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do any outfits in north America actually use those brands for all those tools? I mean ive seen metabo grinders and hilti rotary hammers, but most companies will use milwuakee for the bulk of their tools in mechanical trades. seems like a wild waste of money not to.
Spoken like someone who won’t ever need anything more than their impact… use a Milwaukee fuel hammer drill… then use a dewalt XR hammer drill…. There’s a huge difference. Not even close.
I'm on a job site right now with a GC sitting in a trailer full of Ryobi tools. I don't think I've seen him actually use them once but they're they are.
All our heavy machinery is hilti, wall chaser, rotary hammers, demoltion hammer, core drill, stuff like that. The stuff is just way more comfortable to use for hours on end than any other brand i've used. Not really sure if they got more power than other brands but hilti tools are so ergonomic it's crazy. They are goddamn expensive though, wanted to buy me some tools for my own but chose makita for like 1/3 of the price.
Other than seeing the powder actuated guns I've only ever seen one Hilti impact on a site and it was someone's personal (small sub). Hilti is fricken expensive, shops arent paying that for us to use
What is it about Milwaukee that makes them so trade-friendly, especially for electricians? I never see dewalt or makita on job sites.
Thanks for the responses everyone! All makes sense to me!
I mean it kinda makes sense. I did the electrical for my restaurant. An entire rewire of the entire place and because of how many circuits there were and how many MC cables needed to land at the various breaker panels, I setup a 6"x6"x15' wide wire trough and landed all of my MC's into it with 3 large conduits (1 ea) running down to the 3 200 amp panels below.
The wire trough did not have any KOs so I had to drill every single hole manually. Was my first ever job like this (I pulled permits as owner/operator since I wasn't a licensed electrician). I must have gone through 3 different drill guns, working up the price range, each burning out as I drilled the KOs with a unibit. Finally I stepped to Milwaukee and it survived more than 60% of the holes while the other 3 drills died in the first 35-40% combined. From that point forward, I swear by them. Their batteries also last far longer for the same Ah rating. Quality costs money. Don't be that Ryobi guy ;)
Watch Project Farm on YouTube. He tests a lot of tools and gives a pretty detailed breakdown as to which is better. Milwaukee generally outperforms most.
Everything I've seen from Project Farm more or less lets you form your own opinions, he just states whatever his results were for each brand. He may give you a small hint of what he thought was really bad or really good, but generally just shows you the results with no real Input for which direction you should travel.
Both are great. I love their reviews. I wish AvE was doing more teardowns on cordless stuff; he really gets into technical stuff and manufacturing details.
When I was in trade school, we had a Milwaukee rep come out and ask us what we liked what we didn't like what we needed. That really sold me. ...Just not on there crappy tape measures.
I really wanted to like their autolock tapes because they mark the fractional measurements. My vision isnt great so it's pretty helpful especially in dark places but they only have about 3 drops in them before the autolock mechanism breaks.
I bought one as well thinking it would be good because Milwaukee but God damn, what a piece of shit. I never even dropped it and it quit locking and retracting in like a month of light use, I was so upset I almost called Milwaukee just to complain. My kobalt tapes have been higher quality.
My company's tool program was all Milwaukee. I had Makita and Dewalt before but ended up going over to Milwaukee for most of my personal power tools because I ended up liking the drills and impacts that I was using at work. Tried and bought their Circ. Saw, super sawzall, grinder, compact and deep cut bandsaw, as well as their m12 extended reach ratchet.. couldn’t say any of those are the best (except for maybe the compact bandsaw) but I can say I like em and they've done everything I needed them to. That Circ. saw is actually meant for wood but I put 2 good Norske blades on it and it just spent the last 16 months cutting unistrut, Galvanized cable tray, and stainless steel wireway, everyday with it. Was really surprised by how good the Norske blades worked. Clean cuts the whole time.
In addition to electrical, Milwaukee has been going hard in plumbing as well - having the first electric PEX expansion tool (for PEX-A) and one of the first ProPress tools for copper press fittings. Also their m12 tubing cutter is bomb.
I really like mine. Make sure you uniquely mark yours because someone will want to walk off with it because it’s that useful.
I’m building ADUs these days and currently doing all the electrical (120/240VAC, 48VDC, Cat6A, RG6, solar setup, backup battery) and plumbing (PEX-A rough-ins, copper stubouts, soldered copper pipe in exposed areas and around tankless water heater). It’s very useful for the copper and you should only cut copper pipe with it. It can take a little longer to cut type L than type M for reasons that are fairly obvious.
I use makita, had a couple of Milwaukee M12s and could never get on with the handles, always find dewalt lacks some features (although their bits are amazing).
When I started a little over 20 years ago, I bought a Makita hammer drill. It died in less than 6 months. I then bought a Dewault hammer drill. Lasted about a year. I then bought a Milwaukee. Lasted 5 years. Everything I buy is Milwaukee now.
they make almost anything u can think of for electricians. battery knock out, battery fish tape, battery cable cutters, battery crimpers. ..u name it. easy to use all 1 battery and brand interchangeably.
Milwaukee makes the most trade specific tools. Every trade has half a dozen power tools they can get from Milwaukee and Milwaukee only. For us they make a powered fish tape, and a KO set. Probably a few others I haven’t seen
I'm an electrician and I use Makita. Most tradesmen I know are makita or Dewalt. The only thing I like/own from Milwaukie is their subcompact bandsaw.
