the lure of Lidl

[Matt@]

we shop at Lidl and whenever I go i cast an eye over the tools etc. I never buy anything as I'm tight as hell I saw a Parkside grinder for £20 last week and nearly bought it as I need one but thought no, I'll struggle on with my existing. Then I came home and read countless reviews saying Parkside was ok so was back in there tonight - 2 grinders left and i finally succumbed!! Almost bought a 12V oil pump as well. Lidl seem to have the knack of stocking things you think you cant do without. Shades of Ikea I think :roll:

 

[Droogs]

Welcome to the Hotel Lidl in the village of the damned. Once you check in you can never leave. The Reef of Tools has marooned many a poor soul on the Aisle of Desire.

 

[Rorschach]

THe grinder is good!

 

[Matt@]

THe grinder is good!

well I hope so! or I'll blame you lot as I think I read a thread on Parkside here...... and is it my eyes or are there a couple of spare brushes in the box?

edit
actually I did buy a parkside heat gun many yrs ago from Lidl and that lasted a good while before it packed up.

 

[Stoatally]

I quite like the tools from both Lidl and Aldi

Cheap and cheerful but do the job and a reasonable warranty

 

[Matt@]

I have to say I'm on my 3rd cordless drill in approx 10 yrs and I dont use them much. !st was AEG, 2nd was Milwalkee 3rd another AEG. The first two the charger or batteries packed up and none of these drills were cheap. makes me think sometime better to buy a cheapo, use it till it conks out then chuck it...

 

[MikeJhn]

If you guys have never seen this it will amuse, if not have you laughing out load: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cL7jyXCQ2Zc

Mike

 

[Hemsby]

=D> =D> =D> =D>

 

[Bm101]

Pound of sausages and a wetsuit. Sounds right.
(My grinder is still going strong )

 

[Random Orbital Bob]

Simon bloody Cowell will never beat that

 

[Alexfn]

Lidl tools have really gone down hill with the latest incarnation that have lots of rubber overmold. Price is also down slightly.

Ive often bought random stuff there. I last bought a jigsaw because it looked great. I own 6 jigsaws (yes i know i have issues) and thought it put a coping foot on this one.. But i used it once and it went straight on ebay. Absolute junk.

There was a period of about 5 years where 90% of lidl tools were really good value. Now a bit of a mine field

 

[AES]

Great song! (And also the one shown top right of the link - "Leedel, Lydel, whatever the feck it's called - and I forgot the milk!"

Thanks for posting =D> =D> =D>

AES

 

[Rorschach]

It's always been hit or miss with Lidl/Aldi tools. Their power tools are generally very good, the cordless tools are much better now than they used to be in the Nicad days. THeir handtools are either great or awful, very little in between.

 

[AJB Temple]

Interesting. I have bought a few tools at Lidl as they are cheap so I tried them just to see. By and large I have been unimpressed with everything. If they were not throwaway prices I would label 60% of it as rubbish.

Grinder. Easily slowed when grinding a mower blade. Given away and bought a proper grinder.
Angle grinder - destroyed in a day of cutting drive blocks.
Cordless heavy duty masonry hammer drill. Battery lasts 20 mins. Goven away to DIYer.
Log splitter - pretty good for the price.
Secateurs - junk. Uncomfortable to use.
Loppers - junk. Blades made of cheese
Rakes - destroyed in one concreting session. Very bendy = junk
Brooms - very good and still going strong.
Pry bars - a bit springy but pretty good.
Electrical screwdrivers - junk. Screws harder than the heads.
Pliers set for wife in potting shed - even she thinks they are junk. Stiff. Wire cutters.....don't.
Spanners - absolute bargain for massive set.

Forget Lidl if you are even close to a heavy duty user.

 

[Neil S]

I guess they are not aimed at heavy duty users, I've found the Parkside / Florabest stuff to be Ok or good for the price.
But anything from Maxtech or Silverline us utter rubbish. Especially Silverline, I have never had anything from them which has not been a complete disappointment.

Aldi are pretty much the same. Anything from their tool range is Ok to good as long as your expectations are not too high.

I still check the websites for special deals regularly though :? (hammer)

-Neil

 

[Simou1]

Have to agree that the quality of some Aldi/Lidl stuff has gone AWOL of late but I must admit to having bought one or three items that have been really good irrespective of price. The Parkside drill bit kits I bought last year are exactly the same as the Metabo and other similar branded ones. Much, much cheaper though.

You can see the various Chinese equivalents with differing brands names on them from the same factory with a bit of internet research and if it is a particular tool you want it is far better to purchase from Aldi/Lidl than johnnyjinglan who will laugh in your face as you attempt to return the item on a slow boat to China at your expense.

I did buy the Lidl pillar drill a while back and whilst it is rough around the edges and the pressed steel table is not as stable as my old Record cast iron table it is very accurate and does the job I bought it for. My last purchase was the wooden handled sanding block at £3.99 and it is excellent.

Hallelujah for the 14 day no quibble return!

 

[fezman]

I wanted a small pillar drill, not too expensive and only likely to get little use. Saw the parkside one from Lidl about 4 weeks ago. Set it up and all seemed well. Went to drill a hole and the whole quill wobbled that much it was unusable. It went back in less than 24 hours and refunded. Replaced with a £40 more unit from Machinemart, works a treat.

The moral of the story is the old adage - Buy Cheap, buy Twice. Now where can i get that silverline bandsaw ;-)

 

[Simou1]

That's the problem with Lidl and Parkside tools.

They are consistently inconsistent!

Except on returns where they, along with Aldi, could teach the retail sector a thing or two about product responsibility and instant refunds.

 

[Claymore]

I bought a Parkside Modelling mini Jigsaw from Lidl end of last year for £15, I also have an almost identical one both spec and material made by Proxxon which cost £111.50, the Lidl blades are crap and probably made from cheese as some of the above comments and they don't sell spare ones BUT I use normal Bosch jigsaw blades and grind the end down so it fit into both the Parkside and the Proxxon. They will only cut upto 12mm but they are very good for the money and useful for lightweight modelmaking or cutting thin plywood etc......next time they are for sale splash the cash and be surprised at the quality for £15.00.
This is it www.manualslib.com/manual/988107/Parksi ... 00-A1.html

 

[Keith Clague]

I purchased the Parkside PTS 500 A1 mini plunge saw and was very happy with it until it had an attempt at removing my finger tip! The cause was not as you might expect - total stupidity, but was a failure of the blade guard to deploy when the saw left the cut. The problem is the hose clip on the dust extraction hose which binds on the body casting and stops the guard deploying. Throw the hose clip away and the problem disappears. This did not happen every time, so its probably the difference in the thickness of the coat of paint, but you never know when it will bind.
I wrote to Lidl on this, gave them details of the problem and the solution and asked them to remove the hose clip but they went into corporate speak and buried their heads in the sand. After several e-mail exchanges in which the last one said they would monitor the situation I gave up. I'm still using it but never use the hose clip.
If you have one of these tools, do not use the hose clip on the dust extraction port.