The best tool reviewers online?

[jsackin]

Was wondering who your go-to guys were for tool reviews online.

Jori
HJE

 

[ADSR]

Real Tool Reviews

 

[Greg85mcss]

I like real tool reviews & eric the car guy. Both are unbiased & do reviews of truck brand & more affordable high quality tools. There are other reviewers that focus on more affordable tools (husky, tekton, hf...) like tools in action.
Disclaimer: I own & professionally use tools from about every brand out there so let's not turn this thread into a debacle like the snap on vs hf threads.


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[anndel]

Same here, Real Tool Reviews (Daniel and team) and Eric the Car Guy (Eric Cook) but my #1 choice is here on GJ where the REAL tools are reviewed by REAL people, not actors, who really use them daily if not yearly.

 

[VoodooCLD]

Uhhhhh, GarageJournal? I much prefer to have an open unedited discussion about the quality of a tool rather than some person just blabbing about it. Especially when 99% of the time they are given the tool.

 

[ADSR]

Uhhhhh, GarageJournal? I much prefer to have an open unedited discussion about the quality of a tool rather than some person just blabbing about it. Especially when 99% of the time they are given the tool.

That works too

 

[MyHybridBurnsGasandTires]

toolguyd

 

[FigureItOut]

I enjoy the power tool teardowns by AvE. He's very knowledgeable but also I think a bit of cynic about anything new. He tends to poo on tools that aren't built the he would do it, regardless of effectiveness. Of course that's why you watch , for opinions. I bet he's a member here.
I like the others mentioned so far also, for the most part. I subscribe to real tool reviews and have bought or placed into my Amazon cart many things after his videos. He's kinda the opposite, he won't really explicitly say he doesn't like something, but you can catch onto it. He has some very good non-review, informative videos also. I really enjoy his video on air pressure.

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[PureLeaf]

I agree, AvE is good. Tears tools apart, critically evaluates them all.

I don't like Real Tool Reviews. Often seems like the products he's getting are because he might be sponsored or paid for. Like all the BETA tools showing up. Seems to lack a consistent list of points to evaluate all tools by, usually omits country of origin too. But thats just my personal opinion.

In my opinion, I try to gather as many as reviews as I can from as many places. Critically evaluate them all, and make my own decision based upon many viewpoints.

 

[djb25]

I third AvE. He doesn't review all the new stuff, it's mostly just random reviews of things he gets his hands on, but he actually tears the tools down and analyzes every component. His review of the festool track saw is fantastic and really eye-opening.

The main thing he shows is that price doesn't equal quality. Instead, he shows the weaknesses built into the tools. It's interesting to see how some of the components are nice and others are very cheap.

 

[ADSR]

AvE sure is a strange fellow canuck. lol

 

[General Geoff]

AvE is impressed by the tool manufacturers' uncanny ability to engineer to a price point consistently.

 

[neonlazer]

Same here, Real Tool Reviews (Daniel and team) and Eric the Car Guy (Eric Cook)

You're telling me his name is Eric Cook...LOL Richard from Trusty Cook is going to get one hell of a laugh when he finds out the irony of me wanting him to send Eric some of the hammers to review.

 

[anndel]

You're telling me his name is Eric Cook...LOL Richard from Trusty Cook is going to get one hell of a laugh when he finds out the irony of me wanting him to send Eric some of the hammers to review.

Hey maybe they're related. Eric's dad was a mechanic back in the day.

 

[bonneyman]

toolguyd

Agreed! That guy has cost me some money.

 

[BMack37]

I agree, AvE is good. Tears tools apart, critically evaluates them all.

I don't like Real Tool Reviews. Often seems like the products he's getting are because he might be sponsored or paid for. Like all the BETA tools showing up. Seems to lack a consistent list of points to evaluate all tools by, usually omits country of origin too. But thats just my personal opinion.

In my opinion, I try to gather as many as reviews as I can from as many places. Critically evaluate them all, and make my own decision based upon many viewpoints.

The thing I don't like about real Tool reviews is that he turns what can be a 3 min video into a 9 minute video. "This drill comes with two batteries, a 4Ah battery and a 2Ah battery. To install the 4Ah battery, insert it into the handle and push firmly until it clicks in. To remove the battery, squeeze the sides and pull, the battery will come right out. The 2.0Ah battery is the same, you insert the battery into the..."

 

[anndel]

Agreed! That guy has cost me some money.