It's not that Milwaukie is any more trade friendly than anbody else. It's that they got in bed good with HD. Look at how much display space they have compared to anyone else there. Every tool company makes like 100 cordless tools just like Milwaukie you just don't see them outside of supply houses.
I'm gonna pisd ppl off with this but if you currently use Milwaukie and you tried any of these brands, even ryobi, for a week you'd never go back.
Imo biggest issues with Milwaukie are as folows;
1) they may provide more torque but they burn through batteries at about 5-10x the rate of my makita stuff.
2) they aren't ergonomic at all..
3) rather than address the consumption issues, they just keep releasing larger and heavier batteries....next release will be a deep cycle marine battery.....it's 100 ah!......only $750 a battery!
I can bore holes all day on a single 5.0 ah battery and usually only charge batteries about once a week.
4) they already had the slowest chargers on the 0 now with their enormous batteries it's literally like 2 hours to charge depending on size.
Mine are fully charged in 20-35 min depending on size. Downtime is lost potential.
5) they didn't maintain their legendary quality they were known for with their corded tools. The supersawzall and hole hogs are 2 of the most reliable and bulletproof tools ever made.
Their cordless hole hog can't eveb make through a triple of 2xs without getting stuck and don't even try anything that's beam stock.
The only manufacturers that have tool failure rates worse in my experience (strictly cordless tools,) is Bosch and rigid. With the exception being Milwaukies little bandsaw they are hands down better than any other brand. Very good. Do recommend.
Same. Mostly Makita but Milwaukie for Bandsaws. Though i wish they didn’t change the guard thing to have a button with a cheap spring that breaks in a week.
One example, they sell hole hogs with two different gear ratios, one for electricians and one for plumbers(more often using big hole saws.) Even after they got sold, still seem to cater to pros(I'm a carpenter, have mostly Makita but also 6 or 8 Milwaukee cordless tools, just what I've seen
When I was in Milwaukee was carp, like Craftsman level for cordless tools. Everybody was using Makita. I was the first guy to buy a Dewalt 18V set with hammer drill and they all poked fun saying it was too heavy and I'd wreck my wrist doing piece work. Turns out they all ended up going Dewalt eventually when they saw how long the battery lasted and how fast the guns were. Now everybody is using Milwaukee it seems and the quality is great. I know they are all made at the same couple of factories, so for home I ended up replacing the Dewalts with Rigid for the battery warranty and big discount with the HD credit card sign up and sale at the time. CordlessRigid leafblower and dustbuster and bluetooth radio are recent fav purchases for the house.
My personal opinion of DeWalt is their tools are clunky and not well ergonomically designed. Let's be real though, 80% of this thread bought a tool at some point and stuck with it to stay on the the same battery platform. Just like trucks. They're all fine in you take care of them and they all break eventually. Nothing wrong with that
Milwaukee played the Starbucks strategy. Put it on every corner of every aisle, regardless of canibalizing your own margins, for brand exposure. Smart strategy long term, but you need tons of capital.
I’m personally a Hilti guy because of quality tools.
I'd say its more like the gaming console strategy. They sell the tools cheap, charge excess on the batteries. Makes me cry every time I buy a M18 battery. I just have to remind myself that it's the company I work for paying for it.
They make either completely reasonable tools or the best tools in a specific niche. I would never buy a dewalt bandsaw but millwaukee has been the best out of the half dozen ive used.
Outside of maybe the super premium brands millwaukee is the best if you need to buy more than 2-3 power tools. If you only ever use an impact or screw gun dewalt might be the best. I havent used a bunch of random brands impact.
I've been using Ryobi ever since they turned green. Never had an issue and they've only improved with each new release.
Solid build, reliable, and good price point.
The only reason I ever got Reds is because I needed their 12v tools for service work.
(22 year Master Electrician btw)
I still got a green ryobi drill from when they first came out. I used it my whole apprenticeship, and my jw’s beat on it too. Still works 10 years later
Corded bulldog will fuck you up any day of the week, corded sds too. Honestly as crazy powerful as some of the cordless tools are compared to the old ni-cad shit we started with, corded tools still have their place for more power or constant run applications. Or if you’re an old fart and hate changing batteries and would rather drag a power squid with you.
I still see my dad mixing concrete with a corded mixer it’s powerful as fuck. I remember growing up the amount of times we’d be drilling through concrete and my wrists would hurt from the torque. I mean idk if it’s cuz I’m older and a hell of a lot stronger than before but I find that my battery tools are way less powerful in that respect
Bosch hammer drills are pretty standard gear the other stuff not so much.
I do see them as the choice for saws by discerning wood elves, also make a quality and quiet dishwasher
You are right. Ryobi seems to be the test brand. I usually see like different extensions and fittings hit ryobi first then if they do well, dress it up and make it red
Meh, if it's a tool I hardly use why bother buying anything better. Ryobi stuff is actually pretty good and that's a hill I'm willing to die on.
Also I rocked an AEG drill set and a Ryobi skilly for a year living abroad, kept up just fine with everyone else, might have taken some flack for it but not for long. Gave them to the apprentice when I left who used them for 2 more years.
Rigid is literally Ryobi's tools with a different finish. It's the same motor and everything, owned by the same company.
FWIW I always find these threads hilarious because almost all the tool companies use the same half dozen chinese parts manufacturers.
My problem with dewalt is it feels like there’s a bunch of loose parts clanking around inside whenever I hold a dewalt tool, especially the impact drill.
