[Themuffinman]

Well I'm looking for a set of cordless tools and was wondering if the skill brand was any good?? They seemed to have the best deal for the amount of tools they offered and it was also 18v with a 1/2 chuck so I dunno because have never used them before....I would go with DeWalt but they are just so damn expensive.. Thanks for the help guys

-Themuffinman

 

[raskal]

Skil tools??? I have a pile of them in the corner.

low end crap.

 

[cybergeek23851]

Go with the DeWalt. I have used their 12v 3/8 drill and it is night and day between that one and my Black and Decker with the same battery voltage and chuck size.

 

[78jeepstang]

Yeah, skil tools aren't really all that great. They work, but eventually you're going to break 'em and realize you want something more, so thats just a few hundred you threw away right there. The only two i've seen last through a lot of abuse have been my dad's ancient Skil saw and my 4.5" grinder. As far as cordless tools go, I've actually been pretty impressed with the Ryobi set we won at a scholarship dinner a few years ago. I think you can get the 'full' set at Home Depot for around 275, but that has some stuff in it you probably won't use like the cordless chainsaw (pitiful!).

The one thing I definately would suggest definately buying 'good' would be a good drill, cordless or corded. I can manage to limp along cheap tools in other places, but for some reason cheap drills *really* don't work for me. I've put my DeWalt 14.4 1/2" drill through a ridiculous amount of torture and its worked fine for me every single time i've needed it. Like you said though, it was expensive, around 200 bucks when I got it, but that was 4 years ago and its looking like it has a few more years left in it!

 

[4stairmontero]

Unless your buying a 77 wormdrive saw- Avoid Skil!

 

[D60]

No help, but a bit of trivia: I've got several old Thor power tools, I'm told they eventually became Skil, but from what I can tell the old Thor quality was way higher.

 

[Kartracer55]

Skil is low end bosch. its kinda like thier econo line. I have a circular saw made by skil, and its great considering i use it once a year. I have a dewalt 18v xrp cordless and that thing is a monster as far as cordless drills go.

Milwaukee is good too, but a bit heavier. Cordless stuff isnt made in usa. They just got baught out by RYOBIs parent company, so I hope thier tools dont go to shit, and become of similar quality as ryobi... garbage. The asains better not f*ck up such a good brand so that they can sell them for 1/2 the price.

 

[mudslinger99]

If your looking for a big kit with a variety of tools in one box look at Crasftmen.. They are alot better then Skil and the price is good.. I have Dewalt, Porter Cable and Craftsmen and the Craftsmen has held up to the same abuse and cost a lot less..

 

[Kartracer55]

Mudslinger, craftsman cordless tools are made by Ryobi, or at least in the same plant. ID say go with De Walt, Makita, Bosch, or porter cable. You wont ever look back. I have been very very happy with my dewalt cordless stuff, and while expensive, it holds up damn well. Not quite hilti or a Festool but its not like I can afford one either.

Jim

 

[mudslinger99]

Mudslinger, craftsman cordless tools are made by Ryobi, or at least in the same plant. ID say go with De Walt, Makita, Bosch, or porter cable. You wont ever look back. I have been very very happy with my dewalt cordless stuff, and while expensive, it holds up damn well. Not quite hilti or a Festool but its not like I can afford one either.

Jim

The tools you listed are all very good choices..I have a lot of tools made by the companies you mentioned.. But the original person asking the question clearly stated that he thought the Dewalt tools were to expensive.. So in that case the Craftsmen would be a much better choice compared to the Skil for not much more money..

Do you have any facts that Craftsmen and Ryobi are made by the same company ? Having used some Ryobi tools I don't see them being nothing like the Craftsmen.. The Ryobi sanders seem to be ok for the price but some of their other stuff I don't really like..

Being in the construction buisness I see a lot of people with a lot of different tools and you would be surprized by the amount of people that are buying Craftsmen cordless... For the money and what you get it is hard to beat.. I will also say that The Craftsmen seems to be holding up just as well as some of the more expensive brands that are used everyday..

 

[youngladdy]

The older Skil stuff isn't too bad. My dad has a few 8" (or 7"?) circular saws, a hammer drill, screw gun, and some other stuff that still works. He's had it for at least 10 years, he was a carpenter.

 

[Kartracer55]

..

Do you have any facts that Craftsmen and Ryobi are made by the same company ? Having used some Ryobi tools I don't see them being nothing like the Craftsmen.. The Ryobi sanders seem to be ok for the price but some of their other stuff I don't really like..

Craftsman circular saws are assemled in the RYOBI plant, and Id bet a hell of alot that thier motors/batteries/and drive system in thier cordlesses all come from the same place in asia. Go compare one of the $120 craftsman drill presses to a ryobi.

Just because they dont all look the same, doesnt mean they arnt the same internally. Craftsman Pro ratchets and Matco ratchets use interchangable guts. You can switch out any internal component in them and theyd function the exact same way. They dont look the same, but they sure as hell are. Regular craftsman ratchet internals will also work I am told. Danaher produces most of craftsmans hand tools, and Danaher owns Matco.

Jim

 

[ChiScouter]

The tools you listed are all very good choices..I have a lot of tools made by the companies you mentioned.. But the original person asking the question clearly stated that he thought the Dewalt tools were to expensive.. So in that case the Craftsmen would be a much better choice compared to the Skil for not much more money..

Do you have any facts that Craftsmen and Ryobi are made by the same company ? Having used some Ryobi tools I don't see them being nothing like the Craftsmen.. The Ryobi sanders seem to be ok for the price but some of their other stuff I don't really like..

Being in the construction buisness I see a lot of people with a lot of different tools and you would be surprized by the amount of people that are buying Craftsmen cordless... For the money and what you get it is hard to beat.. I will also say that The Craftsmen seems to be holding up just as well as some of the more expensive brands that are used everyday..

Just what kind of construction do you do? Ive been in the trades for over 20 years and I have never seen a craftsman cordless tool on a job. I can't ever remember seeing a craftsman corded tool on a job either. In the course of a year I work with many hundreds of different trades and crafts people. Ryobi is shit, craftsman is shit, and other than the HD77 Skill is shit. Oh and for every day professional use Makita pretty much sucks also.

 

[mudslinger99]

Just what kind of construction do you do? Ive been in the trades for over 20 years and I have never seen a craftsman cordless tool on a job. I can't ever remember seeing a craftsman corded tool on a job either. In the course of a year I work with many hundreds of different trades and crafts people. Ryobi is shit, craftsman is shit, and other than the HD77 Skill is shit. Oh and for every day professional use Makita pretty much sucks also.

Up until the last couple of years I never seen Craftsmen cordless tools on the job either.. I think the main reason I'm seeing more of them on the job is because of price and in kit form for multiple tools they offer the most bang for the buck.. The quality compared to what they use to be is a lot better LIke I said I have been using Dewalt and Porter Cable for the most part for years.. But I have seen so many people using them everyday with good results that I bought a kit myself to try it out and it has held up just as good as my other more expensive tools..

I do like the feel of my Dewalt tools the best as far as hand comfort and control but other then that the others work fine..

As far as Makita your right they have gone down hill over the years.. They use to be a good a good product but the quality has changed for the worse..

 

[Buddha's Ghost]

As far as Makita your right they have gone down hill over the years.. They use to be a good a good product but the quality has changed for the worse..

And so has DeWalt with their plastic gears.

Even the last Milwaukee I bought was made in Czechoslovakia. (although, it is holding up very good so far for the last year and a half of heavy daily use).

They've all gone to shit.

 

[mudslinger99]

They've all gone to shit.

The words of truth that sum it all up. :laughing: