Hi everyone, I'm a new tradie working for a renovation company and looking to invest in my own set of tools.
What brands would you recommend for quality and durability?
New Tradie Looking for Tool Brand Recommendations
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It looks like you’re trying to reply to @omgbackagain, not @sumyungguy. Was that a mistake?
It’s not a mistake, it’s their version of attention seeking.
We all know who the biggest TOOL is.
Maynard James Keenan?
Total Tools are accurately named. And everything they sell can be bought elsewhere.
Hey… You never know when a jetski, boat, offroad caravan or Ranger Raptor bargain might be posted 🤣
You mean you’re a qualified trade or an apprentice/TA?
Could also be a labourer?
On reflection I think we've been owned. OP should have well and truly figured this out over four years as an apprentice. Imagine a qualified tradie posting here for tips on the best flavoured milk drinks, sausage rolls and dual cab 4WD utes? Likely not really a tradie…
Wera and KNIPEX Ozb tools of choice.
Ozito - you
brakebreak it you can have a free replacement in your hand within 30 minutes. Just don't wear tradie clothes into Bunnings when you do it.And don’t put it on PowerPass lol
But definitely get the flybuy points for that free* toaster in 8 years time.
*Delivery not included
I put mine on powerpass and take em back when they die and they don't care. My powerpass is listed as a sparky one but that shouldn't matter. I didn't expect to get warrenty and was fine with that as they are cheap enough with the real risk being getting lost or flogged, no broken.
Wow good to know
Maybe just easy going staff
I did see various feedback over the years saying it was an easy out to deny warranty as most ozito / Ryobi etc say for DIY use only (or to that effect)
Hand tools? Power tools? Woodworking tools? What are we talking here?
Pick carefully, because once you start your allegiance to one brand you are locked in for life 😂
Basically you pick between:
Milwaukee: overpriced but good quality and durability. Shows you got money to burn.
DeWalt: decent price, decent equipment, durable and quite standard.
Makita: same as dewalt above imo.
Ozito: cheap, breaks easily but easy to replace - would be nervous to see anyone using it while renovating my home and probably be regretting my contractor choice if i saw them using ozito equipment.
Not a brand to be used commercially.
What's an affordable brand that is least likely to get you bullied on the worksite?
Makita or dewalt.
Or makitas special cousin, Ryobi.But depending on their line of work, id say makita or dewalt for affordability and reliability.
But like @brendanm said:
Milwaukee is expensive but it's great.
And i fully agree, they make some great stuff that is (imo) abover and beyond other brands (eg: their cordless 3/4 impact driver is the beez kneez for removing truck nuts compared to any similar model of other brands that can’t even come close)
At the end of the day though, i doubt many tradies are bullying others over their tool brand choice. Probably more of a light hazing or a few tounge in cheek cracks.
Tradies (from my ye oldie experience many moons ago) tend to only bully the young labourers and apprentices…dont listen to the other comment
im a chippie at a union site, most of the lads use ozito, its decent and with the 5 year warranty, its very easy to replace at bunnings.
theres a couple of lads that use milwaukee and makita and theyre the ones getting bullied!
Every trade and tradie will have a different level off wear and tear, if your job entails nothing too taxing on your tools (ie: being a chippie on a union site 😂) sure ozito will probably be fine.
If your going to be cutting/grinding/drilling etc intensively every day you work, your money is better spent on quality tools.
If you had a choice between a Chery or Toyota Corolla, which would you choose for reliability?
Both are functional, but one is definitely going to be more reliable than the other in the long term…
Milwaukee is expensive but it's great. I've had their cordless stuff since before brushless came out, had to order it from the states. Have never had anything fail, and I use it all daily in a harsh environment. They also have stuff that doesn't exist in other brands, 3/8 M13 impact with torque specs of an 18v 1/2 mid torque. The battery prices are out of control though, but I believe most brands are the same now.
I've got Milwaukee, but didn't realise it's a "better" brand.
Been going fine, but that's just for occasional home / reno jobs.
The price is many times the standard household spec ozito or Ryobi. Your Milwaukee in home use will last forever. I have some ozito and Ryobi stuff at home that I've bought for one of style projects, and that will probably last a long time as well. Horses for courses.
@brendanm: True.
I think it was on sale at the time for the kit at Total Tools, hence why I ended up with that brand.
It's not brushless, but for occasional and only home use it's been perfect.
probably be regretting my contractor choice if i saw them using ozito equipment.
This was the case for a friend. Was showing me the dodgy job with skirting boards and mentioned the Ozito tools as a red flag.
