# Forum Home Renovation Tools & Products  Cheap powertools vs Brand tools.

## PlatypusGardens

This discussion always comes up. *Ozito vs Brand Name*. *Ryobi vs Black & Decker.
Makita vs DeWalt* etc etc.   
Let's share our experiences here with the cheap (and sometimes nasty) and the (supposedly) good gear.   
I mentioned in another thread, my experience with the *Ozito hammerdrill*.
The first one lasted 15 minutes.
I took it back and said _"It's stuffed already after 15 minutes of work"._ 
They looked me up and down as I was in my work clobber and asked if it had been used commercially.
I said _"It's been used for 15 minutes" _ I got a replacement which lasted a bit longer.
3 days I think. 
Then I got a *DeWalt*, which I should have done straight away  
That was the last time I even looked at *The Big O* when in the tool section.    
I got given an *Ozito corded drill* once.
It went ok until the chuck stopped tightening up. 
My best *Ozito* tool was an *electric chainsaw*.
It never missed a beat.
Did me well until I got a petrol one.  
No, actually the best *Ozito* tool I've got is a 12 cordless drill which I've hardwired to a 12V transformer in the shed.
It's light, as there's no batterypack, always ready to go and ideal for light tinkering.  :Wink:   
Another good cheapie was the old Bunnings home brand *XU1*.
I had a small corded drill which lasted for years and years.
Probably 8 years all up.
It still worked when I threw it out after having been put through some serious torture.
I flogged it that hard it had smoke coming out of it, it got wet, dropped and so on.
Still went.
$15 well spent.  
My little *Ryobi corded drill* is about 2 years old, and sounds terrible.   
I'm slowly upgrading my ever growing arsenal of tools to *DeWalt and Makita*.
Corded drills, SCMS - all *DeWalt*. 
Metal cut-off saw, and circ saws - *Makita*.
Very pleased with all of the above. 
Angle grinders... well I've got an old B&D 4" which has been plodding along for almost 10 years now.
Recently bought 2x5" grinders, one *AEG* and one *BOSCH*.
The AEG is not sounding too good after less than 12 mths use.  
A mate keeps buying a lot of these *ROK* and *MAKTEC* gear.
Are they any good?  
And what are your experiences with the different coloured *Ryobi* and *Bosch* gear?
I see a lot of them appearing on the shelves now.
Different colours for trade/home use.  
I bought a *"Honker"* plate compactor a while back which seems to work ok.
The motor is a Honda copy, and for $700 I thought it's worth a shot.
Saves a lot of trips to the hire shop when doing a paving job.
Should the motor blow up, I've got a spare Honda motor ready to go on it anyway.    
I've never been a believer in the _"It's good enough for around the house"_ theory, but I know a lot of people think so.
Have many of you home handymen gone the cheap option and then upgraded, or are these cheap tools actually good enough? 
As I use my tools for work as well as around the house I need to have reliable gear.        :2thumbsup:

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## Pitto

years ago as an apprentice, i bought mainly Makita, then with the manufacturers going to China, i started buying cheap GMC gear as i was off the tools and was doing home handyman stuff. These days i am back doing cabinetmaking, and have now started upgrading alot of my gear to Makita. Yet the old makita gear i had as an apprentice 18 years ago is still going strong today. 
I realize that many home handyman types are looking for bang for buck, but when your wage depends on it, you cant beat quality. time is money.

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## Godzilla73

G'day, 
Makita for me too, but apparently i'm a brand snob... :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):  
Started with Bosch, but they always seemed to go south quickly... 
Hammer drill less than 12months, 4" grinder stripped gears form 1 job, Bosch Blue 12v cordless broken battery clips and forward reverse switch replaced twice. 
With a couple of my Makita buys from specialist tool shops, i've had Maktec stuff thrown in. 1 was a Laminate Trimmer, which has been ace. Bit of weight to it so it doesn't vibrate and a solid feel like the old Makita version with the all aluminum body, the Maktec 1 has ali lower half and plastic top.  
The other was a Maktec planner, was ok, same shape as the N1900B Makita. Needed a bit of shimming to the fixed plate on the base at the rear to stop it dropping in when passing right thru. Both are still going strong, the planner is good for loaning out to mates. 
My makita stuff gets hammered 6 days a week, and only had 1 warranty claim in 20 years. Even some of the stuff i don't use a lot and bought second hand has been reliable.

