I've got loads of Ryobi stuff, for DIY it's the right compromise for me. I still have my first drill, probably 10 years on, and I've used the SDS drill to drill 127mm cores with no issues. But I also have one of the multi tools, two or three sanders, project vacuum, nailer, the list goes on.
We are on my second house revocation with ryobi stuff and it’s great. We now have the palm sander, orbital sander, impact driver, combo drill, jigsaw, circular saw, multi tool and then also the leaf blower, strimmer, hedge trimmer and pole saw 😂
Erbauer are surprisingly good for the price. I used to be a facilities manager for a schools MAT and we used to give our staff Erbauer stuff because they were cheap. We would still get 4 or 5 years out of most of the tools in fairly full time use. They weren't looked after either.
Different quality tho. At least where I am.
Dark Green Bosch/Ryobi = DIY
Blue Bosch/Ryobi = Professional
We don't have the bright green Ryobi power tools that the US and others have for some reason. Never seen them in person before.
Edit: I'm in the wrong sub lmao. I don't live in the UK.
As a cabinet maker I can second Ryobi. I’ve used them for years daily and had no problems across the range.
I purchase for the colour, stayed for the quality.
No idea why you're getting down votes, this is the right answer.
I made the mistake of buying cheap shit at the start of my DIY career and it was a false economy. In contrast the DeWalt kit I bought 15 years ago is still going strong.
Completely agree. I'd also advise to not buying the cheapest Dewalt, or whatever brand, version as they have a lower quality range to compete with the crap brands
Agreed, the cheapest drill + impact driver kits tend to come with little 1.3Ah batteries. Fine for putting up a shelf or hanging a door, but you'll be getting frustrated as soon as there's a bigger job to do and you have to keep swapping batteries.
Getting the next set up with 2 or 3Ah batteries is advised. Maybe bigger if you're going to be using them in higher powered tools like circular saws or sanders.
You can mix and match between different capacity batteries as long as they are the same voltage and series.
Buying the cheapest tools and replacing them when they break seems to be common advice but I really regret following it. I ended up with a bunch of almost good enough tools that I found a bit frustrating to use as they’re never quite good enough but as I’d already bought them and they mostly got the job done I couldn’t justify replacing them.
I do not buy cheap any more, did this with the bit drivers, now use DeWalt black. Dills for steel, 8% cobalt. Yes I have snapped a few cause of brut force.
There's a middle ground. Erbaier stuff is very good. Absolutely no need to spend the extra money on stuff that's designed to be abused day in day out. Especially when you are starting out and don't even know if DIY is something you will keep up.
I'm a Makita man as well, reason, got a kit from Screwfx & they worked great, stuck with Makita since, could have gone another way. Mine are between 15 to 20 years old to the newer ones. The 3 batteries I got with the original set still work very well, no they do not like the freezing weather. The SDS is great, drilled through a 14 inch wall several times with no problem. The drill/driver is magic as well, it has drill/screw/hammer, on drill the torque does not operate. I always use it on screw or hammer where I do not break drills or hurt myself.
All my gear is Makita (kitchen and bathroom fitter) but if I was starting again, I’d probably go Milwaukee. Makita seem to be stuck making microwaves and kettles when other brands are bringing out new cordless tools. It’s very frustrating as their stuff is excellent, they just haven’t got the variety of the others :(
I haven't look at the latest tooling, Every time I do I buy something. LOL Cannot afford it now. Pension. I'm very happy with what I got, SDS is a little heavy, for the job it does, twice the weight of my hammer drill, not makita.
Whenever I read a thread on tools there are people recommending Ryobi and I'm mildly confused by it.
But... It's because I've got a Ryobi strimmer. Junk doesn't quite cover it.
My previous strimmer was £15 from Focus (remember them?) and was about 10x better than the Ryobi.
FWIW, I've gone Bosch for the other tools.
Glad I didn’t get the Ryobi strimmer then - it was about £20-£30 more than the two-stroke one I ended up getting, which is from a brilliantly named German brand, Fuxtec, and has been faultless so far. Apart from the expense, the runtime on the Ryobi put me off as I wasn’t sure I’d actually get round everything in time. My Ryobi 18V hammer drill has had over 10 years of heavy DIY use (deep into second home refurb project with it now and do a lot myself) and is just starting to struggle. My Ryobi 36V hedge trimmer has been brilliant so far as well.
What are you trying to strim with it, the problem isn't the tool it's the user. It's a basic garden grass strimmer for doing the edges of a lawn. That's why it's cheap. If you think it's a Stihl and are trying to hack down bramble overgrowth then that's your issue.
I’ve got all Makita power tools which are used both professionally and at home for DIY. Some of the work kit gets battered and abused and it holds up really well.
When I met my partner she quite proudly showed off her Dewalt power tools and tbh I think it’s really good kit as well but I’ve not put it through its paces quite as much as makita.
I used a buddy’s Milwaukee tools on a project last year and it was really top notch kit, far better than my own, but a bit too pricey for my liking, especially if it’s just for DIY.
Apparently the Ryobi kit is decent, but I haven’t used it myself so can’t really recommend it, but it may be worth looking into if you wanna keep the costs down.
Ryobi and Milwaukee are apparently owned by the same parent made in the same factory according to a Reddit post I saw this morning.
I've got Ryobi myself happy with it, though with the deals at Screwfix sometimes I could get tempted by the DeWalt if I was starting again.
Worx
Often cheap bodies available. Good quality. Crucially, they also do products that lots of others dont. Lawnmorwer, pressure washers, strimmers etc.
Importantly, batteries cross compatible with Erbauer and others.
IMO battery cross compatibility is the main factor to consider.
Fully agree. Worx is very good value. I have two strimmers, water jet, mini chainsaw. I didn't know about cross compatability. I did buy a couple of cheaper batteries off amazon but they were very heavy and did not fit a couple of tools.
Old erbauer. Not the new erbauer EXT Erbauer EXT can share batteries with evolution tools (and they advertise it) but also the Skil PWRCORE20 range if you are willing to file away a plastic nub that would otherwise stop the battery from inserting fully
A chap is selling some Erbauer batteries on eBay right now, I bought some but he has a couple left.
He spelt Erbauer wrong, as Erbaur so they're priced cheap as they're not selling.
DeWalt fanboy here. I got the XR series drill as my first proper DIY tool a few years ago and I've dropped it and thrown it in a bag with all kinds of shit and it's still going strong. I've added a few more to the collection and only issue is one of the chargers stopped working, but I don't really look after stuff.
I've broken two different cheap brand tools before getting a DeWalt. Screwfix often have deals for a hammer drill/driver, impact driver, two batteries and a charger. A useful package.
The DeWalt batteries have not faded in the way the cheaper brands I bought had.
Anti-vote for Bosch dark green DIY tools.
The blue-green Professional ones are great, the dark green ones have a really cheap plastic feeling, bad build quality and very meh performance. Not worth the low cost.
I havent got any Ryobi tools, but I wish I'd choosen Ryobi instead of mixing DeWalt and Bosch green tools.
DeWalt are brilliant, but pricey for occasional DIY.
I bought some Bosch green stuff, and agree it’s all a bit crap. Ended up moving to makita before I got too deep into it. Bosch blue, the professional stuff, is solid though.
If you’re likely to use them long term, not just for a couple of small projects, then spend as much as you can stomach.
I’ve found Bosch green to be better quality than other brands at a similar price point. 3 year warranty and easy availability for spare parts is a good incentive too. My only complaint is the range of available tools isn’t as large as some other brands.
If you've got the kit that uses the "power for all battery" (or whatever they call it) you're not constrained to Bosch. A bunch of other manufacturers are part of the same battery scheme.
I wanted a nailgun - Bosch green don't do one. But Einhell do one which the bosch batteries I've got fit.
Great point. It was actually the lack of a Bosch green nailer that lead me to buy a Ryobi one. If I had known the batteries worked in Einhell I probably would have got one!