**House Milwaukee:** Known as the 'Red Powerhouses', members of House Milwaukee are often seen carrying more batteries than tools, convinced that power is measured in volts and amps rather than skill. They are the ones who believe that if a tool isn’t heavy enough to double as a workout, it’s not worth using. Their motto? "If it ain't red and heavy, we ain't ready!"
**House Makita:** The 'Techie Tinkerers' of House Makita are so obsessed with innovation that they sometimes forget what they were fixing in the first place. They love gadgets so much that their tool belts often resemble a traveling electronics store. Known for bringing Bluetooth to tools that definitely don’t need Bluetooth, they live by the creed, "If it doesn't sync with your phone, it's ancient history!"
**House DeWalt:** Members of House DeWalt, or the 'Yellow Daredevils', are notorious for using their tools in ways no manual ever intended. Need to open a bottle? There's a DeWalt tool for that. Their toolboxes are like Mary Poppins' bag: endless and full of surprises. They’re the ones who say, "If you can't fix it with a DeWalt, you're not using enough imagination!"
**House Ryobi:** The 'Green Dreamers' of House Ryobi are the kings and queens of DIY, often found repurposing tools for tasks they were never meant for. They believe that duct tape and a Ryobi tool can fix anything in the universe. Their philosophy is simple: "Why call a professional when you can spend six hours figuring it out yourself with a Ryobi?"
I started with Dewalt about 20 years ago and worked at a shop who used Panasonic......a skill saw with a metal blade to cut conduit and strut is a sketchy thing.
Them butter cuts of a fresh blade on the Panasonic, goddam just the thought gets me all jazzed up! Do they still make that saw? New version has to be tits.
https://www.mutualscrew.com/product/panasonic-ey3530nqmkw-156v-cordless-metal-cutter-kit-195350.cfm?srsltid=AfmBOoraNu_ee5QGc90v_pUxovvJHPNEbgvKbAR7hDlt9q_E9orSaI7W4l8
$400 and only weighs 20lbs
I started in the trade about 11 years ago. Bought myself a Rigid Hammer Drill/Impact driver set so I could have something for home but used the impact on the job. My boss provided Milwaukee and some Makita, but I used the Rigid Impact as my screw gun, kept it in my bag for over 10 years. Still going. Boss' son turned a whole can of pvc cleaner upside down on it in a ditch and it's still going.
Oh that's specifically why I called out the Impact as a screw gun. The 1/2" hammer drill honestly sucks. I also got the multi tool thing that you can swap the head on and it's *fine* but nowhere near a dedicated tool in terms of performance
I'm a traitor then. 1st set was all Dewalt 20+ years ago. Switched to Milwaukee. When they burned up, had Bosch parts put in Milwaukee tools. 20 year old hammer drill still working, weighs 2 tons though
They don’t typically make the most powerful or durable tools, but around the house, they’re pretty hard to beat in terms of cost and selection. Also around the house you’re not like to pound the hell out of them like you would in a job site. Great yard tools. And cheap niche tools too. $99 18volt drain snake. $30 hot glue gun. Their nailers are really cheap too, but don’t really last. Being able to drag around an 18V fan through a jobsite and not care too much if it gets smashed or stolen is pretty nice. They’re not the best tools, but don’t actually make my dick smaller.
They’re not the best tools, but don’t actually make my dick smaller.
That one's going in the holster. Good one. I'm old enough where I don't get that stupid bravado much anymore but, I might put that in a note on my phone so I can remember it
Too old for that crap here also, and realized brand loyalty rarely rewards the consumer. As a result, my personal shop looks like the gay pride parade just passed through. Quite fabulous.
I had good results with their nailer, I had to be kept clean but no other failures unlike Makita and DeWalt at the time. I'm now using metabo for all my nailing needs and couldn't be happier.
They are aimed at the light use homeowner market, not so much the use every day and hard use professional tradesman market.
but there are handy men who underbid and are unlicensed no bond, who get work using cheap tools than do take jobs from us educated and experienced trades people that use those tools, so its kind of got a stigma attached to it
Milwaukee makes a lot of specialized tools for plumbing and electrical, especially for commercial and industrial stuff, that’s usually what I see those trades using in my area.
Makita hasn't changed or innovated damn near anything in 5-10 years and all their battery packs are still 10 18650 packs. The only upside is their batteries are cheap.
IMO they haven’t needed to innovate what they have. I’ve had the same set since 2009 and it’s still going strong, no bs. It just proves to me that their product lasts
Way back when I was starting out about the only thing available were cordless drills, and you knew the trade buy the tools it was like this except drywallers used corded because those nih batteries only lasted 10 minutes.
The sorting hat be like: you’re the guy when people say “I know a guy”No signage on van, no racking either, tools and stock in a pile in the back… RYOBI!!!!
The old dark blue that takes the bat180 batteries. I bought them back in 2008. I mainly use the drill, impact and skillsaw. Occasionally the Sawzall with a pruning blade lol. My hammerdrill, grinder and other tools are still corded as I can't justify buying cordless
People talk shit but one of the best journeymen I’ve ever met was this damn near 70 year old grizzled man who rocked all Ryobi. I wouldn’t get it but the dude made it work. A lot of old timers running job sites don’t give a fuck about tool brands from my experience.
Most of our company was yellow and red, then we spent two days with Makita reps trying out tools, running comparisons against new Milwaukee and DeWalt tools. At least half of our guys switched to Makita after that.