I almost lost my house because if the GJ website

 

[retDAC]

The thing I don't like about real Tool reviews is that he turns what can be a 3 min video into a 9 minute video. "This drill comes with two batteries, a 4Ah battery and a 2Ah battery. To install the 4Ah battery, insert it into the handle and push firmly until it clicks in. To remove the battery, squeeze the sides and pull, the battery will come right out. The 2.0Ah battery is the same, you insert the battery into the..."

That is probably a courtesy to viewers who have no tool experience. Those folks do exist!

 

[mikebaker1129]

Real tool reviews.

 

[K-Dog]

What is AvE ?

 

[jobo1004]

What is AvE ?

 

[K-Dog]

Thanks

 

[tjpavlov]

I enjoy reading toolguyd. Pretty mainstream tools featured.

 

[Fedwrench]

I'm skeptical about any online tool reviewer. I think many of them like Eric the car guy or Scotty Kilmer have sold out to get free tools or compensation.
I do like real tool reviews but, I also find that he tends to review few tools that interest me lately.
Even magazines like PTEN or Professional Distributor are often nothing more than a collection of manufacturers press releases. They're great for being alerted about new tool releases but, that's it.
The main issue I have with the journal, gazette, and other tool forums is that the same arguments about, price, country of origin, 12 point versus 6 point, satin vs polished get hashed and rehashed repeatedly. Few people here would accept a Taiwan made tool line regardless of great the tools are.
Then again, I'm suspicious as to why epstein's wants to know who the best tool reviewers are.

 

[jallyn]

For me I look for un-biased reviews and lots of different perspectives. So GJ is my #1 source.

And if there are more than 10 reviews for a particular tool I will put some stock in to Amazon and read quite a few of the top reviews and the most recent reviews. Of course on Amazon there are also clueless consumers so I read those with a grain of salt.

I will read ALL the reviews on HF if I am considering an item because of the likelihood to get poor quality there if you don't know what you are buying. So that takes a little time, but informs me and saves me money on certain purchases. I'll even read Amazon reviews for HF items if they exist. Who pays extra on Amazon for HF vs the store? I don't know, but I want to know their experience before buying myself.

Otherwise ToolGuyd is OK, but he is only one guy and gets lots of his stuff for free...so not exactly un-biased.

I have watched a few Real Tool Reviews but again, one guy who gets lots of things for free.

I have watched a few Eric the Car Guy videos when doing auto maintenance but did not realize he reviews tools as well. Good to know...

I have heard of AvE but am not really in the market for power tools often so I have not sought him out.

I guess the strategy for me is reading lots of un-biased reviews, throwing out ones when they don't know what they are talking about, and looking for consensus or at least somewhat consistent results.

 

[Milwookie]

Then again, I'm suspicious as to why epstein's wants to know who the best tool reviewers are.

I'm guessing so they can advertise with them.

 

[TheGrooveking]

I agree with Ave and Real Tool Reviews reviews because they quantify things into non-opinion, they actually measure things and show how that is done. Eric The Cay Guy gives real world reviews based on actual usage, and even though he may receive some things for free most of his reviews are for tools he has personally bought and I don't see a correlation with him having any bias towards to free stuff, he calls it the way he sees them.

The magazine Tools of the Trade does a good job evaluating and comparing tools objectively and are a wealth of knowledge and between the ones I've listed and ToolGuyd, CopTool review I have no problem spending more money than I should.

There are a few reviewers online that are biased and seem to blow whichever way the winds of free stuff flows, I base me decision on how much the reviewer actually makes his bread and butter (income) using such tools.

TheGrooveking

 

[lightning02]

I'm skeptical about any online tool reviewer. I think many of them like Eric the car guy or Scotty Kilmer have sold out to get free tools or compensation.
I do like real tool reviews but, I also find that he tends to review few tools that interest me lately.
Even magazines like PTEN or Professional Distributor are often nothing more than a collection of manufacturers press releases. They're great for being alerted about new tool releases but, that's it.
The main issue I have with the journal, gazette, and other tool forums is that the same arguments about, price, country of origin, 12 point versus 6 point, satin vs polished get hashed and rehashed repeatedly. Few people here would accept a Taiwan made tool line regardless of great the tools are.
Then again, I'm suspicious as to why epstein's wants to know who the best tool reviewers are.

Eric the car guy is forsure a sell out. lets not even include all the shady things hes been doing on cars that are VERY questionable. i understand sometimes there is a budget but that doesnt mean you do unsafe or halfass ****. iv lost alot of respect for him. i just watch him now to see what his new crazy stunt is to fix something lol

south main auto repair is 100times better.

