Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Power Tools). This thread is read-only.
I am in need of some help choosing a tool brand to go with. I’ve done so much research these past few days my head is spinning. I couldn’t say how many tool tests l’ve watched on YouTube. Tests and real world usage are clearly two different things. So l’ve come here to get a consensus of real world usage. My tools are all old hand me downs l’ve made work but l’m going to be finishing my basement next year myself. So my Christmas gift to myself is some new tools. I’m looking to get a hammer drill, impact driver and oscillating multi tool. I also do light automotive work so l’m also interested in an impact wrench. The only brands I’m interested and researched are Milwaukee, Dewalt, Flex and Metabo HPT. For simplicity l’d like to stick to one brand. I have seriously gone back and forth with all of them. I know there is team red and team yellow etc… I’m not looking to spark any debates. Just looking for some real world experiences with quality etc and a nudge in the right direction!
All four brands are great brands and you can’t go wrong. I am with you about the reviews and real world. Don’t get caught up in the stats like on has 50 in-lbs. of torque more or 100 rpm’s or more. Pretty much they are all close to each other in regards to power, especially for a home owner.
In regards to having more options, Milwaukee and Dewalt offer more tools, but I know Flex is releasing a bunch also.
I would go to Home Depot and Lowes and grab the tools to see which one feels best in your hand and which one you like the best and go with that brand. Either way, all those brands are great, it really comes down to preference of what feels the best.
Welcome to the forum. You are correct w/ selecting, then remaining w/ one brand. It especially is handy when a battery runs down, to permit borrowing one from a different tool.
Please report on your brand selection.
My battery tools are DeWALT. I have created many forum topics on many of those tools.
As Eric said you cannot go wrong with either. I own both Milwaukee and DeWalt. Started with Milwaukee and after years of products I found some DeWalt tools I didn’t have yet I liked better so I branched out to 2 battery platforms. For years both have been the 2 biggest players in the power tool market, and there are very little if any differences in similar tools, and both offer a large variety of tools you might need down the road. Flex and Metabo are great products to, but don’t have as many options as the other two.
All these brands have some good points (I am not familiar with Flex) DeWALT, Milwaukee and Metabo HPT (HiKoKi) are not top brands to me, but DeWALT and Milwaukee have a huge range of tools and Metabo HPT has a special battery shaped AC adapter which can switch a cordless tool to a corded tool if needed, but their range is smaller compared to DeWALT and Milwaukee. These three brands and also Makita, Metabo and Bosch make most of their tools in China, but Bosch and Metabo have created their own battery alliances with other brands, and you can get a lot European made tools from other brands within the alliances, for example you can get multitools from Fein using Bosch batteries, use a Fein multitool for two hours and a DeWALT one also for two hours and then you will see the difference in vibration and I am sure you will never want to use the DeWALT one again. You can get 4 speed hammer drills from Fein but DeWALT only up to 3 speed. Fein hammer drills can accept 13 different attachments on their chucks and DeWALT ones in 20V platform do have only fixed chucks. There are a lot of examples like these. Have a look at www.ampshare.com from Bosch and CAS (Cordless Alliance System) from Metabo and you will see all the brands within the alliances.
Altan wrote:
17 hours ago, Altan said:… use a Fein multitool for two hours and a DeWALT one also for two hours and then you will see the difference in vibration and I am sure you will never want to use the DeWALT one again.
The ONLY tools I’ve used for hours (days) is my Festool RO150FEQ sander and my Bosch RH540M impact hammer.
Both tools are workhorse machines, GREATLY outlasting any life expectancy.
ALL of my other tools are drill / cut / hammer, then move on. For me there is ZERO impact if an alternative to my DeWALT is smoother or better in some way. Those tools 100% satisfy my needs.
Altan wrote:
On 12/18/2024 at 5:53 PM, Altan said:All these brands have some good points (I am not familiar with Flex) DeWALT, Milwaukee and Metabo HPT (HiKoKi) are not top brands to me, ……..
