> The pattern
> This isn't a tools story.
> The names change. The industries change. The strategy doesn’t.
The pattern
This isn't an insightful blog.
The names change. The topics change. The slop doesn’t.
Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?
21–30 of 144 posts
Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?
#22Not sure where “Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?” in the title came from. > Please don't do things to make titles stand out, like using uppercase or exclamation points, or saying how great an article is. https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
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Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?
#23> Ryobi handles DIY at Home Depot. Milwaukee handles pros. The two brands don't eat each other. They serve different people at different price points with different expectations So market fit is driving both worse and better products at the same time. Cheap DIYers like me are buying the cheapest stuff we can find, and complaining that it's as cheap as its price. My neighbor the contractor buys the expensive stuff and…
Ryobi make mostly good tools though. The results produced by most Ryobi users, myself included, are limited by user skill not tool quality.
Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?
#24FWIW these worseonpurpose articles have been popping up regularly, consistently accused of being slop, and the purported author has been called out as a Palantir AI shill. e.g. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47779481
Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?
#25I think most pros agree that Klein tools have fallen off. And conspicuously missing on the list is Wiha and Wera.
Wiha is a family-owned private company in Germany. Relies on self-funding and conservative growth using long-standing relationships with German banks rather than private equity. They manufacture in Germany, Vietnam, Switzerland, and a tiny plant in the US. Well known by electricians. Much better warranty.
Wera is also privately owned, by Bitburger Holding. They avoid debt financing and focus on high-volume production and advertising. Almost all of their manufacturing has left Germany, and is now Czech Republic and Thailand. Well known by auto mechanics. Limited warranty.
Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?
#26The big thing that happened to power tools was Lithium-Ion batteries. All of these companies competed when they were still corded electric tools. You could just make a really good drill or saw or router.
Interchangeable batteries got really good and made every set of tools a platform. More importantly, there are only a handful of sources to get batteries from. For all these companies to differentiate and compete they needed to insert their products into wide lines of platforms.
Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?
#27I recently decided I will go for the cheap Chinese store brand power tools for most things. It's about 1/5 to 1/3 the price of Ryobi, gets really good reviews, have been sold for more than 10 years now with the same batteries, and comes with a 5 year warranty which is 2 years more than ryobi. It's maybe not going to last 10 years, but at 1/5 the price it does not have to.
I think the rule of thumb for non-professionals is:
Buy cheap and if you use it enough that it breaks, buy expensive the second time.
Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?
#28> Ryobi handles DIY at Home Depot. Milwaukee handles pros. The two brands don't eat each other. They serve different people at different price points with different expectations So market fit is driving both worse and better products at the same time. Cheap DIYers like me are buying the cheapest stuff we can find, and complaining that it's as cheap as its price. My neighbor the contractor buys the expensive stuff and…
What are my options if I'm one of the unwashed massed that aren't able to afford anything but Ryobi/Spirit (RIP)?
What if I'm a professional who needs to use Milwuake/American Airlines if I plan to get my work done?
These feel like choices in the same way you can choose to pay your extortion fee to the mob or choose to pay your taxes.
Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?
#29Snap-on stays winning
Snap-on is one of the worst value buys out there. Even for professional mechanics.
Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?
#30For us US folks, Amazon.jp will send you the unobtanium Makita tools you know you want.... like the Makita battery-operated microwave. Shout out to TTI for keeping Ryobi cheap, cheerful, and a good value. Not my cup of tea, but their stuff is reasonably fine for the price.
I have Makita products .. a lawnmower and a bush clearing tool ..somewhat expensive, but the quality is superb.