Last year I wrote about the PB Swiss “Coin Driver” screwdriver, a screwdriver meant to take the place of large coins in opening easy-access battery doors and other such devices.
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It actually has come in handy, such as to open the quarter-turn glass side panel on my computer case. There, a quarter didn’t provide enough torque, and a slotted screwdriver marred the fastener a little.
But, if not for ToolGuyd, I’d never buy this for personal use.
Yesterday, I wrote about how my garden hose reel continues to leak and that I was planning to test out a rather pricey garden hose reel. Those two things, the leak and the decision to purchase a more premium replacement, are not exactly directly related.
Sometimes there’s a little pushback to the things I say, the tools I buy, or the way I do things. Yep, I go overboard at times, and other times my intent isn’t always clear or my rationale clearly articulated. But there’s a lot behind a lot of these decisions and actions.
Take the garden hose reel as an example. For purely personal use, I’d replace the end fitting or the hose itself, and that’d be fine. The cheap hose reel would continue to be as frustrating to use as it has been, but I don’t think I would replace it so quickly.
Suncast now has a couple of like-styled hose reels, but with brass fittings. I guess that for personal use, I’d see if they’d replace some of the leaky fittings on my unit with an upgraded part. If not, I’d still seek a warranty replacement part before spending money on the feeder hose or new fittings.
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Even prior to the new leak, or rather the increased leak volume, I’d been eyeing reasonably priced replacements. I also have a list of models I briefly considered upgrading to last year. But, I didn’t budge.
I recently asked for reader input on garden hose quick connect fittings, and there were a lot of recommendations for Eley. I started looking into the brand, and that was before I replaced the washer in my plastic hose reel and it started spraying me in the face with water from the reverse side of the fitting.
I’d think a typical user would keep the reel operational until it broke, and then upgrade to an incrementally better model. I’ve looked at things extensively, and it seems that spending up to 2X the price, landing in the ~$60 price range, gives you a different form factor, but with just as many user complaints about quality as for the cheaper products. Going to 3X the price, with the 1X price being the ~$30 I paid for my mostly plastic hose reel, gets you added features that look to meaningfully impact the user experience. There aren’t a lot of options just above $100, with the next step-up being at ~$175 and up, all the way to $300. Above ~$250, you’re paying more for vastly increased hose capacity.
With my hose reel, I haven’t been overloading it – it has a 175 foot hose capacity, and I’ve been using it with a 50 foot hose, soon to be replaced with a 75 foot hose. The reel I’ll buy to replace this for primary use will have a 100 foot hose.
Most people are not going to jump from a $25-$30 hose reel to a $200+ model. They might wonder about it, as I am, and ask what you get for 10X the price.
But I’m not a typical user. Many of my purchasing decisions are definitely steered by what I’ll describe as editorial curiosity.
How much better can a $200 hose reel be compared to a $25 model? What does it offer compared to a more premium (~$100) plastic model? Will a “coin driver” be a useful tool, or a single-task paperweight? Are premium ratcheting screwdrivers really that much better than less expensive alternatives?
I need to find out.
Before I started ToolGuyd, I slowly built my tool collection to suit my needs, hobbies, and work. I did a lot of research and visited Home Depot, Lowes, and Sears too often and for too long, with the goal of buying the best and most appropriate tools I could afford and justify. I stretched my small budget as much as I could – inexpensive or discounted tools were great, but cheap tools I’d have to replace later on were not.
There’s only so much that I can learn about certain tools without putting my hands on them.
Today, I still seek the “best and most appropriate tools I could afford and justify.” I can afford a little more now than I could 10+ years ago, but ToolGuyd really skews things in the justification department.
For personal use, I might have purchased say a $65 garden hose reel to replace mine once it broke for good. Since it’s been a hassle to use, I probably would have put the newer hose reel in the front and the still-working reel in back for less frequent but continued use.
I didn’t discuss that I’ve watched for sales and it must have been two times this season and maybe once last year that I almost bought the mid-level plastic hose reel at promo pricing. I say almost because the user reviews aren’t any more positive than the unit I bought two years ago. My reel isn’t universally loathed, but users report a lot of problems with these reels, and that was also true when I first bought it.
But with ToolGuyd backing me, I can answer the question that came up recently:
Are Eley’s quite pricey garden hose reels so much better than cheap plastic alternatives?
