I have to concur about Black and Decker. Orange junk for the most part and I flat refuse to buy anything with a B & D name on it.
Back up the clock a number of decades and B & D made excellent tools on the cheap. That all seemed to go away about 15 or so years ago.
The last 5 or 6 Black and Decker power tools I bought (drills and saber saws) did not have a one of them that lasted more than 15 minutes.
One of the biggest jokes they inflicted upon the public was the spring loaded blade holding device for saber saw blades. It would do nothing but chuck blades out or break them until after a dozen or so blades the spring mechanism disentegrated. To the dump it went just like the rest.
Vastly different from the B & D tools they replaced which were whaled on for 20+ years. Heck, I’ve still got a 40+ year old B & D 1/2" industrial drill that works fine in spite of being run ragged although the chuck teeth are showing some wear.
Skil is going down the tank also and they used to be excellent power tools. The only difference between them and B & D is the color.
The world of disposable everything it seems although it would be nice to get a few months use before the tools give up their lives…
I’m having buyer’s remorse on battery-powered tools. I bought a Porter-Cable set (Sawzall, circular, drill) with two batteries and charger. I’ve had it probably 4 years, and when the charger recently went out, I was just barely able to find one–the current tools had “upgraded” to a power pack not compatible with my old set. (I was lucky to find a charger; could NOT find any replacement batteries.)
Not sure I’m in the market for more battery-powered tools if “planned obsolescence” means I gotta replace 'em twice a decade!
When snap on recently discontinued selling batteries for my 1/2" cordless impact . . . because it’s a discontinued model . . . I looked on ebay. And there were several companies selling chinese batteries for my tool. I bought one, several months ago, to see if it was any good. Not only is it okay, it was substantially cheaper than snap on battery. I don’t know how many years it will last, but I’m thinking of buying another one. Because buying a battery is cheaper than buying another tool