Mmmankita
As a tradie, i can say Milwaukee make excellent tools but they are overpriced. Ive used plenty of other peoples Makita stuff and it seems fine and sometimes has special on at Bunnings.
Don't forget the $100,000 ute
"Rangers for everyone" - Setka
."Rangers for everyone" - Setka
"Raptors for everyone" - Setka
FTFY
The taxpayer subsidised ute via the instant asset write-off government handout.
No. It has to be $85,000 to be a high yield investment.
Another vote for Ozito.
Cheap to replace when another tradie steals all your stuff from site when you aren't looking.
I thought you were in the penalty box for 4 weeks?
The Shawshank Redemption.
Ah, I thought it had been unusually "crap-comment" free for a while. Now I know why…
I don’t believe people would steal brand new ozito tools let alone second hand ones 😂
Ozito does a modular storage unit now, get the pack out look on a budget
The poor man's Milwaukee.
I’m sure it’s a POS in real life when trying to actually use it , but I thought it looked ok from afar on display at Bunnings today.
I guess it’s one of those looks good from afar but far from good things
@Jimothy Wongingtons: My Ozito gear looks great sitting on the shelf that it hardly moves from. At work we have Milwaukee gear that gets used and abused daily. It's excellent gear but I couldn't justify the price for home use.
@Jimothy Wongingtons: I have plenty of Ozito tools they are quite good these days. Older Ozito stuff was not the best but anything I've bought in the last 5 years or so has been great. I use it pretty heavily for many things it should not too. Work on car, 4wd, house reno, garden work
@Boioioioi: I unironically do rate the ozito tools
I took another look at the ozito modular storage kit as I thought it would be funny to rock up to sites with one, but the locking clasp bits just felt real flimsy. I mean, I could prob 3d print a new mechanism… but that’s just too much time and effort.
ATM I just keep 3 tactix hard cases for all my tools in my Ute. Water and dust proof and takes a beating. Solid latch mechanisms. Too bulky to carry around all 3 though without some kind of trolley
If you can afford or find on sale Estwing tools, grab those. All the chippies and cabinetmakers Ive had onsite were using those (if they didnt have old school English or German stuff)
Find out what the other tradies you work with use and and buy a couple of the cheap tools then borrow theirs and batteries!
This. And if they’re really lazy try to scab their free battery or skin redemptions.
XU1 from Bunnings for the win lol. I did some concrete grinding for the slide gate at the front with their cordless angle grinder. I had a few batteries from their range that were constantly cycled through. By the end of the project, the grinder was shit faced pwahaha. Cleaned it up, brought it back to Bunnings and got a replacement. Technically it was DIY use though.
Makita or milwaukee
Ozito is fine until you are actually in a trade
If your not on hourly being able to cut/drill things faster = more money
Festool
Found the rich tradie here! lol
I only do home DIY, but an important consideration for me was how the brand handles faults.
Recommend to read through some customer feedback online for the brands that you're interested in.
That feedback steered me away from DeWALT as they would often do repairs and so you're without your tool during that period. And worst case that period is longer than expected and the fault reoccurs again soon after.
Went with Ozito for replace on the spot and their warranty period lifespan.
I expect that some of the trade quality tools are competitive in that space too.
I was going to suggest looking at the repair process too.
Go to a tool repair shop and ask them about it. They should be able to tell you which brands are reliable and which are easy/cheap to repair.
I went to my local looking for spare parts for a DeWalt saw. Chatted to him for a while - in his opinion Makita (and another brand that I have forgotten) are great for spare parts (ordering process and delivery time are good), and DeWalt and Bosch are poor. At the time DeWalt were changing their internal systems and they stuffed him around terribly - took more than 12 months to get the parts. I needed more parts later and it took 3 months that time. He wasn't a Metabo/Hitachi/Hikoki service agent so had no experience with them.
Get a mix of Ozito & Ryobi.
Make sure they're all brushless.
Don't get sucked in by marketing about DeWalt, Milwaukee, Bosch, etc
On more than one occasion my Ryobi tools were more powerful than the aforementioned 'top' brands (eg: framing nailer, impact driver, etc) or the top brands didn't even have anything equivalentOn tomorrow's episode of "things that didn't happen"…
Yet another sucker
As long as you think your Ryobi is the best, that's all that matters, and never let anyone tell you any different.
@brendanm: As long as you get sucked in by marketing, & create an echo chamber of like minded suckers around you, that's all that matters.
