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No, they're like Lidl!
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I've had my Chinese-made 2-tonne trolley jack for best part of ten years and it has always worked ok, even under heavyish stuff like a Honda Legend and a Rover 3500. It goes without saying that you should use axle stands when the car has been lifted course.
For light use by anyone sensible, these cheap tools should be OK, I would have thought. I've seen things like angle grinders for a fiver - for the occasional user that could be good value on a 'use a couple of times and throw away' basis.
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In the early 1970s, whilst working in Preston, there used to be a discount outlet known as Jumbo's Corner.
I spotted some Draper open, round and ring end spanner sets and bought both metric and Imperial sets to cover all eventualities - there were five spanners in each set.
All the sets were £2.95 to £3.49 each depending on spanner sizes.
They have been extensively used ever since and have proved both reliable and effective right up to the present day.
As far as I can recall (but I may be wrong) Draper was an Indian manufacturer and I never really expected too much of the spanner sets in view of their low cost.
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As far as I can recall (but I may be wrong) Draper was an Indian manufacturer and I never really expected too much of the spanner sets in view of their low cost.
Draper are certainly not an Indian manufacturer, they are a long-established British company based in Hampshire. Been around for 100 years I should think. Most of their tools (especially the older stuff) was of pretty good quality and it doesn't surprised me that they have lasted well.
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>>Draper are certainly not an Indian manufacturer>>
I was going by the fact that the retail pack containing each set of spanners had Made in India on them...:-)
The Draper logo on the pack was the familiar one.
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i suspect stuartli may well be correct.
whilst we may be nostalgic about the good old british manufatured overengineered stuff, the fact of life today is that a huge proportion of the world's goods are now manufactured in china, india and the far east. much of it is legitimate branded stuff, some is copy-cat or forgery stuff, but it does not necessarily follow that suff made in china or elsewhere is inferior.
and do not forget, someone is assuming that the stuff in aldi is inferior either because it is cheap or because it is likely to have been made in china. opinion based on prejudice or "it happened to me once x years ago" does not make it a fact.
for all we know, the stuff in aldi is a top class, superior, best practice engineered & designed quality product.
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I bought their jump starter/compressor the last time it was on offer and it has worked well....for everyone except me. I guess the battery in my car was too flat for it to boost, but it has jumped co-workers and other family member's cars. It has 3 cigarette lighter sockets too which I have used alot more often than I ever thought I would.
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>>I bought their jump starter/compressor the last time it was on offer and it has worked well....for everyone except me.
Its meant to be kept on mains charge untill needed,car charger is a top up only and will not recharge it fully
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Steve
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I've had one of the trolley jacks and a pair of the axle stands since they were on offer at the same price last year.
Done loads of work with them and nothing so much as a creak.
I reckon they're a great bit of kit for the price and they do indeed come with a good warranty.
I'm considering buying one of the impact wrenches...
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>>a huge proportion of the world's goods are now manufactured in china, >>
In the case of electronics and computer components and peripherals alone, this is the vast bulk of such products we buy.
A lot of these products are from top brand names who rebadge specialist manufacturers' goods under their own marque.
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Strangely I had some Draper spanners marked 'made in India',they were obviously poor quality and soon broke.
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don't know them either.
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Do you live on the Moon? ;-)
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Not come across Aldi,Lidi or netto before,not round my neck of the woods(rural oxfordshire)
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Not come across Aldi,Lidi or netto before,not round my neck of the woods(rural oxfordshire)
I also live in Oxfordshire.
There's a LIDL in Newbury - London Road RG14 2BX, Swindon - Chapel Street SN 2 8DA, and Reading - Oxford Road RG30 1AS.
Not used the Reading store, but have been to both the Newbury and Swindon store. I much prefer the Swindon store as ALDI is just up the road as well - Hobley Drive SN3 4NS.
There's also an ALDI in Reading - 1-5 Bath Road RG30 2HB.
Even though Swindon is approx 22 miles from my location, the savings made by also buying food from both ALDI & LIDL justify the distance they are away.
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Aldi, Lidl, Netto - German/Danish based small supermarkets, selling mainly 'own brand' or what the yanks would call 'off brand' products
I've bought tools, trestles, rucsacs, boots and more, and have no complaints about the quality, given the low prices. Aldi and Lidl both appear to operate by changing much of their stock on a weekly basis, so one week it is tools, then bedding, then decorating. Google for Alid or Lidl and look at their weekly bargains
Go on, get out of the car...
www.mikes-walks.co.uk
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,then decorating. Google for Alid or Lidl and look at their weekly bargains
i just did by cutting and pasting and it cant find a shop called alid ;)
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found them both they sell stuff like wilkinsons or makro sells they aint going to change the world of retailing me thinks.
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The sort off stuff that Aldi and Lidl sell as 'special offers' is just what you might buy at a boot sale or market stall. The only difference is that with the aforementioned stores you can return the item for a refund. Who can be bothered returning a five quid trolley jack ?
