Guilty Pleasures...(in cheap power tools)

[WhichDawg]

Cheap, Chinese Power Tools! 

I know I know how could I especially with today's controversies 

Honestly I thought it was a Makita tool but SOMEBODY (me) wasn't paying attention to the facts/name pasted right on the pictures 

and I got this:







notice it does show a Makita like battery in their pics 

but for 15 dollars (free shipping) I didn't care (after a few seconds of  )

I slapped in a Makita battery (I have many) and it works excellent. Good suction, good blowing, tons of extra accessories and a carrying bag.

I use it for dust bunny pickup, birdseed cleaning, dusting around hard to get at places and I haven't even tried it in my car yet (I've had it for a month now)

Again for 15 bucks shipped it was worth it and I would get it again, sorry cheap China haters but this is hard to beat and very useful to me 

[powernoodle]

Yeah its not an accident that they makes cheapy tools that look like Makita, Dewalt, etc.  When I am feeling like a need a leg tingle, I buy a new Dewalt battery-powered tool.  But if that faux Makita is getting the job done for you, then well played.

 

[Vidar]

I actually think that they had a good idea using a big brand battery like Makita. The big downfall for many inexpensive battery tools is the often exotic battery standard which will have tiny capacity, rarely fit anything else, and where replacement or extra batteries can be impossible to find later on. If one can use big line batteries like Makita/ Bosch/ Dewalt/ Ryobi and so on those worries are gone. Big plus as I see it. I've passed on some otherwise great tools deals earlier due to these issues.

Main powered inexpensive power tools also avoids those issues. They have been a mixed bag for me so far - some cheap angle grinders I got gave up quickly, so that might not be their strong suit. But I still have some cheap drills, sanders and saws that works fine for occasional use. I once picked up mains powered drill, sander, sanding mouse and jigsaw for all of USD 20 - there are some bargains out there, and for the main powered ones battery is not an issue.

[WhichDawg]

Good points! I don’t know how long it will last and at first my Makita battery seemed “stuck” in it and was a little hard to remove but once I got it off it’s fine now and goes on and off easy.

Also if I ever have any problems forget about getting it repaired or customer service help but for 15 bucks who cares. I use this almost every day so I’m happy 

[Grant Lamontagne]

Given how many br ds have recently been “outed” as being made in China I wouldn’t be surprised to find most of these brands, or at least the majority of components are ,manufactured in China.

Then final assembly or stickers are placed on them in the US to satisfy the requirements for a Made in USA label and justify a thousand percent markup.

Def

[Vidar]

I think I still have an somewhat honest fake watch from the 90s which states "Made swiss". Actually that stamp was the only reason to buy it, so I guess it was a success at some level.

[Valkie]

I think I still have an somewhat honest fake watch from the 90s which states "Made swiss". Actually that stamp was the only reason to buy it, so I guess it was a success at some level.

Yeah, I bought a $20.00 Rolex when in china 12 years ago.
And it's still going.

[Vidar]

Over the years I had some interesting discussions with various sellers and locals in the know about the fake products. And there was certainly huge differences between fakes fakes and fakes in both quality and price. The sellers had basically five classifications with increasing price:

• Fake fake: A cheap random physical product without any connection to any real product by the brand. Basically they just slapped on a fake brand marking.
• Bad fake: They tried to copy a real product but just didn't do it very well and or used cheap materials.
• Good fake: They copied a real product and they did so very well. Can be hard to tell the difference.
• Rejects: Products coming from the real brand factory but which had been rejected in quality checks. Should likely have been destroyed, but instead...
• Real fakes: Products coming from the real brand factory and identical to the real product in every way. Sometimes made by unauthorized nightly runs, or even by contract agreement for the domestic market according to one lady.

Some years ago the EU customs got a lot stricter on fake products though, so these days they will likely hang you by your toes and tickle you into submission. Or maybe more likely take it away from you, and give you a very high fine.