Best Power Tool Brands You Should Know
Power tools can easily be defined as one of mankind’s best inventions. Anyone who has ever seen the difference between screwing one hundred screws with a manual screwdriver and getting to do this with an impact driver knows how crucial these machines can be. They make drilling, cutting, driving fasteners, and many more jobs a lot easier and faster.
As a result, there are only a few companies that managed to stand out over the years and build high-quality, trusted brands that almost anyone who owns a power tool has considered.
This article will focus on revealing the best power tool brands in America and the rest of the world. These aren’t just the most popular, but the best in terms of durability, battery life, power, and many other features.
Dewalt
If I were just starting out with woodworking or something similar, even I wouldn’t be surprised to see DeWalt on best power tool brands lists. A brand like DeWalt is among the best for several reasons. First of all, this is a brand that dates back to the early years of the 20th century, as it was founded in 1924 in the United States by Raymond Dewalt.
Despite the fact that DeWalt makes a variety of tools intended for different industries, they are most commonly known for manufacturing the best woodworking tools. According to The Lifestory Research 2020 America’s Most Trusted® Power Tools Brand study, DeWalt was named the best, receiving an index score of 118 and a 5-star trust rating. Having said that, it’s not only tool quality, price, and brand awareness, as trust is among the most important factors for buyers.
On top of that, DeWalt is also a brand that will almost always have the tool you need. Their catalog includes over 200 different tools and over 800 accessories including various drill bits, toolboxes, and plenty more useful gadgets.
Milwaukee
Milwaukee is another amazing power tool manufacturing brand that has a surprising amount of similarities to DeWalt. For starters, it was also founded in 1924 and is an all-American brand. It is almost a century old and it has seen plenty of CEOs and people in charge. Despite that, there can be no complaints about the quality of their products.
Milwaukee also has a huge catalog of available products for both professionals, amateurs, hobbyists, and anyone alike. In fact, their inventory is much bigger than DeWalt’s, as Milwaukee currently has around 500 different tools and over 3500 accessories at their disposal. Despite that, there was one tool that managed to bring a lot of popularity to the brand – Milwaukee’s one-handed drill known as the Hole Shooter.
According to Lifestory Research’s study on the most trusted power tools in America, Milwaukee ended up as number 3, getting a score of 110.2. So, why are they one of the best power tool brands in the US and the world? It has to do with their high-quality, robust, and reliable tools, the trust they provide for their customers, and the long and hard work it took to do it all.
Makita
The next most trusted and best choice is a Japanese power tool brand known as Makita. This is a name that is familiar to many woodworkers. Makita is even older than both DeWalt and Milwaukee, as this brand was founded about a decade earlier, in 1915. However, Makita wasn’t always a brand for manufacturing power tools, as their first power tool product platform was launched in 1958.
Twenty years later, they finally started manufacturing cordless versions of their power tools as well. It may not be the fastest progression cycle, but this brand made sure to take it slow and steady, ensuring to become one of the most popular and trusted power tool brands in the world.
This Japanese power tool brand has thousands of employees. According to a survey done in 2015, Makita had close to 14.000 employees. Their product catalog is slightly smaller than the previous brands, as it features around 70 different tool selections. Their prices are slightly higher than DeWalt but features like cordless tool battery life are also much better when it comes to Makita.
Bosch
Finally, let’s move away from the leaders in Japan and America and see what the best European power tool brands currently are. Bosch is the first name that comes to mind for many who’ve had the pleasure of owning any kind of Bosch manufactured tool.
When it comes to the oldest players in the game, Bosch beats DeWalt, Milwaukee, and Makita by quite a bit. Bosch was founded even one more century back, in 1886 by a man called Robert Bosch. This popular company has made sure to stand its ground and grow for more than 100 years.
So, how does a company sustain for that long? Bosch isn’t among the most popular household power tool brand names without reason. Among the best reasons people can’t stay away from this company is the quality of their tools – the batteries in particular. Bosch makes some of the best cordless tools on the market, providing more than enough reliability and power for their users and becoming known as one of the best cordless power tool brands around.
Craftsman
Among the many things, one of the most important that Craftsman and DeWalt have in common is that their parent company is Black & Decker. It’s needless to say that this parent company is quite the ruler of power tool manufacturing brands in the United States and even broader.
Unlike DeWalt, Craftsman switched ownership quite recently, in 2017, whereas DeWalt underwent this process in 1960. Craftsman was sold to Black & Decker for $900 million. However, that’s not the reason that this is among the top power tool brands out there. Craftsman is still a unique brand, offering plenty of helpful and amazing features to their customers.
Craftsman may not have the best options for professional woodworkers, but they are still among the most popular and trusted brands out there, providing reliable tools for the home and garden niche. The prices are fair, reliability and durability are excellent, and the brand has proven more than trusted for all these years.
Ryobi
Another huge Japanese brand joins our list, as Ryobi was founded and is based in Hiroshima, Japan by Yutaka Urakami in 1943. It seems that the one thing all of these brands have in common is that they are all around 1 century old. Despite that, Ryobi is one of the biggest power tool manufacturers and sellers across the world. The company has around 9.000 employees based on research information from 2016.
This is another company that goes under a parent company, known as Techtronic Industries. They have a wide variety of products in their catalog, containing more than 170 tools that can be found on the 18V battery platform, and plenty more power tool accessories as well. All of their products can easily be found in the Home Depot, making them easily accessible to buyers.
Ryobi is one of the most popular and trusted power tool brands thanks to the fact that they can meet plenty of their customers’ needs. Their catalog features everything from drilling tools, plumbing, fastening, cooling, edging, mowing, cleaning, and much more.
Ridgid
And last but definitely not least, this is another American company that focuses around the power tool manufacturing and selling industry. Ridgid’s name may not be as popular as DeWalt, despite the fact that Ridgid was founded one year earlier than DeWalt, in 1923. The company was founded by Carl Inger in North Ridgeville, hence the name Ridgid.
Their headquarters are currently based in Elyria, Ohio, United States, and Ridgid goes under the parent company known as Emerson Electric Inc. They have among the vastest catalog out of all the company brands mentioned here, as the amount of tools Ridgid manufactures is approximately 300.
They also carry many power tools, many of which are manufactured by TTI (Techtronic Industries). Among their list of power tools, hand tools, and other products, Ridgid also carries wet/dry vacs that are mainly made by their parent company, Emerson Electric.