At professional-power-tool-guide.com we always love to read other people’s power tool reviews, even though we test and review power tools here. While some people present valid reviews, once in a while we see reviews that are so far off we have to laugh. One example of this is a recent Popular Mechanic review here. Now we are not ridiculing Popular Mechanics, we are just commenting on a particular review.
Everyone is entitled to write one bad review, and Popular Mechanics gets the prize this time with regards to the reciprocating saw. What’s just as bad, we found other blogs that took this review and published it without even thinking twice about it. Anyway, when you read reviews on power tools, make sure the writer is comparing apples to apples. Is it the same amps, same HP, is one tool meant for the jobsite and the other a home user? Are they using the same blade and same force?
With regards to this review on reciprocating saws, we are not negative , in fact we think the Milwaukee Sawzall is the best reciprocating saw on the market. Persoanlly, for the money, we like the 13 amp over the 15 amp. The Dewalt, Craftsman and Black and Decker are all very nice reciprocating saws.
There are a couple of reasons we don’t like this review. First the amps are not even the same. The Milwaukee has 15 amps, Dewalt has 13 amps, Craftsman has 12 amps and the Black and Decker has only 9.5 amps. Now in a sense amps measure the electrical current, not the power, but amps do indirectly let us know about the power of the tool. There is a big difference between 15 amps and 9.5 amps.
Second mistake on this review is the blade comparison. While the video doesn’t show the Black and Decker being tested, on the picture they have a wood blade, not a multi pupose blade. This might just be a stock photo, and duing the test a multi purpose blade was used.
The third item is the manufacturers. While we think it is ok to compare the Milwaukee to a Dewalt because these are professional power tools, the Black and Decker doesn’t fit as these are designed for a weekend warrior or home use. Again, there is nothing wrong with a Black and Decker. This saw just doesn’t belong in this review comparison. The review would have been better comparing just popular professional tools.
The Tiger Saw by Porter Cable is a great saw. Another is the Makita. We think a better or more accurate test would have been a Milwaukee, Dewalt, Makita, Bosch, Hitachi and Porter Cable. All with the same, or close to the same amps.
In Summary, our point is when you read power tool reviews, take a close look at what people are comparing. Are they comparing apples to apples or is it apples to oranges.
You guys are right on. I have seen so many reviews that do not make sense. Not sure, but I believe a lot of these people who do reviews have never picked up a tool in their life. I have seen some very bad reviews out there.
Great article. I see so many reviews out there who just copy other people’s reviews and post them, they don’t test them. Some of these reviews shouldn’t even be floating around the internet. Personally I like your reviews, but would like to see some head to head comparisions. By the way this is a great resource for real power tools, I like the addition of the Hilti information you guys provide.