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## PlatypusGardens

> the old makita gear i had as an apprentice 18 years ago is still going strong today.

  I inherited a big old Makita circ saw from the father-in-law a few years back.
It must be at least 20 years old.
He used to cut up railway sleepers for firewood with it for many many years.     

> apparently i'm a brand snob

  Says who?
The guy with the cheap tools?    :Smilie:

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## Pitto

my makita belt sander is a weapon. i have tried real hard to kill it. i have the all aluminium trimmer that also has been great, and a few of the boys at work have bought the maktec ones recently and have been a good buy. 
hanging out for the new makita LXT 82mm planer to come out shortly. 
G

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## PlatypusGardens

Anyone know anything about the ROK gear?     :Smilie:

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## r3nov8or

> Anyone know anything about the ROK gear?

  Autobarn brand I think. No experience with it but I'd personally look elsewhere (says he who has some surprisingly good Aldi tools...)

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## PlatypusGardens

I'm not thinking of getting any, just wondering who makes it etc.
Autobarn eh. 
I just Googled it and found that they're:  

> Manufactured using high grade materials, modern manufacturing techniques and incorporating contemporary design, every ROK power tool is:
> Excellent quality, Value for Money, High performance, Safe and user-friendly.

  So are they on par with SuperCheap Auto's "Best Buy" tools?   
And who makes these Aldi tools anyway?
Is that Aldi as in the supermarket?
We don't have that here.       :Confused:

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## TheOtherLeft

Ryobi is sold exclusively by Bunnings now. So I would classify it the upper-end of the cheap and nasty category. Definately nowhere near Makita, Bosch, Hitachi etc. I have some Ozito tools (the lower-end of the cheap and nasty category) and can't fault them for value-for-money. My Ozito rotary tool and corded drill are great.

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## r3nov8or

> I'm not thinking of getting any, just wondering who makes it etc.
> Autobarn eh. 
> I just Googled it and found that they're:  
> So are they on par with SuperCheap Auto's "Best Buy" tools?   
> And who makes these Aldi tools anyway?
> Is that Aldi as in the supermarket?
> We don't have that here.

  Yeah Aldi is the supermarket. You are missing out in so many ways  :Smilie:   The tools are labelled "Trade..." something-or-other.  
SuperCheap has lots of Black & Decker now. _Strange_ how Bunnings got out of B&D at the same time...  SuperCheap also has a 'light brown' brand, I can't think of the name. Worx? 
There is a place for cheap tools, as most of the brand owners will own dearer brands, capturing more market share, and giving people a taste for power tools at the lower end hopefully (for the owners) moves them up the cost/performance scale. e.g. Ryobi/AEG/Milwaukee = same owner

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## Danny

> Ryobi is sold exclusively by Bunnings now.

  Which puts their business plan at the mercy of Bunnings.

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## PlatypusGardens

> Ryobi. 
> Definately nowhere near Makita, Bosch, Hitachi etc

  Oh god no....
Most of Ryobi gear I've had has been pretty ordinary.
I had a large-ish router a while back which just packed in for no reason not long after I got it. 
I did have a large corded Ryobi drill though which got plenty of use driving 100mm batten screws and it lasted a few years.
I think the chuck gave up before the motor if I remember correctly.
Still good value for $99.       

> SuperCheap also has a 'light brown' brand, I can't think of the name. Worx?

  Sounds about right.
They're not really *that* cheap though.      

> There is a place for cheap tools, as most of the brand owners will own dearer brands, capturing more market share, and giving people a taste for power tools at the lower end hopefully (for the owners) moves them up the cost/performance scale.