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>>The sort off stuff that Aldi and Lidl sell as 'special offers' is just what you might buy at a boot sale or market stall.>>
Utter nonsense.
Presumably you've not seen the fully featured computer systems, well specced 27in LCD TV sets, laptops and a host of other electronics equipment costing up to almost four figures in some cases.
People aren't stupid when special offers like these come along - our local Aldi has a queue of around 50 or more people first thing on the opening day of such offers, keen not to miss out.
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Google for Alid or Lidl and look at their weekly bargains
>>
If you are sufficiently sad you can register for e-mail updates on their web sites. Lidl change their offers twice weekly and I've noticed that they seem to remove unsold items to make way for new stock. Aldi's offers change weekly and they seem more likely to keep stock until it's sold.
For anyone who hasn't realised, these are primarily cheap food retailers: the nearest home-grown equivalent is Kwik-Save. The weekly non-food offers are an effective way of getting people into the stores. As others have said, this week it's motoring stuff, next week it'll be something else.
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£11.99 for a foldable "car creeper" ? stick a couple of lengths of laminate flooring under your car and scoot around on your back at leisure.
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I don't mind buying a cheap stereo, DVD player etc etc from the likes of Aldi. When it comes to tools though, experience has taught me only to buy branded stuff. I have seen too many problems caused by cheap tools failing. There is no way I would life a heavy vehicle on one of these little "2 tonne" jacks - they are OK for holding an engine or transmission, but not a car. They are OK for a quick emergency wheel change. I use a 'proper' workshop trolley jack that takes two people to lift it, with enough length and width to give stability.
Similarly I only use quality sockets and spanners that fit snugly. The cheap stuff either breaks or burrs the head of the fixing - thus potentially causing massive extra work.
The other thing I am carefull about is cheap grinding discs and wheels. Last thing you want is them flying apart at 3000rpm!
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Let's forget all these cheap jibes about Aldi, Lidl and Netto.
All are well respected outlets (the first two are German based and the other Scandinavian IIRC) and, like Dutch based Spar, have hundreds of outlets across Europe and, in the case of Aldi, many in the States that are operated on a franchise basis.
Their massive buying power and ability to keep costs down to a minimum mean that store prices are very low for what are surprisingly high quality products.
Aldi and Lidl both have distribution arrangements with a number of companies, of which Medion and Tevion are best know in the case of Aldi. Medion itself is a distributor and all its products are rebadged under its own name from specialist manufacturers.
Continental food producers cater for vastly larger populations than that of the UK and Aldi, Lidl and Netto take advantage of lower production and subsequent purchasing costs as a result.
If you've never used one of these convenience stores try it - you might very well be pleasantly surprised...:-)
We have friends, for instance, who could easily afford to buy quite expensive wine, yet get all their supplies from Aldi at much lower cost for similar quality.
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I bought my Laptop PC in Aldi; it cost £1000.
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Lidl and Aldi operate all over France, too. There are lots of Nettos as well, but they are part of the giant French Intermarche (Les Mousquetaires) group.
I'm certainly a convert to the quality and reasonable prices of Lidl and Aldi products and there are the same queues outside the stores on 'special offer' days - not just of ex-pat Brits either!
My brother-in-law, who used to be in the large-scale retail grocery trade, once told me that Lidl and Aldi were owned by members of the same German family who were bitter rivals, so wherever Lidl appeared Aldi would set up nearby. Certainly seems to be happening here.
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I've bought tools from Aldi and they are of excellent quality. As good or better than you can buy retail in other UK shops. Their service is probably better and the three year warranty is 'no questions asked'. The only item I had problems with was a 9" angle grinder that went through a set of brushes in a day after I was cutting up a concrete floor. I think grit got inside and ground them down. One email and a box of a dozen brushes foc arrived next day. I'm still using a set of cobalt drills I bought years ago, whereas others I have bought are long gone.
My only unhappy exprience with them was a DVD/HDD recorder where the software was not very good. Very useful box and I persisted for three months hoping for an update from the maker, but took it back in the end for a refund.
Martin
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Ive had the power station for about 18 months,very useful saved me many times,probably the hardest working member of staff.
Bought my snowboarding gear from Aldi 3 years ago for £39.99 and its perfect.
Bought baked beans from Netto (reduced salt and sugar) for 9 pence a tin,quite unbelieveable really.
I think there was a taste test on christmas pud and Aldi came out tops.
Imagine if Aldi,Lidle or Netto started selling new cars under their own brand,probably get a Ka or a Picanto for about £3,000,(limit 6 per customer).
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Netto is part of the Dansk Group, itself part of the Maersk Group, which also runs Maersk Shipping. This enables Netto to import foods to its UK supermarkets at reduced rates.
The Dansk Group of supermarkets was formed in Denmark in 1977 following the arrival of Aldi into Denmark. Its first UK store opened in Leeds in 1990.
Aldi is a private company owned by the Albrecht family,which began in 1962 in Dortmund, Germany. Headquarters from 1989 have been in Mulheim.
The Albrecht brothers, Karl and Theo, opened their first store 14 years earlier in 1948 under the Albrecht Discount fascia, in Essen, Germany.
By the 1960s the brothers had around 350 stores, so divided the business into two, known as Aldi Nord, run by Theo, and Aldi Sud, run by Karl.
Aldi has more than 5,000 stores worldwide, nearly 300 of which are in the UK; the first in the UK opened in 1990 in Birmingham.
So as I say, no further cheap jibes about three retailing businesses which are hugely successful all over the world...:-)
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So as I say, no further cheap jibes about three retailing businesses which are hugely successful all over the world..
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stuartli: it is sometimes best to let the ignorant or prejudiced people stay ignorant - this kind of information is best kept secret for the benefit of the knowledgeable few ! ;-)
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The trouble I have with Aldi & Lidl is that I go in for a specific item (PC and a DVD player in the recent past) and I always end up buying about half a ton of their chocolate : the 74% cocoa solid plain chocolate is around 39p per 150g bar (IIRC), the same quality chocolate is around 2 quid a bar in Sainsburys!
We bought #1 son ( aged 2) a pair of trainers in Aldi for the beach, on the basis they would probably fall apart by the end of the holiday, but they're still going, having outlasted a pair of 'quality' Clarkes ones at literally 10 times the price.
If I was a 'pro' mechanic or builder than no, I wouldn't be buying my tools in Aldi, but for average DIY use I think they're very good value.
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Although interesting reading, and something for the sceptics of LIDL, ALDI and Netto to consider; if we could now steer this back to a more motoring related discussion please.
DD.
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if we could now steer this back to a more motoring related discussion please.
Fair enough but the discussion does help people decide whether the motoring-related stuff is worth buying. Don't forget the extensive interest that their sat-nav equipment always generates here.
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Fair enough but the discussion does help people decide whether the motoring-related stuff is worth buying.
Quite! Hence why I previously said "although interesting reading, and something for the sceptics of LIDL, ALDI and Netto to consider"
ie, valid points have already been made in the discussion.
DD.
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I am not a 'sceptic' of Aldi or Lidl, or any other shop for that matter. Indeed I bought one of my Sat-Navs (a Medion with Navigon software) from Lidl a few years back. I have also bought other products from Lidl and used Aldi and Lidl when working in Germany. I'm certainly not some kind of 'snob' when it comes to shopping.
What I **am** sceptical about is cheap unbranded tools, wherever they come from. I think they are false economy. Most of my tools are Snap-On, Mac, Britool, Facom and some Kamasa - I expect them to last years and they generally do so. Any time I use cheap unbranded tools there is a problem. I visit Makro quite often and they do a a range of cheap tools ('Kinzo') which look dreadful. Does the world really need a £7.99 angle grinder that lasts a day? Or a £5 set of screwdrivers where the ends mush up and ruin the screw head?
Occasionally the motor trade 'mags' run tool comparison tests and the cheap stuff always comes off badly.
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Perhaps what is needed is for someone to buy one of the aforementioned spanner sets - I was in Aldi on Saturday but, in view of the number I have already didn't buy any - and report back on their findings...:-)
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Bought the power station about 18 months ago and its great. Had enough power to start my 1.8 Audi A4 with knackered battery, and has been really useful for providing power while camping
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When I've been in Lidl in the past I've noticed they also sometimes have shoes and clothes for sale - didn't buy any of those either since they didn't look to strong on quality (they were not that cheap either, all things considered). I have bought quite a bit of Medion computer stuff from Lidl and Aldi in Germany, its good and even cheaper than what they charge over here in the UK.
If you find a good local tool factor who sell to the trade you can get some good buys. There are a couple near me and they have 'specials' on from time to time, on good branded tools. If you want decent tools at low prices then Lazer are not too bad. Halfords tools are also pretty good (I have had some of their 3/8" drive Pro stuff for the last ten years). If you have their trade card (or know someone who has one) then they are cheap.
I recently made the mistake of buying a cheap 3/8" right-angle air ratchet on eBay. It was unbelievably badly made and had hardly any torque. Poor quality Chinese made casting and sticker crudly put on it. I used it once and then abandoned it. The seller had very good feedback, so I can only think some people are very undemanding. I went out and spent £90 on a CP Air ratchet.
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i"ve read your posts aprilia and totally agree i guess what you and I know about tools we should keep to ourselves maybe?
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Oldman, are you in the motor trade then? You seem to have a bit of "trader's nous".
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I would say that I quite fancy having some sexy tools (what's a right angle air ratchet?) and I am also an impulse buyer.
If I have a serious and regular use for something then I will buy the best, or as good as I can reasonably afford. However I buy many things (tools included) on a whim, or because it *might* come in handy sometime, so price is more important than longevity. (Safety is obviously important too). Aldi quality is fine for those purchases.
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