I’m rebuilding my workshop. All my power tools are in a terrible state, so I’m basically going to buy new everything - cordless drills, angle grinder, jigsaw, belt sander… the lot.
So it makes sense to invest in one quality power-tool “ecosystem” to share batteries and chargers. But this time I will abstain from buying American for obvious reasons (so absolutely no Milwaukee or DeWalt) and I’d rather spend my money on European brands (so preferably no Makita or Ryobi).
I think I can’t go wrong if I buy Bosch tools, but maybe other brands are better? I’ll get tools mostly for metalworking, and I’ll get some woodworking tools also, but the main focus will be metalworking, if that’s a factor.
What’s your preference?
One consideration is to look in detail on which tools you see yourself owning in the future and the extent which they are covered by each candidate brand. It can resolve the headache of having to adopt a second (or third) battery system. I went with AEG about ten years ago for my 18V tools and they are become scarce in my local stores now, and I am considering switching as well as the tools (and batteries) wear out, but haven’t decided to what yet. For 14V I have already switched to Milwaukee because of their angled driver and socket wrenches.
AEG were originally that, AEG. German quality. They were bought by Atlas Copco, and stayed top notch. They are now TTI, which has positioned as prosumer(ish) level, and they don’t make a marketing effort, so they are somewhat rare. I own an Atlas Copco era router that is simply great.