Firestorm Tools

[Charles McKinley]

Hi Lee,

Rockler has the Bosch on sale for $100. Try Ebay to see if you can get a better saw for the same money as the Firestorm new. The Grizzley is the older Bosch design that needs a screwdriver to change the blade but is a good saw. It sells for $60. with a craft knife kit thrown in.

[Ned Bulken]

I've had two firestorm drills, one 12v which I'm going to re-battery for the LOML, and she bought me an 18v awhile back which does a great job for the price (about $50, I was all over her for 'replacing' a perfectly good driver until she said how little she had paid) They're consumer grade, but honestly, I haven't had any problems with either drill. THe battery issue is easily fixed, just a matter of shipping them off to be reworked, which I haven't done only because I'm between shops at the moment.

[James Ayars]

I have a Firestorm recip saw and it is fine. I only use it 6 or 7 times a year though.

A friend of mine remodeled a 100 year old farmhouse and the two drill/drivers he used were 18 volt firestorms. Only failure was he dropped one off a ladder and it would only work in low gear. He wouldn't hesitate to buy another.

I had a B&D jig saw that wore out after a year and was never very good to begin with. I replaced it with a Bosch 1590 and realized just how sorry the B&D was. I could never get the table level so I always ended up with a beveled edge on anything I cut.

One of my employees was going to buy a B&D jig saw for around $60. I told her I would add $50 to whatever she spent so she could get a saw she would get years of happy use out of. She bought the Hitachi CJ110MV and loves it.
James

[glenn bradley]

I went the same route as Dave. I shied away from my old Skil and when I got the Bosch; all the sudden I realized a jigsaw is a viable tool and not just something to get you out of a tight spot.

[David Rose]

When I called Woodcraft in one town where a Dewalt warranty center was located, I decided NOT to send a down router to them. I thought about it, and tried that in another warranty town. They said the same, "we have no place else to take them, but most come back in worse shape than sent". Dewalt service doesn't mean much as far as I can tell. I ordered bearings which was the reason for sending in the router. They were as bad as what I wanted to replace.

David

As far as replacement parts are concerned, note that Dewalt service centers also handle B&D parts and repair. I haven't needed any repair service, but obtaining new batteries for an obscure* (and long-discontinued) model took a whole whopping 48 hours.

(*When I say "obscure", I'm not kidding: seen any 13.2V cordless drills lately?)

[Ed Blough]

Hi Lee,

Rockler has the Bosch on sale for $100. Try Ebay to see if you can get a better saw for the same money as the Firestorm new. The Grizzley is the older Bosch design that needs a screwdriver to change the blade but is a good saw. It sells for $60. with a craft knife kit thrown in.

I can't find a Bosch jigsaw for $100 on sale at Rockler. Can you give me the web address for the offer?

[Rich Engelhardt]

Hello,
I have one of the Firestorm combo kits - drill, recip saw, sander & circ saw.

Good points:
- price.
- the drill has an easy on/off chuck that allows putting a screwdriver bit into the drive and also put the chuck on w/a bit installed. For multiple drill/drive work - like installing a whole rental house of mini blinds - it works very well.
- ample power as long as the battery is fully charged.
- dual battery charger. One or two charged batteries will handle a day's worth of light work. Having a dual charger allows me to rotate the batteries and just about always have a fully charged one in the tool.
(YMMV according to the amount of work you're doing)
- price. did I mention price? If you shop with a sharp eye, the 18volt tools often go on sale with a spare battery included. Spare batteries run ~ $39 @ Lowes. One day I saw a 3/8" Cordless offered at WalMart for $50. with 2 batteries and a single charger included = no brainer. In essence i got a free drill and a discount on the second battery.

