I Bought 1-Star Tools on Amazon 

The people that are complaining about sparks and smell on the brushed tools, obviously don't understand that all new brushed machines will do that from new, until the brushes bed in. If it keeps doing it after days of use or is really excessive, then take the tool back, as it's faulty, otherwise it's nothing to worry about.

Video Idea: build a whole project with 1 star tools.

"Am i going to give it more than 1 star? No. I'd probably give it like two, two and a half stars." Bruh, what? 😂

The WEN tracks doesn't go back because it as an anti-kickback safety feature, and it doesn't cut right on the track because you are supposed to cut the gasket on the track the first use to prevent chipping, I think all that's covered in the manual. I've had mine for over a year and use it only at 90 degrees with absolutely no issues, I got a Milwaukee one when it came out for use outside the shop

Remember, switching to your 8 volt is faster than recharging...

I feel like the pink drill is good enough budget thing for the little projects drilling into drywall. With all that it comes with for 30 bucks it'll get the picture hung

FYI - Most cheap devices with battery level indicators that are just a few LEDs and not a digital readout. Don't change till below about 50%. Because they use old NiMh battery level indicators that are purely based on voltage. So if equipped with a Li-Po battery the level will be way off.

For the tracksaw, shouldn't you install a new 0 clearance sacrificial rubbert band ? So that the saw would cut it and be accurate. And fucking hell, the people complaining about a 35$ router coming without bits are crazy. It's like they really want something so cheap that it will actually explode in their face.

6:37 There is a reason why tracksaw tracks come with oversized rubber lids. They cut down to the perfect measurement during the first cut. You should be happy it didn’t shorten the lid on your track ;)

I know nothing about tools. But this was on my feed and I’m entertained lol

I have a Wen drill press and a 1" belt sander and I've been very happy with them. They're no Festool, but you can practically fill your shop with Wen for the price of a Festool track saw.

I'm not sure where you saw the 1-star review for the tracksaw--maybe a third-party seller? The sold-by-Amazon listing for the saw gets 4.3 stars from over 1,000 reviews. That rating is also pretty consistent for the listings for packages deals (with tracks etc).

⚠️ The fact that you can smell the brushes at the beginning is because they are first grinding in and I recommend letting the devices run for 5 minutes without load to have full power.

Be careful how you store those incredibly cheap and unreliable lithium batteries from purchases made for videos like these. My neighbor had his house burn down from a faulty lithium battery, and it was not from a company as sketchy as that drill and sander. I bought a fireproof bag made for charging lithium batteries and store all of mine in it now!

I own the track saw and it works well. As other's have said, the zero clearance strip needs to be mated to each saw. It needs replaced when switching saws. The cam that prevents the saw from moving backwards is supposed to keep it from kicking back. I found it annoying and took it out. It comes off with 1 Phillips screw. Overall, it works great for straight cuts. I have not tried the miter yet.

7:04 that makita you just had also came with... "Magnets" ( 😂 ) for the brushed motor.

First time viewer, "We only have stars and squares here" made my day. I build a lot of stuff using 2 and 3mm hardware and go far out of my way to get them in hex or torx, it has made life so much easier. I'll admit, it took a lot of trial and error to find a T6 bit that wouldn't strip itself. Wera won that battle.

Only a 14 second introduction? You are my new favorite RU-vidr!

Not gonna lie, the ad read was smooth, seamless, stylistically thrown in, and didnt interrupt the tempo of the video. Dunno if anyone cares, but I appreciate that.

Just recently bought a WEN belt sander and bandsaw (and a foot pedal). Happy to see a lot of other people in the comments having good experiences with them, I was a little worried about going too cheap.

I agree. That "Drill" is a screwdriver. And as I was thinking "Ikea special" you said the same. And a refurb Mikita router is what, $115? Tear that nailer apart. I bet there are some weight blocks in it to make it feel heavy.

When it comes to the tracksaw, you don't have to buy a festool track, a lot of cheaper brands of tracks are compatible. Spending more on the track than the saw would be ridiculous, unless you're already saving up for a better tracksaw and just need something to tide you over.

There are plenty of those Makita copy routers available. The base is interchangeable with a Makita base. I have had a Makita copy router for years. And it works very well. So not all of them are bad.

