Power Tools & General Tools Recommendations & Advice

Buy another drill - I have two hammer and one drill driver and it's very handy having a drill in the house as well as garage - I got mine because they were ridiculously cheap when Homebase sold out to the Aussie group.
 
Will pick up a Titan Heatgun tomorrow. Although being a Bosch nut.. I don't see the point in paying loads for one.. so £20 it is for 2000W with a case and nozzles.. compared to the green bosch £39 1600W and the nozzles a £10 each.

Should see me through the number of doors that need stripping back.
 
Probably the better option to be honest.

I have a Bosch green at home but usually use my cheapo one instead. Same at work, we have a Bosch but everyone reaches for the budget one first.

It's not that the Bosch is bad, it just has a "safety feature" which is actually more of an annoyance than anything. If it senses it is overheating due to restricted airflow, it cuts off the heat. Now whilst this sounds good, if you happen to hold it just slightly too close to the surface you are heating the heat cuts off and you have to wait for it to cool down fully, reset itself, then heat back up again.
 
paintguy said:
Probably the better option to be honest.

I have a Bosch green at home but usually use my cheapo one instead. Same at work, we have a Bosch but everyone reaches for the budget one first.

It's not that the Bosch is bad, it just has a "safety feature" which is actually more of an annoyance than anything. If it senses it is overheating due to restricted airflow, it cuts off the heat. Now whilst this sounds good, if you happen to hold it just slightly too close to the surface you are heating the heat cuts off and you have to wait for it to cool down fully, reset itself, then heat back up again.
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Done most of one door after getting home before it got dark.

It works well enough - the door has an all in one paint with a white gloss over so the paint is thin and doesn't peel off like it does with lots of layers. What I would say is I was thankful to read a review of the scraper that came with the Titan - it's pants with a capital P. Got a Harris scraper and works a dream.
 
fewfe3 said:
Can anyone recomend an oscilating multitool. Only likely to be used now and again, so doesn't need anything too expensive.
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Do you have any other tools? That's a factor generally. I have the Dewalt DCS331 and it's great but not sure what you mean by nothing too expensive. Maybe check out Aldi?
 
Just been down to Homebase for a drill, I've a 1200w hammer drill and it's a little overkill for general day to day tasks.

Are Ryobi really worth it? Seem to have more for sale in there than other brands but the prices of the batteries/chargers seems a little over kill.
 
Hmm never got a good vibe with ryboi.. sounds like you need a one hand battery drill. 18V works for most DIY work if you have a larger drill for the hard stuff.

If I was you i’d look at a combo drill and impact screwdriver that share the same battery packs.
 
Yes, i've always been surprised at the cost of Ryobi batteries/chargers.

How much are you thinking of spending?

Also, as a note. I've bought a few "Flagpower" Dewalt batteries from Amazon and they've been excellent at half the price of the real thing, i believe they do Ryobi versions too.


As an update on my Dewalt leafblower. I bought it for £170, sold the 5AH battery and charger for £60, and then this morning sold the DCD796 drill that was free due to a Dewalt promotion for £70 so the leaf blower actually only cost £40 compared to £150 that the bare tool goes for.

Bit of hassle but really pleased with that :)
 
Ryobi 18v stuff seems pretty good so far. I picked up a brushless combi drill with two 5AH batteries, charger and a bag for £180 in B&Q earlier this month.

Not bad since the batteries are £90 each without a charger and the drill is £100+ separately.
 
Ant84 said:
Ryobi 18v stuff seems pretty good so far. I picked up a brushless combi drill with two 5AH batteries, charger and a bag for £180 in B&Q earlier this month.

Not bad since the batteries are £90 each without a charger and the drill is £100+ separately.
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I was looking at the brushless 18v drill, impact driver, 2 batteries for £170 in Homebase, although the website currently says £300 :o
 
Marvt74 said:
Yes, i've always been surprised at the cost of Ryobi batteries/chargers.

How much are you thinking of spending?

Also, as a note. I've bought a few "Flagpower" Dewalt batteries from Amazon and they've been excellent at half the price of the real thing, i believe they do Ryobi versions too.


As an update on my Dewalt leafblower. I bought it for £170, sold the 5AH battery and charger for £60, and then this morning sold the DCD796 drill that was free due to a Dewalt promotion for £70 so the leaf blower actually only cost £40 compared to £150 that the bare tool goes for.