  Absolutely. 
Someone said to me a while back  _"How do these cheap tool companies survive if all they do is sell crap gear that only lasts 6 months?"_ 
"Well, they are most likely owned by a company that make good tools as well."  _"Oh, right... Bastards!" _      

> Ryobi/AEG/Milwaukee = same owner

  That's interesting.
Didn't know those 3 were in the same basket.  
Are Black&Decker and DeWalt connected as well?      :Smilie:

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## Godzilla73

Have heard they are, Dewalt is apparently the tradies Black&Decker in the USA.   

> apparently i'm a brand snob 			 		   Says who?
> The guy with the cheap tools?

  Yeah that's him, usually swearing at his cheap and nastys... 
Have used and abused an Icon Rotary Hammer with stop function a few times ripping up tiles for work, $99 from Mitre 10 i think with Chisels and bits still going. Bought on Phillip Island when we got caught out by an owner wanting floor tiles removed before kitchen install...

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## racingtadpole

Its just the luck of the draw I think.  I still have the 7 1/4" B+D Circular saw I was given for my 21st and it still works, probably should have it serviced but its still working (for those that are wondering, my 21st was over twenty years ago).  I borrowed the old mans Ryobi Compound Saw before I had my own and managed to break both the clamps that secure the timber, seven months later the spares arrived.  In 1996 I bought a Dewalt 4" paddle trigger grinder, that thing was the definition of indestructible.  It was a very sad day when I accidentally killed it by driving over it with the ute about 12 months ago.  The Metabo replacement I bought isnt half the machine and is already getting noisy.  The Dewalt framing gun I bought was another story, three nails after the box got opened a hissing noise from behind the trigger and no more nails after that (until it returned from its trip to the repair shop).  If you get a good one, no matter what the brand they seem to last forever, if you get a dud, its usually game over fairly early on in the piece.  I do have to admit that these days I tend to stay with name brands, mostly Dewalt, largely because I am in the blessed position of being able to afford them and I also think that you do get what you pay for.   Having said that of course, I just bought a new Ozito rotary hammer drill to replace a dead Ozito.  Disappointing really, only got 7 years of near commercial use out of the first one.

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## PlatypusGardens

> I just bought a new Ozito rotary hammer drill to replace a dead Ozito. Disappointing really, only got 7 years of near commercial use out of the first one.

  I wonder if this new one will last as long......        :Confused:

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## Ozcar

> Yeah Aldi is the supermarket. You are missing out in so many ways   The tools are labelled "Trade..." something-or-other. 
>  . . .

  Aldi are big on their own brands, even for grocery lines they stock very few known brands. They use several brand names for tools. The ones I have seen include Powercraft, Workzone, and Taurus.  I have no idea if there is some subtle reasoning behind what brand they use for a particular item. 
Being a sucker for cheap stuff, I have several of their gadgets, including a "shop vacuum" - it is branded Taurus - see $89 Aldi shop vac is back - Woodwork Forums 
Aldi is a bit of a stange place. Each week they have "special buys", and the goods they sell as specials covers a vast range, and include some really strange things as far as I'm concerned (for example  unicycles). 
All the tools are in the special buy category. The specials usually sell out very quickly, although that doesn't always happen, so sometimes a few weeks later they may reduce the price to clear any remaining stock. This means that you can't just decide one day that you will get, say one of the vacuums - they only have them occasionally. If they sell something once though, they tend to sell them again, but you don't know when that might be, and sometimes the product offered later is not identical to what they sold before.

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## frankvaux

I purchased a Ozito rotary hammer drill for removing the tiles from the bathroom floor. In five years, never had a problem with it.  In fact, it's probably the most professional looking power tool I own.  
I like to take it outta the case and leave it laying around the shed, gives the wife a warm fuzzy feeling all over knowing that all these power tools are proving there worth.   
The other really neat thing about the Ozito rotary hammer drill, is the case, if you stand it on end it becomes a handy little seat, I often sit on it staring blankly at the pile of floor tiles sitting neatly in the corner of the shed. 
And, one day I'm going to kickoff that bathroom renovation..............