As a personal purchase, I don’t think I could justify this. Sure, the Eley would land on my wishlist, and it might have been the hose reel I purchased after the next one. Or, I might have continued inching upwards slowly, each time spending a bit more.
If the question is nagging enough, and I think there will be value in its exploration, I’ll jump up a few price levels for the sake of editorial curiosity.
It was maybe 14 years ago that I had to buy a rubber mallet. I bought a USA-made Craftsman model from Sears for maybe $12-$14, which was considerably lower priced than the white rubber Estwing I wanted instead.
These days, instead of wondering about which one would better suit my needs, I might buy both, as it’s something I could report on. For one, I do often need to use rubber mallets in different places, and having two has proved to be beneficial and justified. If I bought two and only needed one, that unneeded tool would have been donated or given away once the exploration and reviews had been complete.
I am lucky to be able to test and have tried out a lot of the latest and greatest tools that have come out in the past couple of years. But, there are certain tools where a review sample or even a loaner might be inappropriate, for lack of a better word. ToolGuyd policy also requires me to purchase tools needed for use, with few exceptions.
A lot of my purchasing decisions are “loaded,” with there being a lot of background research and intertwining editorial constraints or influences, but I don’t always go into the details for the sake of brevity.
I realize that it might look like I’m considering a $200+ hose reel to replace a $25 plastic hose reel that needs minor repairs or replacement parts, but it’s not as simple as that. Heck, if not for ToolGuyd, I wouldn’t have even purchased that plastic hose reel, I would have used what the previous homeowners left behind.
ToolGuyd has fueled and furthered my editorial curiosity, and it can be tough to draw distinct lines when talking about things.
Where possible, I like to be able to experience tools at opposite ends of a spectrum, or at least at multiple pricing levels. Doing so provides context and insights. If there’s interest and opportunity, and our sample budget can afford and justify it, why not?
It has perhaps become too natural and ingrained in me to explore questions and products of reader interest (or potential interest) and suited for ToolGuyd content plans, that I sometimes forget how my intent and thought processes are not as transparent as I’d hope them to be. Or maybe I’m lazy – my thought processes can be difficult to navigate at times, and even when as well-sorted as possible, who wants to read that?
Maybe I should have said: hmm, this hose reel has been lousy, quite a few readers recently recommended Eley, and now this hose reel sprung a bigger leak – an opportunity and questions to investigate!!, otherwise my intent might come across as darn, my hose reel sprung a leak, let me replace it with something that costs 10X as much.
I’m going to have to be better about explaining some of my/ToolGuyd’s purchasing decisions or paths in the future, but it’s always been hard to do. “Brand A sent us a [tool review sample]” and “Thank you to Brand A for providing a review sample” are clear ways to make it known when a tool was provided at no-cost for editorial coverage.
How could/should I describe or differentiate tools or products that are purchased with editorial coverage and exploration purposes in mind? Perhaps intent and actions would be clearer if I more often described ToolGuyd as a separate entity? It’s not me that buys or reimburses for test samples or supplies for contributors, it’s ToolGuyd.
While I separate self and ToolGuyd in my tool purchasing actions and intent, maybe it would be appropriate for me to describe things as if I were a contributor and not owner/editor? I’m starting to feel that this distinction in my writings has not been as clear or present as I assumed or tried to maintain. I’ll work on it.
Also, look for a “what do you want to see reviewed?” post in coming days. Our budget is tighter this year, but I always leave room for some requests. I don’t think I would have learned about Eley if not for reader recommendations – I would have focused on home center brands and availability. What other unfamiliar tools or brands will your interests and questions steer me towards?
Jim Felt
Stuart.
I believe that most if not all of your followers/fans/friends here believe that your role is both maestro and canary in the coal mine for all of our diverse “tool” interests.
I seldom open your posts knowing what to expect other than a useful fun read.
Like today.
Carry on etc. etc.
Jim Felt
Oh. And I indeed bought both the short handle and the long handle Japanese “Coin” Drivers and they are far superior to any US coin I’ve ever needed to use.
Silly? Specious? Who cares?! They are the “right tool” for certain applications. As are the JIS and PoziDrive bits and drivers I did not previously know existed and that I now use consistently.
So there.
