Rational thoughtful power tool reviews?

[Chris Hachet]

Who in anyone's opinion has the best power tool reviews?

Much of the modern Asian stuff is made in the same factories (google Geetech and global partners) and the differences in tools are fairly minor in many cases. Most power tool reviews are not that informative, be they in a magazine, on a website, on YouTube, or whatever.

Hand tool side of the workshop is working out like a banshee and I am very happy with it, going to spend 2017 and 2018 buying a few power tools.

Who do you all trust and like for reviews and information?

Chris

[Matt Day]

There's no one source for me. I'll take everything into consideration and make my own decision - magazines, forums, Amazon reviews, independent website reviews, YouTube, etc.

[Benjamin Miller]

By far the best reviews are AvE (formerly arduinovsevil) on youtube.

He's an experienced engineer with nothing to sell who buys tools, tears them apart, and describes the engineering decisions that went into them.

[Roger Green]

For me, the best education on which machines to get next, is from the people in the local woodworking guild.

[Paul F Franklin]

I like the reviews in Journal of Light Construction. They are oriented toward construction type tools of course, but there is some overlap with woodworking. The tools get used by construction crews on jobs for generally a few months, and then you get real world pros and cons. For things like drills and drivers they usually do battery life (how many 3" screws can it drive into an LVL" tests.

For more woodworking oriented stuff, I feel I can trust the Fine Woodworking and Wood Magazine reviews. But like Matt said, try to use as many sources as I can find.

[Van Huskey]

Are you talking about machines or hand power tools?

[Rich Riddle]

My favorite reviewer is Roland Johnson, but I have found few rational power tool reviews where machines from different manufacturers are tested side-by-side. The reason is that most places that test the machines or tools also have advertising. That said, I do read Fine Woodworking for reviews and pay attention to the consumer choices.

[Chris Hachet]

Are you talking about machines or hand power tools?Power tools-specifically larger stationary tools.

[Chris Hachet]

My favorite reviewer is Roland Johnson, but I have found few rational power tool reviews where machines from different manufacturers are tested side-by-side. The reason is that most places that test the machines or tools also have advertising. That said, I do read Fine Woodworking for reviews and pay attention to the consumer choices.
I will check out Roland Johnson, thank you for your input

[rudy de haas]

Like you, I've looked for honest reviews but generally find that my own preconceptions can make these hard to recognize in large part because most reviewer, including, I often think, people working for companies like ConsumerReports, are directly or indirectly paid shills.

In the end it always seems to come down to the amount of effort the mfg (or importer/brander) puts into developing and maintaining its quality reputation; what people who use, but don't sell, the product say; and my own impressions after a few minutes with the more interesting of the two or three that seem to meet the job requirements.

In this brand management is a big deal: I'd pick toyoto over chevy even when the cars come out of the same factory, are made by the same people, and are made from the same parts, because toyoto works harder at its reputation and this gives me more leverage, as one customer among many, if/when things go wrong. Similarly, grizzly over rikon, but both similarly and dissimilarly Jenn-Air over KichenAid because that's a case where brand management is the diferentiator within one company.

[Chris Hachet]

Like you, I've looked for honest reviews but generally find that my own preconceptions can make these hard to recognize in large part because most reviewer, including, I often think, people working for companies like ConsumerReports, are directly or indirectly paid shills.

In the end it always seems to come down to the amount of effort the mfg (or importer/brander) puts into developing and maintaining its quality reputation; what people who use, but don't sell, the product say; and my own impressions after a few minutes with the more interesting of the two or three that seem to meet the job requirements.

In this brand management is a big deal: I'd pick toyoto over chevy even when the cars come out of the same factory, are made by the same people, and are made from the same parts, because toyoto works harder at its reputation and this gives me more leverage, as one customer among many, if/when things go wrong. Similarly, grizzly over rikon, but both similarly and dissimilarly Jenn-Air over KichenAid because that's a case where brand management is the diferentiator within one company.

I think Grizzly is perhaps an under rated company. Don't own any of their products but everyone I talk to who does seems to love them.

[Tim Cooper Louisiana]

I think Grizzly is perhaps an under rated company. Don't own any of their products but everyone I talk to who does seems to love them.

I think a lot of it rolls out of the same factories. The better colors just do a little more QC before it gets painted.