I bought the bigger Wen track saw last year for cutting sheet material and it's fantastic for that. I've cut dozens of sheets of of plywood and PVC. The bigger saw doesn't have the anti kickback lock either, so you can pull it backwards on the track. I think the saw and 8' Powertek tracks were about $260

That drill looks like it's literally just supposed to do extremely basic stuff around the house, like you said, but be cute for girl. I bought the cheapest drill at Harbor Freight for the same price just to be used around the house. I ended up using it on my deck because I got tired of swapping bits back and forth in my good drill and I was surprised by how it performed

I've had the Wen track saw for 4 years and to be honest I've been really happy with it (after changing the blade)

I’ve never seen your content, but I don’t think you know how to use some of these tools properly. Like the track saw, you’re supposed to use a zero clearance rubber strip. Of course if you put a new saw on a track it won’t line up perfectly. It’s also a good idea to get a better blade. I have this same track saw and have used it for cutting walnut for glue-up to make tables and it was perfectly fine for that. Can’t beat the price for no seam glue ups using a thin kerf blade. You’re right about the miter, though. I will get a nicer one later but this is fine for my intermediate use.

The green LED staying on when the charger is unplugged is because there's a capacitor inside it that stores a little bit of power to smooth out the AC waveform coming in from the wall. Wait a little bit and it will run out of power and the LED will go out.

The reviews people leave on amazon are always some interesting stories

That level out of the drill kit is gonna serve you longer and better than the drill it came with.

7:12 'You can see here it started waver, jump and come back' No, no we can't see that.

I learned my lesson about wearing gloves while working with wood. Was pre-drilling some holes on a picture frame I was making at home for a wood working project in high school on a drill press (didn't have a working hand drill). Needless to say, my finger isn't straight anymore lol.

“I’m very much not used to using brushed tools these days” was such a sad and strange flex

Build 2 identical projects, something detailed and precise. build one with 1 star tools and the other with your good tools and compare

3:45 My black+decker matrix was 50$ and its impact attachment buries screws fine. Impact attachment was 18$. The drill attachment it comes with is 800 rpm and buries screws too. It's not great but for 50$ has way more capacity than that. Just what I use it for. Making cabinets, DIY bs etc. I got Ingerrsoll Rand, Snapon, Dewalt, Makita and B&D Firestorm 28v for the real work.

My wife picked up a Wen belt sander for some big projects I had to get done outside. I’d never had or used a Wen before, but that thing impressed the hell out of me. I used it for several hours over a few weekends and it never bogged or smoked and, more importantly, never slipped a belt. Most of my other carpentry and woodworking tools are DeWalt and I’m not about to change, but this sander held its own quite well at a very reasonable price. I’ve also heard good things from a friend about the Wen bench planer.

I actually have a Kimo cordless ratchet and use it all the time. Works great.

Cut to 7 days later where "Joe who doesn't work with his hands" finds his front right wheel overtaking him on the road coz the nuts fell off

I have one of those little "drill" screwdrivers! I don't do any really hard work with it, but the reason I bought it was because I was moving into my brand new apartment had to do things like hang things on the walls and assemble a lot of new furniture. It ended up being a great deal with the accessories and stuff, since I haven't been able to get my actual tools out of storage yet. The quality is pretty good if you just need something for occasional household use. The fact it can charge off a USB and not need its own dedicated barrel plug you can lose is fantastic.

As a weekend warrior, get yourself a set of Skil tools! Even the 12 V is already powerfull.

I got the same palm router, I got it for 20 bucks from Ebay/China, mine has speed adjust, tho. I broke it in slowly, I ran it without load and maybe 500 rpm for 30mins so the brushes find their spot. I then had quite nice fun with it, it does the job but one has to be veeery careful, take very light cuts, don´t run it full blast. It holds up for three years, now- I´m happy with it.

The WEN tracksaw doesn't go backwards because one of the cams on the track is an *anti-kickback* feature. I mean, you could defeat or remove it, but why? Without a riving knife, that is awesome safety-money value if your workpiece has internal stress. The limitations of this thing have been seriously frustrating to work with as a contractor, but for the odd flooring transition or one-off site built cabinet, it's been a lifesaver. Put a better Makita blade into it, and it gets even better. A longer cord, better still. Moreover, it let us gain capability while spending better money on tools we use daily.

This needs a part 2 and a series ASAP, you should have held the camera on top of the nail gun to show the recoil, also some temperature readings on the motors after usage would help cause good equality tools can do a lot of work before they burn out

Once you let the factory smoke out it’s all over. Cheap is expensive, expensive is cheap!

I have the higher-power of the two Wen track saws. For the price, it works OK. The not-going-backwards is an anti-kickback feature; there's a knob you have to twist to go backwards. If you want to take your life into your own hands you can remove the entire mechanism. Accuracy depends on the track, make sure your zero-clearance edge is really up against the blade. At least on my version, when you lock down the mitre angle there's no flex.

Just a heads up. The motor brushes that conduct electricity from the stator to the armature are made of graghite/carbon and sometimes made of copper(but not usually for ac power). Cheers!