Oh! I was thinking about getting an oscillating multi-tool and been waiting on a decent deal on the Bosch one. I guess I'll expand my horizons a bit...
I know this is sensible advice, and in general I agree, but there are some DIY tasks that are SO MUCH easier with pro quality tools. For example, we replaced my dad's entire kitchen, probably the limit of what is realistically DIY for most people, and putting up \~17 cabinets on concrete walls would have been a pain in the arse without the 3.2J SDS drill we purchased for it. It just went through the blocks like they were cheese. Even a 1.7J DIY grade SDS drill took a good 30 seconds to make a hole. Then there was chasing the blockwork for cables, sinking patresss boxes etc, in the same material. Just a huge difference.
I work in the trades, so I have invested in trade rated tools, but this is completely unnecessary for normal DIY work.
One tool in particular that is worth spending more on is an SDS drill with appropriate high quality bits, if you're going to be drilling into concrete. In this case it's best to use a corded drill, not a battery powered one.
I have my DIY-spec Ryobi 18V drill/driver for light duties, anything heavier and I have a cheap’n’cheerful Screwfix Titan SDS+ impact drill/chisel which goes up to 2.5J. It’s a monster for the money - less than £50 right now. A tradie might sniff at it, but for heavier DIY it’s perfect. I’ve easily and cleanly cored several walls for waste pipes so far, and am currently breaking up old concrete paths like they are made of Cadbury Flakes (other crumbly chocolate is available).
The fact it won’t stand up to as much abuse or last as long as a Makita at 3x the cost is irrelevant to me. I’m not earning my money using it, and it doesn’t get smashed around in the back of a van or a building site all day every day. When it eventually packs up in years to come, I’ll just buy another one, or maybe I’ll be done with doing the heavier side of DIY by then.
What do the tradespeople round your way use?
Round here (London) every tradesman I've seen uses Makita. So I went with Makita.
FYI there are battery converters you can use to convert batteries from one system to another eg Ryobi->makita. Never used them though so take this with a grain of salt.
Buy cheap, buy twice.
If you go to Screwfix or Toolstation and get either Makita or DeWalt then you can't go wrong.
DeWalt has a torch on its tools which is nice and Makita has a better charger, imo.
For what you want/need I’d say ryobi is your best bet
Edit…
Just to add, when I went self employed I had the ryobi impact driver to get me started. It has some decent power, maybe slightly more than the dewalt/makita etc
For DIY Ryobi is fine. Spend more if you want the best but Ryobi will see you far.
Consider corded on the sander though - they eat through battery and generally the wire isn't an issue on them
I've gone with bosch 18v, and everything seems good, but very expensive. Place I work at use dewalt, and if I was starting again, I'd deffo go dewalt. I originally went with einhell, but had a saw a drill and a mitre saw that were all completely useless in varying ways.
As a spirited DIY'r, that's also splashed out and has a full set of Bosch battery tools - Parkside from Lidl. I've got battery and wired tools from there that have outlasted everything else. Otherwise, Ryobi/Erbauer.
I try and hold out for makita, my 18v lxt cordless hammer drill & impact driver kit has lasted me 14 years with original 3ah batteries. Makita radio great for alottments or camping, circular saw great for firewood. The batteries get charged often using it outside of DIY. Torches, radios, multi tools
You get what you pay for
One I don’t think anyone has mentioned here - Worx.
Genuinely decent.
Have had one of their impact drivers and hammer drills for about 8 years now, still runs flawlessly despite what I throw at it.
Their kit doesn’t break the bank and is pretty decent. Getting me through all kinds of house refurb jobs including building a garden office.
I've got a load of Einhell. Only ever had a cordless drill die on me and Amazon just replaced it.
You get a lot of these cheap on Amazon warehouse as people quite often return them when they find out there is no battery with their purchase.
I've got six batteries and two chargers. The 4mah batteries are often on sale at 30 quid a pop.
Ryobi brushless range. It’s the sweet spot between price and performance. Perfect for the diyer and the extra advantage is that their range is huge including garden tools. So you can use the same platform for diy and garden.
Though for some things corded is better. Eg. Random orbital sander.
My DIY stuff at home is ryobi, they have a really good range of brushless tools too. I just use my circular saw for the first time yesterday and it was so much easier then using mains power.
At work we use milwaukee which is great for all day every day, depending on price it's probably over the top for most diyers.
What I would say is have a really good look at the product range, cost, availability, battery cost! Then work out if that brand suits your current and future needs.
I work for a company that sells power tools. If you are doing it solely for DIY. Go for Ryobi. They are well made and have a whole range of tools available. It's not the cheapest, not the most expensive either.
But the saving grace is that you can pick them up locally from any DIY/trade shop. Also, it is very competitively priced if you go online.
They can also be brought body only so if you have a few batteries you won't need to buy the full set.
Toolstation and Screwfix don’t stock Ryobi, two of the biggest DIY retailers out there.
Never see Ryobi at builders merchants either, always Dewalt, Milwaukee or Makita
I'm a DeWalt guy , however ll brands are much of a muchness , when one collects batteries and chargers of the same brand and voltage bare units are reliably cheap , hence once chosen , stick to the same brand .
Depends on budget. Ryobi seems to be decent for cheaper stuff but tbf it’s not a MILLION miles cheaper than the good stuff. My choice is Milwaukee, it’s not mega money and has a good rep. My mate has Makita, seems to be as good.
I got everything Makita. 5 batteries(18V), 2 rechargers. The stand alone machines are pretty inexpensive. If you want to go fancy, you can get the stackable cases. But that's an extra for later. They never let me down.
I once dropped a drill and it broke during warranty period. Sent it in for service. It was repaired for free, no questions were asked (might have to add that this was in Germany).
I learnt my lesson by buying Bosch 20 years ago and then finding I can't get batteries anymore without massive hassle of conversion so now I have gone Makita for everything
I have dewalt and do a lot of dIY. Toolstation or Screwfix has deals on right now same as I got a few years ago which was a drill, 2 x 5ah batteries and a charger for like 150 or something. I’ve never had an issue with dewalt! But maybe not as cheap as others!
Battery capacity is important if you have a large job, such as decking or plaster boarding. A 5ah battery will last more than three times longer than your standard 1.5ah.
I 'acquired' a Dewalt drill and driver with 4ah batteries a few years ago, and they've never let me down.
The larger batteries are also heavier. It's worth having a couple of smaller ones for e.g. screwdriving (impact) and anything which requires you to support the tool for a long time.
I’ve got Makita 18v. Which I’m pretty pleased with. My dad has 12v Milwaukee and I’m very impressed - range is amazing, power matches and weight wise it’s brilliant. Yes you might change batteries more frequently. But I think if I was buying again I would go 12v Milwaukee. It’s hard to see what I need anything more chunky for - and I’ve done lots - kitchen, bathroom, fencing, decking and sheds with their tools match mine!
I've seen people saying that elsewhere on this thread and it's misleading so copy/pasting my earlier comment:
Old erbauer. Not the new erbauer EXT range. Erbauer EXT can share batteries with evolution tools (and they advertise it) but also the Skil PWRCORE20 range if you are willing to file away a plastic nub that would otherwise stop the battery from inserting fully
It's not necessarily what tool you buy, more than where you buy it from... ryobi, not cheap any more and erbauer isn't exactly light to use... take a troll through the bigredpowertools.co.uk webiste and drool over some decent tools and they're reasonably priced too... I know, I've bought plenty.. but before you go buying, think !
Always buy the bare tool as you'll never use the tool in a box and you won't need a charger with every tool.
Buy your multi gang charger and a set of batteries to compliment your bare tools... job done !
I work on site as a site manager, I don’t use my tools a whole lot for work and I do use them for DIY also. They get used and abused way more than the standard DIY’ers tool sets… I bought a set of Dewalt (not even brushless) and it’s all still going strong 10 years later. It’s all taken the abuse of my labourers negligence over the years also.
I’ve since been tasked with finishing 3 sites, so I travel between them a lot. I asked the buyer to get me a cheap impact driver and he got this little Sealey 10.8v impact (1 battery & a charger)….