[David Kumm]

I know I live in a dream world but just for once I'd like to see similar machines within a price range really graded on quality relative to the price differences. How flat are the surfaces machined. How thick are the castings. Break up and test the cast iron for content and quality. Same with the steel. Compare bearings. Bench test the motors and compare them to their plate ratings. Run them under load for about a week and test them again. ( show them to a motor rewind guy and he will tell you in minutes which are the best ) Compare the gearing, plastic, pot metal, bronze or steel, helical or spur. You get the picture. All might perform the same out of the box but we would all learn something about machinery and be better able to judge for ourselves. Spend an hour with anyone who repairs and understands how machines work and you will learn more than you could ever imagine. Machine reviewers should have that knowledge- in addition to being woodworkers. Dave

[Brad Barnhart]

I don't use any certain review. If I'm thinkin' about investin' in a certain tool, this is the first place I come to & ask. Most of the guys here are knowledgeable about equipment because they already own it. I own most all the wood tools I need, for now, its the add ons I ask about. good luck

[Matt Day]

I like Dave's dream world. The fact that the big mags don't to any of that says something. It's quick and easy to assembly a machine and use it for a bit, and unfortunately most ww'ers don't necessarily care about Daves level of detail but instead just cost. Until something fails the day after the warranty expires of course.

[Philip DeBoer]

I think a lot of it rolls out of the same factories. The better colors just do a little more QC before it gets painted.

If it comes down to quality control, then to do a fair review you need to order 10,000 units from each brand and test across the sample. This is prohibitively expensive for a third party, of course. So we use brand reputation as a proxy for this.

When the machine designs themselves are different, comparison is easier.

[glenn bradley]

As mentioned, I pull from various sources. I tend to give more value to the mags that are customer supported like Woodsmith. The no-ad rags can't afford to do as in depth a study as someplace like Fine Woodworking. On the other hand things like Laguna winning the bandsaw bake-off when it was the only saw that stalled gives me a large grain of salt. I gather as much as I can, give more weight to forum reviews from long time owners than I do to some anonymous character with sour grapes on Amazon and try to render it all down to what is best for me.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

I use magazine reviews, website reviews and forum reviews. I also tend to throw out the small number of highs and lows and look for an average review. There are those out there that would push a brand even if it fell apart during delivery and customer service never returned their calls or emails. There are also those out there that would complain about the color of the paint even if it showed up in perfect condition, worked perfectly for 10 years of heavy industrial use and they sold it used for more than they paid for it. I also compare reviews for considered product to reviews for the competitive products in the same price range.

[Robert Chapman]

I like the Fine Woodworking reviews where they actually use a number of the same kinds of tools [usually power tools] and then judge which of them are the Best Overall and the Best Value. They seem to do an objective assessment and use the same evaluation criteria for every tool.

[Keith Weber]

My favorite is Amazon. Why? Because of the numbers. I tend to avoid YouTube individuals/bloggers trying to make a name for themselves by posting daily or weekly videos. Firstly, what you're hearing is just one man's opinion. Secondly, a lot of the time, these people are either sponsored by the company, or were sent a free tool to review. Surely they're going to go easy on someone putting money in their pockets. Lastly, I find the Dunning-Kruger Effect is high with a lot of these YouTube rock stars.

With Amazon, you might get 150 people putting in a review on a popular tool. If the average score is 4.8/5 for a particular tool with a large sampling like that, it's probably a pretty good tool. You can also sift through the reviews and common problems with the tool will easily stand out if there are any. As Ken mentioned, you want to ignore the highs and the lows to avoid the fanboys, and the morons that give a tool 1 star because Amazon was a day late with their delivery.

After that, I like here because you can get actual input to your questions from users that don't have anything to gain by offering their opinion.

[Peter Kuhlman]

There just isn't any single source of information in my view. Yes I definitely ask and research here for information. I also check other forums, Amazon, user groups, magazines, Google searchs, YouTube and anywhere else I can think of. To find the "best" choice takes time - lots of it. Way too easy to purchase low cost versus quality and long frustration free life. Made way too many wrong choices and had to repurchase items to make me happy.
A problem is what is acceptable quality to me can be very different to someone else. Budget of course plays a huge factor. Being on fixed income now I sometimes have to wait and save to get what I really want but luckily am well equipped.
Take your time, read and research, try to only purchase once. Nothing to me worse than buying cheap junk because I was in a hurry.

[Art Mann]

On more than one occasion, I have seen FW tool reviews that rank some of their biggest advertisers below manufacturers that don't run ads in FW at all. For this reason, I tend to believe their measurements and factual claims, even if I don't agree with their subjective opinions.


My favorite reviewer is Roland Johnson, but I have found few rational power tool reviews where machines from different manufacturers are tested side-by-side. The reason is that most places that test the machines or tools also have advertising. That said, I do read Fine Woodworking for reviews and pay attention to the consumer choices.

[Jim Becker]

FW, and Wood keep their reviews separate from any advertising activities by policy. That includes obtaining test units on the open market when it's possible to do so. But as Art points out, there is still going to be some level of subjectivity because humans are doing the actual testing. :)

[phil harold]

FW, and Wood keep their reviews separate from any advertising activities by policy.
That and JLC tools
But I also like to read the worst reviews on amazon, some times it is a fluke , bad tool all together and/or more often just, a bad operator

[John Sincerbeaux]

Power tools and woodworking machines are much like cars, skis, and beer. Buy German and you will be buying about the best of the best. No reviews needed.