 

[hotspaws]

REAL TOOL REVIEWS
https://www.youtube.com/user/dmcguinn1/videos
is the best no one else will go to the trouble of showing you run time like drilling 100 holes with the latest drill into a piece of wood or putting 500 rivets into a piece of sheet metal. It takes so much time and effort to make these if you can't appreciate that I don't know what to say.

I also like Toolboss

 

[Tenex]

I watch many of the videos from Real Tool Reviews. He seems fairly unbiased, but sometimes it's just so ******** painfully patronizing of the viewers. Per example:

"The best part about the 120XP's is the extremely small swing arc. Which means the movement that they take to move a fastener. It is only 3 degrees because there are 120 positions, or 120 clicks, in a full circle of one of these. So if you want to imagine like a clock and it might have 60 seconds on the second hand going around, there's 360 degrees in a circle, divided by 60 seconds, each second movement is 6 degrees. The 120XP's only need half a second, or 3 degrees, to actually click."

AvE is great and I can appreciate his attitude as a fellow cynic. Those two bickering fools at Tools In Action drive me insane. Eric the Car Guy is meh.

 

[losvre]

For me is GJ. There is no better review than an evaluation of a tool from someone who has used it for at least a few months or quite a few hours.

Best of GJ is that you ask questions at any time of the day and they always are answered

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[BMack37]

I watch many of the videos from Real Tool Reviews. He seems fairly unbiased, but sometimes it's just so ******** painfully patronizing of the viewers. Per example:

"The best part about the 120XP's is the extremely small swing arc. Which means the movement that they take to move a fastener. It is only 3 degrees because there are 120 positions, or 120 clicks, in a full circle of one of these. So if you want to imagine like a clock and it might have 60 seconds on the second hand going around, there's 360 degrees in a circle, divided by 60 seconds, each second movement is 6 degrees. The 120XP's only need half a second, or 3 degrees, to actually click."

AvE is great and I can appreciate his attitude as a fellow cynic. Those two bickering fools at Tools In Action drive me insane. Eric the Car Guy is meh.

Don't forget that he'll explain to you how..."If you move this lever here *holds it to camera* will change the direction in which you ratchet. In this direction *holds up to camera*, you will tighten a bolt. *Tightens a bolt* ...but just by switching this lever *holds it up to camera again* you can loosen up the bolt, using only 3 degrees per click, you just tightened. *Unscrews bolt holds it up to camera and smiles*."

 

[kctyphoon]

What is AvE ?

I believe ( I could be wrong) he is the same guy that resurfaced his rotors with a palm sander, and called oscillating tools a useless invention..

The real tools review channel is the best by far. I think his rate of growth has increased a lot too. It's the most in depth reviews posted online, and EVERY video he does is consistently well done. To address the last comment, yea he spends time describing common sense things, but I'm sure it's done so people that are just learning don't leave with any unanswered questions. I'm sure the vendors like it too. No detail is left out, there is never any need to watch any other review after his.

I use to watch "tools in action" - but they have basically decided they are more interested in sitting back and filling their garage with free **** from vendors in a return for a 5 minute YouTube commercial that does nothing but read the outside of outside of the box. When they actually gave a ****, they would do nice comparisons and pinned tools against each other so you could see a side by side comparison is torque and battery life. Now IN THEIR OWN WORDS, they are not really a review channel, they just show you the box and tell you a little about it.
It does nothing more for you than reading the box yourself and the description on any website. They should rename the channel "Tool INACTION"..

 

[Jim Diesel]

Same here, Real Tool Reviews (Daniel and team) and Eric the Car Guy (Eric Cook) but my #1 choice is here on GJ where the REAL tools are reviewed by REAL people, not actors, who really use them daily if not yearly.

Another vote for these guys. Also GJ is an asset

 

[azhatchback]

I watch all the mentioned ones too. I like sparky channel as well. He seems to be pretty fair in tool comparisons.

I really like the knipex reviews on real tools.

I like Donyboy73. He has good info on small engine stuff. He has a decent review on vampliers extraction pliers and a few other tools.

 

[PCMusicGuy]

I've seen all of the ones mentioned and they are all good in their own way. I also read protoolreviews.com which I didn't see mentioned yet.

 

[jsackin]

Then again, I'm suspicious as to why epstein's wants to know who the best tool reviewers are.

