I am from the Metabo house. Its a German company I used to work for. Pretty decent gear. They have a deal with a lot of smaller, specialised brands to share their battery system.
House Makita brings honor to our projects with powerful Nippon steel.
Seriously though, back when I worked for a small construction outfit. There were two teams of contractors. One vietnamese, the other Bosnian. They all bought used Makita tools.
I had no idea there even was a market for used tools back then. But it was enough to sell me on them myself. But man, are they pricier.
I’m not a dad, and I’m pretty heavily bought into SB&D’s Craftsman V20 ecosystem. Some of them are clearly discount DeWalt, especially the brushless tools.
Corded tools, I have no loyalty. My table saw and planer are DeWalt, my drill press and jointer are Wen, I’ve got a Kobalt router table, and so on.
While I do have a couple of DeWalt drills, I’ve been a member of the House of Ryobi for 20+ years. Ryobi was the first to really push the idea of “one battery fits all” ecosystem with their 18V ONE batteries.
My Wife bought me a tool set for Christmas one year and I have never looked back. 20 years later I’m still using those tools and Ryobi still supports them. A new Lithium battery battery still works in my old tools. The “pro tools” do not take that track.
I have mostly Black and Decker. Out of those four, it’s a shame only DeWalt looks nice. That’s probably what I’d go for based on looks and reputation. Otherwise Hilti is what seems to be recommended the most.
Meh, I have Bosch, Ryobi, DeWalt, Ego, Ridgid. Why not just by the best according to cost/benefit for each thing. Corporate loyalty is dumb. I get the battery thing, but I’m pretty sure I got most of the tools at a good enough price to make the different batteries irrelevant.
Not all my tools are battery operated, corded jigsaw, sander, miter saw, table saw, etc. Not all the batteries hold the same purpose and would need a different charger either way. An electric drill and leaf blower need entirely different levels of power. In the grand scheme of things I think I only overlapped charging systems once.
I don’t have many tools (or any children) but if I’m buying a bunch of battery operated stuff, you can be sure it’s all going to be able to use the same batteries and chargers.
I’m sure you’re right and it wouldn’t be an issue, but I’m anal about reducing redundancy and complication wherever I can. If I can have one place to charge everything and don’t have to check what belongs to what, I’ll do it.
Good old Craftsman. Their power tools have been on the lower end of the quality scale for years. The acquisition by S - B&D pretty well cemented that. But you can pry my 1991 10" Belt Drive table saw from my cold, dead hands.
I actually have a set of some 74 hand tools from Craftsman my dad gifted me in 1995, and surprisingly they have lasted me for some 30-something years in excellent condition. Power tools, I can’t go that far back. I imagine B&D has ruined everything Sears left behind.
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