Drill and Driver Poll

[Wilsoncb]

Some recent discussions on tool issues had me wondering which brand was the most popular. I chose to target drill/drivers because I thought it would be the most common power tool. I‘m sure some people have multiple brands, but please choose one that is most representative.

 

[JNCarr]

Great idea!

 

[tghsmith]

I have a porter cable corded drill and driver,, the pair is at least 15 years old, have never let me down.. nice stuff..

 

[bowman]

I added Porter Cable to the list

 

[Tarhead]

This guy does a good job reviewing tools:

 

[Oka]

I have DeWalt and Milwaukee and use Hilti at work.

 

[Wilsoncb]

I have a porter cable corded drill and driver,, the pair is at least 15 years old, have never let me down.. nice stuff..

I knew I would miss at least one. Thanks Neal!

 

[bowman]

No worries, I have that one as well...

 

[Bill Clemmons]

I have an older Porter-Cable 12v drill & driver set. They were made before they changed their production. From what I've heard the newer models aren't as reliable.

 

[tvrgeek]

Poll only allows one. So I said Makita for 18 V, one lower power Ridgid 18V as the Makita's are too powerful sometimes, ( Same battery as my 1/2 drive auto impact gun and multitool) Milwaukee 12V and an old Ridgid 12V in the house.
I dumped my Porter Cables as junk and right angle Bosch as I never used it. Of course, soon there after I needed it. I get by with the Milwaukee right angle adapter.

I also have a 40 year old corded Makita drill that will pick you up and rotate you around the work, a big Makita SDS hammer drill and a 1/2 inch Chicago hammer drill.

For old guys AEG is not on the list. They invented cordless drivers BTW.

 

[bowman]

I don't have an issue with my Porter Cable tools, they work fine for me. If yours are bad, move on.

 

[Martin Roper]

I couldn't check two, but I have a Ryobi 18v set and a Bosch 12v set.

 

[tvrgeek]

I don't have an issue with my Porter Cable tools, they work fine for me. If yours are bad, move on.

Owned three. Three failed. Moved on.

 

[Ted P]

I’ve had and used for a few years 24v Kobalt. They were relatively inexpensive and have lasted very well. Extra batteries were also pretty inexpensive.

 

[WriterJFP]

I keep collecting Milwaukee M18 tools, and I keep being happy with them.

 

[Graywolf]

Things to know about some tool brands. Porter Cable is owned by Black & Decker.

 

[HMH]

I'm still on team Dewalt, mainly because I have so many batteries that still work well, but if I were new to the world, and buying new today, I'd probably go Makita. That said, I have noticed that Dewalt makes "tiered" products, and I am happy w. the higher end drill/ driver combo I have, (~7-8+ years old now w/ relatively heavy use, including building my personal house, and w/o issue), whereas I see that there are some apparent QC issues in their lower cost versions, (i.e. the ~$100 specials I see at Lowes likely).

 

[Bas]

I have the 18V white Makita drill and impact driver. Batteries need to be charged a bit more frequently now, but they're 16 years old. Not too bad. The Makita has plenty of power for just about anything, but it's considerably lighter than the Rigid, DeWalt etc. Weight matters.

 

[tvrgeek]

Things to know about some tool brands. Porter Cable is owned by Black & Decker.

Power Tool Manufacturers and Who Really Owns Them - 2023

It may surprise you that only a handful of larger companies own your favorite power tool manufacturers. Here's who owns who...with lists!

www.protoolreviews.com

But, it is not the ownership, it is the design to which price point that matters.

Milwaukee, AKG, Ridgid, Heart, Roybi all ITT. Performance and reliability follow price point. Makita and Hilti make their own tools. No idea who makes the various Harbor Freight tools. I suspect each is bid across the OEMs so it may differ tool to tool, month to month. Makita does have two tiers, as the ones sold in Japan are slightly different and suggested even higher reliability. They tried a lower consumer line (red ones) but pulled from that market. Not sure where the white ones landed. I sold mine as the drill had a snap chuck like the driver and I wanted a 3-jaw so I went Milwaukee.
I beat up DeWalt as I have not been happy with their top tier price has not matched my experience. I would buy a $20 Harbor Freight before another Power Cable.

The above chart strangely has JPW, actually owned by Gamut Capital, but not Harvey or the other stationary tool OEMs. It does not show TTS, owner of Festool and Bridge City or SawStop, Laguna, Rikon. Who makes them I am not sure as it has changed over the years. Harvey used to make the SS industrial saw, as well as several Grizzly and Powermatic. It shows brands, but brand does not reflect who builds it. Look at 15 inch planers. Clearly only two companies. Same with 6 and 8 inch jointers. Grizzly is still privately owned brand, but they don't manufacture anything.

 

[Graywolf]

porter cable at one time was the top of the line for bench tools ie, routers, saber saws, reciprocating saws, skill saws and a like. Once purchased by Black and Decker they were slowly down graded in the quality range they used to hold. I still own several of the 3 1/4 horsepower routers. These tools are in the 20 year old range and running strong. The bottom line here to me is does the tool do the job and will it carry the load for a reasonable life time. And what is a reasonable life time for a tool. I was using Porter cable drills to install cabinets when Dewalt was reintroduced to the market. The first purchase for me of that product line was the miter saw, before that I was using a Makita that was 15 years old and was not staying tuned. I ran the Dewalt saw for 12 years before upgrading to the Dewalt sliding compound saw. With more things to break and traveling with me daily I have had three of these. In the meantime I’ve used up a set of 14volts, 18volts, and I’m on my first set of 20volts that are around 15 years old. It’s a reliable platform. I carry on the job five 20volt drills all are set for specialized jobs, for me it speeds up production. So when the time comes that I have to change platforms then that’s a long and hard decision. For the record I still use the 18volt drills around the house. Oh thanks for sharing the link.