Anybody else who uses ALDI Ferrex tools?

SexyGreyFox · 21 Nov 2020 at 12:55

At the start of the year we needed a new lawn mower and saw a cordless Ferrex one in ALDI so bought it with a charger and battery. We were that impressed I drove back to ALDI and bought the hedge trimmers that use the same battery. Not as good as my Pro Bosch electric ones but not far off.
A couple of weeks later there appeared a power drill, impact driver and angle grinder so I bought them plus another spare battery and charger.
Over the last 8 months I stored my expensive tools away and used only these tools on many jobs - I have 4 houses to look after and I can honestly say they feel just as good as my Makita's etc so I think these tools are made by a big company who put the Ferrex name on them.
This morning I've bought an SDS Rotary Hammer drill with an addon normal twist chuck for £30. I got it home and it's brilliant, obviously not as good as my Kress I bought for nearly £300 in 1990 but good enough for small jobs around the house.
I've also bought a few more Ferrex bits & pieces plus the Workzone bag for £16.99 this morning.

I know a few of you will be smirking but from someone who has done a lot of DIY since 1980 I'm very impressed.

SexyGreyFox · 21 Nov 2020 at 14:10

robj20 said:
What puts me off is the lack of permanent availablity. You have to wait for them to have them in and know telling when they'll have what you want.
I decided a while ago to stick to Dewalt.

That is the problem and also the reason why I bought two batteries and two chargers.
If anything fails then I have name backups until it can be replaced but they do seem like they are made by a named company.
Working at Creda we put the names of Hotpoint, Belling, Ariston, Indesit on our products.
When I bought my Kress drill in 1990 I was told that Kress made Makita but sold their own brand cheaper.

SexyGreyFox · 21 Nov 2020 at 14:32

robj20 said:
Not just the batteries, actual tools, for instance the other day I wanted to add a circular saw to my collection. You couldn't just go and get a Ferrex one, where you can with the big brands.
Shame really as for DIY they're plenty good enough I'd imagine.

They have got the cordless Ferrex circular saws at our ALDI but the last few wood cutting jobs have been done with my angle grinder with wood cutting disc so I haven't bothered.
I also have a wired Bosch Professional just in case.

I can see me just getting one now

They also have a cordless polisher but I can't think of one job for that.

SexyGreyFox · 21 Nov 2020 at 15:34

I never realised how good an impact driver can be until I bought the Ferrex because it was cheap.

SexyGreyFox · 22 Nov 2020 at 11:09

bainbridge said:
Bought the ferrex lawnmower and strimmer in the spring and very impressed, they just do the job fine.

That first time you use a cordless lawnmower and go "WOW".

Anyway, got to do some drilling.

SexyGreyFox · 8 Sep 2021 at 14:23

dLockers said:
"Kevin Iomas - Head of Product at Walter"

thanks

SexyGreyFox · 8 Sep 2021 at 20:05

dLockers said:
"Kevin Iomas - Head of Product at Walter"

Just been on the site, I can't believe that ALDI sell them for half the price than Walter sell them for.

eg I took my Ferrex drill into work today which cost £20 from ALDI, if I bought nothing else in the Ferrex range the charger would be £15 and the 20v battery would be £15 so a total of £50.
Walter are selling the same one for £86 https://www.walteronline.com/en/too...w-drivers/20-v-cordless-impact-drill-p7150134

SexyGreyFox · 9 Sep 2021 at 09:37

Werewolf said:
Now they're using standardised battery packs they're even better as previously it seemed every time they got a battery tool in it used either a different shape, size or voltage of battery so you ended up with half a dozen different completely incompatable sets of tools/batteries/chargers.

because of the amount of Ferrex tools we now have (8) we have bought 2x chargers, 2x 40v & 2x 20v batteries.

Werewolf said:
These days I tend to buy decent quality drill and screwdriver bits because I've found they can make at least as much of a difference in the average job as the power tool,

Spot on.
I took the Ferrex cordless hammer drill to work yesterday to do some jobs in the office that would take the Trust Estates 2 months to do.
Using quality SDS masonry bits the jobs were done in minutes.
I've even bought the special impact driver bits.

SexyGreyFox · 14 Dec 2021 at 17:25

I'm glad I've got 3x 40v, 1x 20v and 2x chargers.

