It is whatever you buy a battery and charger for first. Then you are unwilling to forfeit that battery to just buy another tool. So you get another tool of the same brand, even if you aren’t happy with the previous. Then at that point, you’ve gone to far. You’ve got several hundred dollars in batteries you would have to give up just to switch. It is the most blatant example of the sunken cost fallacy.

Ryobi, specifically has entry level tools (a basic drill) that come with a charger and battery for cheaper than you can even buy a battery by itself. When you’re young and broke and all you need to do is hang some curtains or something you get it. But really, it is just a seed for your future “house” that you belong to.

Festool is not on this list because Festool owners NEVER GET ANYONE PREGNANT.

What about us who only have one accurate drill to assemble and mount IKEA furniture and then buy everything else corded as we will use it once in 2 years or maybe never, but we want to have it as we’re thinking about having a small shed one day so we can finally make those 5 shelves for pantry and 2 cubic meters of storage space in the loft/garage?

Good news everyone! Apparently, EU went for it https://youtu.be/eKOvXigyrXA?si=XiTMEQfNU1XmF2LQ

How about dads who went with the discount hardware store’s brand. It’s easily 1/4 Dewalt prices and comes with a 5 year no questions asked warranty? I spent like 80euros on two 18V cordless drills. I keep the receipt in the case they came in, and in the last 8 years I’ve abused the shit out of them, and have had at least one replacement. Just like Dewalt, makita, milwaukee, and ryobi, I have several batteries and charges, and a plethora of tools with the same battery.

I went to the store with a beat up drill, and the pimply faced teen at the register was like wtf?!? But the manager didn’t want the full story on the phone. Only three questions “is it [store brand]?” “is the receipt less than 5 years old?” and “what are you calling me for then?”. New drill, new case and new receipt. Oldest drill is about 4.5 years old now, so I guess that I have to torture the hell out of it and get a new one with 5 more years.

I’m in that fifth house that no-one ever seems to talk about: BOSCH.

J/K, I’m mostly Bosch, but I look towards whichever manufacturer makes the best version of a tool I currently need. For example, my chainsaws and yard/orchard power tools are Stihl, my lawnmower is Husqvarna, my circular saw, worm drive saw and abrasion/steel cutoff saw are all Skilsaw (not Skil!), and my oscillating multi tool is Fein.

Plus, many of the domestics are vintage, from before production was outsourced out of America, which makes them much more reliable and robust than modern tools. Even some of the other tools are vintage – my Stihl 076 Super can cut through a 60cm log like a hot knife through butter. And I have both 36″ and 72″ bars to go with it.

This tracks.

DeWalt: high quality and good pedigree but overpriced = Slytherin

Milwaukee: basically the same as DeWalt, but less pretentious. Thinks they’re better and tougher though = Gryffindor

Makita: the smart choice for value, also best colors = Ravenclaw

Ryobi: I know it will break, but they’re just tools and I’m not serious about this anyway. I would rather spend more money on my family or other hobbies = Hufflepuff

Honorable mentions of other “houses” and schools in the thread.

Black and Decker/Craftsman/whatever. Used to be very impressive, but completely corrupted. Probably evil = Durmstrang (Russian school)

Festool: Beautiful, absolutely dripping with wealth signals. Still pretty amazing at what they do, but you might not want them on a job site = Beauxbatons (super wealthy French school)

Harbor freight: Simple, potentially the most powerful but also likely to break. Can probably accomplish what you need by using a wrench as a hammer, but you wouldn’t want to do anything delicate with it. Actually the biggest group of dad-wizards = Uagadou (the school in Uganda where magic was invented but they don’t use wands)