Bruce
Are there particular brands or models of coin drivers you’d suggest?
fred
I’m sure that Stu’s pictured PB Swiss is superb and priced accordingly – but you can look at Dzus fastener drivers like these cheap ones:
https://www.skygeek.com/skygeek-sg01-001-dzus-driver.html
or more expensive ones like these:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Beta-Dzus-Head-Screw-Screwdriver-1201DZ/305765631
Alan Burch
I bought the PB Swiss tool after reading about PB Swiss tools here. I paid around $15 for it with no added postage because I was buying the multibit screwdriver as recommended here. I had no idea how much I’d use the PB Swiss tool. I changed the batteries in my Thermapen yesterday and I’m sure I’ll be using it again in the next few days. I see it on the web for under $20 for the long version and under $18 for the stubby version. It’s a tool I use and am glad to have.
PDJ
What is the link / site?
Dan Paquette
I was one of the guys advocating the Eley quick disconnects. I stand by that.
I also bought multiple Eley valves, and multi port splitters as they had a bundle sale. My experience with those was less than stellar. The valves became leaky (wouldn’t full close/stop flow) after one season. The multiport splitters I bought both separated at the threaded connection.
I also bought a hose reel on two wheels. It was a joy. *Up until the point that I went to move it after a season and a half and the cast aluminum union where the handle feeds into broke clean off. Now… I can indeed buy that new part from Eley and repair my reel good as new and I likely will as the part is “cheap” at about $35.
So you can see, the quick disconnects are awesome. Everything else they make should have a buyer beware. I think the casting breaking on the hose reel may be an oddity, but who knows?
Paul in Leyden
That sounds like a warranty replacement issue. Eley states on their website that their hose reels and related parts are guaranteed for 10 years.
Dan Paquette
I’ll have to try that. My experience with vendors with that sort of guarantee is that they will claim “Abuse”… When all I did was take the handle, and tip the reel back on two wheels to move it.
Johann
Honestly, I think most of your readers understand that you are going to be purchasing items for review with the expectation that there will be a future post about it/you can write off the purchase.
But I reread your hose reel post, and personally I think it reads as if you are being disingenuous with your readers about your reasons for going to a new reel. I think this post clears that up however. “For purely personal use, I’d replace the end fitting or the hose itself, and that’d be fine. The cheap hose reel would continue to be as frustrating to use as it has been, but I don’t think I would replace it so quickly.”
So I guess, why not just come out and say it? “This hose reel is pretty cheap and annoying to use. I could get a short term fix for $7, but I’ve been interested in seeing what better products are out there so I’m looking for a better product that I can use and review”.
Just my $0.02
Stuart
The problem is that a lot of my decisions carry baggage.
I was looking for a new hose reel last year. I started looking again at the start of this season.
Last week I paid very close attention to a Home Depot deal of the day and almost bought a Suncast “hideaway” reel to replace the creaky one the previous homeowners leave behind (which I thought the $25 Suncast might have improved upon).
What I would do with this Suncast is replace the feeder with a chopped-off section of the current hose, mated with a female “repair” fitting that I bought previously. I wanted to place the hose reel ~20 feet from the faucet, and thought to split the 50 foot hose to do it, but ultimately decided against it. I now have a 75 foot hose and planned to divide up the current 50 foot into a feeder hose and maybe put the other part on a splitter for use in the other direction.
But, the leak just frustrated me. Two years and the feeder hose needs to be chucked in the trash because it’ll cost more in parts than it’s worth? Okay, I guess it happens. You get what you pay for.
The couple of times I’ve looked for a better or more user-friendly hose, I’ve come across so very many user reviews talking about how cheap the parts are, or how different things keep breaking, cracking, or simply failing, hence the hesitation.
The overall design is clunky but several searches across the past year hasn’t turned up anything I’d consider as standing a high probability of being more reliable or appreciably more user-friendly.
This year, I’m going to have to water once or twice a day, and the new leak simply broke my spirits for this hose reel. That creates the opportunity to try an improved model. Readers’ recommendations for Eley steered me in a quick direction.
Let’s be honest, I dwell. In this case, everything mixed together to create action.
I still plan on repairing that Suncast hose reel, and it’ll be a separate post. I also contacted customer service (earlier today), and that might be another post. And then there will be a first thoughts post when the Eley comes in.
