In Europe, LIDL’s Parkside lineup is fantastic. The battery lineup is a system, with two battery types, a 12V and a 20V. Their battery and charger lineup is great, cheap and reliable. A 2Ah is 20€, and an 8Ah for 50€. The 8Ah has bluetooth (I thought it was a gimmick, but is surprisingly useful!). Oh, BTW, the 8Ah is about the size of a regular 4Ah!
The range is astounding, having tools that no major brand has. I have a convertible saw that can be a sawzall or a jigsaw, that has no right to work so well as it does in both modes, an air pump set, with a high pressure for tires and stuff, and a high volume pump that inflates OR deflates my 3.5m dinghy in under 3min, or a tiny rotary drill, smaller than a full size battery hammer drill that is a little beast.
I used to own a sign shop so I kind of know a bit about these tools. Sign shops work with almost all materials, from metal to wood to plastics, to concrete and masonry, so the range of power tools we had was bewildering. My shop was team yellow with the odd Hitachi, now Hikoki. When I closed the shop I kept some of them. DeWalt is very, very good, but for DIY purposes, LIDL’s Parkside is my go to now.
I would place much, but not all, the lineup at prosumer level, with features like all-metal one-hand-locking chucks, metal gearcases, brushless versions, and more.
EDIT: I just watched a video where they show how a rotary drill works. They cut open that little drill I mentioned above to show how they work. All inners, including gearing is metal. Maybe not the best alloy, but very decent in my experience.
Parkside’s value-for-money quality has been astonishing these past few years. I took the risk with them maybe 4-5 years ago and not one power tool from their lineup has had any problems yet. Today I just set up their quiet compressor at my garage, and the damn thing really is so silent that you can even have a discussion using your normal voice when it’s running.
In Europe, LIDL’s Parkside lineup is fantastic. The battery lineup is a system, with two battery types, a 12V and a 20V. Their battery and charger lineup is great, cheap and reliable. A 2Ah is 20€, and an 8Ah for 50€. The 8Ah has bluetooth (I thought it was a gimmick, but is surprisingly useful!). Oh, BTW, the 8Ah is about the size of a regular 4Ah!
The range is astounding, having tools that no major brand has. I have a convertible saw that can be a sawzall or a jigsaw, that has no right to work so well as it does in both modes, an air pump set, with a high pressure for tires and stuff, and a high volume pump that inflates OR deflates my 3.5m dinghy in under 3min, or a tiny rotary drill, smaller than a full size battery hammer drill that is a little beast.
I used to own a sign shop so I kind of know a bit about these tools. Sign shops work with almost all materials, from metal to wood to plastics, to concrete and masonry, so the range of power tools we had was bewildering. My shop was team yellow with the odd Hitachi, now Hikoki. When I closed the shop I kept some of them. DeWalt is very, very good, but for DIY purposes, LIDL’s Parkside is my go to now.
I would place much, but not all, the lineup at prosumer level, with features like all-metal one-hand-locking chucks, metal gearcases, brushless versions, and more.
EDIT: I just watched a video where they show how a rotary drill works. They cut open that little drill I mentioned above to show how they work. All inners, including gearing is metal. Maybe not the best alloy, but very decent in my experience.
Parkside’s value-for-money quality has been astonishing these past few years. I took the risk with them maybe 4-5 years ago and not one power tool from their lineup has had any problems yet. Today I just set up their quiet compressor at my garage, and the damn thing really is so silent that you can even have a discussion using your normal voice when it’s running.