Edited to say sorry, I'm in a really unhelpful mood at the moment
[Edited on 4/9/10 by Daddylonglegs]
My brother in law swears by Bosch, I prefer Makita and my pal will only buy DeWalt. On the other hand a professional blacksmith I work with will only
use Bosch jigsaws but will happily use Silverline drills.
Is there a best make or does it vary with the appliance?
Cheers
David
Clarke
I find the free ones are the best
Edited to say sorry, I'm in a really unhelpful mood at the moment
[Edited on 4/9/10 by Daddylonglegs]
I think it does vary depending on what the tool is.
I used to swear by dewalt for everything, but have recently switched to makita for 18v cordless drills, they are streets ahead.
small, light, long battery life etc etc.
On the other hand i prefer the old dewalt chop saw over the newer makita one.
Don't think Iv'e ever used a cheap power tool that i liked, although for hobby use i'm sure they would be fine.
Al.
Originally posted by v8kid
My brother in law swears by Bosch, I prefer Makita and my pal will only buy DeWalt. On the other hand a professional blacksmith I work with will only
use Bosch jigsaws but will happily use Silverline drills.
Is there a best make or does it vary with the appliance?
Cheers
David
Agree dewalt are behind the times and still a bit over priced.
I originally liked makita power tools and dewalt cordless, My cordless dewalt hammer and mains makita hammer both packed up so just bought a 36v Bosch
cordless hammer SDS(£699) and its replaced both- its a absolute beast and chews brick for fun, batterys charge in 40mins and its really well made, and
most importantly unlike dewalt all the stuff goes easily back into the box!!
Then my 18v dewalt packed in, so i went a bought a 14.4v bosch replacement (yes it was £110) but its light and really powerful and batterys last a age
BOSCH now for me (oh and work buy them not me)
[Edited on 4/9/10 by Krismc]
DeWalt used to be good (all the old 110v angle grinders and drills we have at work are DeWalt) but then they started making them cheaper and they
don't last anymore 
Makita are top notch for most stuff and still afordable
Makita for me!
And I've stopped buying cordless 'anythings'...
hilti by miles
nothing comes close to there stuff
Ive had cheap grinders, and they work fine, but not for heavy use as it wears them out.
Ive also had Bosch, Makita and DeWalt kit, and i still say that Bosch was the best for the trades.
Now i tell other people what to do, i just buy cheap tools fo rthe garage, but for work, i always buy them quality kit.
quote:
Originally posted by v8kid
Is there a best make
Hitachi every day for me.
The specifications are miles better than the rest.
quote:
Originally posted by thunderace
hilti by miles
nothing comes close to there stuff
For me, best cost/quality ratio for domestic/car building use is Bosch.
For cordless drillls, I've "standardized" on the 14.4's
Fred
drills
[Edited on 4/9/10 by Fred W B]
From memory, Bosch Skil and Dewalt are all Siemens brands...as is Dremel....
Makita 18v lxt for me all day long.
Milwaukee is very good but weighs a ton, we use them for some jobs.
Dewalt id heavy and not good.
Bosch are not to bad, but still to heavy.
stuart
Another vote for Makita from me.
I have a 18v LXT too, lasted me 4 years of everyday (ab)use so far.
Few of the lads at work have had different brands, Bosch, Dewalt, Snap-On and now half have Makita drills.
Makita cordless, Hitachi cordless sds anything with a cord usually Bosch, but if i could afford them i would buy Hilti.
Another vote for Makita specifically there angle grinders.
I would burn out any make grinders in about 6 months in my garage until I got a 110v Makita wich is still going strong after 3 years.
Sorry guys the best is Panasonic as the cordless impact driver is a must for putting in screws
quote:
Originally posted by stevebubs
From memory, Bosch Skil and Dewalt are all Siemens brands...as is Dremel....
Should have polled this thread.
Bosch for me.
20 year old heavily used angry grinder still going strong and the cordless drill
has outlasted a B&D and a Makita. Fisrt Makita died under warranty and the second
is so far ok.
Makita, closely followed by........
Ann Summers
festool 
makita all day long (18v LXT)
Also depends how much you spend on a certain brand.
The makita 18v li-ion stuff is great but cheaper ni mh stuff is average and for the money you can get hitachi li ion drills that are probably
better.
As usual depends how much you want to spend!
I have tools by dewalt, makita, ryobi, bosch, powerbase and supatool. The only tools that have broken on me, is one dewalt router that fell apart and
then blew up (it was running when it came apart), a dewalt flipsaw that has had the same part break twice, a dewalt chopsaw that has a few oddities
(worse being it vibrates in the middle of a cut), another dewalt router where the handles have snapped off, and a dewalt 18v cordless where the chuck
started spinning loose, and then eventually the smoke escaped from the batteries.
See a common theme?
Oh, and a dewalt jigsaw where the blade release snapped...
Those tools add up to (240, 450, 240, 200, 230, and 130) roughly £1500.
On the other hand, those are the tools that get most use, and id probably re-buy them as dewalt when they go terminal.
quote:
Originally posted by thunderace
hilti by miles
nothing comes close to there stuff