Worx Cordless Power Tools

[Croker]

I haven't been a member here for long but have already received loads of useful help, so thought I'd try and give something back with a review of my power tool collection.

I am no particular fan of Worx over any other make; but started out like so many people with a drill, and once having the batteries and charger it made sense to stay with the same brand.

Combi Drill WX384
As mentioned, this was my first cordless power tool purchase... was desperate for a new drill as my previous inherited and ancient jobbie had a brushed motor (lots of sparks and burning smells), an olde worlde keyed chuck and worst of all a power cord! It had to go but with no idea what to look for I was recommended to get a brushless one, and they're obviously pretty much all keyless and cordless these days anyway.

Chose this Worx drill on Amazon for a smidge under £100 complete with a fast charger, case and 2 x 2.0Ah batteries. It's had loads of use in the last 18 months or so. Reasonably powerful (40Nm torque), battery life is excellent (perhaps the brushless motor helps?) and reliability has been good, though the trigger occasionally sticks.

It's pretty light and compact, and overall I like it!

Tip: For masonry I use Bosch blue multi-construction drill bits; so much better than crappy cheap ones and well worth the investment in my opinion... *other quality drill bits are available

Impact driver WX292
My favourite power tool! It's brushless, super powerful and I just love the way it drives screws in so easily. It's not perfect though... it doesn't have a 2 or 3 speed gearbox like some fancier products, the speed is instead controlled via the trigger and I sometimes find it a bit difficult to modulate due to a bit of stiction in the trigger mechanism. To be fair I am guilty of sometimes using it when not strictly necessary... for some jobs it is total overkill. But as said I enjoy using it so there you go Again, battery life is very good and I only have 2.0Ah batteries.

Tip: Similar to above, I've invested in a set of impact driver specific bits. Mine are DeWalt and no breakages yet despite quite a bit of use.

Rotary Hammer Drill WX390
To be honest I've only used this once so far. We live in a Victorian house and the bricks are very variable in terms of hardness. You can drill with a combi like a red hot poker into butter, the try again 2" to the left and it just spins. This gave me a but of a mental block about drilling masonry, but since taking up handiwork as a job I reckon loads of practice, increased confidence plus (not to be underestimated) the use of decent drill bits and the SDS hasn't really been needed... yet.

The one time I tried this drill out, it whacked its way into the brickwork with ease... However, I'd advise down-sizing the drill bit used, e.g. for an 8mm hole use a 7mm bit at first, then bore it out with an 8mm bit if necessary. This was maybe down to my inexperienced SDS drilling technique, but it's obviously a lot more aggressive to use than a combi.

There is no chisel function, it's a compact SDS... think of it as a next step up when your combi drill is struggling with masonry. For core drilling or chiselling you will need to look elsewhere. However, it's very light for an SDS which would surely be beneficial if you had loads of holes to put in brickwork.

Overall, once again I like this drill but only time will tell how it fares.

That's enough typing for now, but look out for the next thrilling instalment in which I will enthral you with tales of my circular saw, jigsaw and multi-tool... bet you can't wait!

[Someone-Else]

Did you know you can make videos, post them on youtube, then put the YT clip on here.

[Croker]

Hmmm not sure the internet is quite ready for my video presenting ‘skills’

[Croker]

I can tell you're all very excited by this, so with no further ado...

Exactrack Circular Saw WX530
Bought this quite recently and got to use it in anger last week.
It feels quite lightweight when you first pick it up, there's quite a bit of the same slightly cheap feeling black plastic that most Worx tools seem to be made from - they definitely feel like budget tools in the hand in comparison with Makita etc.
Anyway, I had three internal doors to take down, trim the bottoms off and then re-hang. My first thought was to use an electric plane but this didn't go particularly well. Uncomfortable to use an any position other than horizontal, it veered too easily off course and clearly wasn't going to return a satisfactory result.
So, out with the circular saw and it turns out that the Exactrack feature is a little gem. Think of it as a sort of built in guide rail that runs along the top of a straight edge parallel with your intended cut. Say you needed to take 5mm of the bottom of a door; lay the door down flat on a couple of saw horses, clamp a straight edge onto the door, 5mm from the bottom; then run the Exactrack along the straight edge and hey presto you've trimmed your door.
Not only that but a lovely smooth, crisp, right-angled cut with virtually no burring. I could never envisage getting a finish anywhere near as clean with an electric plane, and certainly nowhere near as quick.
Verdict: highly recommended!... but watch the battery life though. This thing slurps back lithium ion like my missus puts back the Prosecco at Christmas Ideally it needs a 4 or even 6Ah battery but for the time being I'll just have to keep swapping out my 2Ah ones.

[Croker]

Sonicrafter Multi Tool WX693

Like all multi tools this is really useful. The outer casing is made from the same slightly cheap and brittle feeling black plastic as most other Worx tools, however this is a budget(ish) brand so I suppose some compromises do have to be made. I also have an older Makita multi tool which is mains powered and the differences are quite noticeable... The Makita feels bigger, heavier, more powerful and of much higher quality; the familiar blue-green coloured outer casing has an almost soft-feel touch about it that the Worx lacks, but the reason I purchased the latter is that it is cordless and obviously already had batteries & chargers from my other tools. In operation the Worx is just fine, the light weight is a plus point, but the lack of a power cord makes such a difference... I just find corded hand tools such a hindrance now, no matter how good they might be.

All is not perfect with the Worx though... it has a quick release lever for tool-less blade changes but they've tried to be a bit too clever with it and make it so that it fits any make / fitment of blades. It does work, but is a bit of a faff and I prefer the simple mechanism of the Makita (even though you are more limited in your choice of blades). Also, the lever itself is plastic on the Worx and feels a bit flimsy as opposed to the metal one on the Makita which feels pretty much indestructible.

Overall though a neat little tool, and very useful for all sorts of jobs where nothing else will quite seem to do.

[Foxhound_31]

I've recently become a regular user of the WX384 and 390, and I've been entirely satisfied so far! Sure, I'm using higher end brand drill bits, but the original tools themselves are quite great and their original bits do the job.