I have found that every person’s power tool choice can be a very subjective thing!
Folks fall into many different camps and then defend that position as if their very lives depended upon it!
You might be a fan of:
- Milwaukee
- Makita
- DeWalt
- Festool (if you have money to burn)
- Hilti (if you have money, and people to burn)
- Bosch (Pro, if you are serious)
- Ryobi (quality budget tools, kids don’t end up on the black market to afford them and perhaps the most consistent battery Eco system across its range)
- Einhell (a very interesting brand which in some areas (such as Plunge Saws) have some really decent offerings that don’t cost you a limb)
A lot of what will eventually compel you to a brand (aside from relative quality) will be the battery Eco system quickly followed by price point and then what you actually want to achieve from your projects. You might, for example buy a basic DeWalt Combi, get a few XR batteries with the package and before you know it you have bought a load of DeWalt tools because the batteries themselves can be more expensive than the bare tools so you don’t want to mix and match between brands.
You might also be drawn to a brand for it’s specific track record within a given trade – for example Festool has an incredible pedigree within the Carpentry space, DeWalt has a long and impressive history within the construction site space with quality tools for every trade.
Personally, from a power tool perspective I am a DeWalt whore (as my son calls me – he is a qualified Sparky whom is firmly in the Milwaukee camp). I started out getting one of their entry level combi’s drills to do some very light weight stuff about 8 years ago and then ended up with a whole fleet of their kit. My personal opinion about DeWalt is they are quality “workhorse” tools with a massive accessory ecosystem which pretty much do anything that you could possibly want.
Whilst I personally live in the DeWalt camp for now – I will acknowledge that whilst they have some very clever tools – in my view they are not on the edge of true innovation – Festool and Hilti seem to lead the way here, but are more aligned to expert carpentry (Festool) or Industrial and electrical (Hilti) – DeWalt for me personally lives in a space of general spread applications for the home enthusiast, trade or heavy duty construction applications.
That being said, over the last year or so – my own power tool collection has diversified to include offerings from:
- Einhell
- Milwaukee
- Dremel
- Makita
Whereas the vast majority of my tools are DeWalt – the additional brands above represent true value for me for the applications that I have bought them for.
I guess the main point that I am making is whilst it is OK to have a favourite brand – don’t let it limit your thinking to accomplish a task and explore other brands as they will have their own strengths.
In this section of the site I will periodically do some reviews and overviews of tools that I have purchased over the years which I think truly stand out – I might even post an inventory of my collection so if you are in the market for something specific and like what I write it may give you an idea of what you need!