Bad points:
- fairly poor design coupled with less than high quality materials. The battery is held in by a plastic lip instead of a post design like on the better tools. Vibration from the tool will chew up the plastic lip making the battery unusable.
The sander is the worst culprit. I ruined two batteries before I realized what was going on. I was sanding down old plaster walls that were peeling down to the brown coat and didn't pay attention when i swapped out the battery.
- price - did I mention price? The price point works two ways. As I mentioned above, often the tools will go on special with an extra battery included. I'd like to upgrade at some point to Dewalt,,,but,, I keep accumulating more of the FS stuff just to get the batteries.
- low quality. These are not the type of tool you can hand down to your grandchildren @ some point after years of use. I wouldn't personally even rotate mine down to my grandson so he can work along side me with his "own tools". I'd prefer to start him out right with decent tools.
- Price - hmmmm, did I mention price? The low initial price seems to make them an attractive deal. In reality, if you want something a bit more robust, you're just wasting money at the onset.
I'd recommend looking at Ryobi for a little more money at the onset instead.
I have a Ryobi circ saw and also a Ryobi saber saw. Both are corded. for the light work I do with them, they have delivered the goods so far.

Conclusion based on my experience:
Firestorm is a fairly decent chore type tool for the occasional chores that spring up around the house. They seem to build on the Black and Decker heritage of the 1/4" drill found in 99% of the houses (of which by the way I bet most have the drill but not the chuck key ).
For light non-precision work at a reasonable price, they are fine.
For use as a disposable, they are fair to middle'n. I paid $199 for the whole set, and each individual tool runs about $99. I plan to replace each individual broken/lost/stolen tool with something better. The fairly step individual toll replacement makes the initial low cost of the whole set a fairly bad deal - if you've expanded the scope of the tolls by adding on.

For extended or hard use - or for projects that require any sort of precision work - ferget it. Upgrade to something better at the onset.

Sorry to make my initial post here so long winded. I figured some one might benefit from my mistake/experience as a neophyte.

[Kurt Forbes]

for a drill a cheapie may be ok

With a jigsaw get something decent. I Have a skill jigsaw that I have all but given up on. Get a cheap jigsaw and you will not even think of the jigsaw as a viable tool in the future.

[Bob Childress]

Like others, I had a B&D jig saw and never realized how cruddy it was until it died and I bought a Bosch. Holy moly. A jig saw is a real tool after all.

[Ben Rafael]

Freud makes a jigsaw that is on par with bosch, it sells for about $100.
I think it is available from Amazon.

[Frank Fusco]

"Firestorm" is Black&Decker's cordless line. Never thought of them as connected with Lowes, especially since they're mostly a "Home Depot Orange" color.

I've had one of their drills for close to 10 years now, finally had to replace a battery last fall. Given the ways I abuse it, it may outlive me.

I knew I had something in my shop with "Firestorm" on it. Yer right, it's one of my B&D rechargable drills. Five years use and going strong.
Mention a brand, any brand, somebody is sure to hate it.

[Laurie Brown]

I have a Firestorm cordless circular saw. It does what I bought it for ok, which was cutting sheets of plywood into smaller more manageable pieces for my table saw, but the battery doesn't last long, so I usually get one or two cuts before it has to recharge. I'm probably going to go with a corded saw soon to replace it because I'm sick of having to wait for the battery to charge all the time and not getting much use out of that charge each time.

[Tyler Howell]

You get what you pay for!

[Frank Fusco]

You get what you pay for!

Actually, I respectfully disagree with that worn-out cliche.
There are many products, especially tools, on the market under different paint jobs, labels AND price tags that are the same item.
I try to compare and choose carefully. Sometimes it works and sometimes I pay too much.

[John Kain]

I have a craftsman jigsaw that I used for about a year. For whatever reason, I decided to go cordless and purchased the Dewalt cordless jigsaw and circular saw on ebay for pretty cheap. I can't believe the difference. Like others have said, my jig saw is now a very functional tool in my shop and does things that craftsman couldn't even think of doing. Also of note, I replaced my B&D "Woodhawk" circular saw with the Dewalt, and same story. It cuts easier makes prettier lines through wood. I think with power tools more than anything else in my life, you do get what you pay for.