Did you know they used to make some of the Elu range for Elu? that was back in the day when they were based in Switzerland, not Slovenia, though

deWalt seem to design and build good stuff. then the bean counters get at it six months or a year down the line and the quality goes down and down and down. Which is prolly why half their stuff is utter cr*p. The only complaint I've got on a personal level is about the 18 volt 2.6Ah NiMH XRP batteries that came with my pinners. They've never been brilliant at holding charge and will go flat if left for a week unused (and that does sometimes happen)

Makitas have never given me problems, similarly Bosch blue, Elu and Metabo have all been fine over the years. But I rarely loan kit to others and I clean it and put it away. Most of the dead stuff I've had has been down to drops and the like.


But are they? I thought Panasonic were the smart kiddies. I love their drills and impact drivers. Pity the circular saw and jigsaw aren't up to much (too small for me)


I agree about the GST135BCE, but mates who've had the GST2000 have all killed them. seems like only the top models are worth it


Really? Try a Festool. It'll blow you away (Mafell MT55c even more so). Bosch used to make very good saws then about 10 years back it all went west. Last few years they seem to be making a come back and they now seem well made, they've got a rail system, too, and a Festool eater due out in October. pity I bought a new TS55 a few months back

Oh, and one for Big-All. I had a much maligned Ryobi 110volt 650 watt SDS for several years bought as a stop gap when some swine nicked my Bosch. Nevr the fastest, but never failed either and the built-in spirit levels were actually useful. Now doing service with a bloke in Yorkshire

thanks for an honest and full appraisal
the more honest opinions we get the more honest a guide we can give to tools values reliability

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i use a hitachi c7u2 circular. great tool and dead easy to adjust compared to some circs ive used.

my makita jigsaw (current model) is canny cool. does the job fine.

not a tool really but i bought some hitachi nails to go with a paslode finish nailer. ITSLONDON dont sell passlode nails so i had to buy them. unfortunately either i had a duff set of gas or hitachi gas doesnt work with paslode. nailer might fire 1 time in 50 with the hitachi gas but every time with paslode gas.

havnt had that problem with my makita framing gun though. used a few different makes of gas and it fires every time.

Grrrrr. I despise gas nailers. Nothing but trouble IMHO. What brand of nailer are you trying to use the Hitachi gas in? Only gas I've found which works in everything (and that to me means Passlode, Hitachi, Senco and Bosticth) has been the BeA gas.

its a paslode brad nailer. i gave up with the hitachi gas though lol.

I had both the 16g and 18g Passlodes at one time. Nothing but trouble; battery contacts, leaking gas, gas cannisters which wouldn't work at all (crappy adapters), igniter circuits going on the fritz, etc, not to mention the smell when working in confined spaces and the 16g would never drive more than one nail inverter (e.g. fixing a stop lath to the head of a plain door casing). Tried a Hitachi 16g but wasn't impressed by that either. Ended up with a pair of DWs which are bloody heavy and have rubbish batteries (18volt 2.6Ah NiMH XRPs - the solution has been to carry a 1.3Ah NiCd as a backup as it always holds charge for extended periods of storage) but otherwise do the job, don't require gas (and are therefore a lot cheaper to run) and more to the point have never gone wrong in 3 years. The clipped head Passlode 1st fix eventually gave way to a clipped head Senco 1st fix (same gun is also sold by Draper and Bostitch, made in Taiwan) which has been OK apart from needing an igniter circuit board under warranty.

Over recent years I've gone to tool fairs as you can save a fair bit -I wanted lite tools - found a Bosch 2 bat screw/drill kit £120
- being using them day in day out for about 2 years, last time same stall bought a Bosch sds drill £56, use it a lot
Regular prices are almost double, Ok they were cheap but if the worst happens I could replace
Own make screwfix cheap’ys are a waste of money/time never again!

is there anywhere on this forum that lists when and where the tool fairs are? when i see them advertised in the free to trade magazines there always way down south... pretty much a waste of time when im in tyne and wear lol

leave d&m alone

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Everyone has their own opinion on tools but a lot of it is to do what you can afford or are willing to pay.

If money is no object then for cutting tools it has to be Festool for me, solid well balanced and the plunge cutter is second to none.
I have used Dewalt, Makita, Ryobi, Hilti, Milwakee and Bosch cordless drills and I have found the Hitachi DV18DL is the best yet (for me)
I have also tried a few different gas nailers and always go back to Paslode, they can be a bit huffy but if you look after them they dont go wrong, It's usually cheap, cold or out of date gas that stumps them. I have a Makita framing nailer that is about 4 months old and i did'nt like it so it just sits taking up space! Thinking of trying the new Hitachi framer. As for the finisher it has to be Paslode again, the Dewalt is just too heavy!
My Dewalt DW743N flip saw has been a great workhorse

It's all about finding what feels right for you, what feels well balanced and is more of an extension of your limbs!!!

Always get the best you can afford, you get what you pay for and cheap brands are a false economy!

Well, yes, I tend to agree with you there. Personally I seem to be the one who always ended up with cheap (supplied), cold, out of date and defective gas (normally crap adaptor) on far too many occassions, especially on weekend or night shop fits. Weight or not the DWs made and still make sense - especially if I'm paying for the pins/gas. I find that it's a love/hate thing - those who bought DWs did so because they grew to loathe Passys, some who have Passys hate the weight and size of the DW.


Yes, another amazing piece of kit that's been around in one form or another for comething like 40 or so years (at least I can remember Elu models in metallic light blue that long ago). Not strong on accuracy but bags of power for framingh, ripping, etc. Sometimes wish I still had mine

Ive recently changed from dewalt 18v cordless tools to makita 14.4 tools because the dewalt ni-cad bateries died after only 6 months of on site use but no abuse. The joiner i work with swears by makita, and with 40+ years under his i took his advice and havent looked back.

we all have different experiences with different manufacturers

i have 7 dewalt 2ah nicads 2 x2.6ah nmh and 1x 2ah li-ion the oldest ones are 7 years old and hold about 40% long term and 60 short term charge short term is a few days long term is around a week or so

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we are all ------------------still learning

I've had (still have) a few DeWalt drills and have been happy with the use of them. It's always the batteries that go first, I don't know if other makes are any better, as I've never had anything to compare.

Screwfix were doing an offer a while ago with DeWalt or Makita 18v combi with one Li-Ion battery for £125; I was going to go for the Makita for a change but just missed the last one... got to say the DeWalt I ended up with is fantastic.

I've got a very old Makita Jigsaw that my dad used for many years before handing it down to me, still very solid and reliable. I bought a Bosch PST 850 for a few extra features which was terrible.

Got a Bosch planer that's okay (takes a couple of passes to get through most nails).

My father-in-law has twice bought me the Bosch IXO cordless screwdriver... absolutely useless, and for the cost of two I could have bought something I would actually use.

Bosch 1/4 inch router I'm very happy with.

DeWalt circular saw has a few annoying snags – the depth adjustment mainly – but otherwise it does the job.

DeWalt SDS does the job.

Somehow ended up with a Parkside Mitre saw that I'm praying will break so I can buy something with a little more 'site cred', but it just keeps on going and does a good job as well.

… sorry, what was the question again?

heeelllooo Pooneil

can you please give them a 1 to 10 score please

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we are all ------------------still learning