Wow Mat… 
There is a terrific range of stuff everywhere… and each person will swear by their own particular, preferred brand…
For everyone who praises something… there is someone who had a disaster with said product… 
So, it really is difficult to decide which is best… Personally, OH goes with what catches his eye… the price… the accessories… and the back-up (if available). Sometimes you win… and sometimes you lose… that’s how it goes… I guess.
And those are just photos from my barn!
… (not really but my wife seems to think so!)
There seems to be a frenzy to buy cordless tools, vacuums, etc. The honeymoon is well and truly over when you find out how much a genuine replacement battery will cost. And if you are the sort of person that uses tools carefully and not on a daily basis, those replacement batteries may not even be available by the time you need them.
Quite willing to accept that Makita are just as good or perhaps even better, with a wider range but the trouble is once you start down a road you are somewhat committed with batteries and chargers etc.
Absolutely agree.
That does lend to the argument of using the same battery but in lots of different tools so you only need a couple of batteries.
Have a Makita cordless drill and an orbital sander - both of which perform well.
Cordless tools have really come of age with improvement in battery and motor technology but they are a bit like cameras and lens systems - once you have bought into a particular battery system you are stuck.
As I said and although I do rotate two or three batteries between tools and charger I’ m stll efectively a Bosch baby unless I choose to start again or run parallel systems.
we were having a constructive discussion before you made your feelings becoming facts, it isn’t because some french fonctionnaires tell you that you don’t have the right to benefit from this or that, that they are right. Plenty of people are not competent.
Now as a british person and Citizen, the fact that you consider that you pay more than what France really gives you back, is the sign of your anglo-saxonism.
If I was living in the USA, for doing the same job (anti-money laundering detective in a bank), I would earn between two or three times of my actual wage. That’s right. I would also had to pay between 30% and 40% of income tax (recently less than 9% in France surprising right ?) in general. I would also have to pay 10% of my annual income to benefit a real healthcare system.
If i would loose my job in the USA, no unemployment benefits and no more healthcare system. In France, once you have paid social fees on a wage, and I really insist on that word, a wage, for at least two years, you can benefit it for two years. So overall, yes wages tend to be lower, but I really consider that french pay less. If you consider what americans have to pay on their own for example.
In France, you pay more, but you benefit more. And the fact that plenty of costs are held public and mutualized by the community, it becomes cheaper finally. But foreigners have some difficulties to admit it and don’t understand our way of thinking, not the socialism, the fact that we choose to put a lot of costs in common to make it cheaper. And it works !
I don’t consider the french model to be the best, I just consider it to be more “equality-friendly”.
One of my best friend is working on his own, he has a car mechanic garage. He has been working in the USA during three years, on his own and also as an employee. He came back to France knowing he would make less money, but would have a better quality of life and a better welfare supporting state as an entrepreneur. His opinion really matters to me, because he is an entrepreneur and decided France was better for him. Last winter, he had to stop working for two weeks following a needed surgery brain operation (AVC warning). His mutuelle santé and everything were taken in charge, he had three meals at the hospital per day for example. Now as he is not salarying himself, he had less stuff taken in charge, but he knew it and is okay with it. Let’s be honest I am not meaning opposing the american to the french one. They are just different and will fit to really different people. If you really want to create, to be an entrepreneur go to the US. Now if you are looking for more relaxed pace and an another quality of life, well Europe is the place.
In France that’s the deal, you want to be part of the show, pay your ticket, create employment, maintain it and pay social fees on every wage. You want more freedom and more money in your pocket ? Great, you don’t pay social fees, or at least less, much much less, but if there is a problem it’s for you. To me that’s a fair deal and for my friend too.
Now I won’t argue or tell you how your comments toward french people and their lack of community spirit really offend me, because that’s what SOME anglo-saxons like to think about us and want to think about us. When I read british tabloids about France, well…
Life in France is what you make about it. So if you complain, you will only see the bad parts. I don’t think that way
Not all Anglo Saxons. I’m with you all of the way.
We (the royal we) were discussing the pluses and minuses of life here yesterday and came to the conclusion that France is not better or worse than the UK it just has a different way of doing things and that making a success of life here is about getting the balance right which should really apply to wherever you live. There are many things that frustrate us like crazy but at the same time we know we would not be able have the same lifestyle in the UK so we’ve just learnt to accept the madness (others may call it something else).
hahaha “the Madness”, you perfectly found the right word ! I am just sorry for your daily inconvenience, and I am the first to feel the same like you most of the time. Especially when calling Orange and EDF Customer service… but that’s another story…
Now let’s talk about Makita
I’m one-quarter French, so that helps me to accept the madness… 
and I rely on my rose-coloured glasses for the rest…
OH and I… we love living here… it is a challenge… always something new to learn and/or discover.
People tend to treat us in the same way as we treat them… so, lots of smiles and much fun and laughter.
@letstryagain. Well we thought we were Bosch babies, until we went to but a new hedge trimmer a week or so ago and found that our old batteries will no longer fit as they now have a completely new series.
That is news to me Jane so I hope I have the new series of batteries. Mine are only a couple of years old so one would hope?
If your batteries are power-for-all Li-on then you’re ok. However unlike DeWalt who have ensured backwards compatibility with all their new batteries apparently Bosch haven’t. I haven’t actually tested it myself by trying a new battery in our tools, or one of our old batteries in the new tools, but this is what I was told. And since the battery is often the most expensive bit I wasn’t going to buy one on the off-chance it would work.
My neighbour replaced her Bosch strimmer this summer. She could have bought the ‘old’ model but decided to go with the new. The batteries are not interchangeable and each needs it’s dedicated charger.
Isn’t that the same as I said…
It is but I was answering your use of apparently.
Mine are the Li-on type Jane so therefore I should be okay. By the way, somewhat horrified at the cost of the Bosch batteries I bought a 5ah generic example on e-bay. It worked well for a year but then my 125mm cordless angle grinder seemed to destroy it by overheating after which it would not accept a charge. Meanwhile the two smaller 2.5ah Bosch batteries soldier on.