Hi fellow frugal people, so most of us in life that are homeowners or even appartment renters need some tools to survive. Now one can get by somewhat with only hand tools but there are many times where a power tool is very helpful. Now on that, buying used corded electric power tools is frugal and good for many things, BUT there are just many times where a cordless tool is so much more handy that corded that most do it yourselfers, frugal people, eventually want at least some cordless tools. I'm a mechanical engineer, very handy, but also frugal by nature, and I grew up poor so that sticks with you. I once worked on the side as a contractor awhile and have tackled most home and many car repair jobs over 30 years.
So, i recommend you first look at what you need or want to do. A cordless drill is needed by almost everyone. A cordless impact driver (1/4") is soo incredibly handy to drive screws in or out and loosen tight screws or nuts or bolts I want to call this nearly essential for most these days. A good powerful cordless light or two is pretty essential for anyone.
Beyond this for homeowners or DIYers, a reciprocating saw is great for trimming branches or cutting metal or drywall. I have a long stroke one for branches and a fine short stroke one for cutting metals. A cordless weedwhacker is very handy vs corded. I have a cordless hedge trimmer, again nicer than being tied to a cord. A hammer drill is great for heavier drilling tasks like into concrete. (Now i have a corded Bosch SDS plus impact drill for serious stuff but a cordless hammer can do most things well.) A 1/2" cordless impact driver is great for auto work like easily removing wheel nuts or serious driving of large bolts into wood or high torque auto jobs. This is like a small 1/4" impact driver but for heavy duty jobs. Another key one for nearly anyone is a cordless oscillating tool that can take cutting blades or scraping blades. Ryobi makes one that is compatible with their Jobmax oscillating tool line which allows a jigsaw, sander, nail driver, etc. A cordless sander is great when doing work up on a ladder on your house. A cordless small router can be great too if you do any woodworking. A cordless dremel type rotating tool is great for nearly anyone. I have one that takes bigger 1/4" or smaller dremel 1/8" bits both. A cordless air compressor tool can be handy camping or in the car or around the house. A cordless small circular saw can be very handy cutting wood.
There are many more tools too depending on what you do. I like powered corded saws but you can get cordless miter saws. Or a cordless chain saw. Cordless sprayers for garden use or others for paint sprayers. Extension pole long cordless chainsaws for up high tree trimming. In 48 v cordless form you can get a power head that takes all the expand it attachments originally made for gas powered trimmers like a tiller, long hedge trimmers, lawn edgers, etc.
So there are now many good quality tool lines. Milwaukee, Rigid, Bosch, Ryobi, Dewalt, Black and Decker and a few house brands too. Buying new into the premium brands will cost a fortune and you cannot get all these tools in Dewalt, Milwaukee, Rigid, Bosch lineups. But believe it or not, Ryobi 20v lineup has all these tools in it and more, and i have all of these and been using them over 20 years now. So for compatibility, a frugal person wanrs to stick to just one brand for batteries. I highly recommend ryobi for most people, including most contractors. Sure the big names are built tougher and or lighter but battery life isnt any better than ryobi. Ryobi is about half the cost or less per tool. Black and Decker tools are good and cheap too but the batteries are terrible so cant recommend and small lineup choices. I once made my own battery converter to use my ryobi batteries to power some black and decker 20v tools i have. Now THAT was fine.
So i sometimes would get a ryobi tool off ebay. You can easily get a big starter set off ebay to start with. Pawn shops and craigslist, nextdoor, facebook marketplace, etc have ryobi all the time. I usually can get a used but good tool at least half of new at home depot, usually much less. Getting several in a deal at once is more frugal. The newer lithium batteries last over 5 years easy, among the best out there. Check out ryobi cordless as a frugal choice. The 48v lineup is very good too. I use the 48v blower almost daily. Paul
November 07, 2021 at 10:58AM