Bit of hassle but really pleased with that :)
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Not really decided on price. At the moment it's for adding an understairs cupboard, but after that, i've a car port that needs framing/flooring/walling and then looking at building an outside office from wood frame so it'll need to be something decent.

Looking at the Dewalt's on Screwfix/Ebay, brushless drill and an impact driver deals but still expensive.
 
Screwfix isn't great for tools i don't think. Certainly not for Dewalt/Makita

Powertool world/FFX are much better value. You may also want a nailer for studwork and i believe the Dewalt one is good :)
 
AHarvey said:
I was looking at the brushless 18v drill, impact driver, 2 batteries for £170 in Homebase, although the website currently says £300 :o
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I've posted this list before, but this is what I have. They're not brushless but I'm really happy with them, both have loads of torque. They seemed the best bang for buck.

I just swap the one battery between the two tools, it lasts long enough most jobs and only takes about 40m to charge anyway.
 
Bosch GCL 2000. Made short work of the alignments for Tiling.

Had to get something within the hour and limited choice (locking for floor work and wall work).

Edit it’s freeking awesome for kitchen cabinet base unit, work top and top unit alignment.. also radiator alignment!
 
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Hi all,

I am currently searching for a Drill and Impact Wrench Combo Kit and would like some advice from you kind people. We are moving into our first home and will do a lot of renovation, including gutting whole bathroom and re-doing it so tools will be used a lot!

I cant decide between Bosch, Makita and Milwaukee. All of them offer pretty much similar prices.

I am more inclined to Bosch but only because I used it everyday for one my jobs I had few years ago and couldnt really fault them.
I also got my eye on Bosch Laser Level I want to purchase later, which essentially means most tools will be same brand then.
But because I only used one brand, thinking it's great might prove wrong if other are a lot better.

I am currently looking at these 3:

Bosch
https://www.powertoolworld.co.uk/bo...-impact-brushless-twin-kit-inc-2x-5-0ah-batts

Makita
https://www.powertoolworld.co.uk/ma...drill-dtd153-impact-driver-inc-2x-5-0ah-batts

Milwaukee
https://www.toolstation.com/milwauk...t-driver-twin-pack-plus-free-led-torch/p65875

Or maybe you can recommend something different?
Budget is around £350.
Maybe I am better off getting a drill and multi tool combo considering its probably gonna be used more often for home renovation than impact wrench? I might be wrong though...

Any advice kindly appreciated.
 
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I wouldn't be without an impact for driving screws.
Especially when you need to drill a pilot hole then screw. Much faster if you have two tools.

You won't go wrong with any of the 3 above.

5ah batteries are probably overkill for home use.
I prefer the lighter weight 2ah batteries for home.

If you holding them above your head or in awquard positions lighter weight is more important than power.

5ah is only really needed for saws or sds IMHO
 
Holst1981 said:
I wouldn't be without an impact for driving screws.
Especially when you need to drill a pilot hole then screw. Much faster if you have two tools.

You won't go wrong with any of the 3 above.

5ah batteries are probably overkill for home use.
I prefer the lighter weight 2ah batteries for home.

If you holding them above your head or in awquard positions lighter weight is more important than power.

5ah is only really needed for saws or sds IMHO
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To be honest I didn't look at it this way, you are right.
Althougu with constant use, would 4ah or 5ah not be more useful in terms of charge? Especially like you say if you using both tools at the same time you don't have additional battery constantly on charge as a back up.

Thank you.
 
Just remember that 3Ah for Makita at least is same as 5 (in which case go for 5...)

I think the Makita 1.5ah are smaller but I've just got 3s/5s
 
Hmm the builder that did my kitchen had the makings combo with two 4ah batteries which seemed to last most of the day.

The impact driver got the nose use for plaster boarding and for hard boarding.

Being a Bosch tart I think that is where i’d go but the makita seemed just as capable.

I have a Bosch GCL2000 laser level (£144) remember you may want to add a tripod (camera one fits too as it has two sizes for screwing in). It has all the modes you need for horizontal and vertical.


A worklight is vital - just get an led cabled one. But home base do and led one that opens up like a butterfly £20 - lasts a while and was indespensible for the kitchen as the build didn’t have one then then b&q own brand didn’t last long and broke.

Are you venting to the outside? If so you may need to look an sds. Also a godsend for removing tiles off walls with a tiling bit.

Lastly - I found a pipe/wire/stud sensor a life saver. Well worth getting.
 
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