My thoughts are like a messy tree that needs pruning. I try for posts to focus on one branch. Things don’t always end up that way, but it’s what I try for.
The hard part is that even if I show one branch, I can’t show the 12 off-shoots I had to cut away for brevity and cleanliness, or the 10 feet of growth that willed the single branch in existence.
The post wasn’t about replacing the hose reel, it was about the leak. Because after replacing the washer, and using pliers to gently tighten the thin fitting, and while standing in a muddy puddle, I was sprayed in the face with water, and I’m sure I’m not the only one.
This wasn’t the only time that I realized after the fact that I mentioned a purchase or planned purchase and didn’t fully describe the “why” behind it.
My reasons are often far more detailed or even convoluted than is apparent, and I figured with this post, “because it’s fueled by future content” could be a quick explanation to keep in mind.
Some of my posts in coming weeks will feature tools I would not have purchased for personal use.
It’s so hard to navigate this mentality. I bought PB Swiss hex keys. They’re pricey, but my work necessitates the quality. I bought a PB Swiss demo screwdriver, but it would never be a personal purchase. I need some way to make it clear what’s for natural use, and what’s prompted by editorial curiosity.
I intend to be transparent all around, and so I would argue against your description of the other post as disingenuous. It was written “train of thought” style. It was later when I realized I “didn’t show my work,” which I feel has been happening more because of the blurred line between my identity as a ToolGuyd contributor and the side of my brain that serves in a different capacity to sign off on or reject acquisitions and expenditures.
The hose reel post wasn’t about “A lot of you offered recommendations for Eley, and so I’m going to give them a try,” that was where it led me, if that makes sense. Maybe I shouldn’t have mentioned it at all, but it seemed odd to expand upon it.
Later, I wondered if I left too much out of the post for the sake of brevity, and that’s something that I’ve felt recently in other posts.
My post about Bridge City Tools (https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/bridge-city-covid-19-pandemic-deal-042020/%3C/a%3E%29 is an example where I did put a lot of background context into the post, and I don’t think it helped. There was too much o fit. So much of that could have been simplified if I had simply had a practice of saying “ToolGuyd bought/sent me a [tool] to test out.” There, I felt I had to explain why I bought any of their products to explore.
One possibly way of moving forward is to discuss certain purchases and explorations as they just come in, but that could lead to too much of a social-media-like shortness to things.
Perhaps several different approaches are warranted, and in those cases changes will be apparent with this post explaining them.
Stuart
I would add that a lot of these types of posts are purposefully unfiltered. I feel it reveals sentiments more naturally, and so any changes or evolutions, for the better or worse, are also presented naturally.
Blocky
TG has a very personal mark — your earnest, inquisitive, exhaustive style. The original post did not seem disingenuous to me, but at times you do muddle through tmi, which can generate misunderstandings as quickly as it clears them.
In this case, your simple and direct title set the tone. The sentence in question was awkward, but I think what you were getting at was even deeper than a question of conflict of interest. It was you noticing that you’ve had a personal shift. That you are even more likely to examine the deeper and qualitative function of a thing, and search for improvement at that level, even if it’s a heavy investment of time and attention (and money) — And this is part of the forever unfinished work of toolguyd, which is an information resource that flows in all directions. Does that seem right?
As a reader, sometimes I think I’m getting the bullet-point tool rundown but find myself hacking at the roots of your decision tree 10 minutes later.
I enjoy both types of posts, and I appreciate that you discuss purchases complexly as someone who budgets for and uses tools.
Sometimes I think your evaluations miss the mark, but that’s only because we are different people.
Can’t do this work without some wrinkles!
Stuart
Thanks, I appreciate it!
When I embark on a more editorial-style post, it’s as if I dump differently colored marbles into a bin. Once that is done, it would take several times the effort to lift out each marble and sort it into a neater presentation.
When I embark with a more informational-based post, I start with a stricter plan, and start with an optimized method of laying out the marbles where it’s easier to see everything as a whole and compartmentalized. It takes a lot more time to do this, but many topics require it.
I like to include a mix because raw thoughts carry more emotion and context, and also because it is quicker and easier. I also feel that unfiltered thoughts serve as windows into raw sentiments, and that is important to share every now and then. Editing almost always results in tempering, and sometimes it feels more like talking to strangers than to and with ToolGuyd readers as a community.
