This week, Jim thinks DeWALT has a winner on their hands, Dave adds a bit of FLEX to his collection, TBB find the best circular saw for 2022, We add 2 grand in EGO to a prize shelf, this crazy tape breaks $2 million on Kickstarter, and much much more! THIS is your power tool week in review.
Welcome back power tool fans, we’ve got all of this week’s power tool news, However…if you’re here in the first 60 minutes after the video goes live at 5, you could win our weekly $50 gift card. Details are below, but first, we have to start with THE Rob Robillard, and his team of talented tool testers.
Tool Box Buzz | Head 2 Head
This time around, they set out to determine which circular saw is the very best of 2022. And as with every Tool Box Buzz Head 2 head, this was some serious business.
Now specifically, Rob was looking for the best cordless 7 ¼” circular saw. The contenders come from DeWALT, Hilti, Makita, Metabo HPT, Milwaukee, Ridgid, Ryobi, and Kobalt. The testing was as thorough as we’ve grown to expect from TBB, including accuracy, power, speed, all measured through a series of tests and custom rigs built by his team of pros. These are always fun to watch, so no hints this time. When you’ve got 32 minutes, head over to Tool Box Buzz.
Philly Fixed | DeWALT XR Drill Driver
James Robert Davis, American cartoonist and tool tester, is back testing drills, this time getting his hot hands on the all new DeWALT DCD800 XR drill driver.
The drill has only just hit the shelves at Home Depot, and Jim was fast to get it first. He runs it through his typical testing, up against the 791 it’s replacing, the FLEX non turbo model, and the Milwaukee non FUEL model as well, keeping the competition firmly in the mid-tier category. There’s actually a lot to unpack in this comparo, after drilling some fairly large holes with spade and auger bits, driving some huge lags, and even measuring torque with a quinn unit, and the numbers don’t disappoint.
This is important, as Jim reminds us, that DeWALT likes to measure the power in their tools in Unit Watts Out, which is a unit of measurement that they made up, which is super useful if… well… if you work in a DeWALT lab… I guess. Anyways, for the rest of us, Jim does a great job of laying out the numbers you should see, before choosing your next drill. The whole story is at Philly Fixed.
Man Caver Tools | FLEX Drill Driver
Swinging over to Man Caver Tools, Dave continues to put his new FLEX tools to the test, this week focusing on the FLEX Drill Driver.
This is his first video with this drill, in which he usually introduces the tool, specs, and then proceeds to break in the tool with a bunch of over the top tests. This often leads to lockups, smoke, overheating, and this time was no different. But of course as with any first time tool, Dave’s just getting started. He’s got an entire wall of drill drivers to test this against in many head 2 heads in the coming weeks. But for now you can get his first impressions, and a taste for the trials ahead, all over at Man Caver Tools.
Tool Review Zone | RYOBI Cordless Sliding Compound Miter Saw
Clint over in the tool Review zone, got his hands on two of the most interesting new HP tools yet, from the team at RYOBI. Now I know Clint loves to pronounce it Rye-obi, which is… fun. And he recently told me, to my face, that he says that, just to get me upset. But I’m not. It’s all fun in games but it’s RYOBI. Anyways.
Clint has been testing the new RYOBI 10” HP Cordless Sliding Compound Miter saw, and the highly anticipated RYOBI 8 ¼” cordless Table Saw. And as I mentioned before, these are both RYOBI ONE + HP tools. The HP stands for Hold on Partner! Because even cowboys could put these to use on the jobsite. Or something like that. It also means that when you use their high performance batteries, you’ll get better performance.
Clint spent the day testing all of the various features on both saws, and found them to be really rather good. Not only was performance up to par, but he was quick to point out that these tools are far more affordable compared to the pro tools he’s used to. He did however have a few minor gripes like a slower startup on both saws, and a slow brake on the miter saw. But he loved the fence, the adjustments were easy, and both tools were square out of the box. Clint also mentions that the sheet of ply he used for testing was $3,500, so to recoup some of that costs, he’ll be selling the scrap to viewers. So if you could use a few pieces, head over to the Tool Review Zone.
Belts And Boxes | HART Event
In case you missed it, Rob and I were visiting our friends at HART last week, which is why last week’s show was shot in the lobby of TTI, home to HART, RYOBI and RIDGID. We were there to shoot a Talk Shop LIVE event for HART and Walmart, where we got to build a project, and talk with viewers about the HART line of DIY Tools. That was a ton of fun, and the event was only supposed to be up for 24 hours. Yet as of Wednesday this week, it was still up if you want to go check it out. You (FOR NOW) can find that here. DIY Project Must-Have Tools by HART Tools (talkshop.live)
But that wasn’t the only reason we were at HART. Last Thursday, we joined a bunch of our power tool buddies for a HART outdoor power tool event, where we got to try all of their latest OPE tools, and saw the unveiling of their all new riding mower. That thing has 80V of power, and drives like a race car. At one point Rob was racing Kenny from PTR, and even after they both cheated, I felt like they probably tied. I also got to use chainsaws, which is always a good time. We’ll be publishing a video next week detailing our experience, so be sure to keep an eye out for that.
