We recently posted "Battle of the Brands" power tool surveys in our favorite woodworking forums.
The results are in, and here's what you'll find in this article:
Porter Cable Power Tools
1) The Battle of the Brands TOP TEN
2) Battle of the Brands Extended List with Tools
3) Top Ten Most Searched on ToolCrib.com
This is not intended to be a buying guide. I think it could give you a good starting point, but there are so many factors that come in to play when making a tool purchase decision, first and foremost being how you plan to use the tool.
The kind woodworkers at
WoodNet,
FamilyWoodworking
and LumberJocks
who contributed to this project are "extreme hobbyists" and professionals (THANKS FOLKS!!!).
For my DIY home remodeling readers, please consider that while higher quality tools do produce higher quality results, you're better off starting with tools that are very comfortably within your price range and using them until their lower levels of accuracy start to hinder your work.
I found it interesting that of the top 10 in the battle of the brands, 7 of them match with results from our top ten most-searched tools on ToolCrib.
Enough ado. Here are the results. Rev the drill please (in place of drum roll...)
1) The Battle of the Brands TOP TEN
1) Porter Cable: 15 votes
2) Bosch: 11
3) DeWALT: 9
4) Milwaukee: 9
5) Delta: 9
6) Makita: 5
7) Festool: 5
8) Powermatic: 3
9) Jet: 3
10) Triton: 2
2) Battle of the Brands Extended List with Tools
1) Porter Cable: 15 votes
Routers
jig saws
belt sanders
2) Bosch: 11
Jig Saws
Cordless Drills
Hammer Drills
3) DeWalt: 9
random orbit sander
Biscuit Jointer
corded drill
4) Milwaukee: 9
drills
Sawzall
routers
5) Delta: 9
Jointer
Table Saw
air nailer
6) Makita: 5
Cordless Drills
Routers
Random Orbit Sanders
7) Festool: 5
random orbit sander
circular saw
8) Powermatic: 3
9) Jet: 3
Table saw
band saw
10) Triton: 2
router
11) Ryobi: 2
drills
oscillating spindle sander
12) Rigid: 2
chop saw
13) Grizzly: 2
14) Steel City: 1
15) MiniMax: 1
Bandsaws
16) Woodmaster: 1
Planer
17) SawStop: 1
Table Saw
18) Panasonic: 1
cordless drills
19) Rikon: 1
Band Saw
20) Hitachi: 1
drill Framing gun
21) Skil: 1
Circular saw 1
22) Hawk: 1
scroll saw
3) Top Ten Most Searched on ToolCrib.com
1) DeWALT 20%
2) Porter Cable 14%
3) Bosch 13%
4) Makita 12%
5) Delta 10%
6) Hitachi 9%
7) Milwaukee 8%
8) Jet 7%
9) Bostitch 5%
10) Panasonic 2%