Pfft Real ozbargainer would have gone for whatever was on the biggest discount, and bought four of everything mostly to resell to other tradies onsite
XU1 - when only best will do.
Depends on what your day to day looks like. If you want maximum power/speed, Milwaukee. If you want a high-level of control for fine finishing, Makita. Hikoki/Metabo also make good tools but have a smaller range.
Fake makita from Aliexpress is my goto. Get the cred without the expense. And it's like a little tinder surprise if someone nicks em.
No idea what trade, no idea what tools. And a whole bunch of opinions and fighting between people with no response from OP. Yet it's front page material.
Welcome to OB
-Estwing hammers
-DeWalt power tools
-Knipex pliers
-Wera screwdrivers
-Safety Boots subjective, but had good experience with Blue Steel. Although I’m moving more onto fibreglass resin polymer (FRP) toe instead of steel cap. FRP isn’t susceptible to hot or cold weather, and lighter than steel.
-Southeast Clearance Centre for PPE
-Ozito impact driver / circular saw for leaving in the car. Was scaffolding and Leading Hand asked if anyone has an impact driver since they’d left theirs at the yard. Got laughed at for bringing out the Bunnings special but in the end appreciated for being able to get the job done.I’m a fake tradie ie skilled labourer / Heavy Plant Operator / Dogman / Scaffolder / Electrical Spotter.
Don’t sell yourself short mate. The quality of ‘tradie’ work I’ve seen lately is not at all encouraging. Plenty of skilled labourers who are better skilled.
man, spotters are wild.
Ever since Worksafe updated spotting requirements for EWP (Which I typically use 5 days a week and usually could get a site supervisor, safety officer or someone to just spot me) I've now had to hire someone, get them to get their licence just so they can spot me. $42 an hour just to stand on the ground, not (profanity) bad.
Depends a bit on the trade or whatever you’re doing.
For instance Makita make great tools but they don’t have a framing nailer, and some other tools that Milwaukee stock like the portable pump. Both of which either a chippie, or a plumber might want. They’re also divesting into 40V for some tools away from 18V, whereas Milwaukee are sticking with 18V.
Hitachi / Hikoki are really high quality but they also don’t offer the same range of tools that other brands do. Metabo is owned by the same company as Hikoki and is very high quality but lower range.
Bosch Blue is excellent but they have a really limited range of tools unfortunately.
DeWalt and Milwaukee IMO would probably offer the greatest range of tools, but personally I prefer Makita as I think they’re slightly more reliable. Milwaukee tend to be more expensive too.
At the end of the day though they’re all much of a muchness to be honest, the biggest consideration is going to be the actual tool you need and whether that tool is on the platform. IMO the platform with the widest range, unless you’re very specific is likely the best. You could of course just buy different tools with different batteries but the problem is then you’re lugging around various batteries and chargers - such is why if you can go for the same batteries across the tools.
Most people are actually far better of with Ryobi simply because they have a massive range (even a battery framing nailer in the US), and they have a good warranty (swap out) whereas many other brands, such as Makita are send to repair so you’re left without a tool. Just that technically warranty void I think for Ryobi if used for trades, which is BS because they’re fine and plenty of trades people use them.
Hope that helps.
I'll tag on this one:
Makita No. 1 for reliability and range and if you like a better feel to the handles of the tools. They are much more comfortable if you have smaller hands.
Dewalt if you're not worried about reliable warranty, they have a big range but their grips are bigger.
Milwaukee some tools are very nice but expensive. Their multi tool is the best and their recip saw.
Hikoki also has a nice feel like Makita but as bertie said above small range - but honestly what exactly do you need?
Most of your ocols will be:
Driver
Impact
Circular Saw
Recip Saw
Hammermost of the brands do this.
As for ryobi/aeg - aeg holds it's own tbh.
I wouldn't go the ryobi, just not as nice as the pro level tools if you're using daily.
However if you're on a budget go with ryobi.
If it was me I would go the makita.
Full disclosure I have everything but dewalt and only use a milwaukee multitool.
The makita impact just feels 'nice', get the 173/172 if you are.
If you're just going to be using the drills every now and then, even consider the makita/milwaukee 12V, the weight saving is amazing and they still do good on smaller jobs - not for full decks though.
Dewalt have the best valued packages currently check total tools, sydney tools and wait for bonus point promotions.
Hilti if you wear suit and helmet to work.
I had it put one way: what's your favourite colour? Then go with that tool brand.
