DeWalt drill "upgrade" warning

[moogle]

My dad has erbauer gear, he likes it, it's ok but you can tell where they cheap out.

The drill and impact drivers for example don't have much control compared to my hikoki the throttle for want of a better word is much more controllable, the speed is greater and units are more powerful, that said my hikoki was probably around £50/60 pound a drill dearer.

I also bought a erbauer mitre saw, the features were fantastic, and externally the build quality was amazing, then I used it, first cut it .smashed the gearbox. Looked at other reviews on Screwfix and there were lots of reviews saying the same thing. Was severely disappointed, ended up with a evolution mitre saw, not as feature rich, and externally didn't look as well built, but I've thrown a lot at it and it's been great and accuracy seems pretty good for a budget saw, probably why they sell so many.

Yep, I know what you mean. I have the impact and combi drill and the switch has sort of "stepped" levels instead of a modulation of the speed. Also in the repair channel in the OP, the guy mentions the Erbauers don't have spare parts, so can't be repaired like the Dewalt, Makita, Milwaukee, Bosch and the like. Fingers crossed it lasts me long enough

I didn't want to spend too much as I'm not using it that often but also this thing with the different incompatible battery systems puts me off. I do know that Bosch are trying to improve that but there's limited takeup by manufacturers.

Was looking at the Erbauer Mitre Saw, now not so much if it's that bad. I've heard good things about Evolution too (mainly their table saw). They share the same battery system with Erbauer oddly enough.

 

[sx_turbo]

Yep, I know what you mean. I have the impact and combi drill and the switch has sort of "stepped" levels instead of a modulation of the speed. Also in the repair channel in the OP, the guy mentions the Erbauers don't have spare parts, so can't be repaired like the Dewalt, Makita, Milwaukee, Bosch and the like. Fingers crossed it lasts me long enough

I didn't want to spend too much as I'm not using it that often but also this thing with the different incompatible battery systems puts me off. I do know that Bosch are trying to improve that but there's limited takeup by manufacturers.

Was looking at the Erbauer Mitre Saw, now not so much if it's that bad. I've heard good things about Evolution too (mainly their table saw). They share the same battery system with Erbauer oddly enough.

erbauer tolls traditionally made by positec which owns the worx brand and also makes tools for Toolstations own German sounding brand which has now been discontinued and replaced by rocktor who I'm convinced are still made by positec. But supposedly the later ext range of tools are made by chervon.

The mitre saw id imagine has been improved now, this was 5 years ago.

 

[julianhj]

My old Bosch cordless is on it's way out and I'm looking at entering the Makita ecosystem - I'm considering a kit that contains the DHP492 Combi Drill and DTD173 Impact Driver, which seem to be fairly high in the their range. It'll be for amateur DIY stuff, and I'm happy to pay for decent quality. Does anyone have any opinions on this approach? i.e. should I be considering anything else?

 

[Reuben klang]

Everything is made in china.

I like hikoki/Hitachi, good quality gear there brushless stuff is great but for some reason aren't popular in the UK now Screwfix and Toolstation stopped stocking them, Hitachi didn't want to water the brand down and lose quality, the "special offer" DeWalt and Milwaukee drills they do are special specs designed to be built and sold cheap to get people into the brand, it is these that are sold by Toolstation and Screwfix

That said Milwaukee seems to be the go to for most trades these days, they have a huge range of tools. They got bought out by a Chinese company years ago and the Chinese company have been really pushing them i to market place, that said the tools are actually very good, strong and reliable. The Chinese also owns and produced Ryobi tools.

Not all china stuff is rubbish.

Hikoki/hatachi stuff is garbage. It’s why they had to do a complete rebrand.

Milwaukee since they got taken over have been going after everyone. I don’t think their tools last though but as they cover a huge range there worth while going for ie strut cutters, rod choppers, press tools, pipe cutters, vacuum pumps etc as well as a full range of gardening tools.

You don’t get that with the higher end stuff from hilti/festool/mafall etc

 

[moogle]

erbauer tolls traditionally made by positec which owns the worx brand and also makes tools for Toolstations own German sounding brand which has now been discontinued and replaced by rocktor who I'm convinced are still made by positec. But supposedly the later ext range of tools are made by chervon.

The mitre saw id imagine has been improved now, this was 5 years ago.

Ah, I see. I know they did a blue and black style before they revamped the look of things.

I've never heard of that manufacturer. The Skil brand tools look quite familiar to it too when I was researching. Not sure if it's confirmed compatible or not, but it seems that even though the tools from a few different brands look like the same design from a manufacturer, the motor technology is different (such as some Evolution 18V tools vs Erbauer or Skil).

 

[sx_turbo]

Hikoki/hatachi stuff is garbage. It’s why they had to do a complete rebrand.

Milwaukee since they got taken over have been going after everyone. I don’t think their tools last though but as they cover a huge range there worth while going for ie strut cutters, rod choppers, press tools, pipe cutters, vacuum pumps etc as well as a full range of gardening tools.

You don’t get that with the higher end stuff from hilti/festool/mafall etc

I think they cater for varying different markets tbh.

Hitachi/ hikoki nail guns are generally revered I've not heard of or known or had any major reliability woes but there range is quite small compared to others.

Hilti is heavy duty concrete.smashing gear

Festool and mafell are catered for precision wood working

Milwaukee is aimed more at general trades as is DeWalt and Makita, however Milwaukee have also gone for the automotive sector.

As with everything in life, what you pay depends on what you want and what you get.

I'd probably say Milwaukee, DeWalt Makita are like mercedes and BMW Audi.

Festool mafell are rolls Royce and Bentley

Hilti is probably Caterpillar/JCB

 

[robnut]

I had a fairy old Hilti impact and replaced it with the snub nose/short Dewalt impact and have been very impressed. Ill keep an eye on my dewalt combi though!

 

[b0rn2sk8]

The Milwaukee and DeWalt drills they have on their super specials are not the proper Milwaukee and DeWalt drills that are comparable to Makita and Bosch.

They are made and sold almost exclusively to Toolstation and Screwfix they use the same batteries so it's a cheap way into the brands eco system but the tools themselves when you look at the specs are very poor and more often then not you can't find the particular model on the website if the manufacturer.

Evans cycles do the same with mongoose bikes, they sell cheap poor quality bikes with mongoose branding (villain 1 & 3 might even be a villain 2 available) but it's not official mongoose and cannot be found in their website.

This.

Cheap top brand drills are still cheap drills underneath.

Their top end drills are absolutely fabulous pieces pieces of kit but no one wants to pay £300 for a bare unit unless you need to use it every day. Even their upper mid range stuff is great.

Just don’t buy a £100 special from screwfix and expect something amazing because it won’t be.

 

[jaybee]

I cannot say a bad word about all the Dewalt stuff I've ever owned and used. It's been literally fantastic in every way. I do tend to buy the higher spec brushless motor stuff where possible though. I've used Makita as well which has been sound.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Yup but the same can be said for all the big brands.

Their cheap drills are just an entry point into the batteries. Once you have the battery, lots of people buy their other stuff.

It seems to work because they are all at it.

 

[200sols]

I get the entry point, personally I was just surprised how bad the dewalt ones felt compared to the others. Felt like something from the middle in lidl.

 

[b0rn2sk8]

Not quite middle of Lidl but yes, don’t disagree.

The difference is the profit margin they expect to make on the product, the included batteries are every bit of good as those they include with their expensive tools.

Middle of Lidl isn’t super cheap like it used to be once you have picked up a battery and charger.

Edit: being able to return it should it fail and be guaranteed to walk out with another shouldn’t be sniffed at either.