A long time customer of ours is a tool rep for the drill bit company Bic Tool in Japan. They visited us in KC recently to show off this new drill bit design they've come up with they're calling GEKKOU. Now I know what you're thinking. New drill bit. Yeah right. About 99% of the time I am completely unimpressed with new tool designs as well, but they brought in a demo kit and let us try them.

The design change is that they've taken a cobalt bit and put two cutouts in the head so instead of having the bit grind down on the metal and shave off little pieces, it digs in and cuts out spirals of steel. Goes a lot quicker and supposedly lasts a whole lot longer than a normal bit. They had a thick plate of stainless they let us drill through, and I gotta say, it felt pretty easy to go through stainless.

I sent samples out to some of our customers who love abusing tools, and they gave the thumbs but, but I also wanted to have a tool reviewer test them out and really do a good comparison to see how long they last. We aren't carrying them yet, but that was my motivation. We primarily sell Norseman bits, which I think are great, and we will continue to sell them. These would be an additional higher end bit that would primarily be for people that are really counting their holes, machinists, manufacturers, etc.

Jori
HJE

 

[neonlazer]

A long time customer of ours is a tool rep for the drill bit company Bic Tool in Japan. They visited us in KC recently to show off this new drill bit design they've come up with they're calling GEKKOU. Now I know what you're thinking. New drill bit. Yeah right. About 99% of the time I am completely unimpressed with new tool designs as well, but they brought in a demo kit and let us try them.

The design change is that they've taken a cobalt bit and put two cutouts in the head so instead of having the bit grind down on the metal and shave off little pieces, it digs in and cuts out spirals of steel. Goes a lot quicker and supposedly lasts a whole lot longer than a normal bit. They had a thick plate of stainless they let us drill through, and I gotta say, it felt pretty easy to go through stainless.

I sent samples out to some of our customers who love abusing tools, and they gave the thumbs but, but I also wanted to have a tool reviewer test them out and really do a good comparison to see how long they last. We aren't carrying them yet, but that was my motivation. We primarily sell Norseman bits, which I think are great, and we will continue to sell them. These would be an additional higher end bit that would primarily be for people that are really counting their holes, machinists, manufacturers, etc.

Jori
HJE

Ah, well since your dealing with high end drill bits, if you want to put them to the real test, Abom79 might be able to assist as he is a machinist. He doesn't really do reviews, but sure he could let you know how they hold up.(He is also my latest youtube addiction)

https://www.youtube.com/user/Abom79/featured

 

[jsackin]

Thanks for all the suggestions guys!

 

[BMack37]

A long time customer of ours is a tool rep for the drill bit company Bic Tool in Japan. They visited us in KC recently to show off this new drill bit design they've come up with they're calling GEKKOU. Now I know what you're thinking. New drill bit. Yeah right. About 99% of the time I am completely unimpressed with new tool designs as well, but they brought in a demo kit and let us try them.

The design change is that they've taken a cobalt bit and put two cutouts in the head so instead of having the bit grind down on the metal and shave off little pieces, it digs in and cuts out spirals of steel. Goes a lot quicker and supposedly lasts a whole lot longer than a normal bit. They had a thick plate of stainless they let us drill through, and I gotta say, it felt pretty easy to go through stainless.

I sent samples out to some of our customers who love abusing tools, and they gave the thumbs but, but I also wanted to have a tool reviewer test them out and really do a good comparison to see how long they last. We aren't carrying them yet, but that was my motivation. We primarily sell Norseman bits, which I think are great, and we will continue to sell them. These would be an additional higher end bit that would primarily be for people that are really counting their holes, machinists, manufacturers, etc.

Jori
HJE

In that case Real Tool Reviews, toolsinaction and AvE are who I'd recommend. I give RTR a lot of **** because he insists on explaining basics in a painfully slow manner but he will also devote a few hours to drilling into a block of wood, steel or concrete for his viewer's sake(which should deserve some respect and appreciation).

TiA is less formal, a more fun kind of channel, but they will test it out give you their impressions and put the bit in the hands of a professional to test it long-term. They also have a forum for discussion which is something RTR and AvE lacks.

AvE is entertaining to watch but he'd probably try it out, explain how it works or how it might not work but he doesn't really do any long term stuff. BUT he's the only machinist listed in this thread. From what I gather, he's also really slow to do anything someone sends to him unless he's excited about it, he's pretty upfront about the fact that he does stuff on his own time.

I'd personally would like to hear from all three but I have no idea how much these cost and how much the info is worth to you. AvE is in Canada but he has a rather large viewer base and it crosses into a lot of different fields, mostly helpful to you...machinists.