As a Ravens fan I hate this channel. As a less than amateur carpenter I like this channel. My eyes don't know what to do..

12:35 I have an older Makita that came with the same bearing mount. It goes directly in line with the bit and basically it is so you can use bits that do not have a bearing on them, but with this bearing instead to follow edges, contours, etc

Later that afternoon, the Kemo's revenge was played out when they pulled out of the parking lot and lost lugs.😂😂😂 Just kidding.

As a mechanic the proper lug nut torque for a Ranger is 100 FtIbs and a F-150 is 150 FtIbs if they are properly torqued to spec. For future video reference

the drill is funny because "deko" in german means "decorative" which is the only thing the drill does, being decorative

me and my brother bought my dad one of those drills like 15 years ago when we were 6 and 8 and had practically no money and it literally didn't work out of the box

I've made some good cuts with that track saw. It's good for those of us that can't afford a 32,000 square foot shop and all the best tools. It's definitely 4 stars.

As always... more fun than informative, unless you consider that you definitively proved why you should never cheap out on tools or set expectations too high (as in expect it to work) when you buy off brands from Amazon. Great Sunday morning video to start the day with coffee and a smile. Thanks

Great video John, as always. I have the Wen track saw and it works very well for me, and I purchased the Wen tracks as I did not have a track saw. One thing you mentioned tinned that it cut away from the edge a little, so what that is, your Festool cuts the splinter strip at one place where the Wen would cut in a different place. All in all, you provide great videos with these tools. Love the channel

that router looks almost exactly like my chap ass harbor freight router down to the wingnut guide and everything.

The little router doodab is a guide for trimming laminate edge banding I believe. I got a few, but never used one.

"I didn't get flames out of it, I'm a little dissapointed" 😂like "I want my tools burn in passion for my work" 😂😂

Funny brand name for the first drill thingy. "DEKO" is short for "Dekoration" in German, which just means decorations in English. When something is absolutely worthless we use to say "Das taugt nur als Deko" ( It's just able to serve as decorations.)

John, loved the video of the best! Great showing comparison of name brand and off brand tools so we know difference.

That cheap trim router is actually great for a 1/8 round over bit. That's all I use it for.

@ 10:26 i disagree with you John, i bought my Parkside POF 1200 router with 6 bits, guide and vacuum fitting, all that was sold by LIDL for... ~40 bucks

You need to wiggle or twist the impact when trying to remove the lugs. That little pink drill is really only for an apartment dweller hanging blinds or pictures and maybe for RTA furniture. Great tool tests.

I bought a WEN rotary tool with case, extension , & a bunch of bits & a couple collets for $19 on Amazon. It's held up like a champ with regular use over a couple years now, & I'm totally blown away by the quality for the price! The rotation is nice & tight, too, i don't notice any runout.

"Am I going to give it more than 1 star? No, I'd give it a 2." Well glad you're handy, cause math isn't your strong suit, pal.

riddle me this, gives a product 2 stars cause rainbow looks cool on battery o.o anything more than lowest rating when the product doesn't do what it was designed for is beyond me o.O -love your vids man

Always enjoy watching your reviews. This one was great! Thank you!

9:45 I have same router both of them actually. Tried to flush trim a 1/2" plywood with the Batoca (that's the brand name). It nearly burn the motor. Had to finish the job with the Makita Rt0700c. Not the 700 watts motor it rated on the motor. Feels like a 550 watts motor.

That pink drill serves a very necessary purpose... To allow liberal arts majors to hang their degree on the wall all by themselves. Which is why it comes with a level.

Another tool that comes with extra magnets ... you mean brushes ........ and then you said you couldn't get any of the screws to bury when using a nail gun do you even have a video editor or is it just raw video or are there so many mistakes he just says f it and sends it ... just goes to show people will watch anything on the internet

4:44 caught me off guard 🤣

Ive had the wen track saw on a makita track for 3 years now, still working great.

typo in title edit: fixed

For all of those battery tools, it might be worthwhile to note whether the connection is proprietary or whether a name brand battery (e.g., Dewalt, Milwaukee, Makita, etc,) will fit.

You should do a video where you use an expensive tool va a cheap one- and see if you can guess which one is which.

There is no way that drill has a clutch. It is just a straight motor to bit. I can smell it burning through my phone. 😂😂😂

To be fair to the sander, Cordless sanders are genuinely a relatively new thing, I'm talking 2ish maybe 3 years since they been a reliable tool and been really pushed. They have been available before but usually the company pulled them off the shelves quickly.