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## PlatypusGardens

> They use several brand names for tools. The ones I have seen include Powercraft, Workzone, and Taurus. I have no idea if there is some subtle reasoning behind what brand they use for a particular item.

  Ah ok... so they don't actually have *Aldi* written on them.
Sounds to me like they just buy a containerload of whatever they can get their hands on that week/month....?     

> I like to take it outta the case and leave it laying around the shed, gives the wife a warm fuzzy feeling all over knowing that all these power tools are proving there worth.

  I hope that's not the *only* way you know of giving her a warm fuzzy feeling.....?      (Sorry it was just too easy and I couldn't resist)    :Hahaha:

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## r3nov8or

> Ah ok... so they don't actually have *Aldi* written on them.
> Sounds to me like they just buy a containerload of whatever they can get their hands on that week/month....?

   I may be wrong but I think their quality control is pretty good. Their global business plan (which is proven to be extremely successful) totally depends on it.

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## PlatypusGardens

> I may be wrong but I think their quality control is pretty good. Their global business plan (which is proven to be extremely successful) totally depends on it.

  Oh I'm sure it is.
I didn't mean they buy just any old crap. 
I see how what I wrote could be taken that way though.      :Smilie:

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## r3nov8or

All good. 
Also, re your Men At Work avatar, I once saw a joke sign labelling this "Men Opening Umbrellas". I now smile every time I see it. :Biggrin:

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## racingtadpole

I wonder if this new one will last as long......  
Well its off to a good start, it survived to great master bedroom foundation repair of 2011.  10 Days of removing 45year old concrete on a broken foundation that killed the Bosch Brute from the hire company (also resulting in a protracted arguement about who pays). 
One day I'll get round to starting a go-whoa for the house that has been dubbed the 'salt mine'.  Im sure it'd make for some amusing reading.

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## PlatypusGardens

> Also, re your Men At Work avatar, I once saw a joke sign labelling this "Men Opening Umbrellas". I now smile every time I see it.

  Good one!  :2thumbsup:    
I read something that went along the lines of _"Women work all the time, but when men work, they need to put a sign up...." _     :Roflmao:

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## frankvaux

> I hope that's not the *only* way you know of giving her a warm fuzzy feeling.....?

  No, of course not............I got plenty of power tools to leave laying around the shed.   
On special occasions, like weddings anniversaries, birthdays and such, I strive to give the wife a special treat and I will plug the tools into the power points and give em a whirl.  I know she's really impressed because she will often make the comment about how busy I sound. 
45 years of wedded bliss and about the same amount of accumulated broken down appliances and furniture in all states of dis-repair covered in cobwebs and laying around in buckets.  She's one lucky lady!

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## SlowMick

Does this mean if i get married i can stop finishing projects?   :Biggrin:  
Tools have come a long way in the past 30 years.  i remember as a kid that tools were VERY expensive and even my uncle who was a carpenter only had a drill, a jig saw and a circular saw.  i rememebr his Bosch router that came with only German intructions.  I still have his drill bits and brace from when he changed to twist drils and spade bits.  Juding by the queues of people at bunning i would guess that almost every garage has a large power tool collection. 
I have my dads Hitachi circular saw that is still going strong after ll these year.  that said the black and decker drill from the sam era has no go what so ever.  i've been using $39 disposable Ozito corded drills instead.  they have a long warranty but I throw them out after 12 months, usually with a burnt out motor.  guess i shouldn't use them to drive in screws.  each time i look at "proper" drills i look for one with an overload clutch so i don't snap a wrist doing somethign stupid. 
I do like my $100 Ozito Rotary Hammer drill (I've writen this in other posts and amused PlatypusGardens).  with a good drill bit it makes good holes.  It's cheaper than hiring a drill or buying a proper one for the few projects i need it for.  
to redo the bathroom i hired a 7" wetsaw (Makita i think) to cut the compressed flooring.  looked like a circular saw with a diamond blade and a water feed.  it was awesome.  made me realise that the right good quality tool can make all the difference.  i found myself telling everyone how awesome it was.

