What brand of power tools?

[Tim K]

We've had good luck with everything but Ryobi, Crapsman and Festool. As you can imagine, we use tools hard here, many times till absolute failure. To date, we've never even had to even maintain anything from Dewalt. We use lots of Porter Cable routers (among other tools) and the most we've ever had to do was change brushes which it totally expected and routine. We have two DeWalt cordless drill from WAY back, and while the batteries are pretty tired the drills run like they are brand new. I have my first chopsaw still. It's a Makita. It's probably 25 years old now and has made millions of cuts. Still perfect.

I'm sure there are subtle differences from one brand to another, but I consider DeWalt, Makita, Milwaukee, PC, Bosch, and probably some others I can't remember to be equivalent. We do have several Rigid tools, and they appear to be top quality, too.

Ryobi and Craftsman have been junk in our experience. Both of those brands are the only tools I've ever thrown in the dumpster.

Festool is weird. Super expensive with a reputation for extreme quality. When new, they are beautiful tools with innovative features that really impress. Sadly, they're not durable enough for professional use. We've killed several very expensive sanders and an $800 vacuum. There are a few lying around in the shop, but they are just back-ups at this point.

[JohnnyEgo]

We've had good luck with everything but Ryobi, Crapsman and Festool. As you can imagine, we use tools hard here, many times till absolute failure. To date, we've never even had to even maintain anything from Dewalt. We use lots of Porter Cable routers (among other tools) and the most we've ever had to do was change brushes which it totally expected and routine. We have two DeWalt cordless drill from WAY back, and while the batteries are pretty tired the drills run like they are brand new. I have my first chopsaw still. It's a Makita. It's probably 25 years old now and has made millions of cuts. Still perfect.

I'm sure there are subtle differences from one brand to another, but I consider DeWalt, Makita, Milwaukee, PC, Bosch, and probably some others I can't remember to be equivalent. We do have several Rigid tools, and they appear to be top quality, too.

Ryobi and Craftsman have been junk in our experience. Both of those brands are the only tools I've ever thrown in the dumpster.

Festool is weird. Super expensive with a reputation for extreme quality. When new, they are beautiful tools with innovative features that really impress. Sadly, they're not durable enough for professional use. We've killed several very expensive sanders and an $800 vacuum. There are a few lying around in the shop, but they are just back-ups at this point.

I love Festool, but I feel like they have two clearly defined markets; mobile tradesman / on-site installer, and middle class hobbyist with income to burn. I cannot imagine them in a production shop environment. I think my Kapex is as good as it gets for trim and fine work, but I can't imagine it lasting very long in a framing or rough carpentry environment, either. So I am sad, but not entirely surprised to have your experience confirm my suspicion.