCKDAVID]

500Nm, how many ugga duggas is that?

seriously, hope they've wound it down a bit that amount of torque on a scaffolding clip, ever so slightly overtight I'd say....

 

[25.4_mechanic]

After some DIY store cheap battery screwdrivers etc. in the old NiMH times, I waited for years to decide on a manufacturer, because I knew one thing:
I want to try to get by with only one battery system.

What I didn't like about Makita was that they are unnecessarily heavy (my opinion) and that you have to know too much about each machine, because with almost identical-looking tools, one can be hot and the other can be a flop.
Besides, I don't like the fanaticism of some true Makita believers.

It was pure luck that I decided on Metabo, which still has its headquarters in the Swabian town of Nürtingen, because a few years later Metabo and eight other manufacturers founded the CAS = Cordless Alliance System, which now includes around 25 manufacturers who all use the identical battery system.

Once something done right.

What's more, their customer service is legendary, at least here in Germany; you wouldn't expect so much generosity from Swabians ...

How widespread is Metabo among you? Do you know them at all?

Carsten

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[MCKDAVID]

^^^^^^really good grinders, and their wood chop saws excellent..... .

 

[Kayos]

After some DIY store cheap battery screwdrivers etc. in the old NiMH times, I waited for years to decide on a manufacturer, because I knew one thing:
I want to try to get by with only one battery system.

What I didn't like about Makita was that they are unnecessarily heavy (my opinion) and that you have to know too much about each machine, because with almost identical-looking tools, one can be hot and the other can be a flop.
Besides, I don't like the fanaticism of some true Makita believers.

It was pure luck that I decided on Metabo, which still has its headquarters in the Swabian town of Nürtingen, because a few years later Metabo and eight other manufacturers founded the CAS = Cordless Alliance System, which now includes around 25 manufacturers who all use the identical battery system.

Once something done right.

What's more, their customer service is legendary, at least here in Germany; you wouldn't expect so much generosity from Swabians ...

How widespread is Metabo among you? Do you know them at all?

Carsten

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Metabo were the only ones out of budget for the amount of kit I needed

I have a mains Metabo core drill, the best soft start a

 

[25.4_mechanic]

Metabo were the only ones out of budget for the amount of kit I needed

That's interesting, they're not even the most expensive in our country.

Makita is very proud of its products here and many craftsmen and fans pay for it;

Milwaukee was positioned right at the top as a newcomer, the constant appearance in YT videos should help and specialist retailers saw an opportunity for themselves when they appeared on the German market;

DeWalt has no inherited importance in our country, DIY market, just like Ryobi;

AEG has been known for too long that the name is just an empty shell, they have no meaning any more;

Bosch blue is about to lose its reputation with the Bosch green products and some managment mistakes with the professional machines;

Hilti is unchallenged in what they do, if you need them, you really need a Hilti.

This selection is of course not complete ...

Carsten

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[Cobbler]

I have a Metabo air impact wrench, nicely made stuff.

 

[roblane65]

I'll think what was hitatchi/ hikoki in the states is now branded as Metabo , I recently bought the metabo 240v portable bench saw I could have had the cordless but would have meant charger and 36v batts £££££££££ apparently they are the same as the 18/ 36 multi volt hikoki's I didn't know that at the time , or verified it's actually true
it would be nice to know though as it would open up another brand with the batts and chargers I have .

 

[25.4_mechanic]

it would be nice to know though as it would open up another brand with the batts and chargers I have .

Here's the address https://www.cordless-alliance-system.com/index.html

It's funny that Hitachi/Hikoki don't appear there - Metabo probably doesn't want to point out the identical, but presumably cheaper brand names themselves ... I can't imagine why ...

Have to check if the batteries are indeed the same ....

Carsten

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[25.4_mechanic]

Have to check if the batteries are indeed the same ....

Nope ... Hitachi had the chance to change to CAS but didn't take it, MetaboHPT in North America and elsewhere ist not Metabo and not CAS compatible AFA I found out

Metabo was majority-owned by French private equity fund Chequers Capital until November 2015, after the founding families sold their shares in 2012. In November 2015, Metabo was sold to Japanese group Hitachi Koki. A year later, its sale to investor Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co. was completed. From 2019 to June 2021, the CEO Horst Garbrecht was also the European head of Koki Holdings.

 

[James1979]

What I will say about the Milwaukee m18 drills, is that the chucks are ****. I wore all the knurl off mine just gripping it by hand. It also tends to be A pig
To undo sometimes. I fitted a better one and it’s much nicer.

 

[MCKDAVID]

What I will say about the Milwaukee m18 drills, is that the chucks are ****. I wore all the knurl off mine just gripping it by hand. It also tends to be A pig
To undo sometimes. I fitted a better one and it’s much nicer.

totally agree, which one did you change to, mines exactly the same... spoils an otherwise excellent drill..