Skip to main content ↑ ↓
Recent Posts
62
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: General Discussions
Last post by LP -
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 – on
Most of the expensive brands are now made in China as are all of the batteries, I was a Makita fan as they were mid ranged priced and reliable and were USA and Japanese made but now they have joined the other brands in getting their stuff assembled in China.
It's a bit more complex than that, a lot of stuff is getting assembled in Malaysia, Thailand and India as well and there are different configurations. Some of the premium brands also continue to assemble some units in European member states, they are forced to do this because of EU regulations, or they get penalised in some way, tax, loss of grants etc., etc..

A problem is the exterior of all the devices looks largely the same, and there is a lot of grey market trading, so sometimes the discounted version is actually coming from a different site.

I had all AEG stuff when I was younger, before the cordless revolution, it was premium in the corded era but missed the boat on the cordless changeover. I still have AEG corded drills and saws. However, recently in the cordless market AEG has been on the rise in the trade / industrial market, they have switched strategy and leaving the gimmicks to Milwaukee and pushing harder to the trade market with durable basic functionality at a reasonable price. They have basically picked the eyes out of the best features of the other cordless brands and introduced some that are AEG unique. Worth keeping an eye on.

Hardware wise, I've found Metabo to be a premium brand, and if your drill is old enough to still have an interchangeable chuck a huge upgrade is to fit Metabo chucks, which I believe are really Rohm commercial grade chucks in a Metabo disguise.

But for the bulk of users, once they are on a battery platform they are set and will never change, the EV market will be the same and the car manufacturers know it.
63
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Shawny’s concerns about Victorian and Australian Governments
Last post by Gointocarlton -
Quote from: ElwoodBlues1 – on
You would think with Albo on the ropes with regards the economy, migration, anti semitism etc that the Libs would be soaring in the polls and climbing back into poll position for the next election but alas the nationals have bailed on them again and Party Leader David Littleproud has said they cant and wont be working with Susan Ley. Right Wing Fish and Chip purveyor Pauline Hanson's popularity on the other hand has gone through the parliamentary roof and its Susan Ley looking like she is yesterday's fish and chip paper and on the way out. Libs will do their usual next dud up mentality and pick Hastie or Taylor when they should looking at some of their younger better performers...
Albo might get in again by doing a Bradbury and staying off the pace while the others trip themselves up..

Ley was the wrong choice, I said it at the time and it will come home to roost. The Libs should be renamed the No Opposition party, with leaders like Ley they provide zero alternative to a Government who must be pissing themselves laughing. Albo and Wong couldn't fark things up any worse if they tried and would get re-elected in a canter if an election was held tomorrow.
Jacinta on the other hand has a real fight on her hands here in Vic.
64
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Shawny’s concerns about Victorian and Australian Governments
Last post by ElwoodBlues1 -
You would think with Albo on the ropes with regards the economy, migration, anti semitism etc that the Libs would be soaring in the polls and climbing back into poll position for the next election but alas the nationals have bailed on them again and Party Leader David Littleproud has said they cant and wont be working with Susan Ley. Right Wing Fish and Chip purveyor Pauline Hanson's popularity on the other hand has gone through the parliamentary roof and its Susan Ley looking like she is yesterday's fish and chip paper and on the way out. Libs will do their usual next dud up mentality and pick Hastie or Taylor when they should looking at some of their younger better performers...
Albo might get in again by doing a Bradbury and staying off the pace while the others trip themselves up..
65
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: Trumpled (Alternative Leading)
Last post by DJC -
After watching footage from the World Economic Forum, it’s apparent that the heads of state/government taking part are intelligent, well-educated, considered, articulate and self-effacing … with one glaring exception!

During Taco’s “speech”, he ranted about “windmills”, complained about the “stolen” election, criticised the conditions of European countries (because of migration) before getting to the nub of the matter:

Denmark should give him Greenland, but his brain glitched and he began to demand Iceland and finally asked for “ice” 😳

Mad as a cut snake!

70
Blah-Blah Bar / Re: General Discussions
Last post by ElwoodBlues1 -
Most of the expensive brands are now made in China as are all of the batteries, I was a Makita fan as they were mid ranged priced and reliable and were USA and Japanese made but now they have joined the other brands in getting their stuff assembled in China. Think you can still buy Japanese made Makita in Japan but its very hard to get.
Not a fan of anything Bosch, a family friend had a Bosch dishwasher that set fire and burnt down part of their house but Bosch were unhelpful and their customer service poor as they tried to avoid responsibility even though the control board in the door setting fire was a known problem.
Had a liking for Hilti and Hitachi power tools back in the day as we had them at work for the elec fitters/linesman/techs but they were at the expensive end of the scale so Makita got a lot of my business.