But in all seriousness, if you are concerned about reliability, which you should be, if it is your day job, and your tools are earning you your money, then walk into a reputable tool hire place, and see what brand they use.
Likely they will have have selected the most reliable brand of tools to reduce downtime, and therefore maximise revenue.
Bumblebee (DeWalt) fan here.
Not as good as Milwaukee, but it's a better price point and still damn good gear…
My tradie brother-in-laws advice for power tools is: Buy something cheap. If you break it or wear it out then it's because you're using it the most, so upgrade that tool to a better brand.
Hence I tend to go to Ozito first and then upgrade to something better. However since you're a tradie you may need to start at a mid-range brand and upgrade to a premium brand instead.
Not a tradie but if I had to buy a set from scratch, I'd go Makita.
Milwaukee is also very good but pricey.
Buy expensive ones. You can claim it on tax. In fact, don't buy a tool box, buy an SUV to carry them, you can claim that on tax.
You're spending $100, to save 25-30%.
Spend $100, to save $25.
You're still down $75.
Obviously if you need it then…buy 2 ford raptors.
In a sense depends what trade you are going into and how specialised of power tools you need. Yes Ozito is great with warranty, but don't have a lot of specialised tools other "proper" brands have like plumbing crimp tools, dedicated cable cutters, powered ratchets etc. Personal preference - Milwaukee - huge range of tools M12 and M18 systems both great.
Alot of suckers in this thread.
Keep doling out your hard earned
AEG FTW
Milwaukee has every kind of tool you'll ever need
or you can go for Makita but the range is less in comparison, quality also good
Personally, I'd recommend Milwaukee, Dewalt or Makita in terms of power tools, hand tools steer clear from most of these.
If I started fresh, I'd go with Makita as it tends to be a little cheaper, but I got handed a few Milwaukee tools when I started so obviously had a few batteries and just continued with Milwaukee, can't complain.
When I was an IT manager and not in a trade, I'd buy a combination of Ozito and Ryobi (Fell for some mighty car mods marketing) and they were fine for home stuff, but when I moved into a trade, they lasted me a couple weeks before I got handed the Milwaukee tools, noticeable improvements and quickly at that.
My power tools, in total are under 2.5K incl batteries, not too bad IMOBudget but good enough quality - Ryobi
Expensive but the best - Hilti
Worked as a locksmith.
Only used Hilti while locksmith.
Using Ryobi after no longer a locksmith.Why no one mentions Bosch Blue? I have been using this brand for 15 years and nothing fails. And nowadays, Bosch Blue got 6 years warranty including battery. Their price is similar to Dewalt
i have some bosch blue, their rotary hammers, routers are great, but i have those as corded. when buying tools different brands seem to have an edge in select markets. some have better drills like metabo have safety clutches incase of a jam, some have better saws , some have better dust extraction. with corded you buy the best of breed, with cordless you get locked in once you have a big battery and charger inventory. i now have makita, bosch, dewalt and ozito in cordless so buy best skin for the job instead of what’s the best skin that i have a battery for.
the range of skins for bosch blue is too narrow thats why
Stanley > wera, you heard it here first.
Look at what your industry tends to use for general power tools. Mechanics and electricians tend to favour Milwaukee, while Carpenters and plumbers tend to favour Makita and DeWalt.
Then you have your speciality brands like Festool, Hilti, etc., used for specific types of work.
Ryobi is for home use. Its capable, but not made for everyday workhorse. You also want to be able to use and swap with your work mates when needed.
As an avid DIYer - I smash Ozito!
But off the top of my head, most of the tradies I know seem to use Milwaulkee. One of them uses makita, but even he's admitted that he'd look elsewhere if he wasn't so invested in them with all the batteries. I assume the milwaulkee guys are the same.
Comparing my tools to theirs though, yeah the ozito stuff is great for the price but they're just better built, lighter, don't kick back as hard and have more guts.
makita have a bigger range for cheaper and much more ergonomic
milwaukee for hardiness and power
both can have issues with drill chuck quality
heaps of other mid tier brands but they are not as ubiquitous nor have the range at god price. (AEG, Hitachi, dewalt, Bosch etc)
Hilti is also really good but price is high and range is low
i suggest you dont buy new tools. There are so many tools available for sale in cash converters salvos ect. Just buy from there.
Should get Ryobi, all tools are under 300 and can get detucted instantly for work.
All other brands would be over 300 and you'd have to deduct them over multiple years.
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Suggest you ask other tradies. Not much sign of them here, perhaps because they’re not bothered by having to save…
FWIW the chippies I know are into Makita.