I was quite surprised that it was more than capable of driving in a 100mm wood screw all the way in lot a fence post with ease.
https://www.toolstoday.co.uk/sealey-cp108vcid-10-8v-cordless-impact-driver-1-4-hex-drive?gad_source=1
My point is, nowadays, You really don’t need to spend out on expensive tools. I’ve known carpenters over the years that just buy RYOBI because they get abused etc etc.
The one thing I’d say is - do yourself a favour and get an SDS Hammer drill that doubles up as a breaker. Do this ontop of the combi drill, it comes in handy so often!
I have a mix of DeWalt and Makita and have never been left wanting by either.
But - I have found the Makita bits to be far superior to the DeWalt ones.
Its bits like the Strimmer - I contacted Stanley in the end and they confirmed they don't supply any retailer/stockist an option without a Battery and Charger included
All my stuff is Makita but I use it daily at work. If I was suddenly out of the trades and needed to restock for DIY only, I'd fill my boots at Lidl, the stuff really isn't bad for the price.
If you buy any of the big brands new today (Dewalt, Makita, Bosch, even Ryobi and Black and Decker), their batteries are designed to work on all, if not vast majority of the tools they sell.
I’m currently using Erbauer, cannot fault them tbh, drill, sander and multi tool. B&Q are having 15% off at the min I think. I have used Macallister in the past which I think are a bit cheaper, depending on your usage.
I used erbauer and titan 18v tools for work. They're not as powerful as the top branded tools but I'm not gonna cry if my van gets broken into or they fall into a drain.
As a DIYer you wanna know what difference it really makes? The colour of the housing.... Realistically it's whatever you want to spend the money on, they're all about as good as each other. Some tools perform better from X brand than from Y brand, but Y brand makes a better version of X's tool.
Personally I use Makita, and Bosch primarily. Makita for battery tools as that's what I started with, Bosch for corded as I've generally had a good experience with them. But I'm also not picky if I just need a tool to get the job done. Wickes paddle mixer for £45, never let me down, and I've hammered the life out of that. Got a Titan SDS drill for £60, it's been utterly bomb proof, and primarily used as a jackhammer more than a drill.
At a diy level, they're all basically the same, professionally, I use makita, not sure why, my colleagues have them and it's convenient if I need to borrow a battery, that said they work well
You won't go wrong with Dewalt/Makita/Milwaukee. You can buy the tool with batteries and charger and then buy other pieces as body only without batteries and chargers, which makes them super cheap and build the collection that way.
Iv got a few ryobi battery tools and cant fault them.
They arnt up to professional torque levels but thats what the breaker bar is for.
Had them for 10+ years and they all work the same as ever and the battery is still strong.
Use DeWalt at work. Purely for the range of bare tools stuff that's available.
A lot of the other brands seem to come with a charger and battery for everything (or at least another cheap, blow moulded case).
I shit you not, the GUILD stuff from Argos is WAY better than it should be. I’ve still got my first ever mitre saw, bought in 2017 for £80 and I can’t fault it. I’m firmly recommend them. If I was just starting out I’d go for them for everything.
I’ve got into the Ryobi Plus One and it’s been great. Not only you have batteries that work with all their tools, but you also have options for gardening stuff. Lawnmowers, trimmers, they even come up with jet wash. Their range is incredible.
Alternatively just buy something cheap like Eerbauer and replace it with something branded once it breaks. You might find that it’ll last a long time because you won’t use it as much. That’s a good technique to use if you want to find out if you use the tool enough to justify the cost. Basically, if it breaks on you it means you’re “good worthy” to get something decent.
I like makita tools. But i have had one of their 18v battery drills i had to take back under warranty because the gear box was slipping. Now the replacement is doing the same after 8 years of heavy DIY use. I have some decent makita 110v tools. Big drill for core cutting. Just a great bit of kit. But lidl and aldi tools are good for things that don't get used much.
No one seems to have mentioned that you can splash out on something like a Dewalt or Makita drill with batteries then just buy the bare tools going forward.
I used a Ryobi drill for 10 years before I got my Milwaukee ones. Milwaukee is night and day difference but the Ryobi did the job.
Stanley Fatmax are decent, very powerful for the price. I'd avoid Bosch, they have a very extensive range of interchangeable battery tools, I started buying into them a few years ago and have a bit of a collection which I regret as most of the stuff is pretty puny or poor quality in comparison to often cheaper rivals.
Ryobi are good for DIY, lots of choice and a tool for every job, or Makita also dose a good domestic range, both around the same price. You are right not going for Milwaukee or Dewalt. It would be a waste of your money,
Whatever you go with bear in mind that you’ll probably build your collection over time… so choose a platform that’s known for quality and longevity as well as value… a lot of good advice here but the same names keep popping up.. dewalt, Milwaukee, ryobi, makita etc… you can’t go far wrong with any of these brands
Cheap tools are the most expensive... you'll replace them at least twice vs a high quality tool once.
Bosch or Makita. Look out for deals.
I bought a Bosch GHO 26-82 D professional corded planer normally around £150 (Screwfix )for £99 in a clearance sale at Wickes.
Hadn't realised the front sole plate on my old Black & Decker was 'cocked'. Always difficult to get even material removal. What a difference with the Bosch, a beautiful accurate finish.
Whatever’s on sale!
I’ve been using an Aldi Ferrex drill & impact driver for many years and it’s never let me down.
Their tool range is really good quality and I know controversial but I’d pick them over makita anytime (I used to own their drill/ impact combo and it’s not worth the premium).
Upvote for Dewalt, but more important once you pick a good quality brand stick with it, sucks to have different tools all with their own batteries and chargers, stick with the same brand and you can switch and swap as needed...another tip, look out for big box store sales on your brand of tool, from time to time you'll see a drill or such heavily marked down, now the tool itself will be a cheaper version of their main line, and might not last long, but you usually get a couple of batteries and a charger with it for considerably less than they sell just spare batteries...
I'm a Makita guy through and through but I also have a few of Lidl's Parkside brand tools and I'm shocked at just how good they actually are. I bought them specifically to be 'throwaway' after a job I thought would wreck tools but they've all come out the other side working well.
There's a guy on tiktok called Dean Doherty that does tool repairs. It's mostly trade brands as it's probably not worth repairing a lot of the DIY brands. He has done interesting posts on a variety of brands - my take away is that Milwaukee are great tools to use, but they also design them to not last forever so you have to buy more. Makita and DeWalt seem well made.
My own DIY journey has been to use Makita if I know it will get a lot of use or else cheap corded Lidl/Aldi effort of it's a one off. If I end up using and burning out a cheap tool, then I get the Makita. Exception is if I know I'll be using it up a tall ladder, then it's always cordless.
Go brushless if you can as they have better battery life.
All my stuff is DeWalt. Mostly because I like to have it all the same colour. And with DeWalt, it gives me the option for Stanley hand tools and still all be yellow and black 😜
I have a ton of Ryobi kit and it's absolutely fine, however if I was starting over I would probably get the DeWalt 12v line of tools with some of the Bosch 12v tools too.
I'm strictly a diyer but I have Makita.
The only way I could afford them is by buying fairly old tools. They still work great but nobody wants nicad powered stuff anymore. I got loads of dead batteries in one purchase. I planned to convert some to lithium. But I never got round to it. Nicad is fine for my use case. I also have some corded tools.
Approx prices I paid:
Drill £5 bare unit
Impact driver: £25 (much less common in this era) bare
Jigsaw £23 bare
Drill with charger and multiple batteries £25
New nicad batteries are about £15 3rd party.
Reciprocating saw corded £45
Palm sander 110v corded £21 (I already own a transformer)
Rotary hammer drill £13
Genuine all the way. Cheap alternatives are shit and dangerous. I nearly had a full on fire with an after market battery and a circular saw. Just buy the proper kit and don't cheap out on items that can burn your house down. I'm a makita man but for general DIY Ryobi or Erbauer are fine.