It is also very difficult to gauge the interest in certain topics, and so “train of thought” makes it possible to post about certain tools or experiences that otherwise wouldn’t receive the time and attention needed for a more formal write-up.
I can always follow up on a post if it proves to be important, impactful, or of higher interest than expected.
Yesterday I wrote about my experiences with 4 seed starting mixes. If I were to write that up formally, it would require maybe 5X the time and effort, and I can’t justify that for the interest and impact it would have. There was still the need to get things down on paper, and there were so many underlying “hows” and “whys” that would have been very difficult to refine.
The hard part of writing for myself is that there’s no one to yell at me to tighten things up, tweak focus, add headings, or filter out less important branches, but I also love that it can be this way.
TimL
I enjoy the posts and have certainly bought items I may not have sought out on my own. The beauty of a free market is that we can buy what we want to. Your site is an informative site which I choose to look at multiple times a day.
I like learning about tools. some are simple, some are complicated. some I can afford, some I cannot. You guys have opened my eyes to many things to make projects simpler, more efficient, or even gotten the gears rolling for new projects.
Keep doing what makes you happy and allowing us your opinion and a forum to discuss is a great service. I still have some tools on my wish list so I will always check back often.
rizzle
Buy two of those expensive hose reels, then get one of them gold-plated, explain that process, and then do a 3-6-9 and 36 month follow-up corrosion comparison to see the benefits! Who cares? It’s all a tax deductible business expense!
I think you’re a genius, you’ve found a way to channel your addiction into a business venture. If only the rest of us could be so lucky.
Keep it up!
Stuart
Yes, expenses are [usually] tax deductible, but not at the sacrifice of a livable wage.
Don’t even joke, I would LOVE to delve into thin film deposition, although a hose reel would be way too large to be feasible. For maximum attention, I’d look into gold-plating smaller Harbor Freight tools.
Purchases still have to be justified, and the money still has to come from somewhere, which is why I don’t have the wall-to-wall Lista cabinets or Snap-on tools I would love to get my hands on.
To be honest, this was never the career I worked towards, it just happened. This wasn’t a business venture, it was a passion. Yes, it’s now a business, but I try not to consider it as such, because that would change just about every way ToolGuyd is run.
I am lucky in that this is something I truly enjoy. But it’s also hard to work for myself – the hours are long and at times unlimited. This works for me for two reasons – 1) I love having loose constraints and the ability to follow my passion, and 2) this allows me to be the “stay at home” parent for my small kids when needed.
Tools for the sake of tools might be an addiction. With a purpose, they’re an interest. With essential purpose, they’re a need. ToolGuyd enables me to explore the grey area between “need and want” in a self-fulfilling cycle. It’s this grey area that created ToolGuyd that ToolGuyd now feeds.
fred
You readership – probably understands that tax deductions , being able to buy tools to test or better yet receiving tools gratis for the purpose of testing are all nice things. But you still need to have the income to offset those tax deductions – and even free tools do not necessarily put food on the table, pay your property taxes etc. I for one am happy that you have apparently found a way to make ToolGuyd work for you – and by extension keep your readers entertained and informed. Running a business can be very difficult so I appreciate what you do and hope that you can keep up the good work.
Koko the Talking Ape
Sure, and I didn’t mean to criticize you, Stuart, for buying the 10x reel. I think it might have been the particular way the situation was couched (this isn’t how it happened, but it SEEMED to be: reel springs a leak, a new reel costing 10x is purchased.) And you asked for experiences and recommendations. Naturally, if you are buying tools in order to test them for the website, that’s a job that you have and we don’t. You aren’t just being a homeowner or pro tooluser like the rest of us, and our experience might not be relevant (and your purchase decisions might not be what we would make, as you say.)
Anyway, thanks and keep up the good work!
Stuart
Thanks! Don’t worry, I didn’t take it negatively in the least bit! Conversation is always most-welcome, as is constructive criticism.
Popgun42
I read Tool Guyd everyday. I enjoy seeing things I know little or nothing about. sometimes I think, what would someone use that for, why spend that much on something like that. I do enjoy your web site and learn a little sometimes. Maybe you can teach an old dog new tricks . Just keep on going.
aerodawg
I’m just beyond cheap tools that don’t work as intended. I don’t have the time to struggle with sub-optimal choices but I do have the $ to buy the correct tools. For anything I use regularly, I’m very much into the realm of “buy once cry once.”