Don’t worry, when he says “bury” he means countersink. (Yes every time, it’s always countersink.)

as someone who frequents harbor freight and does in fact use their power tools, i feel personally attacked

On the palm router or any tool in general if you have a brushed motor then the brushes rubbing on the stator of the motor will generate sparks as you make it work hard but since your palm router is brand new the brushes don't have the wear that an old highly used brushed motors brush will have. I have a brushed 3 to 4-year-old Corded hand drill and I see a lot of sparks flying out of it when I push it hard while using it throws a lot of heat out as well but most hand drills do but if they are decently maintained they don't have much issue's to deal with except cleaning out the brushes and the stator that runs between them and clear out the Brushes dust that gets collected on the stator which if enough of it is clogged/caked up on the stator then will stop the drill from working and powering on at all. The sparks you see flying out of the brushed motor are the brushes rubbing on the stator(More common on Old Brushed motor tools which likely have the factory brushes still installed and unchanged) and getting overcharged and heated with electricity when in use and are rubbing and flying out of the tool housing breathing holes for the stator and the brushes. How do I know about brushes clogging the stator when overusing it i dealt with this issue on my own hand drill but after clearing up the stator and the brushes it started up and was working good as new.

Several years ago I bought a Dako stick welder for a small project and have used it often with rather decent results. It's only a 110v but it works great for small jobs and if I remember correctly it was under $100

I love videos like this. Great work.

That’s a brave choice using it on those ford lug nuts

I've got a router very similar to the one used here and about the same price. I love it for rounding over edges and it works fine with bits that have a guide bearing on it. I've never used it for more meaty cuts, for which I have a bigger router, but I find it comfortable and good for the amount I paid. It has the base almost identical to the Makita one and a button to hold the shaft so you only need a single wrench.

Years ago doing tuckpointing I asked my boss to buy me a drill for mixing mud, he bought one from harbor freight. On the first use flames shot out of the side vent badly scarring the meat of my left hand till this day. I did not miss a single day of work. Probably why it scarred so bad

Yet another masterpiece! Next time don’t stop until something is on fire.

The little accessory for the router that you couldn't identify is for cutting rebates on the edge of a board using straight cutting bits. I use one just like it on my Ryobi cordless for binding rebates on guitars.

The Dr. Evil cut was fantastic!

The wen track saw is definitely 1 star!! Use it for a few jobs and I promise it breaks, I'm on my third and last wen track saw, when it breaks again I'm getting a different brand

I didn't even realize this wasn't the main channel! Subbed up on both now.

The drill in the first part would probably be kinda useful for some scale model/model kit hobbyists. If it can drill wood kinda okay it would do fine on most plastics surely?

My first tracksaw was the Wen, like many other people, I removed the kickback feature which then allowed the saw to be pulled back without an issue. I've since upgraded to the Milwaukee since I wanted the portability but the Wen worked fine while I had it.

So, that cordless nailer reminds me of when those first came out. I had seen someone using one and it was just that slow. Newer ones are much faster, but air is the way to go now for absolute reliability of those

I have a WEN dremel tool. Honestly the best hand dremel I have ever owned EXPECT the extension chuck thing for hand held use fell apart out of the box. Both times. I bpught a second to replace the one my uncle stole. But its been years and both still work great.

6:23 This is NOT TRUE. This is exactly why the guide rails have a rubber edge, and why you cut off part of that edge on the first use: things vary from saw to saw. That rubber edge is an alignment tool that's set up for your Festool, of course it won't line up with the cheap saw, just like it most likely won't line up with saws from other brands, if those even fit on the track.

I got the Wen tracksaw and it was 1 star for me because the mechanism that unlocks the plunge mechanism would lock and not work 9/10 times. I couldn't even use the tool because it was just stuck locked in the upward position. Easiest upgrade of my life to just get a Festool instead.

I bought and returned the Wen... Probably gave it 1 start. It wouldn't go to 90deg. It was always cutting at a slight angle 87-88 degrees. I briefly considered modifying it to go straight, but decided not to and bought a Makita. Sometimes Wen is so cheap it is worth a shot.

As far as most tools go, I have an old tool bias. Like for a router, I just bought a new boxed SEARS router and called it done. It doesn't have any of the fancy variable speed triggers or anything, but it doesn't quit and gets the job done. Which is good, I had heavy work for it. I carved about a 1/2"x 36"x 14" rectangle out of four sides of two separate 2x10s. And never changed or sharpened the bit. One pass. I thought that was pretty impressive, but I might be wrong.

I've done wood fracking I did a bunch of furniture. A bed a nice picnic table and several other things

We only have Stars and Squares in my shop. We don’t carry Phillips stuff. 😂😂 Stars are Phillips, squares are Robertson, And flat ones are called Slotted.