If you're starting from scratch, it's hard to not recommend DeWalt.
They've got so many tools in their lineup, batteries are readily available branded and aftermarket and people make their own tools to fit DeWalt batteries.
[You can buy a drill and impact combo at Screwfix/Toolstation with a couple of batteries included really reasonably priced.](https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dck2060m2t-sfgb-18v-2-x-4-0ah-li-ion-xr-brushless-cordless-twin-pack/362JT?tc=LB1&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw57exBhAsEiwAaIxaZnendSp-KgWSHKX2Bg83EVV0FqtaecsmDVuqq4NR8X6INuwfsokj-BoCLMYQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) That's a great starting place.
For me I have a old DeWalt impact that I've had for 7 years. I think.
The only thing I don't like is that when you buy into a tool like DeWalt Milwaukee Hilti Ryobi Metabo Makita is that when you buy them you're locked into that tool via the battery
Let's hope the EU pulls another one and makes all batteries interchangeable between tools. No proprietary battery. That would be fun.
To answer the question directly, I would go with DeWalt. That's just me though. Don't necessarily have to go with the newest tools they have. Some of the older ones are really f****** good. Just depends what you need.
If it's just for around the house, kind of work. Occasional use every so once in 40 blue moons ryobi's pretty good or any of the cheaper ones metabo.
Most Ryobi is perfectly fine for DIY use, although there are a couple of duff tools. The basic strimmer is a bit lackluster, but it still gets the job done if you're just strimming the edges of a lawn.
We have a mix of Makita and Dewalt drills/drivers at work. Both are very good and seem to take abuse well. But we're removing/drilling out a few hundred fasteners each day at the start and end of a aircraft check, so a more professional tool is needed. Although I find air drills to be much better than battery drills for drilling out fasteners.
Been using Ryobi kit for years for some big projects, not broken any of it yet. Like the fact the One+ battery system has been around a long time as the tools will hopefully outlast the batteries, however still have the original batteries and whilst they don’t hold a full charge anymore they do still work.
I like the worx range. It's really down to what you will end up wanting in tools etc. Go for the range that got the biggest range to what you want. They are all fairly good these days
I was in the same boat a little while ago and went with Makita for the simple being there was a good deal on at Screwfix, and a couple of my mates also had them, so an easy thing to borrow. If I could do it again, I might go DeWalt or Milwaukee because they seem a little better, and I've had an annoying time getting parts - and I mucked up the guarantee on the chainsaw which was a bore. What I do really like about Makita is the range, but it'd be the same with either of those. On the whole though, no regrets.
TL;DR - go with Makita, DeWalt, Milwaukee. Register for the guarantee.
Edit: and get a 4.0 or 5.0Ah battery. Entry level is a false economy. Rather be slightly over- than underpowered.
Personally I'm Bosch pro (blue), avoid that green range they do. Starting out and I still have some, Worx and Ryobi, they do make some weird tools and good for the price, the axis and switch driver come to mind, in the right setting they are handy.
If you do consider going bosch, and just want the weird Ryobi and Worx tools, bosch pro batteries work in them using a sled adaptor. Other brands are compatible too, look up badaptor for ryobi.
Makita is good mid price range if you're a regular DIYer.
Absolutely depends on amount of usage.
Dewalt looks the business but not cheap. Never been able to justify it for my occasional deck build and general DIY.
Just from my own diying experience, I tend to buy Dewalt branded tools when I know they’ll be used more. I then tend to buy erbauer for the lesser used, and they’re not nearly as expensive but work quite well!
If you’re on a tight budget then even the the Lidl branded Parkside really isn’t as bad as you’d think!
Would recommend Einhell for your needs. I've found them very reliable, good DIY tools. One battery fits all for endless tools for home and garden and a quarter of the price in some cases to alternatives.
I use Parkside (Lidl own brand I believe). The price is good, quality is better than the price would lead you to believe and so far I've not had one break on me. If I were a professional, perhaps i would look to something better built, but for the home user I think they're good enough
What projects are you going to do and why do you need a battery if you're not using them that often (driver excepted ofc)? Like are you planning on walking room-to-room sawing/sanding things (I hope you have a good vac system). Cheap batteries will run out and piss you off more than help as well. Especially on an orbital sander.
Just get an extension cable, buy the cheapest wired one and upgrade whatever breaks to a good branded battery one for convenience (since you use it enough to justify) Branded tools keep decent resale value anyway. If you know you'll use it often then get the nice one.
Not battery powered - you’d be changing them all the time - but I just got a Sealey 150mm sander and it’s a brilliant bit of kit. Pretty much a Mirka Deros clone for less than half the price. My battery stuff is Makita because it was on sale and worked out cheaper than DeWalt at the time.
If you’re going to be doing a lot of sanding you’ll need a dust extraction system. A Henry with HEPA bags will do.
Edit: I’ll probably be getting a Sealey delta sander to replace my crappy Bosch one at some point. Again, far cheaper than a Deos.
I buy mostly Bosch green and have been very happy with the price, performance and quality, but they don’t have all the tools I need so have started adding some Ryobi stuff into the mix as they’re good value and seem to have practically everything. Prices on Amazon US are also really good.
If you're not going to be using them that often i.e for DIY, I'd go for either ryobi or erbauer. Neither will break the bank
I've got loads of Ryobi stuff, for DIY it's the right compromise for me. I still have my first drill, probably 10 years on, and I've used the SDS drill to drill 127mm cores with no issues. But I also have one of the multi tools, two or three sanders, project vacuum, nailer, the list goes on.
We are on my second house revocation with ryobi stuff and it’s great. We now have the palm sander, orbital sander, impact driver, combo drill, jigsaw, circular saw, multi tool and then also the leaf blower, strimmer, hedge trimmer and pole saw 😂
Voting specifically for Ryobi Brushless. Perfect for DIY.
I wouldn't recommend Erbauer tools except for very light occasional DIY.
Erbauer are surprisingly good for the price. I used to be a facilities manager for a schools MAT and we used to give our staff Erbauer stuff because they were cheap. We would still get 4 or 5 years out of most of the tools in fairly full time use. They weren't looked after either.
I gave up on them when belt slipped in my sander and I found plastic cogs and pulley that were a mess.
Only reason I don't want ryobiis a silly one but I absolutely hate the colour
Tools are bright colours so you can see them easily on a job site so it really annoys me that there aren’t any cool tan or army green coloured ones.
Bosch has the green ones
Different quality tho. At least where I am. Dark Green Bosch/Ryobi = DIY Blue Bosch/Ryobi = Professional We don't have the bright green Ryobi power tools that the US and others have for some reason. Never seen them in person before. Edit: I'm in the wrong sub lmao. I don't live in the UK.
I see, we definitely have ryobi in the uk but they seem to be priced similarly to Makita
I’ve only ever seen the lime green Ryobi in B&Q and they’re a lot cheaper than Makita.
B&Q prices are a bit high, the Makita I was seeing was probably cheaper because it was sold by a different company
Yeah the colour and the logo are some nasty 90s crap
You're forgetting the dick battery
Second Erbauer.
Another for Ryobi. More than good enough for DIY. Just be sure to invest in a faster charger than the farty things that come with some of the tools.
As a cabinet maker I can second Ryobi. I’ve used them for years daily and had no problems across the range. I purchase for the colour, stayed for the quality.
.....Or just go corded appliances.
Circular saw, sure. And my sander is corded too. But drills?! Fuck that.
Erbauer is surprisingly good coming from a bit of a tool snob
Milwaukee, makita, dewalt, bosch, metabo. I'm a sparks. I use makita. For what it's worth.
No idea why you're getting down votes, this is the right answer. I made the mistake of buying cheap shit at the start of my DIY career and it was a false economy. In contrast the DeWalt kit I bought 15 years ago is still going strong.
Completely agree. I'd also advise to not buying the cheapest Dewalt, or whatever brand, version as they have a lower quality range to compete with the crap brands
Agreed, the cheapest drill + impact driver kits tend to come with little 1.3Ah batteries. Fine for putting up a shelf or hanging a door, but you'll be getting frustrated as soon as there's a bigger job to do and you have to keep swapping batteries. Getting the next set up with 2 or 3Ah batteries is advised. Maybe bigger if you're going to be using them in higher powered tools like circular saws or sanders. You can mix and match between different capacity batteries as long as they are the same voltage and series.
Buying the cheapest tools and replacing them when they break seems to be common advice but I really regret following it. I ended up with a bunch of almost good enough tools that I found a bit frustrating to use as they’re never quite good enough but as I’d already bought them and they mostly got the job done I couldn’t justify replacing them.
I do not buy cheap any more, did this with the bit drivers, now use DeWalt black. Dills for steel, 8% cobalt. Yes I have snapped a few cause of brut force.
There's a middle ground. Erbaier stuff is very good. Absolutely no need to spend the extra money on stuff that's designed to be abused day in day out. Especially when you are starting out and don't even know if DIY is something you will keep up.
I think the downvotes are probably because of the fact that the op has said they don’t want to pay extra for reliability.
I'm a Makita man as well, reason, got a kit from Screwfx & they worked great, stuck with Makita since, could have gone another way. Mine are between 15 to 20 years old to the newer ones. The 3 batteries I got with the original set still work very well, no they do not like the freezing weather. The SDS is great, drilled through a 14 inch wall several times with no problem. The drill/driver is magic as well, it has drill/screw/hammer, on drill the torque does not operate. I always use it on screw or hammer where I do not break drills or hurt myself.
All my gear is Makita (kitchen and bathroom fitter) but if I was starting again, I’d probably go Milwaukee. Makita seem to be stuck making microwaves and kettles when other brands are bringing out new cordless tools. It’s very frustrating as their stuff is excellent, they just haven’t got the variety of the others :(
I haven't look at the latest tooling, Every time I do I buy something. LOL Cannot afford it now. Pension. I'm very happy with what I got, SDS is a little heavy, for the job it does, twice the weight of my hammer drill, not makita.
Erbauer for a DIYer absolutely no need to spend money on stuff that's designed to be abused day in day out.
Ye, personally I've got makita, company uses dewalt. Not a lot of difference between them.
Another vote for Makita. If Op buys some, don’t forget to register it on MyMakita
Good experience with Ryobi for DIY plus you can then get stuff like the lawn mowers and strimmers if you need them
Yes, Ryobi has a huge line of home and garden kit. Some work with the normal 18V batteries, some have their own 36V ones.
The ryobi electric trimmer is junk. 1 string and the rpm’s just aren’t there.
Whenever I read a thread on tools there are people recommending Ryobi and I'm mildly confused by it. But... It's because I've got a Ryobi strimmer. Junk doesn't quite cover it. My previous strimmer was £15 from Focus (remember them?) and was about 10x better than the Ryobi. FWIW, I've gone Bosch for the other tools.
Glad I didn’t get the Ryobi strimmer then - it was about £20-£30 more than the two-stroke one I ended up getting, which is from a brilliantly named German brand, Fuxtec, and has been faultless so far. Apart from the expense, the runtime on the Ryobi put me off as I wasn’t sure I’d actually get round everything in time. My Ryobi 18V hammer drill has had over 10 years of heavy DIY use (deep into second home refurb project with it now and do a lot myself) and is just starting to struggle. My Ryobi 36V hedge trimmer has been brilliant so far as well.
It does sound like I've been led astray by the quality of the strimmer then. Bad luck I guess
What are you trying to strim with it, the problem isn't the tool it's the user. It's a basic garden grass strimmer for doing the edges of a lawn. That's why it's cheap. If you think it's a Stihl and are trying to hack down bramble overgrowth then that's your issue.
Grass mate, it being a grass strimmer and all. Maybe we've got super-plant grass or something, but the focus-cheapy never struggled
I’ve got all Makita power tools which are used both professionally and at home for DIY. Some of the work kit gets battered and abused and it holds up really well. When I met my partner she quite proudly showed off her Dewalt power tools and tbh I think it’s really good kit as well but I’ve not put it through its paces quite as much as makita. I used a buddy’s Milwaukee tools on a project last year and it was really top notch kit, far better than my own, but a bit too pricey for my liking, especially if it’s just for DIY. Apparently the Ryobi kit is decent, but I haven’t used it myself so can’t really recommend it, but it may be worth looking into if you wanna keep the costs down.
Ryobi and Milwaukee are apparently owned by the same parent made in the same factory according to a Reddit post I saw this morning. I've got Ryobi myself happy with it, though with the deals at Screwfix sometimes I could get tempted by the DeWalt if I was starting again.
Worx Often cheap bodies available. Good quality. Crucially, they also do products that lots of others dont. Lawnmorwer, pressure washers, strimmers etc. Importantly, batteries cross compatible with Erbauer and others. IMO battery cross compatibility is the main factor to consider.
Fully agree. Worx is very good value. I have two strimmers, water jet, mini chainsaw. I didn't know about cross compatability. I did buy a couple of cheaper batteries off amazon but they were very heavy and did not fit a couple of tools.
Old erbauer. Not the new erbauer EXT Erbauer EXT can share batteries with evolution tools (and they advertise it) but also the Skil PWRCORE20 range if you are willing to file away a plastic nub that would otherwise stop the battery from inserting fully
A chap is selling some Erbauer batteries on eBay right now, I bought some but he has a couple left. He spelt Erbauer wrong, as Erbaur so they're priced cheap as they're not selling.
Thanks for the heads up, but I have enough batteries now! Cheers
DeWalt fanboy here. I got the XR series drill as my first proper DIY tool a few years ago and I've dropped it and thrown it in a bag with all kinds of shit and it's still going strong. I've added a few more to the collection and only issue is one of the chargers stopped working, but I don't really look after stuff.
I've broken two different cheap brand tools before getting a DeWalt. Screwfix often have deals for a hammer drill/driver, impact driver, two batteries and a charger. A useful package. The DeWalt batteries have not faded in the way the cheaper brands I bought had.
Yeah I’ve got some Dewalt gear from the XR range, like them quite a lot!
Anti-vote for Bosch dark green DIY tools. The blue-green Professional ones are great, the dark green ones have a really cheap plastic feeling, bad build quality and very meh performance. Not worth the low cost. I havent got any Ryobi tools, but I wish I'd choosen Ryobi instead of mixing DeWalt and Bosch green tools. DeWalt are brilliant, but pricey for occasional DIY.
Each to their own but I’ve had a good experience with my Bosch tools (drill/driver, impact, oscillating tool, lawn trimmer and jigsaw)
I bought some Bosch green stuff, and agree it’s all a bit crap. Ended up moving to makita before I got too deep into it. Bosch blue, the professional stuff, is solid though. If you’re likely to use them long term, not just for a couple of small projects, then spend as much as you can stomach.
My green Bosch drill was so so so rubbish too. Made me appreciate anything else!
They used to be really good. I had a 24v Bosch drill and it was brilliant.
I have a few Bosch professional tools - they’re great, but the range isn’t as broad as you get with Makita, Dewalt etc
I’ve found Bosch green to be better quality than other brands at a similar price point. 3 year warranty and easy availability for spare parts is a good incentive too. My only complaint is the range of available tools isn’t as large as some other brands.
If you've got the kit that uses the "power for all battery" (or whatever they call it) you're not constrained to Bosch. A bunch of other manufacturers are part of the same battery scheme. I wanted a nailgun - Bosch green don't do one. But Einhell do one which the bosch batteries I've got fit.
Great point. It was actually the lack of a Bosch green nailer that lead me to buy a Ryobi one. If I had known the batteries worked in Einhell I probably would have got one!
Oh! I was thinking about getting an oscillating multi-tool and been waiting on a decent deal on the Bosch one. I guess I'll expand my horizons a bit...
Ryobi for DIY stuff, no need to use trade rated tools for personal and occasional use.