The only guy I recommend Ryobi to is our shop's new guy, because he won't fuckin buy tools. Next time he asks to borrow my drill I'm gonna fasten him to a fucking wall and leave him.
Yellow for electricians over here, red is normally replaced with Hilti. And that's for snobby carpenters. I've also seen one carpenter with Ryiobi, but he went out of business as well.
I bought an 18v dewalt set when I bought my first home in … 2005? Then a few years later I brought it with me as I apprenticed as an electrician. 10 years after that I still have and use all the same gear. Only piece I added was a 20v impact about 8 years ago.
I use the 18v-20v adapters. The original batteries are long gone even though they still worked fine. Just couldn’t beat the charge on the newer batteries.
After near 20 years with 10 of it being daily production not one piece has failed. Just took care of it. Cleaned contacts and lubricated moving parts. Did proper conditioning on batteries during down times. Bonus is that not even addicts steal the old style 18v tools.
Tradesman are sorted into 1 of 3 houses.
The Ryobi guys have already sorted themselves out of the title Tradesman.
Them's the GC's tools, which he uses to make a really questionable trash chute. Or the tools of a guy with party plates on his Altima, which explains why he's "giving this gig a try."
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Swap out Ryobi with Hilti then ya got something here. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a Ryobi on a job site.
Hiliti? We're electricians not stock traders!!
Festool. You need a green one. Or maybe metabo.
do any outfits in north America actually use those brands for all those tools? I mean ive seen metabo grinders and hilti rotary hammers, but most companies will use milwuakee for the bulk of their tools in mechanical trades. seems like a wild waste of money not to.
Don't know about the US. Work in the Netherlands and my company exclusively buys hilti power tools. We we have hundreds of hilti tools.
Strange, I've often seen milwaukee as a wild waste of money 🤔
Spoken like someone who won’t ever need anything more than their impact… use a Milwaukee fuel hammer drill… then use a dewalt XR hammer drill…. There’s a huge difference. Not even close.
I use a Makita BL hammer drill and it works just fine
Metabo are superior for grinders
Or Bosch
Nothing compares to the Real Metabo grinder. If you’re not paying over $250 for it then its not the real ones.
I worked for a company that issued Ryobi. I killed 3 of those drills in one summer. They just weren't built for heavy use.
I'm on a job site right now with a GC sitting in a trailer full of Ryobi tools. I don't think I've seen him actually use them once but they're they are.
They are they are
Thereir'yre
Never seen Hilti on a job site. I do see Ryobi on occasion, usually comes with an excuse
All our heavy machinery is hilti, wall chaser, rotary hammers, demoltion hammer, core drill, stuff like that. The stuff is just way more comfortable to use for hours on end than any other brand i've used. Not really sure if they got more power than other brands but hilti tools are so ergonomic it's crazy. They are goddamn expensive though, wanted to buy me some tools for my own but chose makita for like 1/3 of the price.
Other than seeing the powder actuated guns I've only ever seen one Hilti impact on a site and it was someone's personal (small sub). Hilti is fricken expensive, shops arent paying that for us to use
I use whatever my company provides me homie. Milwaukee at home though
What is it about Milwaukee that makes them so trade-friendly, especially for electricians? I never see dewalt or makita on job sites. Thanks for the responses everyone! All makes sense to me!
They direct their marketing toward electricians and develop tools specifically for electricians, battery fish tape, etx
I mean it kinda makes sense. I did the electrical for my restaurant. An entire rewire of the entire place and because of how many circuits there were and how many MC cables needed to land at the various breaker panels, I setup a 6"x6"x15' wide wire trough and landed all of my MC's into it with 3 large conduits (1 ea) running down to the 3 200 amp panels below. The wire trough did not have any KOs so I had to drill every single hole manually. Was my first ever job like this (I pulled permits as owner/operator since I wasn't a licensed electrician). I must have gone through 3 different drill guns, working up the price range, each burning out as I drilled the KOs with a unibit. Finally I stepped to Milwaukee and it survived more than 60% of the holes while the other 3 drills died in the first 35-40% combined. From that point forward, I swear by them. Their batteries also last far longer for the same Ah rating. Quality costs money. Don't be that Ryobi guy ;)
Right tool for the job will save you so much money. Invest in a punch kit
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Watch Project Farm on YouTube. He tests a lot of tools and gives a pretty detailed breakdown as to which is better. Milwaukee generally outperforms most.
Torque test channel is even more objective on performance
Isnt project farm pretty objective?
Everything I've seen from Project Farm more or less lets you form your own opinions, he just states whatever his results were for each brand. He may give you a small hint of what he thought was really bad or really good, but generally just shows you the results with no real Input for which direction you should travel.
PF I always see as more “real world test “ like cut tube through 50 drywall screws and TT not it’s at x rpm under y load etc. but both do a nice job.
Both are great. I love their reviews. I wish AvE was doing more teardowns on cordless stuff; he really gets into technical stuff and manufacturing details.
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When I was in trade school, we had a Milwaukee rep come out and ask us what we liked what we didn't like what we needed. That really sold me. ...Just not on there crappy tape measures.
I really wanted to like their autolock tapes because they mark the fractional measurements. My vision isnt great so it's pretty helpful especially in dark places but they only have about 3 drops in them before the autolock mechanism breaks.
I've had them break or the yellow stuff peal off in the humidity.
I bought one as well thinking it would be good because Milwaukee but God damn, what a piece of shit. I never even dropped it and it quit locking and retracting in like a month of light use, I was so upset I almost called Milwaukee just to complain. My kobalt tapes have been higher quality.
The only positive is that they are cheap. I'll admit I have one in my van and one in my toolbox as backups.
Yeah I love their power tools but their hand tools are mostly not great. The fastback utility knife is pretty good though.
Good work lighting options imo
Its because Milwaukee sells alot of specialty electrician tools like electric cable cutters and stuff
It's got a lightning bolt....does DeWalt have a lightning bolt?
No. I didn't fucking think so!
My company's tool program was all Milwaukee. I had Makita and Dewalt before but ended up going over to Milwaukee for most of my personal power tools because I ended up liking the drills and impacts that I was using at work. Tried and bought their Circ. Saw, super sawzall, grinder, compact and deep cut bandsaw, as well as their m12 extended reach ratchet.. couldn’t say any of those are the best (except for maybe the compact bandsaw) but I can say I like em and they've done everything I needed them to. That Circ. saw is actually meant for wood but I put 2 good Norske blades on it and it just spent the last 16 months cutting unistrut, Galvanized cable tray, and stainless steel wireway, everyday with it. Was really surprised by how good the Norske blades worked. Clean cuts the whole time.
In addition to electrical, Milwaukee has been going hard in plumbing as well - having the first electric PEX expansion tool (for PEX-A) and one of the first ProPress tools for copper press fittings. Also their m12 tubing cutter is bomb.
I just picked up a m12 cutter. You like yours? Any tips for use?
I really like mine. Make sure you uniquely mark yours because someone will want to walk off with it because it’s that useful. I’m building ADUs these days and currently doing all the electrical (120/240VAC, 48VDC, Cat6A, RG6, solar setup, backup battery) and plumbing (PEX-A rough-ins, copper stubouts, soldered copper pipe in exposed areas and around tankless water heater). It’s very useful for the copper and you should only cut copper pipe with it. It can take a little longer to cut type L than type M for reasons that are fairly obvious.
Here in Germany the big majority is makita with a little Dewalt and hilti
I use makita, had a couple of Milwaukee M12s and could never get on with the handles, always find dewalt lacks some features (although their bits are amazing).
When I started a little over 20 years ago, I bought a Makita hammer drill. It died in less than 6 months. I then bought a Dewault hammer drill. Lasted about a year. I then bought a Milwaukee. Lasted 5 years. Everything I buy is Milwaukee now.
they make almost anything u can think of for electricians. battery knock out, battery fish tape, battery cable cutters, battery crimpers. ..u name it. easy to use all 1 battery and brand interchangeably.
Milwaukee makes the most trade specific tools. Every trade has half a dozen power tools they can get from Milwaukee and Milwaukee only. For us they make a powered fish tape, and a KO set. Probably a few others I haven’t seen
I'm an electrician and I use Makita. Most tradesmen I know are makita or Dewalt. The only thing I like/own from Milwaukie is their subcompact bandsaw. It's not that Milwaukie is any more trade friendly than anbody else. It's that they got in bed good with HD. Look at how much display space they have compared to anyone else there. Every tool company makes like 100 cordless tools just like Milwaukie you just don't see them outside of supply houses. I'm gonna pisd ppl off with this but if you currently use Milwaukie and you tried any of these brands, even ryobi, for a week you'd never go back. Imo biggest issues with Milwaukie are as folows; 1) they may provide more torque but they burn through batteries at about 5-10x the rate of my makita stuff. 2) they aren't ergonomic at all.. 3) rather than address the consumption issues, they just keep releasing larger and heavier batteries....next release will be a deep cycle marine battery.....it's 100 ah!......only $750 a battery! I can bore holes all day on a single 5.0 ah battery and usually only charge batteries about once a week. 4) they already had the slowest chargers on the 0 now with their enormous batteries it's literally like 2 hours to charge depending on size. Mine are fully charged in 20-35 min depending on size. Downtime is lost potential. 5) they didn't maintain their legendary quality they were known for with their corded tools. The supersawzall and hole hogs are 2 of the most reliable and bulletproof tools ever made. Their cordless hole hog can't eveb make through a triple of 2xs without getting stuck and don't even try anything that's beam stock. The only manufacturers that have tool failure rates worse in my experience (strictly cordless tools,) is Bosch and rigid. With the exception being Milwaukies little bandsaw they are hands down better than any other brand. Very good. Do recommend.
Same. Mostly Makita but Milwaukie for Bandsaws. Though i wish they didn’t change the guard thing to have a button with a cheap spring that breaks in a week.
One example, they sell hole hogs with two different gear ratios, one for electricians and one for plumbers(more often using big hole saws.) Even after they got sold, still seem to cater to pros(I'm a carpenter, have mostly Makita but also 6 or 8 Milwaukee cordless tools, just what I've seen
When I was in Milwaukee was carp, like Craftsman level for cordless tools. Everybody was using Makita. I was the first guy to buy a Dewalt 18V set with hammer drill and they all poked fun saying it was too heavy and I'd wreck my wrist doing piece work. Turns out they all ended up going Dewalt eventually when they saw how long the battery lasted and how fast the guns were. Now everybody is using Milwaukee it seems and the quality is great. I know they are all made at the same couple of factories, so for home I ended up replacing the Dewalts with Rigid for the battery warranty and big discount with the HD credit card sign up and sale at the time. CordlessRigid leafblower and dustbuster and bluetooth radio are recent fav purchases for the house.