The OP said he’s finishing his basement, which sounds like DIY homeowner stuff. DeWalt / Milwaukee fits that situation. Yes Festool, Fein are a level above, but if you are not doing daily woodworking is the price justified? The best brand is the one that meets “your” needs. No one here said they were the “top brands”
RT29 wrote:
20 hours ago, RT29 said:The OP said he’s finishing his basement, which sounds like DIY homeowner stuff. DeWalt / Milwaukee fits that situation. Yes Festool, Fein are a level above, but if you are not doing daily woodworking is the price justified? The best brand is the one that meets “your” needs. No one here said they were the “top brands”
Yes, fully finishing basement myself and then after that will be small projects here and there. I have 3 cars that I do all the maintenance on as well as heavily modifying one, so impact wrenches are Important as well.
wingless wrote:
On 12/19/2024 at 5:53 PM, wingless said:The ONLY tools I’ve used for hours (days) is my Festool RO150FEQ sander and my Bosch RH540M impact hammer.
Both tools are workhorse machines, GREATLY outlasting any life expectancy.
ALL of my other tools are drill / cut / hammer, then move on. For me there is ZERO impact if an alternative to my DeWALT is smoother or better in some way. Those tools 100% satisfy my needs.
I had bad experiences with DeWALT and Makita’s Chinese made tools, so I gave up from Chinese made tools ages ago, even if I find out a specific Fein tool is made in China I would not get interested in at all, recently I did post about Fein new cordless jigsaw and two days ago I found out it is made in China, so to buy a cordless jigsaw I consider two options now Festool and Mafell, both made in Germany. Jigsaws from other brands are either made in Mexico or China. Old DeWALT ones were made in Czech Rep. I will not consider Festool for now until they introduce a cordless planer and a cordless router.
RT29 wrote:
On 12/20/2024 at 8:41 AM, RT29 said:The OP said he’s finishing his basement, which sounds like DIY homeowner stuff. DeWalt / Milwaukee fits that situation. Yes Festool, Fein are a level above, but if you are not doing daily woodworking is the price justified? The best brand is the one that meets “your” needs. No one here said they were the “top brands”
You always start with DIY and then small projects here and there (as he mentioned!) and then you notice that you are in another level loooooool and you are still stuck with DeWALT / Milwaukee / Makita.
Altan wrote:
On 12/23/2024 at 8:17 PM, Altan said:
I had bad experiences with DeWALT and Makita’s Chinese made tools, so I gave up from Chinese made tools ages ago, even if I find out a specific Fein tool is made in China I would not get interested in at all, recently I did post about Fein new cordless jigsaw and two days ago I found out it is made in China, so to buy a cordless jigsaw I consider two options now Festool and Mafell, both made in Germany. Jigsaws from other brands are either made in Mexico or China. Old DeWALT ones were made in Czech Rep. I will not consider Festool for now until they introduce a cordless planer and a cordless router.
Have you tried Hilti? Their tools are made outside of C hina too right?
nickjohn35 wrote:
On 12/16/2024 at 6:56 AM, nickjohn35 said:I am in need of some help choosing a tool brand to go with. I’ve done so much research these past few days my head is spinning. I couldn’t say how many tool tests l’ve watched on YouTube. Tests and real world usage are clearly two different things. So l’ve come here to get a consensus of real world usage. My tools are all old hand me downs l’ve made work but l’m going to be finishing my basement next year myself. So my Christmas gift to myself is some new tools. I’m looking to get a hammer drill, impact driver and oscillating multi tool. I also do light automotive work so l’m also interested in an impact wrench. The only brands I’m interested and researched are Milwaukee, Dewalt, Flex and Metabo HPT. For simplicity l’d like to stick to one brand. I have seriously gone back and forth with all of them. I know there is team red and team yellow etc… I’m not looking to spark any debates. Just looking for some real world experiences with quality etc and a nudge in the right direction!
I don’t like using the term best but I think the “least likely to disappoint” would be Milwaukee and DeWALT. They are very close on the basic tools and both have some of the largest selection of specialty/trade specific tools. Would be hard to go wrong with either. I think DeWALT has a slight edge on High Demand tools with Flexvolt and Milwaukee has a slight edge on subcompact tools with M12. I think most people will agree that if you are looking to stick with one brand it is also acceptable to buy in the case of Milwaukee into both M12 and M18 and in the case of DeWALT into 12v, 20v, and/or Flexvolt. Milwaukee has chargers that do both and DeWALT has chargers that do all 3.
Jronman wrote:
On 1/5/2025 at 6:01 PM, Jronman said:Have you tried Hilti? Their tools are made outside of C hina too right?
They do make some of their tools in China, too. Hilti is good but I dont like their new seri neuron with built in connectivity thingy. I dont want my tools to be connected or to have the ability of getting connected to anything, not at all! So a big No to Hilti!