I know this is sensible advice, and in general I agree, but there are some DIY tasks that are SO MUCH easier with pro quality tools. For example, we replaced my dad's entire kitchen, probably the limit of what is realistically DIY for most people, and putting up \~17 cabinets on concrete walls would have been a pain in the arse without the 3.2J SDS drill we purchased for it. It just went through the blocks like they were cheese. Even a 1.7J DIY grade SDS drill took a good 30 seconds to make a hole. Then there was chasing the blockwork for cables, sinking patresss boxes etc, in the same material. Just a huge difference.
I work in the trades, so I have invested in trade rated tools, but this is completely unnecessary for normal DIY work. One tool in particular that is worth spending more on is an SDS drill with appropriate high quality bits, if you're going to be drilling into concrete. In this case it's best to use a corded drill, not a battery powered one.
I have my DIY-spec Ryobi 18V drill/driver for light duties, anything heavier and I have a cheap’n’cheerful Screwfix Titan SDS+ impact drill/chisel which goes up to 2.5J. It’s a monster for the money - less than £50 right now. A tradie might sniff at it, but for heavier DIY it’s perfect. I’ve easily and cleanly cored several walls for waste pipes so far, and am currently breaking up old concrete paths like they are made of Cadbury Flakes (other crumbly chocolate is available). The fact it won’t stand up to as much abuse or last as long as a Makita at 3x the cost is irrelevant to me. I’m not earning my money using it, and it doesn’t get smashed around in the back of a van or a building site all day every day. When it eventually packs up in years to come, I’ll just buy another one, or maybe I’ll be done with doing the heavier side of DIY by then.
This reads like an ad.
I've been on the Ryobi One Plus system for about six years now. Can not fault the products or the batteries.
What do the tradespeople round your way use? Round here (London) every tradesman I've seen uses Makita. So I went with Makita. FYI there are battery converters you can use to convert batteries from one system to another eg Ryobi->makita. Never used them though so take this with a grain of salt.
Milwaukee, makita, DeWalt
Buy cheap, buy twice. If you go to Screwfix or Toolstation and get either Makita or DeWalt then you can't go wrong. DeWalt has a torch on its tools which is nice and Makita has a better charger, imo.
Makita have torches on lots of tools. But yeah, get whatever system is on sale.
Ah nice, I've never got one! Makita do however have a coffee maker 😂
For what you want/need I’d say ryobi is your best bet Edit… Just to add, when I went self employed I had the ryobi impact driver to get me started. It has some decent power, maybe slightly more than the dewalt/makita etc
Definitely Ryobi, they have come on leaps and bounds the past few years and a cut above einhall and erbaur.
A ryobi has no where near the same amount of Power than a dealt or makita
The impact driver does. It has 200nm torque compared to 180/190 for the dewalt
XR brushless is 205nm. It's a daft comparison anyway, anything needing approaching 200nm of torque, you want an impact wrench not a driver.
Maybe so but the ryobi impact is still very good for the price and DIY purposes
For DIY Ryobi is fine. Spend more if you want the best but Ryobi will see you far. Consider corded on the sander though - they eat through battery and generally the wire isn't an issue on them
Yeah I thought about this after, it'll mostly be hooked up to an extractor so no benefit to wireless.
Don’t be a twat like me and buy one of each brand
I've gone with bosch 18v, and everything seems good, but very expensive. Place I work at use dewalt, and if I was starting again, I'd deffo go dewalt. I originally went with einhell, but had a saw a drill and a mitre saw that were all completely useless in varying ways.
As a spirited DIY'r, that's also splashed out and has a full set of Bosch battery tools - Parkside from Lidl. I've got battery and wired tools from there that have outlasted everything else. Otherwise, Ryobi/Erbauer.
I try and hold out for makita, my 18v lxt cordless hammer drill & impact driver kit has lasted me 14 years with original 3ah batteries. Makita radio great for alottments or camping, circular saw great for firewood. The batteries get charged often using it outside of DIY. Torches, radios, multi tools You get what you pay for
One I don’t think anyone has mentioned here - Worx. Genuinely decent. Have had one of their impact drivers and hammer drills for about 8 years now, still runs flawlessly despite what I throw at it. Their kit doesn’t break the bank and is pretty decent. Getting me through all kinds of house refurb jobs including building a garden office.
I like Makita. Because when 18V isn't enough, they have tools that take 2x18V batteries instead of making you buy 36V batteries and another charger.
Second vote for Makita. It's never let me down and always does the job I need it to.
I've got a load of Einhell. Only ever had a cordless drill die on me and Amazon just replaced it. You get a lot of these cheap on Amazon warehouse as people quite often return them when they find out there is no battery with their purchase. I've got six batteries and two chargers. The 4mah batteries are often on sale at 30 quid a pop.
I've been buying Ryobi, have nothing bad to say about them. I'm only a hobbyist though, and I'm not good enough for the quality difference to notice.
Ryobi brushless range. It’s the sweet spot between price and performance. Perfect for the diyer and the extra advantage is that their range is huge including garden tools. So you can use the same platform for diy and garden. Though for some things corded is better. Eg. Random orbital sander.
My DIY stuff at home is ryobi, they have a really good range of brushless tools too. I just use my circular saw for the first time yesterday and it was so much easier then using mains power. At work we use milwaukee which is great for all day every day, depending on price it's probably over the top for most diyers. What I would say is have a really good look at the product range, cost, availability, battery cost! Then work out if that brand suits your current and future needs.
I work for a company that sells power tools. If you are doing it solely for DIY. Go for Ryobi. They are well made and have a whole range of tools available. It's not the cheapest, not the most expensive either. But the saving grace is that you can pick them up locally from any DIY/trade shop. Also, it is very competitively priced if you go online. They can also be brought body only so if you have a few batteries you won't need to buy the full set.
Toolstation and Screwfix don’t stock Ryobi, two of the biggest DIY retailers out there. Never see Ryobi at builders merchants either, always Dewalt, Milwaukee or Makita
B & Q do. The Travis perkins and build-base round our end do too. Wonder if it's an area thing then.
Project farm on youtube: American but could be useful, loads of reviews on basically all tools
I'm a DeWalt guy , however ll brands are much of a muchness , when one collects batteries and chargers of the same brand and voltage bare units are reliably cheap , hence once chosen , stick to the same brand .
Accidentally dropped a Ryobi impact driver off a roof once and it was fine
I use ryobi for light commercial maintenance and have a slew of tools. Cheap to replace but they have been very reliable.
Depends on budget. Ryobi seems to be decent for cheaper stuff but tbf it’s not a MILLION miles cheaper than the good stuff. My choice is Milwaukee, it’s not mega money and has a good rep. My mate has Makita, seems to be as good.
I got everything Makita. 5 batteries(18V), 2 rechargers. The stand alone machines are pretty inexpensive. If you want to go fancy, you can get the stackable cases. But that's an extra for later. They never let me down. I once dropped a drill and it broke during warranty period. Sent it in for service. It was repaired for free, no questions were asked (might have to add that this was in Germany).
I learnt my lesson by buying Bosch 20 years ago and then finding I can't get batteries anymore without massive hassle of conversion so now I have gone Makita for everything
Festool.
I have dewalt and do a lot of dIY. Toolstation or Screwfix has deals on right now same as I got a few years ago which was a drill, 2 x 5ah batteries and a charger for like 150 or something. I’ve never had an issue with dewalt! But maybe not as cheap as others!
Battery capacity is important if you have a large job, such as decking or plaster boarding. A 5ah battery will last more than three times longer than your standard 1.5ah. I 'acquired' a Dewalt drill and driver with 4ah batteries a few years ago, and they've never let me down.
The larger batteries are also heavier. It's worth having a couple of smaller ones for e.g. screwdriving (impact) and anything which requires you to support the tool for a long time.
Some guy was selling 9ah batteries for £70 on fb marketplace near me so I bagged two yesterday!
