If you’re not a contractor, power tools. Buy the harbor freight version first when you need it. If you end up using it enough to break it, then you get a quality one.
Sorry, but this only applies to drills and sanding machines. Maybe a bench grinder also you can cheap out on. Hand tools are fine to cheap out on also.
Any spinning blade, if you cheap out, don’t be surprised if you get life-alteringly injured when you “use it enough to break it”. I was just helping some friends renovate where they had a dirt cheap miter saw and it was just about the most dangerous experience of my life.
If you are doing any big renovations, at least get makita, Milwaukee, or dewalt. You can get a TON of cheaper stuff second hand. Quality at a lower price. I got a professional older model hilti hammer drill at a tiny fraction of the price.
That is something I would disagree with. Especially when it comes to battery powered tools which seems to be everything nowadays.
If you go with one of the big brands you are almost guaranteed to get a spare part later. If you only use your drill once a year, the battery might be dead in a few years if you don’t take care of it. Of course your battery might cost the same as a no name drill, but that is still a fair point IMO.
Now that you have a drill maybe you need a saw later. If you went with a big brand they typically have a large range of devices that work with the same batteries. So you can reuse your battery from the drill and also don’t need another charger for that single device. This is also not limited to tools only. Maybe you need a light or a battery powered radio for something totally unrelated.
This is very situational. I’m not a contractor, but I spend a significant portion of my time doing hobbies that require power tools. I don’t need a drill that will last for an entire day at a jobsite. Ryobi works fine for me. On the other hand, I wish I had never spent $600 on a cheap planer; I knew I’d want a better one eventually, and sure enough, I found a need to upgrade after a few years. Now I’ve spent $3600 on planers. I could have just gone with the $3k one and saved myself $600.
If I’m going to use it once, I borrow it. If I’m going to use it every few months, I buy a cheap one. If I’m going to use it every week, then it’s worth it to me to buy something I can keep for at least a decade or two.
For jacks I always assume that it can break at any moment. That is why I put the spare tire under the car when I have the car lifted. If the jack breaks, the car will fall on the tire and not on my face.
I forget which brand it was, but I once bought a drill…charged the battery overnight, went to use it…and it died within 3 seconds. Literally 3 seconds. Thing cost like $100 a couple of years ago. Now I got a DeWalt, and it’s fine.
If you’re not a contractor, power tools. Buy the harbor freight version first when you need it. If you end up using it enough to break it, then you get a quality one.
Sorry, but this only applies to drills and sanding machines. Maybe a bench grinder also you can cheap out on. Hand tools are fine to cheap out on also.
Circular saw, table saws, miter saws, angle grinders, etc…
Any spinning blade, if you cheap out, don’t be surprised if you get life-alteringly injured when you “use it enough to break it”. I was just helping some friends renovate where they had a dirt cheap miter saw and it was just about the most dangerous experience of my life.
If you are doing any big renovations, at least get makita, Milwaukee, or dewalt. You can get a TON of cheaper stuff second hand. Quality at a lower price. I got a professional older model hilti hammer drill at a tiny fraction of the price.
Seconded. This has been my strategy for accumulating personal tools.
Proper/professional grade stuff I have:
The rest is of a lot more dubious quality.
That is something I would disagree with. Especially when it comes to battery powered tools which seems to be everything nowadays.
If you go with one of the big brands you are almost guaranteed to get a spare part later. If you only use your drill once a year, the battery might be dead in a few years if you don’t take care of it. Of course your battery might cost the same as a no name drill, but that is still a fair point IMO.
Now that you have a drill maybe you need a saw later. If you went with a big brand they typically have a large range of devices that work with the same batteries. So you can reuse your battery from the drill and also don’t need another charger for that single device. This is also not limited to tools only. Maybe you need a light or a battery powered radio for something totally unrelated.
This is very situational. I’m not a contractor, but I spend a significant portion of my time doing hobbies that require power tools. I don’t need a drill that will last for an entire day at a jobsite. Ryobi works fine for me. On the other hand, I wish I had never spent $600 on a cheap planer; I knew I’d want a better one eventually, and sure enough, I found a need to upgrade after a few years. Now I’ve spent $3600 on planers. I could have just gone with the $3k one and saved myself $600.
If I’m going to use it once, I borrow it. If I’m going to use it every few months, I buy a cheap one. If I’m going to use it every week, then it’s worth it to me to buy something I can keep for at least a decade or two.
Pretty good for anything that can kill you if it fails. Even beyond power tools.
So, for example, yes to drill. No to compressors, jacks, etc.
For jacks I always assume that it can break at any moment. That is why I put the spare tire under the car when I have the car lifted. If the jack breaks, the car will fall on the tire and not on my face.
Jack stands too. But not harbor freight ones
That’s pretty good advice, thanks.
I forget which brand it was, but I once bought a drill…charged the battery overnight, went to use it…and it died within 3 seconds. Literally 3 seconds. Thing cost like $100 a couple of years ago. Now I got a DeWalt, and it’s fine.