The worst power or hand tool you have purchased

[Oztalgian 3,271]

I thought it would be useful to share our experiences and hopefully save other members money or heartache.

I'll kick it along with a Karcher WD3 workshop vacuum. It has been a PITA from the get go from a performance and design standpoint.

As a vacuum it works marginally satisfactorily until the filter gets just a bit blocked and then it becomes next to useless. The supposed fix was to use an internal bag. When I put one of these in it would not suck the skin off a sloppy rice pudding. From the design point of view it has been an absolute nightmare. The little castor wheels are too far in board and it tips over at the slightest provocation and the the muck that you have sucked up gets into the filter and that then needs cleaning again. By far the worst fault is the connection of the extension tubes, they slip inside each other but the end of the smaller tube is inside the larger tube in the  line of suction and creates a catch point for the debris, especially wood shavings that the suction is not strong enough to remove so you continually have to stop and unblock the tubes. I am really disapointed with this product and bought it as I had had many years of satisfactory performance with a Karcher pressure washer. The vacuum was obviously designed by another group who did not do their homework or perform any meaningful product trials as these faults would have been apparent with even the slightest use in a real world environment. I am actively looking for a replacement and will take great delight in taking the lump hammer to this product.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

I usually spend the money and stick with top brands, rarely get any problems that way. My favorite brand of power tools are Porter Cable, but alas they have been taken over by B&D and now made in China.

My two large routers are Makita, cracking good power tools!!

I've also got some Ryobi power tools I bought in Oz some 38 years back, and they still give me good service.

 

BUT, I did make the mistake of buying a Skil orbital sander in OZ, gave up the ghost a week after I bought it. was repaired under warranty, but didn't last long and got binned years back.

[Oztalgian 3,271]

I am in the process of, where practical, converting all my power tools with electric leads to battery operated.

My brand of choice for any tools that get a lot of use is Makita admittedly they are at the expensive end of the market but have never had any issues. For those that will not get such a hard life but used reasonably regularly I use Ryobi and there is a brand made for a large hardware store that failed in the UK I use for odd occasions called Ozito X PXC that has proved both cheap and durable. I bought one of their cheap mains electric jack hammers for one job (getting mosaic tiles off a bathroom floor) ten years later it has done 3 bathroom renovations, broken up large areas of concrete and removed the tiles from a long balcony and I still have the spare carbon brushes that came with it. 

[Hey Arnold 88]

Can't go far wrong with Bosch or Makita in my experience, both solid dependable tools. Like @Oztalgian I also had a small Karcher hoover and recognise everything you've said about it 

When it finally gave up the ghost I bought a Titan hoover from Screwfix and have been impressed with it. Only niggle for me is the dust bags tend to split when they start to fill up covering the filter in cack 

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

I look out for specials on the internet, my last Makita router came with two bases and carry case, plunge and standard bases. I don't recall the price, but good discount that I couldn't refuse.   It's also a variable speed motor.

You might also keep your eye's opens for top line power tools that have been refurbished, they can be as much as half price and carry a years warranty. They may not be cosmetically perfect, but hell, after you've used a new tool a few times it has a few scratches etc.

[Ayupmeducks 1,730]

Just a thought, years back in Oz, I bought a Ryobi circular saw, did a lot of work down under on a house we refurbished. Brought it with us to the states, I know, it was 240 volts and here we have 120 volts, no problem, all houses are wired for 120, but we also have two legs, 120-0-120, as large electric "white goods" are 240 volts, like cookers clothes driers etc. And I also have a couple of 120-240 volt transformers.

The saw cut a lot of wood in the building of the house before the trigger switch failed. Couldn't find a new switch anywhere, even came up with zero on the internet. So the saw sat under a bench in the workshop for a number of years.

 

About four years back I decided to have another search for a switch, found some!! Of all places a dealer in China a  stash of them, exact same model number and made by Bosch. So I ordered a few, the guy mailed them upon me ordering them and were stateside the same day I ordered them, took 14 days before they arrived via US Postal service. I couldn't get over that one.

[Hey Arnold 88]

@Oztalgian over the last couple of years I've bought a few tools from OX which I believe is an Australian brand. I've found them to be decent quality and reasonably priced, have you had any experience using this brand?

[Oztalgian 3,271]

Yes, I have some of their stainless steel concreting hand tools and one of their diamond hole saws. They have proved very durable. Not sure where they are made and they not that easy to find out there and certainly not seen them in our big hardware stores. I get them from specialist tool shops.

If you want top quality Australian made forged tools such as pinch bars. crow bars, chisels, drifts, hammers etc. You can't go past a brand called Mumme Tools. They are made here in Adelaide they are a million miles ahead of the Chinese crap which bend as soon as you put any real pressure on them.

[letsavagoo 961]

I had a slight weep from a seam in one of the heating radiators earlier this year. I got my son on the job who got a new one the same size but all the newer radiators have different pipe fittings to the older style so to cut a long story short he needed to remove a pipe ‘olive’ to change the fitting. It wouldn’t budge so researching the issue I bought an ‘olive puller’. These are pretty cheap on the internet but we needed it now so paid about £20. What a complete waste of time. Distorted the pipe and didn’t move the olive a fraction. Ended up having unsolder the pipe and put a new piece in. Floorboard up and bigger job than it could have been. Not impressed with olive pullers. 

[Hey Arnold 88]

I started with a couple of drywall taping knives and corner trowel, bought when I built a storage cupboard at my daughter's house, and was quite pleased with them. Since then I've had new wood chisels and spirit levels to replace old tools that're wearing out and again seem ok. From what I've been able to find out some stuff is made in Australia and others in Europe, nothing in China as far as I've been able to see so far.

@letsavagoo First time I've ever heard of an olive puller, I've always cut across them diagonally with a hacksaw if I've needed to get one off. Every day's a school day!

[benjamin1945 16,139]

Don't care what you say...........you can't beat 'Drywall taping knives''...........to say nowt of a good 'Olive Puller''....................never pulled an 'Olive''..........and ive certainly never'' Diagonally cut'' anything....

 

[Jill Sparrow 10,304]

Glory be! There's someone he hasn't dated!