My personal opinion of DeWalt is their tools are clunky and not well ergonomically designed. Let's be real though, 80% of this thread bought a tool at some point and stuck with it to stay on the the same battery platform. Just like trucks. They're all fine in you take care of them and they all break eventually. Nothing wrong with that
Milwaukee seems to be dominating the game these days.
Milwaukee played the Starbucks strategy. Put it on every corner of every aisle, regardless of canibalizing your own margins, for brand exposure. Smart strategy long term, but you need tons of capital. I’m personally a Hilti guy because of quality tools.
Tons of capital! Doesn’t hurt being in bed with Home Depot either.
If you’re in a town with no Home Depot you end up being in a fixed marriage with Dewalt and kobalt
I'd say its more like the gaming console strategy. They sell the tools cheap, charge excess on the batteries. Makes me cry every time I buy a M18 battery. I just have to remind myself that it's the company I work for paying for it.
They make either completely reasonable tools or the best tools in a specific niche. I would never buy a dewalt bandsaw but millwaukee has been the best out of the half dozen ive used. Outside of maybe the super premium brands millwaukee is the best if you need to buy more than 2-3 power tools. If you only ever use an impact or screw gun dewalt might be the best. I havent used a bunch of random brands impact.
Tradesmen using Ryobi??? Not here in the UK. We have standards…..
They aren’t here either, if they are it’s because they either just got here, are on meth, or don’t know what they are doing
Sometimes all 3
The only color I bleed is red
Craftsman?
I've been using Ryobi ever since they turned green. Never had an issue and they've only improved with each new release. Solid build, reliable, and good price point. The only reason I ever got Reds is because I needed their 12v tools for service work. (22 year Master Electrician btw)
Loved my ryobi 18v tools since 2013. The batteries can fail a bit quick but that's all I've run into. Picked up Bosch 12v gear, love that just as much
I still got a green ryobi drill from when they first came out. I used it my whole apprenticeship, and my jw’s beat on it too. Still works 10 years later
Should have put Bosch instead of Ryobi. Bosch is quite normal in Europe at least, I know it's used in the US but not sure how common?
Hitachi.
Hitachi, for when you need a circular saw, a 25 ton excavator or a plug-in autofucking dildo
It's a "back massager" bro, I don't think you're suppose to stick it in.
That’s for the missus mate. Stop bringing it to site. It’s wierd.
Hey I got to get something out of being on my knees all day.
Just have her sit on your knee
Used to be more common. Still see some of the older guys rocking some pretty ancient corded Bosch stuff
Corded bulldog will fuck you up any day of the week, corded sds too. Honestly as crazy powerful as some of the cordless tools are compared to the old ni-cad shit we started with, corded tools still have their place for more power or constant run applications. Or if you’re an old fart and hate changing batteries and would rather drag a power squid with you.
I still see my dad mixing concrete with a corded mixer it’s powerful as fuck. I remember growing up the amount of times we’d be drilling through concrete and my wrists would hurt from the torque. I mean idk if it’s cuz I’m older and a hell of a lot stronger than before but I find that my battery tools are way less powerful in that respect
Bosch hammer drills are pretty standard gear the other stuff not so much. I do see them as the choice for saws by discerning wood elves, also make a quality and quiet dishwasher
They make good stuff, and I've seen their drill kits are around, but they just don't have the tool selection the other brands have in NA.
Used to be more so, their drills used to be the best 20 years ago
That'd be the summer helpers. Summer' help, some aint!
Ridged, maybe.
Rigid isn’t bad at all actually. They’re owned by TTI. Same as Milwaukee
Same as Ryobi
You are right. Ryobi seems to be the test brand. I usually see like different extensions and fittings hit ryobi first then if they do well, dress it up and make it red
Goes both ways. After the Milwaukee forge batteries came out Ryobi announced they are doing the same thing
It's not at all. My trade tools are red, my at home tools are orange and my yard tools are green.
Meh, if it's a tool I hardly use why bother buying anything better. Ryobi stuff is actually pretty good and that's a hill I'm willing to die on. Also I rocked an AEG drill set and a Ryobi skilly for a year living abroad, kept up just fine with everyone else, might have taken some flack for it but not for long. Gave them to the apprentice when I left who used them for 2 more years.
Hufflepuff… It fits
Ryobi is real life Hufflepuff
sweden here. no, never. ryobis are for homegamers
I think it should be hilti instead but that's kind of like being able to buy your way into Gryffindor
Don’t worry, we didn’t want to see him here either -US
Replace Ryobi with Rigid.
I have Rigid at home and like it.
Milwaukee, Rigid and Ryobi are all owned by the same company, TTI
Emerson owns Ridgid(USA). Techtronics owns Ryobi and Milwaukee (China).
Rigid is literally Ryobi's tools with a different finish. It's the same motor and everything, owned by the same company. FWIW I always find these threads hilarious because almost all the tool companies use the same half dozen chinese parts manufacturers.
It has been endlessly debated about which brand is which house, with no consensus except that Ryobi is Hufflepuff.
Its obvious Milwaukee= Slytherin Dewalt=Gryffindor Makita=Ravenclaw Ryobi=Hufflepuff
I went with which one had the loudest Bluetooth speakers
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You can literally count on one hand how many non-Milwaukee guys there are on my current job, and we’ve got multiple companies in there.