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## PlatypusGardens

> Does this mean if i get married i can stop finishing projects?

  Finishing......projects...... hmmm
Interesting concept. 
I'll have to look in to that.    :Wink:

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## frankvaux

[QUOTE=SlowMick;859249]Does this mean if i get married i can stop finishing projects?   :Biggrin:  
Nice thought, Mick, ya crazy mixed up kid................   
Personally, I like to follow projects through from start to finish.  If I start something, I'm like a bull at gate to get that project finished.   
I recently completed a rather complex backyard construction for the kids that pushed my engineering and construction abilities to the limits and forced me to master tasks that I thought were beyond my capabilities.  
I spent years in the planning and engineering stage, ensuring that I had every aspect of this project just right. 
The lovely wife reckons the kids are too old to use it now, I tend to disagree, the oldest is only 42 and you're never too old to use a sandpit! right?

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## SlowMick

You've got some real lucky kids there frank. :2thumbsup:  me, i almost fell off the couch reading that  :Biggrin:  
My girlfrend's ready to kill me if i don't finish the house and put all the tools back in the shed.  four years in a half finished house is enough it seems.

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## PeteV

my thoughts are to stick with the brand names... although, after just building three houses out of mount gambier limestone, we decided a cheap 235mm powersaw was the go for the cuts. we bought an ozito as it was the cheapest and after 1000+ cuts with the blade that came with it, the bastard is still going....

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## r3nov8or

Seems everyone who says buy quality (including me) also has a good/success story about the cheapies too.

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## PlatypusGardens

Yeh seems to be luck of the draw with the cheapies.      :Sneaktongue:

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## frankvaux

> You've got some real lucky kids there frank. me, i almost fell off the couch reading that  
> My girlfrend's ready to kill me if i don't finish the house and put all the tools back in the shed.  four years in a half finished house is enough it seems.

  Well, you know, I don't like to boast..........but I was in the running for father of the year, unfortunately the presentation coincided with "Happy Hour" and, well, lets just say there is a empty space on the mantle piece! 
I've noticed that most of mates don't bring their wife's around when visiting anymore.  I suspect that I have set the bar too high for backyard sandpits............oh well, I guess there is a down side to perfection!!

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## GeoffW1

Hi, 
I think it might be correct that it depends on chance to a great extent. Remember the urban legend about Friday and Monday BMC cars? 
If you are a high quality more expensive brand, your production line will use better components (no plastic gears etc), closer tolerances on machining, more skilled workers, and roving line inspectors. Your quality spread will look like the blue curve  Imageshack - normalcurvezi6.gif 
If you are making a house brand like Ozito etc, you go the other way (the red curve), in the knowledge that you will produce some duds, but most are OK. You then price it to support 10% warranty returns, and advertise it as a cheap, DIY, once-a-week tool. People are not disappointed..........mostly. It's a delicate game, look what happened to GMC. 
I've got some of the old tough green Hitachi power tools, 25 yrs old, and what durable things they are. I love them. I wish I'd gotten one of everything Hitachi in those days, but i did not know how good they would prove to be. 
I've also blown up GMC, Icons (Mitre 10 house brand), Ryobis, and Ozitos, in a puff of blue smoke, and yet had others of the same sort carry on for years without missing a rev. 
Figure it out.

