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Dewalt Quality Going Downhill?

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BC Rollin

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Discussion starter · #1 ·
Buddy of mine runs all Dewalt and he has had a run of bad luck, bad quality, whatever it is.

(1) oscillator
(2) Bluetooth headohones
(1) cordless compressor
(1) drill driver

They all seem to be wiring issues and he takes good care of his tools so it isn’t an abuse issue.

Anyone else had trouble with Dewalt lately?
 
#2 ·
I have 3 of the oscillating tools, 2 of the cordless compressors, a couple drills, and dozens of other Dewalt tools and batteries. They have been by far my best performers. We did blow up one of the cordless compressors under warranty, but we used it to frame a basement, which was probably a bit of abuse.
 
Discussion starter · #4 ·
Hopefully we will get more feedback but based on y’all it sounds like he has just had a run of bad luck. Dewalt has always been a workhorse for me too. And unlike him, I’m not very good about tool care.
 
#6 ·
BC Rollin said:
Hopefully we will get more feedback but based on y’all it sounds like he has just had a run of bad luck. Dewalt has always been a workhorse for me too. And unlike him, I’m not very good about tool care.
Click to expand...
I am not careful with mine either. First thing I do is throw out the crappy case or bags. I don't want to own tools that I need to baby. I am not exclusively DeWalt, I have some Bosch, Milwaukee, and Metabo as well, but most of the others don't get out of the shop much

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#7 ·
Yea, can’t say I’ve ever known anyone to baby tools. I know my guy’s don’t. At 100* or better every day of this month except today & several days May & June tools won’t get no tlc. Or any other time



Mike
 
#8 ·
I had a DeWalt 18v hammer drill for, musta been 15-18 years. Solid workhorse.

When it died, bought comparable same version of drill. 20v were just coming out and I didn't want to switch batteries. It lasted a couple years.

New one would heat up with a beater bar mixing tar for waterproofing where the old one never did. Battery clip (whatever you call it that holds it in) got loose real quick. New batteries died after a couple years. Much cheaper built tool.

Switched to Makita. A little less power and can't use at all for beater bar. Computer chip shuts it down real quick.

They don't make em like they used to.
 
#9 ·
I’m all Yellow, and they do pretty well for me.

Except for the string trimmers. Both the flex volt and the 20 V died after not very much use.

I had a flex volt blower quit after three or four years.

I have an impact it was letting out the smoke not too long ago. I figured it was dead, so I showed my son as I ran it under running water in the sink. It didn’t stop. So I put it back my toolbox and still use it. It does get very hot, but doesn’t quit.


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#14 ·
First drill set I bought was DeWalt after a impact died without even driving a screw in ( started out just painting and only used it for removing switch plate covers) I took it back to home Depot. Have to deal with DeWalt directly for warranty, oh DeWalt doesn't honour their warranty for contractors.

Im happy I learned early on about the quality of their tools.

I know a few guys who have DeWalt. The 20v is a sales gimmick my m12 fuel outperforms the DeWalt impact.

Compared to Milwaukee they are junk. The charge time is insanely faster, way more charge cycles, way better quality, better warranty bigger batteries, way more of a selection. Milwaukee doesn't break down half way thru the job and Milwaukee has industry leading work lights. DeWalt is bottom of the barrel even Ridgid is far ahead of DeWalt. The DeWalt leaf blower is a joke. I have not been impressed with anything they make. Back in the day they had decent quality tools but in last 15 years forget It. It's black and decker MasterCraft junk
 
#15 ·
I am an electrician and have been running dewalt for 10+years. I have over 15k in dewalt cordless 20v and up power tools between me and my company. We take very good care of our tools but we do use them hard. Dewalt has always had different levels of same and or similar tools aka the diy person to the professional and I am very particular in the model I buy because iv experienced the levels when I was coming up and having to buy tools because I used them not for what they were made for. That being said the tools I bought 10 years ago that have been through hell and are showing there age but still work fine are out performing the new ones out of the box. Then it comes to batteries.. I had 1 battery fail in 8 or 9 years starting out (6ah) also 5ah is smallest I run just for run time but in last 6 months I have had an 8ah and a 10 fail. Something has changed there and I’m curious if my investment has been for nothing staying with the platform.
 
#17 ·
I owned one DeWalt drill motor with a nicad battery 20 years ago, so I don’t have experience with DeWalt, but I will say that I’ve worked with Milwaukee since before cordless existed, and I stuck with it, but Milwaukee is fkking trash now.

I talked with the guys at the tools repair company I use, since I’m in there every couple weeks bring an almost new Milwaukee in for repair, and he said they are all the same.

There is no brand that is any better than the others, and a lot of it has to do with the brushless technology.

It’s all run off a circuit board, and they fail pretty regularly. And when they do, you just trash the entire tool, because it isn’t cost effective to repair all the guts and keep basically the handle.

I have failed batteries, bad switches, motors that won’t start, clicking noises when you pull the switch, and on and on.
 
#18 ·
I noticed this when
Mordekyle said:
I’m all Yellow, and they do pretty well for me.

Except for the string trimmers. Both the flex volt and the 20 V died after not very much use.

I had a flex volt blower quit after three or four years.

I have an impact it was letting out the smoke not too long ago. I figured it was dead, so I showed my son as I ran it under running water in the sink. It didn’t stop. So I put it back my toolbox and still use it. It does get very hot, but doesn’t quit.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Click to expand...
I got my first Dewalt new gen impact. It got super hot screwing down deck boards.

I'm pretty much all Milwaukie. However, I like my yellow brushless flush cutter much better than either Milwaukie version, so much in fact, I don't even know where my Milwaukie one is. Also, I really like my yellow narrow crown stapler.

As for batteries, I don't think I have bought any Dewalt batteries in 7 or 8 years. The 4 or 5 I had then I still use constantly.
 
#20 ·
I think we can all agree they don't make them like they used to in terms of quality/longevity... now they make them on the cheap so they can give a lifetime warranty because they know that only a minute amount of customers will actually switch it out and just go with a newer one...
 
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