Brent Taylor
Member
- Joined
- Aug 5, 2014
- Messages
- 471
For an older man's perspective on this subject, I've been buying and using tools since the 70's . Some Festool, Makita, Milwaukee and others, but for this post I'll try to stick to the ones mentioned. I had bought some late 70's Festool tools with a Hammer saw that a late friend had owned, they worked fine for years, but were shop bound due to their power source. Most of my others were Makita and Milwaukee, due to the fact that they were easily available. Of all of my tools the Makita and Milwaukee are the ones that have had the least number of problems, in fact I have only had replaced wear items. I still have most of them and the only reason that I have had to replace any of these tools is because of lose.
The Festool tools I had all worked well, but due to parts availability and only being tied to the shop they did not see the same amount of use. You have to remember that this was before the Internet and if you wanted tools other than B & D, PC and other America brand's, you had to mail order, 7 Corner's & Tool Crib were the ones I used. And service, forget it, you were on your own. I did get a 110 v TS ( boy did that get the looks at job sites and a lot of " too good to buy American made" flack. )
So now fast forward to the 00's. No more crews, body a wreck and shop and a the equipment and inventory is missing. All I have left is some of the power tools and some of the hand tools. So now that I have had to start over, l find out most of the tools I had no longer exist and the Chinese are making most of the other's. What to do, spend time on the net ( we had only dialup until we moved to Florida in 08, so I didn't spend much time surfing and I had all the equipment I need). I started off with the Makita's TS and1/2 sheet sander ( both made in the U K and both great tools), then to Festool for jigsaw and routers ( 11 in all, 3 FT, 5 Makita 3 old & 2 new, Triton and a pos Ridget) , oh and sanders, 5 in all, plus 2 more Makita's.
Now to the end ( thankfully) , the only tools that have had to get repaired have been my Festool, both of my RO's replaced by Festool, my 125 is an ongoing nightmare an my 2200 with missing part, I replaced the free part provide by Festool. Am I happy with this No , will I still buy Festool's products yes. Would I buy a Kapex, probably not. Most of my Makita and Milwaukee tools are over 35 years old and none have been in the shop for issues other than wear items, that being said I try to buy non~Chinese tools ( I have a Sawstop and it's a good TS) . You have to have faith in your decisions and follow your gut.
The Festool tools I had all worked well, but due to parts availability and only being tied to the shop they did not see the same amount of use. You have to remember that this was before the Internet and if you wanted tools other than B & D, PC and other America brand's, you had to mail order, 7 Corner's & Tool Crib were the ones I used. And service, forget it, you were on your own. I did get a 110 v TS ( boy did that get the looks at job sites and a lot of " too good to buy American made" flack. )
So now fast forward to the 00's. No more crews, body a wreck and shop and a the equipment and inventory is missing. All I have left is some of the power tools and some of the hand tools. So now that I have had to start over, l find out most of the tools I had no longer exist and the Chinese are making most of the other's. What to do, spend time on the net ( we had only dialup until we moved to Florida in 08, so I didn't spend much time surfing and I had all the equipment I need). I started off with the Makita's TS and1/2 sheet sander ( both made in the U K and both great tools), then to Festool for jigsaw and routers ( 11 in all, 3 FT, 5 Makita 3 old & 2 new, Triton and a pos Ridget) , oh and sanders, 5 in all, plus 2 more Makita's.
Now to the end ( thankfully) , the only tools that have had to get repaired have been my Festool, both of my RO's replaced by Festool, my 125 is an ongoing nightmare an my 2200 with missing part, I replaced the free part provide by Festool. Am I happy with this No , will I still buy Festool's products yes. Would I buy a Kapex, probably not. Most of my Makita and Milwaukee tools are over 35 years old and none have been in the shop for issues other than wear items, that being said I try to buy non~Chinese tools ( I have a Sawstop and it's a good TS) . You have to have faith in your decisions and follow your gut.