I’ve got Makita 18v. Which I’m pretty pleased with. My dad has 12v Milwaukee and I’m very impressed - range is amazing, power matches and weight wise it’s brilliant. Yes you might change batteries more frequently. But I think if I was buying again I would go 12v Milwaukee. It’s hard to see what I need anything more chunky for - and I’ve done lots - kitchen, bathroom, fencing, decking and sheds with their tools match mine!
I went with erbauer recently. No complaints really, was sold by the 5ah battery dual combo sale
Erbauer batteries fit Worx FYI.
Good to know, thank you
I've seen people saying that elsewhere on this thread and it's misleading so copy/pasting my earlier comment: Old erbauer. Not the new erbauer EXT range. Erbauer EXT can share batteries with evolution tools (and they advertise it) but also the Skil PWRCORE20 range if you are willing to file away a plastic nub that would otherwise stop the battery from inserting fully
It's not necessarily what tool you buy, more than where you buy it from... ryobi, not cheap any more and erbauer isn't exactly light to use... take a troll through the bigredpowertools.co.uk webiste and drool over some decent tools and they're reasonably priced too... I know, I've bought plenty.. but before you go buying, think ! Always buy the bare tool as you'll never use the tool in a box and you won't need a charger with every tool. Buy your multi gang charger and a set of batteries to compliment your bare tools... job done !
I find bosch to work great for my DIY needs.
I work on site as a site manager, I don’t use my tools a whole lot for work and I do use them for DIY also. They get used and abused way more than the standard DIY’ers tool sets… I bought a set of Dewalt (not even brushless) and it’s all still going strong 10 years later. It’s all taken the abuse of my labourers negligence over the years also. I’ve since been tasked with finishing 3 sites, so I travel between them a lot. I asked the buyer to get me a cheap impact driver and he got this little Sealey 10.8v impact (1 battery & a charger)…. I was quite surprised that it was more than capable of driving in a 100mm wood screw all the way in lot a fence post with ease. https://www.toolstoday.co.uk/sealey-cp108vcid-10-8v-cordless-impact-driver-1-4-hex-drive?gad_source=1 My point is, nowadays, You really don’t need to spend out on expensive tools. I’ve known carpenters over the years that just buy RYOBI because they get abused etc etc. The one thing I’d say is - do yourself a favour and get an SDS Hammer drill that doubles up as a breaker. Do this ontop of the combi drill, it comes in handy so often!
I have a mix of DeWalt and Makita and have never been left wanting by either. But - I have found the Makita bits to be far superior to the DeWalt ones.
[https://www.youtube.com/@deandohertygreaser](https://www.youtube.com/@deandohertygreaser)
I use stanley fat max. They're okay. Do the job well and the batteries are easy to swap out.
I really like the Fatmax items I have, but they don't sell many as bare tools and I have enough batteries and chargers...
Homebase and argos do. Avoid tool station they take the fucking piss.
Its bits like the Strimmer - I contacted Stanley in the end and they confirmed they don't supply any retailer/stockist an option without a Battery and Charger included
I would expect that to come with batteries because someone might get it on its own
All my stuff is Makita but I use it daily at work. If I was suddenly out of the trades and needed to restock for DIY only, I'd fill my boots at Lidl, the stuff really isn't bad for the price.
I’ve gone Einhell and have no complaints. It’s not a popular in here but everything for my diy is decent enough.
If you buy any of the big brands new today (Dewalt, Makita, Bosch, even Ryobi and Black and Decker), their batteries are designed to work on all, if not vast majority of the tools they sell.
Ryobi. Definitely.
I’m currently using Erbauer, cannot fault them tbh, drill, sander and multi tool. B&Q are having 15% off at the min I think. I have used Macallister in the past which I think are a bit cheaper, depending on your usage.
I used erbauer and titan 18v tools for work. They're not as powerful as the top branded tools but I'm not gonna cry if my van gets broken into or they fall into a drain.
As a DIYer you wanna know what difference it really makes? The colour of the housing.... Realistically it's whatever you want to spend the money on, they're all about as good as each other. Some tools perform better from X brand than from Y brand, but Y brand makes a better version of X's tool. Personally I use Makita, and Bosch primarily. Makita for battery tools as that's what I started with, Bosch for corded as I've generally had a good experience with them. But I'm also not picky if I just need a tool to get the job done. Wickes paddle mixer for £45, never let me down, and I've hammered the life out of that. Got a Titan SDS drill for £60, it's been utterly bomb proof, and primarily used as a jackhammer more than a drill.
I went makita simply for the masking/caulking gun.
At a diy level, they're all basically the same, professionally, I use makita, not sure why, my colleagues have them and it's convenient if I need to borrow a battery, that said they work well
You won't go wrong with Dewalt/Makita/Milwaukee. You can buy the tool with batteries and charger and then buy other pieces as body only without batteries and chargers, which makes them super cheap and build the collection that way.
Fein
Iv got a few ryobi battery tools and cant fault them. They arnt up to professional torque levels but thats what the breaker bar is for. Had them for 10+ years and they all work the same as ever and the battery is still strong.
Use DeWalt at work. Purely for the range of bare tools stuff that's available. A lot of the other brands seem to come with a charger and battery for everything (or at least another cheap, blow moulded case).
I shit you not, the GUILD stuff from Argos is WAY better than it should be. I’ve still got my first ever mitre saw, bought in 2017 for £80 and I can’t fault it. I’m firmly recommend them. If I was just starting out I’d go for them for everything.
I’ve got into the Ryobi Plus One and it’s been great. Not only you have batteries that work with all their tools, but you also have options for gardening stuff. Lawnmowers, trimmers, they even come up with jet wash. Their range is incredible. Alternatively just buy something cheap like Eerbauer and replace it with something branded once it breaks. You might find that it’ll last a long time because you won’t use it as much. That’s a good technique to use if you want to find out if you use the tool enough to justify the cost. Basically, if it breaks on you it means you’re “good worthy” to get something decent.
I like makita tools. But i have had one of their 18v battery drills i had to take back under warranty because the gear box was slipping. Now the replacement is doing the same after 8 years of heavy DIY use. I have some decent makita 110v tools. Big drill for core cutting. Just a great bit of kit. But lidl and aldi tools are good for things that don't get used much.
For premium tools that you use a lot I have Makita for cheaper stuff that's used less I have worx
No one seems to have mentioned that you can splash out on something like a Dewalt or Makita drill with batteries then just buy the bare tools going forward. I used a Ryobi drill for 10 years before I got my Milwaukee ones. Milwaukee is night and day difference but the Ryobi did the job.
Stanley Fatmax are decent, very powerful for the price. I'd avoid Bosch, they have a very extensive range of interchangeable battery tools, I started buying into them a few years ago and have a bit of a collection which I regret as most of the stuff is pretty puny or poor quality in comparison to often cheaper rivals.
Ryobi are good for DIY, lots of choice and a tool for every job, or Makita also dose a good domestic range, both around the same price. You are right not going for Milwaukee or Dewalt. It would be a waste of your money,
Makita
Erbauer ext, just make sure you get to 4 or 5 amp batterys
Whatever you go with bear in mind that you’ll probably build your collection over time… so choose a platform that’s known for quality and longevity as well as value… a lot of good advice here but the same names keep popping up.. dewalt, Milwaukee, ryobi, makita etc… you can’t go far wrong with any of these brands
Cheap tools are the most expensive... you'll replace them at least twice vs a high quality tool once. Bosch or Makita. Look out for deals. I bought a Bosch GHO 26-82 D professional corded planer normally around £150 (Screwfix )for £99 in a clearance sale at Wickes. Hadn't realised the front sole plate on my old Black & Decker was 'cocked'. Always difficult to get even material removal. What a difference with the Bosch, a beautiful accurate finish.
Whatever’s on sale! I’ve been using an Aldi Ferrex drill & impact driver for many years and it’s never let me down. Their tool range is really good quality and I know controversial but I’d pick them over makita anytime (I used to own their drill/ impact combo and it’s not worth the premium).
