Cordless Power Tools - Cheap vs Expensive

Cordless Power Tools - Cheap vs Expensive

Are you looking to buy a new cordless power tool to complete a home maintenance project? Have you seen a brand-new cordless power tool on Amazon that looks all shiny, with all 5-star reviews, but from a brand name you've never heard of for a fraction of the price of known brands? My grandfather always told me that if something seems too good to be true, it probably is! So let's look at the good, bad and ugly of cheap power tools.

Note: This article talks mainly about cordless power tools, but the basic ideas also apply to corded power tools.

Price

This will probably be the only reason to choose a discount brand name. You'll find power tools on Chinese websites for a fraction of the price of brands like Makita or DeWalt. And if you're only ever going to use it once, or very rarely, it might do the job.

Of course, sometimes you don't need the very best, but from my experience, buying the cheapest tool will often be more expensive in the long run.

Why? Well, a few years ago, I bought a hammer drill. It was a lot cheaper than the brand I usually buy, but back then, it wasn't a tool I used a lot, so I cheaped out and bought it. Unfortunately, the following year with relatively little use, it broke. I registered all my power tools on the manufacturer's website, so I didn't have to keep the receipt; the cheaper brand didn't offer that service. So, when it broke, I couldn't find the receipt, and when I looked to get it repaired, it would cost more to repair the hammer drill than it cost new. Ultimately, I had to buy the brand I usually buy, so I paid twice!

Remember that various ranges and price tags exist even with branded power tools. For example, Bosch has their Green range, aimed at the DIYer and the Blue range for the professional user.

If you're a hardened DIYer, you might want to keep reading about how a more expensive tool might be better for you.

Batteries:

What is a cordless tool without a battery? A paperweight? Something to be recycled? It's just something to be thrown away.

The unknown discount brands might have a great battery! But once it dies, you won't be able to buy a new battery. If the tool still works great, you can rebuild the battery pack if you dare.

Even cheaper known brands often don't have excellent batteries, meaning you'll have to change batteries more often, charge more, and usually have a much shorter life span. But if you're a typical DIYer, this might not be a big problem.

Build quality:

This is usually a significant drawback of buying cheap online power tools; the build quality just isn't what it should be! Why? The outer casing is usually a lot more brittle than the brand-name counterparts.

When you're working, accidents happen, power tools fall, and if you have bad luck, that fall can be their last.

There are other factors to consider when it comes to build quality:

Size/weight:

Bigger equals better, right? Well, usually, when it comes to cordless power tools, that's not the case. If you have to drill many holes, you don't want a heavy tool; you want a small, lightweight, powerful power tool that gets the job done without wearing your arm out.

Something that I realised when I upgraded my impact driver. My old faithful impact driver was big and heavy, while the newer, more powerful model was much lighter. So I was sad to see my old impact driver die, but my shoulders were happy to see my new lighter model.

The cheap import, non-name-brands tend to be big, heavy, or lightweight and feel like a child's toy.

Brushless:

If this is the first time you've heard of brushless, you might not know what I'm talking about, so I'll explain what brushless means.

Brushless motors are electronically driven, while brushed motors are mechanically driven. Therefore, they need a carbon brush to transfer an electric voltage for them to work. Unfortunately, the carbon brush slowly wears away, so if you use the tool a lot, eventually, you will need to replace the brushes.

Brushed motors have other drawbacks; they tend to be less efficient, run hotter, have a shorter life span and require more maintenance, but they are cheaper!

If you want a tool to last, go for the brushless option.

Accessories:

If you're a newbie to DIY, you might not yet understand the joy of the accessories available for power tools. First, there are some essential accessories; for example, a better cordless drill will come with a bit holder and a belt clip. These might seem like non-essential accessories, but when you're up a ladder changing from one bit to another, both the bit hold and a belt clip can seem like life savers. On cheaper models, you can often buy these accessories apart, but some accessories just can't be found.

If we're talking about accessories, we have to talk about Dremel. There are millions of attachments and accessories for Dremel! You have right-angle drill attachments, router attachments, extension shafts, and drill presses, to name a few. Then you have bits and brushes for engraving, carving, sanding, polishing, impregnating, and the list goes on! With non-name brands, there are accessories, but nothing near what exists for Dremel.

Power:

You want your power tools to have power! You'll notice the difference right out of the box. If you compare cheaper vs expensive models, the difference in power is impressive. Brand names like Festools, Metabo or Makita have explosive power, while cheaper white label brands just don't do it! If you're buying the tool for a one-time job, you might not care, but if you're planning on using it a lot or on bigger projects, you'll want power!

Warranty/after-service:

If you're fortunate, this is something you'll never have to test. But if you need it, you'll wish you bought a known brand. Non-branded or unknown brands don't have a reputation to worry about, but big brand names do. So they have to give good service and warranty. And that's why they'll do their best to keep you happy. So companies will offer extended or even lifetime warranties, so take a good look before you buy.

Another way to get even better after-service is to buy from well-known shops or online shops that have a physical shop you can visit if needed. For example, I buy all my power tools from the same shop in Sydney for this exact reason. They advise me on new tools, help me with the warranty and even have a power tool repair centre for my older tools.

Power Tool Conclusion:

To take some more sage advice from my grandfather, never buy the cheapest of anything. If you don't think you'll be using the power tool very often, go for a more basic version of a brand-name product, and if you end up using that power tool a lot, you can always upgrade to a better version later on.

At the end of the day, you get what you pay for! So before you buy the cheap tool, think if you're going to use it a lot. If not, you might end up regretting it!