I recently bought a 120 volt Dremel rotary tool from Home Depot after my 20 year old model finally gave up the ghost. The new one is junk!! Anyone else have this experience or did Lowes slip me a knock-off?
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I would not jump to that conclusion. Sometimes a product will fail due to a bad assembly process or a bad component. Look up 'bath curve.' Return it and try another one.
Once I was talking to a guy at a repair shop at an over the top expensive tool retailer. He claimed that he could tell if the tool was as sold through them or came from Home Depot as soon as he opened it up. So, the question is - Would a well known tool manufacturer build a tool at a lesser quality for a big box retailer that is likely to move thousands of units so they can offer it cheaper? You know " put the nylon bushings in those instead of the brass,they're going to home depot! " The repair guy said yes! He could have been blowing smoke as well.
The other possibility is that compared to your 20 year old model the new models are junk! That isn't unusual.
I also had to replace my Dremel from the early 80's with a new one. The router base would not fit the old one. No comparison in quality, either the tool or the base.
Some manufacturers do indeed make tools for big box retailers that are aimed at a particular price point.
But with the same model number and identical in everyway except maybe internally ? Same tool different quality..
Happens with tires all the time! The tire might say "Goodyear Wrangler ATS" on the side (same model number) but the part number will be different . The same size tire will weigh much more due to different materials used.
I have heard the same thing about lawn mowers at the big boxes. And about the tactics of big retailers. Consumers fault for always focusing on price.
Not the consumers fault if it's deception. You purchase a tool based on reputation or experience. Say Festool cuts a deal with a big box company. Could happen, Hilti did, Milwaukee did. You go into the store and there is a Festool track saw at a very good price, the same model number as the one you have been thinking of purchasing except that it's not the same and no way for you to know from appearances. That's a cheat! If you did that with a Picasso they would put you in jail!
If I want to only think of money there's always Harbor Freight, they'll come up with a knock off and you'll know it's a knock off. They copied the Dewalt slide saw almost exactly. It sells for about half the price of the Dewalt but I'm not going to buy that one! I might buy a handtruck from them however. It didn't make the review by the way.
I understand how a manufacturer would want to or need to market at all levels. I rented a c class Mercedes once. Fake Mercedes and not as good as my Nissan but it was a c class, sort of an entry model and priced accordingly with maybe a little bump for the showoff factor from a similar car. You know up front that your not buying a 500 or 600 class car --that's fair and it still says Mercedes ,looks like a Mercedes and at an affordable price.
Having dealt with the big boxers as a manufacturer (and I assure you it is not a happy experience), the way they operate is to tell you what they will pay for something with the following features. If you want to do business with them, you make the product fit their price point - and hope the competition won't go a few cents under.
I have Dremel tools, both older and newer. I have never found them to be exceptional quality. They are very useful for a variety of tasks around the home and shop but, if you want a tool which will be used heavily in the shop for carving, etc. I would not recommend Dremel. There are better tools available; maybe not less expensive, just better.
grbmds has it pretty much the way my experience has gone. Dremel products are hobby products and made to that spec. In the 60s that spec was what our top tier tools are made to today. Just look at any old C-man or Monkey Wards DIY tools compared to many of today's offerings.
I use my Dremel tools carefully and they do fine. Be that as it may, if you need heavy duty Dremel function a flex shaft tool is in your future. Look to Foredom and their ilk.
I noticed a difference back in the mid nineties shorty after Dremel Co sold themselves to Bosch, but I have no idea of a serious degradation in their products but back then. To be fair though too, I haven’t bought another tool of theirs since the mid nineties. I’ve got a Foredom second hand years ago and I don’t think I do it justice, but also do believe it’ll still be running 100 years from now.
You’re replacing a rotary tool after two decades and a lot has changed since then. It could be the quality problem but here’re other reasons that could have caused the result. A bad setup or incompatibility with your desired job or other tools in the workspace. You can check with Dremel once to pinpoint the exact cause.
I purchased a Dremel from HD last year to replace one that I had since the 70's. The design is definitely different but I don't see that the quality has gotten any worse. You may have just gotten a bad one, I'd bring it back get another and see how that works out.