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Joined: Oct 2006
Posts: 745
E
Member
All of these manufacturer buyouts and mergers are giving me a headache. The bottom line is that you really can't trust the name brand as being a quality indicator anymore.

Same applies with electrical hardware, I mean think about Siemens, Square D, Cutler-Hammer, and Thomas & Betts. All fine brands in their own rights, but they have bought long-standing brand names and now they have, well let's say, diluted.

Whatever happened to ITE, Gould, Bryant, Westinghouse, Raco, Steel City, Efco, Halex, Bridgeport Fittings, Eagle, Red Dot, etc.? They got gobbled up.

Case in point: When did anyone ever question the level of quality of a Square D product? Right........Never. It was rock-solid equipment. Nowadays, you have to ask the question, "is it the Square D Home Line" or the original "Q" product. As the years go by, the separation between product lines becomes more dilluted.

Too bad. The names mentioned here were great products. Oh, well, I guess business is business.


---Ed---

"But the guy at Home Depot said it would work."
Joined: Jul 2006
Posts: 272
L
Member
Hey ITO, it's funny you mentioned only buying the cheap skill's as a theft deterrent. I remeber when Hilti came out with their 24v cordless hammerdrill, real nice. We had bought five of them, twice! After the second robbery of our gang-box. We just went back to the old beat up 'corded' hammerdrills. No one ever tried to steal them.

I can't remeber how much those cordless Hiltis were, I think somewheres around 8 to 900 bucks.


Luke Clarke
Electrical Planner for TVA.

Joined: Feb 2004
Posts: 1,438
Member
I had a Hitachi 12V that lasted a few years before someone burned it up popping holes in a can with a unibit. Since then I've had the same De Walt 18V and it still runs pretty much as good as new (exception: one of the batteries recently gave up on life). Our service trucks are loaded with some pretty nice stuff Milwaukee porta band, hole hawg and sawzall, Bosch hammer drill (transmission died in the 1st one) Fluke clamp on multi meter, and Fluke 1000V megger. Rigid power pony and dies (a must, 99% of what we run is rigid or Ocal), Brady label maker etc..

All the buyouts and stuff have made life a little harder, but yet a little easier at the same time...I miss having Sierra as a local manufacturer, but on the flip side.. Wasn't it T&B that put the final bullet in the Zinsco line?

Now if someone would do something with Leviton [Linked Image]

Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 943
Likes: 2
N
Member
Off subject, but I think UBI bought the rights for Zinsco from T&B.

Joined: May 2003
Posts: 2,876
E
e57 Offline OP
Member
Same type of topic.... I think there was a thread with a blow by blow list of who bought who...


Mark Heller
"Well - I oughta....." -Jackie Gleason
Joined: Nov 2006
Posts: 26
G
Member
It's amazing how many drills get tossed when all they need is a new set of brushes...

also if replacing the brushes fails, open her up, check the commutator for shorts and shine it up, a little grease in the gearbox...

don't throw the baby out with the bathwater.

Joined: Sep 2002
Posts: 943
Likes: 2
N
Member
How many drills get tossed when the batteries take a dump?

Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 9,923
Likes: 32
G
Member
NorCal I bet that is the #1 cause of drill replacement. You can usually get a new drill with 2 batteries for about what the batteries cost.
One thing you can do with cast off 12v tools is put a lighter plug on them and use them on your boat/car. For free it is worth doing.


Greg Fretwell
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 444
S
Member
Panasonic fan here. Quality when it comes to cordless. The batteries seem to go on forever. They are the only company in the world that manufacturers their own batteries to go with their cordless tools.

Hitachi makes good cordless products too.

S.

Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 449
F
Member
The first cordless I owned was Makita 9.6V. I thought it was great until I used someone else's Dewalt Cyclone 9.6V (anyone else remember those?)Bought 2 of those that were promptly stolen. All the carpenters were using 14.4V Dewalt by then so I replaced the stolen drills with Dewalt 14.4V so I could use the chargers that were on the jobsites. Had no complaints with the Dewalt 14.4 and used them for 5-6 years until they were stolen off an industrial long-term job. Showed up for work one day and they were gone. Needed a cordless quickfastandinahurry so I bought a PC 14.4V to get working that day. I was blown away by the torque and long-lasting battery. I bought 2 more. They worked great for about 5 years and then the batteries started dying one after another. Sold the PC drills to a local deckbuilder for cheap and bought Milwaukee 14.4V about 3 years ago. So far they are my favorite I have owned. My father-in-law (also an EC) wanted a Ryobi set for Father's Day a couple of years ago. He was asking for something different before Christmas the same year. I teamed with another EC a couple of years ago on a large industrial job who had Makita 9.6 stuff that he swore by. After a few days of shooting tek screws in to purlans I noticed we were only using my Milwaukee guns. The Makitas stayed in the jobox. Everybody likes what they like. I have another EC buddy who is sold on the Rigid line. I don't care for them myself. When someone asks me what I think they should get I tell them what I've had and what I have now. If you can get 3-5 years out of cordless tools using them the way I use them you've gotten your money's worth.

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