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Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?

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Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?

#111

Post by fatbird »

senordevnyc wrote: post #16
jmclnx wrote: post #11

Good example of what Private Equity did and doing to many industries. I also notice once a PE Firm takes over a Company, kiss quality good bye. They mentioned Eye Wear is next, I think the author can guess where that is going. No reason to doubt the same will happen to that industry too.

I feel the same, but I do wonder sometimes if that’s true. Are there PE firms out there quietly operating great businesses that they’ve acquired? If not, why not? Surely in the long run that’s a better ROI, and private capital should be able to take a longer view, right?

The longer term of continuing to buy businesses, load them with debt, strip them of value, and move on to the next, promises much better ROI than focussing on a single business.

Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?

#112

Post by kogasa240p »

tencentshill wrote: post #62
lacewing wrote: post #48

Just for the record, this is a novelty domain with a history of posting AI-generated articles that are clearly designed to get clicks based on nostalgia for how random things "used to be better": https://news.ycombinator.com/from?site=worseonpurpose.com

The author works at Palantir as well. One of the prime offenders for making life and liberty Worse on Purpose.

Kinda baffled why a Palantir goon would make an agitslop article about power tools of all things, but here we are.

Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?

#113

Post by orwin »

evolve2k wrote: post #63
deadbabe wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s a good one to start with

If you can afford to pay that bit more for quality product, from the article plus a few comments here; seems that people really like Makita. - hasn’t enshitifed - makes quality tools that last - much more repairable (saving you even more in the long term) - single company, not a conglomerate, no weird vc influence. For most tools you won’t need upgrades, just build out your collection as you go.

In his workshop, my father only use Festool (plus whatever he use for metalwork), but everytime he have to work outside, crawl somewhere or drill a concrete slab on a rooftop, it's Makita everytime. His makita tools have been dinked, have fallen 10+ meters, have weathered both storm and heatwaves, and some of them still run fine after 20 years.

Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?

#114

Post by peatmoss »

sitkack wrote: post #90
peatmoss wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you buy their brushless line, you can add a few decent tools to your lineup while using the cheap stuff for everything else. Same battery platform generally. I have a lot of their cheap stuff, plus a few good ones that see more use.

You can buy or make adapters so there is no battery platforms. If we had a functioning FTC there would be no battery platform.

Didn't realize adapters were common! I agree on the FTC / standardization point.

Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?

#116

Post by infecto »

RobotToaster wrote: post #99
legitster wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think there's anything to apologize for. Buying a professional tool with tens of thousands of hours of potential runtime and 1000lb+ of torque is wasteful. A Ryobi tool will realistically last for the many decades you need it for and do everything you ask of it. Lower price points doesn't just mean something is junk. It can also be engineering efficiency.

Are new ryobi batteries still compatible with all their old tools? I remember it used to be a big selling point that that they never changed their battery system.

Yes and IMO one of the selling points. They have upgraded the batteries over the years but still base compatibility

Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?

#117

Post by [deleted] »

WillAdams wrote: post #98
evolve2k wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can afford to pay that bit more for quality product, from the article plus a few comments here; seems that people really like Makita. - hasn’t enshitifed - makes quality tools that last - much more repairable (saving you even more in the long term) - single company, not a conglomerate, no weird vc influence. For most tools you won’t need upgrades, just build out your collection as you go.

Interestingly, Makita, like Festool, and to a lesser extent Mafell got its start by _repairing_ stuff, only expanding into tool manufacture long after the company was established --- some folks argue that this experience of repairing other tools/motors/transformers allowed them to learn how _not_ to build a tool. These three are pretty much the only independent power tool companies left, and the tools I've bought of…

[deleted]

Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?

#118

Post by everybodyknows »

WillAdams wrote: post #98
evolve2k wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you can afford to pay that bit more for quality product, from the article plus a few comments here; seems that people really like Makita. - hasn’t enshitifed - makes quality tools that last - much more repairable (saving you even more in the long term) - single company, not a conglomerate, no weird vc influence. For most tools you won’t need upgrades, just build out your collection as you go.

Interestingly, Makita, like Festool, and to a lesser extent Mafell got its start by _repairing_ stuff, only expanding into tool manufacture long after the company was established --- some folks argue that this experience of repairing other tools/motors/transformers allowed them to learn how _not_ to build a tool. These three are pretty much the only independent power tool companies left, and the tools I've bought of…

> Festool CT ... vacuum

I use one of these for household floors: quiet, powerful, rolls easily.

Re: Power Tools Got Worse on Purpose. Who Owns DeWalt, Craftsman, and Milwaukee?

#119

Post by xethos »

fckgw wrote: post #104
legitster wrote: post #26

The 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…

Yeah if you look at the power tool industry as a whole, over the last 20 years has seen massive improvements in quality across the board. Cordless tools were a niche product, they could barely run an hour and they didn't have 1/10th the power a corded tool does. Things like cordless angle grinders didn't even exist because there was no way to get the required power to drive them. You also have the advent of brushless…

> didn't have 1/10th the power a corded tool does

What boggles the mind is that, at this point, corded gets dunked on by battery-run tools in power output. Corded is limited to the 1500W one can safely pull fromn the wall, but cordless can have higher output. Normally one might assume it'd be a distinction without a difference, but things like table or chop saws can be hungry.

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