HAYES Machinery Prize Shelf
We have an empty prize shelf on the set. That’s true, thanks to James and our friends at Hayes Machinery, we now have our first Outdoor power equipment prize shelf, filled with $2,000 worth of EGO goodies, including their 21” select cut mower, their power head with several attachments, and much much more. And of course thanks to our Production Crew Sponsor, Spyder, the winner will also receive several Spyder drill bits, blades and such, all of which you can shoot out of the crazy 765 CFM blower. If you’re new to the channel, once a month Sarah and I go live on a Saturday, and randomly choose a channel member from our ranks, call them, and let them pick one of four shelves, each with over $2,000 worth of new power tools to take home. For more details, check the description.
Shop Class Heroes
We’re also excited to be working on our second month of Shop Class Heroes where we give at least $1,000 worth of new power tools to a Shop Class that could use it. We encourage our members to chip in each month if they’re able, and this month we have some unbelievable contributions from Scott Morris, Cliff Leighton, Austin Patrick, and Gary Nansel.
These fine gentlemen together donated an unbelievable $1,000 to this month’s class, which means we’ll be spending $2,000 so far on these kids. I don’t even know what to say to you guys. It means so much to us that you want to do good for others. So thank you. If any of you would like to add to that number, you can find a donation option at the bottom of our merch store at shop.beltsandboxes.com.
Pro Tool Reviews | HILTI Nuron 22v Hammer Drill
We’ve got a couple more videos to cover before we go, starting with Pro Tool Reviews, where Josh tries out the new Hilti Nuron 22V Hammer Drill.
It’s exciting to see these new Nuron tools show up in tool tests. After putting the drill to work, Josh seemed to find a lot to like about the new pride of Liechtenstein. This is the Hilti Nuron SF 6H-22, boasting over 700 inch pounds of torque, and 2000 no load RPM. But beyond the power, Josh liked the rubber bumpers, LED light placement and the all metal chuck. There were a few things he didn’t like, but none of them were deal breakers. Of course being Nuron, the drill has a heavy focus on safety with their active torque control, which is incredibly important to tradespeople who will be using this in concrete every day. Of course the PTR team got a whole crate of new Nuron tools, so be sure you subscribe while you’re there, so you don’t miss any of them.
REEKON Tools | T1 Tomahawk Digital Tape Measure
Last of all, a few weeks ago we had a special visitor here at the Belts And Boxes studio, Christian Reed, CEO of REEKON Tools. He came by to show us their latest innovation in construction data collection, this, the T1 Tomahawk Digital Tape Measure. It comes on the heels of their first product, the hugely successful M1 Caliber, a digital gauge for your miter saw.
Now the tomahawk is not your father’s tape measure. This thing is a bit of a beast, but not a single inch of space is wasted. Besides the obvious digital readout, there’s a genius e-ink screen that allows you to instantly document your measurements on the fly, and that’s just the beginning.
Christian gave us a full demonstration that we’ll be sharing in a future video, but trust me, this thing almost defies explanation, and the rest of the world seems to agree with me so far. They launched their kickstarter campaign only a few weeks ago, and it’s already at a staggering 2.2 million dollars with nearly 10,000 backers, and there’s still 29 days yet to go! When it launches, the T1 will cost $259, but The earliest of adopters were able to order theirs for as little as $189.
As of today, you can still get one for $229. We’ve been using the M1, and a prototype of the T1 for the last month or so, and they’re both ridiculously cool tools. I’ll be honest, when I first saw this tomahawk, I thought there was no way I’d want a tape this big, but once you learn to take advantage of all the features, I’d easily make room for it on my tool belt, if only so I never have to write down a measurement on a scrap piece of wood again. If you want to learn more, we’ll link to the kickstarter campaign below.
Have a Good Weekend
I don’t know how long our show is at this point ,but believe it or not, we still had to leave some things off. It was a busy week! On Tuesday we published a Breaking News video with new tools from Milwaukee, DeWALT, Ridgid and RYOBI. It was over 8 minutes long. Well now I need a nap. If you guys like the show, I’d be grateful for a thumbs up, and of course if you loved it, I hope you subscribe. If you can, do something kind for someone else this weekend, and we’ll see you next week.