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## PlatypusGardens

I think some of it might come down to the materials used to make the components for these tools.
Stuff like the alloys, metals and plastics used for the gears etc. 
Manufacturers of these cheaper brands, which then get labelled Ozito, Worx, SuperTool, MaxxPower etc etc, probably source raw materials from different places.
It may be that one batch is better than another, hence one lot of tools of the same brand will last longer than another. 
I wouldn't be surprised if the guts of a lot of these tools are the same and then get a different casing put on them depending on where they go. 
I know for a fact that a lot of these cheap online stores like BBT, Geoff's tools and a few others I can't remember right now, buy welders, compressors etc and just put their own label on them.
I was surfing the net a while back looking for a MIG welder and noticed about 4 or 5 places selling the exact same one, each with their own sticker on it.     :Rolleyes:

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## jonesyGT

I only buy the cheapies (like Ozito) for a few reasons,  
1 is I figure if Im going to have a problem with them its going to be earlier in its use life.
2 I dont use the tools very often, & they dont get a hard time when I do
3 If they do break, it doesnt damage the bank account as much
4 If less that 12 months old Ozito replace it, not send it off to get fixed

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## chalkyt

Yep, for whatever reason I have found Ozito to be pretty good, especially for the "don't use very often items. Had a circlip break in the hammer drill chuck, pretty simple fix if you can find one, but they replaced the whole drill... go figure! 
Have found current Ryobi to be rubbish. Got sucked into the interchangeable battery routine and now have several tools that take batteries that don't last long and don't hold a charge overnight. At least I can have a battery in the charger while I am waiting for the one being used to run out of puff.... There, that feels better!!!!! 
Favourites at the moment are the green Bosch with Lithium Ion batteries... light weight and go forever on a single charge. 
Best are the old (30YO) Metabo Drill and AEG saw. A bit battered but just keep going. 
What great therapy this is... maybe it should be compulsory for membership of the forum to let of steam here every six months!!!!!!

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## PlatypusGardens

Lots of good input from everyone. 
Keep the comments coming guys.     :2thumbsup:

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## manofaus

I have a ROK heat gun, dial adjustable for heat and fan at 60 bucks good buying.
I have alot of various brands, but find the most difference that i find between cheap and dear brand names is the motors and the batteries/charger. The motors in the more expensive items are quieter and have soft startup and braked stopping. The battery and chargers seem to be on par with price. I had a ryobi batt drill and the charger was a static 16v for a 14.4v battery. needless to say when I left a battery charging for a full weekend it got very hot and leaked juice. My hitachi drill has a charger the size of a drill that has a fan in it, and condition monitoring built in. For me I know am know that I will have these tools for a long time because I like DIY. Hence why I have bought a nice drop saw and drill/driver combo. As for other things in my collection I have generic routers, jigsaws, recip saw (dude you gotta get one of these), a hammer drill, planer etc. Like most people will recognise, weigh up how long you want if for, and how often you will use it to decide on the spending big for a lifetime or spending little to last the job. 
wish I bought that biscuit cutter from aldi the other month.

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## PlatypusGardens

> recip saw (dude you gotta get one of these)

  It's definitely something I've been thinking about getting.
What brand is yours?     :Smilie:

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## manofaus

I have an ozito, variable speed recip saw. It is one handy piece of gear. Makes removing hardwood studs a breeze (cuts through your nails), cutting your old cast iron and gal plumbing, lots of uses. The only thing is I keep bending the blades!! I think I got if for 90 bucks. If I was to go buy one now I would get a cordless one to compliment my hitachi gear I already have. But only because I already have the batteries and charger. A few mates have used it too.  
The cheaper gear tends to vibrate more I think, not so much refinement.

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## shauck

Yeah, I've got a cheapie recipro saw (forget the brand) and bend blades pretty easily. It sucks.

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## PlatypusGardens

> All good. 
> Also, re your Men At Work avatar, I once saw a joke sign labelling this "Men Opening Umbrellas". I now smile every time I see it.

  I changed it so now it looks like he's working really hard.      :Laugh bounce:

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## r3nov8or

> I changed it so now it looks like he's working really hard.

  lol. i like the bigger pile  :Smilie:  
on recip saws, i have a GMC. All recip saws will bend blades if you don't keep the material hard up against the 'hilt'. and don't force it to cut. as usual let the tool do the work.

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## PlatypusGardens

> All recip saws will bend blades if you don't keep the material hard up against the 'hilt'.

