Saturday, November 07, 2009
The Week In Tools: Toolmonger Top 5
Toolmonger: "It’s been a busy week here at Toolmonger. If you’ve been spending time in the shop — you should! — and you haven’t had a chance to keep up with Toolmonger this week, we suggest you start with these posts, which our readers helped to select"
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7 comments:
Of the 5 articles here, I was most struck by the merger between Black & Decker and Stanley. I have always thought that the quality of Stanley tools was higher than that of Black & Decker and will be curious to see how this merger effects the relative quality of both brands. Additionally I am intrigued at the prospect of these two well known tool companies becoming one. I wonder how the branding will be dealt with. I think for any shop worker, seeing either brand disappear from the shelves will be a confusing and upsetting moment.
Like Berger, I was a little surprised to hear that Black & Decker and Stanley were merging. I'm not a real fan of either of their products, so I'll be interested in seeing how the merger affects their products. While I'd like to think that something good will come of this merger, I'm worried that the bottom line of ok quality tools will drop a little lower.
What struck me most about the Stanly-Black & Decker article was how many brands they own. I mean I tend to avoid Black & Decker but seem to like Delta Machinery and DeWalt tools and I didn't know they were all owned by the same people. I wonder what the merger will do to Stanly and Black & Decker's product quality and I hope we don't see the product names disappear off the shelves.
Also, the 4D mag light comes in handy more often than not. While is quite heavy to tote around it nice to have when you really need it. What I find amusing is that often times when you use it,it has nothing to do with needing to see.
Wow, I didn't know Black and Decker was such a monster! Its sort of funny too because B&D gear usually isn't that great, however some of the companies it owns like Delta and Dewalt and Porter Cable do make very solid tools. I guess that's what happens when you appeal to different consumer markets. I've always been a fan of most Stanley gear which is why I'm sort of happy to hear about this merge. Perhaps it will bring the quality of B&D gear up. I am a little wary about a lot of these mergers lately though. Philips took over VL, CK, Strand....hmmm
Last week I was complaining that all of the project posts are about cars, and this week they came out with a pseudo-woodworking project. Still, I'd like to see a bit more detail and challenge, but I'll have to eat my words from before.
Articles elsewhere have suggested that the Stanley Aquisition of Black and Decker is going to have to deal with some anti-trust scrutiny before it can go through. While this industry isn't as monopolized as some, I think this is still a good question. Black & Decker, Dewalt, Stanley, Porter-Cable, and Delta all under the same roof is a pretty big portion of the market share. When you look at the power tool selection at Home Depot, will there really be much competition within the reasonable price range of hobby/amature folks?
I had no idea that Black and Decker was up for being bought. This is so surprising. I relatively like both of these companies, but I had no idea that they were looking to merge.
The solar panel thing looks very cool. The amount of power it can provide is very cool. I also love that it comes in a cooler!
The 4D maglite is a classic that can't be ignored when looking at tools. I have had Wanna-be maglites and they never live up to the standards that maglite has for durability and production standards. The merger between stanley & BD is interesting because this could potentially produce tools that could be used by hand but also driven with the cordless technology of BD. The laser level look cool and seems to have improvement over previous models.
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