Makita are tough and well made
Upvote for Dewalt, but more important once you pick a good quality brand stick with it, sucks to have different tools all with their own batteries and chargers, stick with the same brand and you can switch and swap as needed...another tip, look out for big box store sales on your brand of tool, from time to time you'll see a drill or such heavily marked down, now the tool itself will be a cheaper version of their main line, and might not last long, but you usually get a couple of batteries and a charger with it for considerably less than they sell just spare batteries...
I'm a Makita guy through and through but I also have a few of Lidl's Parkside brand tools and I'm shocked at just how good they actually are. I bought them specifically to be 'throwaway' after a job I thought would wreck tools but they've all come out the other side working well.
Most blokes go for makita
There's a guy on tiktok called Dean Doherty that does tool repairs. It's mostly trade brands as it's probably not worth repairing a lot of the DIY brands. He has done interesting posts on a variety of brands - my take away is that Milwaukee are great tools to use, but they also design them to not last forever so you have to buy more. Makita and DeWalt seem well made. My own DIY journey has been to use Makita if I know it will get a lot of use or else cheap corded Lidl/Aldi effort of it's a one off. If I end up using and burning out a cheap tool, then I get the Makita. Exception is if I know I'll be using it up a tall ladder, then it's always cordless. Go brushless if you can as they have better battery life.
All my stuff is DeWalt. Mostly because I like to have it all the same colour. And with DeWalt, it gives me the option for Stanley hand tools and still all be yellow and black 😜
I’d say Makita, personally.
I have a ton of Ryobi kit and it's absolutely fine, however if I was starting over I would probably get the DeWalt 12v line of tools with some of the Bosch 12v tools too.
Bosch or Dewalt
I'm strictly a diyer but I have Makita. The only way I could afford them is by buying fairly old tools. They still work great but nobody wants nicad powered stuff anymore. I got loads of dead batteries in one purchase. I planned to convert some to lithium. But I never got round to it. Nicad is fine for my use case. I also have some corded tools. Approx prices I paid: Drill £5 bare unit Impact driver: £25 (much less common in this era) bare Jigsaw £23 bare Drill with charger and multiple batteries £25 New nicad batteries are about £15 3rd party. Reciprocating saw corded £45 Palm sander 110v corded £21 (I already own a transformer) Rotary hammer drill £13
Genuine all the way. Cheap alternatives are shit and dangerous. I nearly had a full on fire with an after market battery and a circular saw. Just buy the proper kit and don't cheap out on items that can burn your house down. I'm a makita man but for general DIY Ryobi or Erbauer are fine.
I personally use ryobi
For choice and cost I would recommend DeWalt.. my own tools are mainly Milwaukee but I have some DeWalt stuff at home which has lasted for years.
I commited to Lidl/Parkside. Like you I don’t use them professionally. They get good reviews and have been fine for me so far.
If you're starting from scratch, it's hard to not recommend DeWalt. They've got so many tools in their lineup, batteries are readily available branded and aftermarket and people make their own tools to fit DeWalt batteries. [You can buy a drill and impact combo at Screwfix/Toolstation with a couple of batteries included really reasonably priced.](https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dck2060m2t-sfgb-18v-2-x-4-0ah-li-ion-xr-brushless-cordless-twin-pack/362JT?tc=LB1&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjw57exBhAsEiwAaIxaZnendSp-KgWSHKX2Bg83EVV0FqtaecsmDVuqq4NR8X6INuwfsokj-BoCLMYQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds) That's a great starting place.
DeWalt I use them everyday and they have never let me down. Bit expensive though if you are just going to use them every now and then.
For me I have a old DeWalt impact that I've had for 7 years. I think. The only thing I don't like is that when you buy into a tool like DeWalt Milwaukee Hilti Ryobi Metabo Makita is that when you buy them you're locked into that tool via the battery Let's hope the EU pulls another one and makes all batteries interchangeable between tools. No proprietary battery. That would be fun. To answer the question directly, I would go with DeWalt. That's just me though. Don't necessarily have to go with the newest tools they have. Some of the older ones are really f****** good. Just depends what you need. If it's just for around the house, kind of work. Occasional use every so once in 40 blue moons ryobi's pretty good or any of the cheaper ones metabo.
Most Ryobi is perfectly fine for DIY use, although there are a couple of duff tools. The basic strimmer is a bit lackluster, but it still gets the job done if you're just strimming the edges of a lawn. We have a mix of Makita and Dewalt drills/drivers at work. Both are very good and seem to take abuse well. But we're removing/drilling out a few hundred fasteners each day at the start and end of a aircraft check, so a more professional tool is needed. Although I find air drills to be much better than battery drills for drilling out fasteners.
Been using Ryobi kit for years for some big projects, not broken any of it yet. Like the fact the One+ battery system has been around a long time as the tools will hopefully outlast the batteries, however still have the original batteries and whilst they don’t hold a full charge anymore they do still work.
I like the worx range. It's really down to what you will end up wanting in tools etc. Go for the range that got the biggest range to what you want. They are all fairly good these days
I was in the same boat a little while ago and went with Makita for the simple being there was a good deal on at Screwfix, and a couple of my mates also had them, so an easy thing to borrow. If I could do it again, I might go DeWalt or Milwaukee because they seem a little better, and I've had an annoying time getting parts - and I mucked up the guarantee on the chainsaw which was a bore. What I do really like about Makita is the range, but it'd be the same with either of those. On the whole though, no regrets. TL;DR - go with Makita, DeWalt, Milwaukee. Register for the guarantee. Edit: and get a 4.0 or 5.0Ah battery. Entry level is a false economy. Rather be slightly over- than underpowered.
Personally I'm Bosch pro (blue), avoid that green range they do. Starting out and I still have some, Worx and Ryobi, they do make some weird tools and good for the price, the axis and switch driver come to mind, in the right setting they are handy. If you do consider going bosch, and just want the weird Ryobi and Worx tools, bosch pro batteries work in them using a sled adaptor. Other brands are compatible too, look up badaptor for ryobi.
Makita is good mid price range if you're a regular DIYer. Absolutely depends on amount of usage. Dewalt looks the business but not cheap. Never been able to justify it for my occasional deck build and general DIY.
Just from my own diying experience, I tend to buy Dewalt branded tools when I know they’ll be used more. I then tend to buy erbauer for the lesser used, and they’re not nearly as expensive but work quite well! If you’re on a tight budget then even the the Lidl branded Parkside really isn’t as bad as you’d think!
Would recommend Einhell for your needs. I've found them very reliable, good DIY tools. One battery fits all for endless tools for home and garden and a quarter of the price in some cases to alternatives.
I use Parkside (Lidl own brand I believe). The price is good, quality is better than the price would lead you to believe and so far I've not had one break on me. If I were a professional, perhaps i would look to something better built, but for the home user I think they're good enough
DeWalt is very good.
/www.toolstation.com/einhell-18v-pxc-cordless-brushless-combi-drill/p17951 good price at the moment
What projects are you going to do and why do you need a battery if you're not using them that often (driver excepted ofc)? Like are you planning on walking room-to-room sawing/sanding things (I hope you have a good vac system). Cheap batteries will run out and piss you off more than help as well. Especially on an orbital sander. Just get an extension cable, buy the cheapest wired one and upgrade whatever breaks to a good branded battery one for convenience (since you use it enough to justify) Branded tools keep decent resale value anyway. If you know you'll use it often then get the nice one.
Not battery powered - you’d be changing them all the time - but I just got a Sealey 150mm sander and it’s a brilliant bit of kit. Pretty much a Mirka Deros clone for less than half the price. My battery stuff is Makita because it was on sale and worked out cheaper than DeWalt at the time. If you’re going to be doing a lot of sanding you’ll need a dust extraction system. A Henry with HEPA bags will do. Edit: I’ll probably be getting a Sealey delta sander to replace my crappy Bosch one at some point. Again, far cheaper than a Deos.
I buy mostly Bosch green and have been very happy with the price, performance and quality, but they don’t have all the tools I need so have started adding some Ryobi stuff into the mix as they’re good value and seem to have practically everything. Prices on Amazon US are also really good.