  Ain't that the truth.
I know a bloke who has one and kept complaining about the blade bending.
I told him to think of it as a jigsaw tilted back 90 degrees.     :Wink:

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## LordBug

I once bought the cheap Ozito heat gun. It was so hot that I could hold my hand right in front of it and it didn't get uncomfortable  :Tongue: 
It was just an impulse buy, so I had it refunded instead of trying to see if it was just that gun alone not working. 
The fellow who bought my old MIG welder off me had earlier that day bought an Ozito MIG welder, didn't play nice with him, Bunnings replaced it with another, and again he had no joy. It sounded like he'd had a few years experience with welding, so it wasn't user error. He said that both units didn't regulate the gas, it was apparently a constant flow. Odd. 
But then I've had a lot of joy with Ozi stuff too. The much lauded demolition drill, did a fantastic job on my bathroom.
Circular saw, only gets occasional use, but works without a hitch.
A friend's rotary tool, it spins fast and does the job. 
Depending on the use decides what I buy. If it's a rare use, I'll likely try the cheap tools first. When I did cabling, my prime investment was a DeWalt hammer drill. She still performs beautifully, and even though it's the 14.4v model doesn't have any problems when I put my 1 foot 30mm masonary bit on  :Tongue:

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## denaria

I started off with all Makita years ago and good they were but these days have been buying the el cheapos since you can never tell by brands which will last and which won't. Amazing how cheap they've dropped to. My Makita cutoff saw was $600 way back when, still going too. A bother is being left handed -  a huge hunstmen spider taking up residence in my Makita Belt Sander fan area and ended up splatted wetly on my face through the vent holes.

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## Godzilla73

> A bother is being left handed -  a huge hunstmen spider taking up residence in my Makita Belt Sander fan area and ended up splatted wetly on my face through the vent holes.

  The young bloke at work has the same issue with the electric planner, cops a face full everytime. If he tries right handed, his mistakes get expensive...

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## denaria

Lots these days allow alternate handle for lefties. On the same subject, I've noticed that the glue for my sander belts doesn't last long, not even a season, I keep them in double ziplocked bags and still some fly off on first use. For lots of reasons I'm expensive to keep!

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## r3nov8or

> The young bloke at work has the same issue with the electric planner, cops a face full everytime. If he tries right handed, his mistakes get expensive...

  my previous Ryobi electric planer you could switch the waste from left to right, and its the same for my current Triton model.

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## PlatypusGardens

> I've noticed that the glue for my sander belts doesn't last long, not even a season, I keep them in double ziplocked bags and still some fly off on first use.

  Yeh lots of things don't stand up to the tropical humidity we get up here. 
I've noticed it affects a lot of electronic gadgets too, especially the manual volume control on Hi-Fi systems and amps.
They just go bonkers and when you try to turn it down by hand it turns itself up instead.
Thank god for remote controls.      :Tv Happy:

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## Rod Dyson

I get tools knocked off too quick to wear out.  So I buy some el-cheapo tools like hammer drills and cut off saws, stuff people like to knock off.  But for my cordless I by makita and never fudge on screw guns.  I would rather buy 2 cheap hammer drills a year than replace one expensive hammer drill per year.

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## Damian Ball

This is how I buy tools..  
If I'm going to use it a lot, or if precision is important I buy a good brand (normally Makita) EG, 3rd sheet sander, Cordless drill, Recipro (for frequency of use), Router (for precision) 
For non precision tools i won't use often , i buy cheapies. I have an Xu1 4" grinder that is still goign strong after about 5 years, I jus bought an Ozito 9", but it won't get much use. 
I have a hitachi Framing nailer which I love, but I also havea cheap finishing nailer from bunnigns which is perfect fir skirtings, architraves etc. 
It's horses for courses, but this philosophy works well for me.

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## PlatypusGardens

I guess as long as you're prepared that the tool might pack it in when you're in the middle of doing something it's ok to buy cheaper stuff. 
Funny you mention the XU1, Damian, as I had a couple of them and they lasted years and years.
Much better quality than the recent Ozito stuff.      :Smilie:

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