Tools Ripped Off - Need Advice

Unregistered

I'm a general contractor in So. Calif. and all my ____ tools were ripped off. I need to replace almost everything! I've been happy with some of my tools, but not all. Want suggestions on brands, experiences, what to buy/not to buy.

Let me know what you think about cordless drills & impact drivers, rotary hammers, circ. saws, framing nailers & grinders.

And if you know the person who ripped me off near San O, July 31....

hatchet

I personally like Dewalt Cordless tools, and most everything else Milwaukee. Dewalt does make a nice High torque circular saw (light yet powerful). Senco, Hitachi, Paslode are all good framing nailers.
And if I run into whoever stole your stuff I'll make sure and send you the tools and a few body parts

__________________
Rich
WIT Construction Co.
Superior MT Contractor

Teetorbilt

Sorry to hear of your loss. It happened to us many years ago. Dad always marked his tools (I mean all of them) with a red stripe painted around them. I was on my way into our local tool store when a guy in a box truck asked me if I needed any tools and proceeded to show me 'our' tools, I told him that I didn't have enough cash on me but to wait while I went to the bank and I would buy lots of them. I went back and told Dad about my luck, he called the cops and the dude got busted. We recovered 95% of what was stolen.
When asking about tools on this site you can open up a big can of worms, much like a Ford, Chevy and Dodge battle.
I have always been a big fan of Makita for cordless drills, circular saws and belt sanders but am starting to lean towards DeWalt for drills. Porter Cable for routers. Ridgid is getting some really strong reviews on table and mitre saws, one is in my near future. My latest rave is Bosch, some of the best tools that I have purchased lately. Hitachi makes some fine tools as well and don't forget Milwalkee, they're heavy but built to last a lifetime and have more guts than a lot of the others, just not very precise. SawZall is one of their trademarks.
To save some bucks go to their websites and find out the outlets for the factory remanufactured tools. Yard sales can be good too. Last year I bought a SawZall for $35.00 slightly used, in the box with $75.00 worth of blades in it. Don't forget flea markets either.

Grumpy

A few years back I used to go to the swap meets. A buddy of mine has a concrete cutting business. He had some tools ripped off, and we happened to see them at the swap meet! LOL that was an insteresting Sunday morning. Like Teetor said, all his tools were marked so he knew they were his.

Tom R

DeWalt was my favorite for cordless drills for years. Now they're absolute garbage. Buy them and your DAMNED! (I have 4 of them, the two 6 year old ones still work great, the 2 one year old ones are too piss-poor to even use)!

hatchet

Interesting Tom - I've always had Dewalt cordless and they've run great.. maybe that's because the stuff I do have is 4-5 years old. Might have to switch my preference to Milwaukee for cordless too

__________________
Rich
WIT Construction Co.
Superior MT Contractor

Tom R

Yeah, Rich, 'after' I bought them, and noticed they were worthless and wouldn't hold a charge, I checked some tool reviews, and everyone is having problems with them. Something about they're made somewhere else now (outsourcing, I guess). So much for my $400.00. Then I had a brainstorm - - maybe next time I'll check FIRST! But seriously, I bought them without checking because the old ones worked so good. Now I'll never buy a DeWalt ANYTHING again! EVER! P.S. Panasonic seems to be the overall most popular for cordless drills, that's what I'll be going for.

hatchet

Yep.. Panasonic has pretty much clinched the market as far as battery technology goes. Milwaukee uses Panasonic batteries I believe.

__________________
Rich
WIT Construction Co.
Superior MT Contractor

Grumpy

I think more than just milwaukee uses the panasonic battery. I'll have to go check my ryobi, but I am prety sure it uses the panasonic as well.

Mike Finley

Grr, I'm pretty much hating all tools at this point. My practically brand new milwaukee hammer drill just took a dump on me this weekend! How much do you have to pay for a tool for them to leave off plastic parts that should be metal? Argh!

hatchet

It's the wave of the future they said

__________________
Rich
WIT Construction Co.
Superior MT Contractor

Tom R

Remember when it was the engineers job to make it last a lifetime, now they're told to make it last 'one year and one day'.

Grumpy

Hey don't blame the engineers. They are just doing what they are told. It's the corporate big wigs that decide they can squeeze a few pennies from each tool by changing one gear to plastic. Then the a year later they want a few more pennies so change a few more parts. Before you knwo it the machine is all plastic or really low grade alloy.

Unregistered

You guys crack me up...I don't even know who makes what anymore. The only tools I know that are still at the top of the game are Sawzalls and Skil saws.

Hell, I don't even know what year any of our work trucks are.

samuel

for cordless stuff get milwaukee. the battery packs on the 18v ones are a pain to get off but ive dropped mine, left them in the rain and ive only broken one battery that was replaced under warranty. i have another rigid one and it sucks, the batterys just died and the drills dead and its only three weeks old.

ecooke21

Out of all three of my combo packs(ryobi, dewalt, and rigid) I think the Rigid is the best..I have not had one prob so far**knocks on wood**...

Bad Frank

there is a place in ohio called voltmann batteries they rebuild them for very fair prices. i think the even have a web site ? :Thumbs:

IowaEric

Can't go wrong with a DeWalt cordless drill (apparently only if it's older, though ) I've never tried the Milwaukee drills, but I can defintely say I do NOT recommend Bosch's 24v cordless drills. I couldn't get half the power out of it as I can with a Dewalt 18v. I would recommend to get a metal chuck upgrade if available on any cordless you buy.

As for circular saw, I think Mikata's are second to none. DeWalt and Delta both put out a good mitre saw as well.

INDYCONST.COM

On the cordless go Panasonic
On the circular saws go PC 347K
On the framing nailers go with the Max Sn890ch34s
J-Air compressors (previously the engineers for the GOOD Emglo...before Dewalt f-d them all up.)
Parker hoses

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JustaFramer

THat is why I chose to buy a used Emglo. I would of bought a rol air but the em was rebuilt and cheaper.