SexyGreyFox · 14 Dec 2021 at 21:25

lewism said:
Take the DeWalt multi Tool Vs the Ferrex one. The Ferrex one is a quarter of the price but lasted me literally three months. My Dewalts been going for four years of daily abuse. I wanted to like the Ferrex stuff and bought it all to try. And I think it's pants. My Ferrex jigsaw didn't cut straight out the box.

However the company that make Ferrex are way dearer with their own name on - https://www.walteronline.com/en/too...w-drivers/20-v-cordless-impact-drill-p7150134

SexyGreyFox · 14 Dec 2021 at 22:12

lewism said:
At the end of the day, a hole in the wall will take a fixing no matter what drill made it. I'm just trying to offer some perspective because people get bowled over by the cheapness of the tool. Whereas if you spend just a bit more money you'll get a longer life out of the tool and thus more value for money and a more enjoyable experience.

I think I said in my post I already have named tools that I have now stored in the attic to bring down if these Ferrex fall apart and so far so good.
The only one I have kept downstairs is my proper Kress electric hammer drill that cost nearly £300 in the late 80s.

SexyGreyFox · 15 Dec 2021 at 09:18

Le Clandestin Brun said:

NO BLOODY WAY, well spotted

@Kevin lomas , if you are still around, can you confirm if you are selling the batteries to ALDI?
If not do Walter sell the same batteries for a hiked price?

SexyGreyFox · 16 Dec 2021 at 18:22

Adam_151 said:
@SexyGreyFox

What blade is that in the grinder? O.o

I'm a naughty boy, I had a simple job of cutting some thin pieces of wood but I was very careful how I stood and held it. So it's a wood cutting disc.

SexyGreyFox · 16 Dec 2021 at 18:50

Adam_151 said:
A few years ago now, a chap from another forum I post on died from injuries caused by a saw blade in a grinder https://metro.co.uk/2009/04/20/man-killed-by-improvised-power-tool-39451/

One my best mates who was a great guitarist cut his thumb and finger off, they were sewn back on but they are basically dead.
He also did it the day before he was going to start his dream job as an electronics engineer.

SexyGreyFox · 8 Aug 2022 at 20:06

If anybody is interested loads of Ferrex tools back in stock and mine are used nearly every week in a DIY capacity and still going strong.

https://www.aldi.co.uk/search?text=ferrex&category=ALL

SexyGreyFox · 31 Dec 2022 at 12:39

pastymuncher said:
£7.50 for a single 4Ah

That's an excellent price, still £25 for the Ferrex.

There was a TV program on a couple of months ago about ALDI and LIDL tools and how good they were.
They got them in a Lab and did extensive testing against compatible makes like Bosch & B&D and they passed with flying colours.

SexyGreyFox · 19 Apr 2023 at 07:14

5rivers79 said:
So my impact driver has a tough time driving screws into wood. Will go so far in and then just stops. Have to use a socket set for getting bolts the rest of the way in. Is it faulty or are they just not that strong at driving? Cheers

Faulty, mines been excellent.
Have you checked the setting you've got it on?

SexyGreyFox · 19 Apr 2023 at 10:32

5rivers79 said:
There’s no settings on it..just clockwise or anti clockwise.

That's what I meant

SexyGreyFox · 3 Oct 2023 at 13:39

Tom_ed1987 said:
They are far better than all the generic cheap off-brand tools you get from Argos/B&Q/Amazon etc. I'd say the quality is far closer to the big brands than it is the cheap stuff. It looks to me like they basically copy the Bosch product range.

Last year I think CH4 did a programme on ALDI/LIDL products and they came out very favourably against the bigger brands.
ALDI have now released a Ferrex Pro range which I tempted to get.

Back in the 80s I went to a specialist shop to buy a name brand hammer drill and took over £400 with me.
I knew the bloke in the shop and he pointed at a KRESS hammer drill and said "Buy that".
I said I wanted a name product that would last and he said that Kress made Makita amongst others but they sell the same products for half price with their own name on.
It's still going strong.

SexyGreyFox · 2 Jan 2024 at 17:38

When one of my tools wasn't working I just took it back the shop and they replaced it.