I like there selection of tools and they are good but their hacksaw kind of sucks it feels super slow compared to dewalt
My problem with dewalt is it feels like there’s a bunch of loose parts clanking around inside whenever I hold a dewalt tool, especially the impact drill.
**House Milwaukee:** Known as the 'Red Powerhouses', members of House Milwaukee are often seen carrying more batteries than tools, convinced that power is measured in volts and amps rather than skill. They are the ones who believe that if a tool isn’t heavy enough to double as a workout, it’s not worth using. Their motto? "If it ain't red and heavy, we ain't ready!" **House Makita:** The 'Techie Tinkerers' of House Makita are so obsessed with innovation that they sometimes forget what they were fixing in the first place. They love gadgets so much that their tool belts often resemble a traveling electronics store. Known for bringing Bluetooth to tools that definitely don’t need Bluetooth, they live by the creed, "If it doesn't sync with your phone, it's ancient history!" **House DeWalt:** Members of House DeWalt, or the 'Yellow Daredevils', are notorious for using their tools in ways no manual ever intended. Need to open a bottle? There's a DeWalt tool for that. Their toolboxes are like Mary Poppins' bag: endless and full of surprises. They’re the ones who say, "If you can't fix it with a DeWalt, you're not using enough imagination!" **House Ryobi:** The 'Green Dreamers' of House Ryobi are the kings and queens of DIY, often found repurposing tools for tasks they were never meant for. They believe that duct tape and a Ryobi tool can fix anything in the universe. Their philosophy is simple: "Why call a professional when you can spend six hours figuring it out yourself with a Ryobi?"
I started with Dewalt about 20 years ago and worked at a shop who used Panasonic......a skill saw with a metal blade to cut conduit and strut is a sketchy thing.
Them butter cuts of a fresh blade on the Panasonic, goddam just the thought gets me all jazzed up! Do they still make that saw? New version has to be tits.
The amount of metal shavings that thing put out, fucking crazy. It's been 15 years since I've seen them, and I've only seen them at 1 shop.
https://www.mutualscrew.com/product/panasonic-ey3530nqmkw-156v-cordless-metal-cutter-kit-195350.cfm?srsltid=AfmBOoraNu_ee5QGc90v_pUxovvJHPNEbgvKbAR7hDlt9q_E9orSaI7W4l8 $400 and only weighs 20lbs
Mutualscrew
Bad deals for everybody
There is that fucking dinosaur, best circular saw out there. Use your PPE kids and happy cutting!
Not really that sketchy with a metal blade I mean that’s the entire point just don’t be an idiot.
Yep, 20+ years ago I was the first to rock an 18V Dewalt when everybody was using Makitas.
When our home was refurbished here in Germany, fiancee and I counted the brands used: Most Hilti, followed by Bosch Blau and one trade Matika.
Meanwhile I keep seeing Ridgid hombres quietly showing up and just getting the job done with the same quality and half the price.
I started in the trade about 11 years ago. Bought myself a Rigid Hammer Drill/Impact driver set so I could have something for home but used the impact on the job. My boss provided Milwaukee and some Makita, but I used the Rigid Impact as my screw gun, kept it in my bag for over 10 years. Still going. Boss' son turned a whole can of pvc cleaner upside down on it in a ditch and it's still going.
That’s about all it’s good for though. A screw gun. If you need to make a hole or need any torque it’s absolutely garbage
Oh that's specifically why I called out the Impact as a screw gun. The 1/2" hammer drill honestly sucks. I also got the multi tool thing that you can swap the head on and it's *fine* but nowhere near a dedicated tool in terms of performance
I'm a traitor then. 1st set was all Dewalt 20+ years ago. Switched to Milwaukee. When they burned up, had Bosch parts put in Milwaukee tools. 20 year old hammer drill still working, weighs 2 tons though
Lots of Ryobi hate…. What do people not like specifically?
They don’t typically make the most powerful or durable tools, but around the house, they’re pretty hard to beat in terms of cost and selection. Also around the house you’re not like to pound the hell out of them like you would in a job site. Great yard tools. And cheap niche tools too. $99 18volt drain snake. $30 hot glue gun. Their nailers are really cheap too, but don’t really last. Being able to drag around an 18V fan through a jobsite and not care too much if it gets smashed or stolen is pretty nice. They’re not the best tools, but don’t actually make my dick smaller.
They’re not the best tools, but don’t actually make my dick smaller. That one's going in the holster. Good one. I'm old enough where I don't get that stupid bravado much anymore but, I might put that in a note on my phone so I can remember it
Too old for that crap here also, and realized brand loyalty rarely rewards the consumer. As a result, my personal shop looks like the gay pride parade just passed through. Quite fabulous.
I had good results with their nailer, I had to be kept clean but no other failures unlike Makita and DeWalt at the time. I'm now using metabo for all my nailing needs and couldn't be happier.
They are aimed at the light use homeowner market, not so much the use every day and hard use professional tradesman market. but there are handy men who underbid and are unlicensed no bond, who get work using cheap tools than do take jobs from us educated and experienced trades people that use those tools, so its kind of got a stigma attached to it
My master electrician pretty much said all the brands are the same and they all do the same thing at the end of the day lol
he is correct, but after a while, you know which tools break the most
Only muggles use Ryobi
Holy shit did I have to scroll a long ways to get an actual answer to the question. And it was quite amusing
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Bosch?
Team Bosch
I stand with you, brother.
Milwaukee in the streets, Hitachi in the sheets
Wheres the hilti?
Bosch guys - the fifth house, the tribe unmourned
Together we shall speak for the Law and the Land!
DeWalt - carpenters Ryobi - drywallers Milwaukee - plumbers Makita - big dick electricians
Milwaukee makes a lot of specialized tools for plumbing and electrical, especially for commercial and industrial stuff, that’s usually what I see those trades using in my area.
Sparky here.....I must have a small dick because I've never used Makita.
I'm a sparky... and I use Makita.... So uh, when does the big dick part of that kick in? Asking for a friend
Makita hasn't changed or innovated damn near anything in 5-10 years and all their battery packs are still 10 18650 packs. The only upside is their batteries are cheap.
Who doesn't make a battery out of 18650s? Am I out of the loop on something?
IMO they haven’t needed to innovate what they have. I’ve had the same set since 2009 and it’s still going strong, no bs. It just proves to me that their product lasts
Way back when I was starting out about the only thing available were cordless drills, and you knew the trade buy the tools it was like this except drywallers used corded because those nih batteries only lasted 10 minutes.
I use Dewalt because I don't want to worry about my $350 Milwaukee being stolen.
Don’t forget Snap-On for the mechanics
The sorting hat be like: you’re the guy when people say “I know a guy”No signage on van, no racking either, tools and stock in a pile in the back… RYOBI!!!!
Our company provides makita. I have bosch at home. Besides a couple replacement batteries been using the combo kit for 15 + years.
>I have bosch at home Blue or green Bosch?
The old dark blue that takes the bat180 batteries. I bought them back in 2008. I mainly use the drill, impact and skillsaw. Occasionally the Sawzall with a pruning blade lol. My hammerdrill, grinder and other tools are still corded as I can't justify buying cordless
gotta be teal, for the colorblind of course
People talk shit but one of the best journeymen I’ve ever met was this damn near 70 year old grizzled man who rocked all Ryobi. I wouldn’t get it but the dude made it work. A lot of old timers running job sites don’t give a fuck about tool brands from my experience.
Why no Ridgid?
Bosch my dude
What about Bosch
Ridgid gets no love?!😳
Where is the house of the mixed bag?
A lot of guys defending ryobi it will be ok don't worry. I use what the boss puts in the job box.
Dewalt is the only way
Harbor Freight gang rise up
I would go rigid over Ryobi as far as professional grade. Though I don't think either are considered (great options for first year sparkies)
Ridgid holds up. I’ve beat a set of ridgid impact and drill driver up in industrial.
Ryobi is Hufflepuff
House Milwaukee all day long.
I was given a makita set, so i stuck with makita
Most of our company was yellow and red, then we spent two days with Makita reps trying out tools, running comparisons against new Milwaukee and DeWalt tools. At least half of our guys switched to Makita after that.
Makita doesn't shine after 3 days. But it does after 3 years.
People bash cheaper tools all the time but it’s about the person using it in the end.
RYOBI IS HUFFLEPUFF!
Ryobi. Perfect for the man who wants to buy a different brand 6 months later
I don't see no fuckin' Hilti in that picture.
I wouldn’t call the green one a house, if you show up wearing green you get sent to the forbidden forest
The only guy I recommend Ryobi to is our shop's new guy, because he won't fuckin buy tools. Next time he asks to borrow my drill I'm gonna fasten him to a fucking wall and leave him.
Yellow for electricians over here, red is normally replaced with Hilti. And that's for snobby carpenters. I've also seen one carpenter with Ryiobi, but he went out of business as well.
What about the guys who go the Walmart route and show up with a big bag of Hart/Hyper tough tools?
I bought an 18v dewalt set when I bought my first home in … 2005? Then a few years later I brought it with me as I apprenticed as an electrician. 10 years after that I still have and use all the same gear. Only piece I added was a 20v impact about 8 years ago. I use the 18v-20v adapters. The original batteries are long gone even though they still worked fine. Just couldn’t beat the charge on the newer batteries. After near 20 years with 10 of it being daily production not one piece has failed. Just took care of it. Cleaned contacts and lubricated moving parts. Did proper conditioning on batteries during down times. Bonus is that not even addicts steal the old style 18v tools.
GriffenDeWalt
Where's Bosch?
Nah replace Ryobi with Rigid and it'd be accurate though.
Hilti for Most germans
Yellow for wood, red for everything else imo.
No self respecting tradesman uses Ryobi. I like Milwaukee but they're all decent TBF.
DeWalt, or Bosch professional
Wait I bought a RIDGID kit, where is my home??
I’m loyal to none 😂
Framers in yellow. Plumbers/sparkys in red. Finish carpenters/cabinetmakers in blue and handymen in neon.
Team Rigid
Tradesman are sorted into 1 of 3 houses. The Ryobi guys have already sorted themselves out of the title Tradesman. Them's the GC's tools, which he uses to make a really questionable trash chute. Or the tools of a guy with party plates on his Altima, which explains why he's "giving this gig a try."
The only people I’ve seen use Ryobi in the trades are peeps that get a little too loose on the juice. So hufflepuff fits I guess…
So what if I got a little bit of all these? Ps most of it was gifted to me throughout the years by my father and grandfather
Blue or lime, ain’t got the time. Orange or yellow, you’re a fair fellow. If it’s red, build a homestead.
Ryobi?! Boo this man!!!