RKA
I’m not sure how you introduce the new tool without some level of misinterpretation, except as you suggest, an after the purchase summary and review. Comparisons to features and flaws on what you had prior are natural, we all do it. As long as they are presented in an objective fashion, I think they will be appreciated. We all wonder what do you get in a $200 tool vs a $20, but can’t always justify the expense to “find out”. That’s where you come in…take the hit for the 1000 of us that wonder about such things. The details in your editorial review allows each one of us to have that value conversation with our inner selves (or SO). The outcome is always different, but that’s not material.
A 3 month or 6 month follow up might also be helpful on some tools, even if your impressions haven’t changed much. Seeing a tool, touching it and turning it on are all well and good. A retrospective can touch on differences you didn’t initially think were important or flaws you hadn’t realized without extensive use. With this reel, you still have the fixed plastic reel kicking around, so six months of gardening using both might reveal some subjective thoughts that may be useful to others as well.
I’m not sure if that gets to your original question or if I grabbed an offshoot and went in the wrong direction.
suspecterrain
Anybody spending $25 on a hose reel should expect to be disappointed. You should not even review such garbage.
Planegrain
Well, for that price it’s still usable after two years( just a minor problem with hose, which could be replaced cheaply).
Corey Moore
You’re very self-aware, Stu lol It really lends itself to your communication skills, as well as your excellent sense of sincerity and competence that we all appreciate in your editorials/assessments. That being, your end of it is often going to go hand in hand with concern regarding your delivery and received interpretations, and that’s a rabbit hole. Might be old and cliche, but trusting your fans instead of your haters should always ring true for you, regardless of whatever may have you uncertain about your content. This sounds really pep-talky without solicitation, and I apologize for that lol But like it was said somehwere above, your $200 vs $25 angle was probably perfect for the vast majority of your regular readers. We get your style and thought process, and it’s why we all recognize this site’s quality above other forums. Even this post showcases your usual dedication to the best you feel you should be doing, and should be self-evidence of how well you do what you do.
Bob
Stuart, I would say you are disingenuous for the sake of journalism/entertainment/brevity rather than for the sake of malice. Sometimes full disclosure doesn’t suve to further the story. We don’t need to know the backstory of why you are contemplating a $200 hose reel when you can fix your $20 hose reel with a five dollar part.
Its kinda like telling a joke in the first person. After the punch line people laugh and simultaneously realize you were not in a bar with a Camel, Orangoutang and Ostrich. Its more funny if for the first part of the joke they think it was a legitimate experience you are talking about. Disclosing the full details ruins the joke and makes it longer than it needs to be.
Or its like a magician. You expect a magician to lie to you. You know they’re not gonna actually cut that person in half. You are entertained. You were deceived but you expected that and it was all in good fun and the lack of disclosure is needed to complete the trick.
At any rate I am fine with the way you go about producing content. As long as the recomendation part is legit I can give two bananas how we get there.
Just my two bananas worth.
Stuart
I guess that makes sense, kind of?
I am generally fueled by a desire to avoid hassles.
For example, you can make an inexpensive woodworking chisel work as well as a more premium model, but it takes quite a bit of flattening, sharpening, and honing work.
I spent quite a bit of time recently and last year, researching a better hose reel than I have now, and there are so many user complaints about everything in the price range I was focusing on. Even with a new hose or internal fittings, there’s a strong chance my hose reel will go kaput in the near future, given others’ user reviews. And even if not, it was so aggravating to use that I ended up filling up a watering can once or twice a watering session rather than pull the hose out. That won’t do for this season.
Can a pricier hose reel really fix all that? ToolGuyd has encouraged me to seek to answer those questions myself. In this case, reader’s endorsements for the new brand combined with another frustrating incident to push me to action and an editorial thread was born.
JoeM
Cue gigantic eye roll.
Stuart, listen… You’re trying to explain, to a group of children, why Candy A is always at the bottom set of bins in every Candy Shop, and why Candies B, C, and D, are offered at higher, closer-to-eye-level, bins.
Some of us are SOLID Candy A fans. We’re hooked on that sweet, sweet, unhealthy corn syrup based hard crack of the candy world. We went into the store, looked at those bins, and tried to find non-criminal ways to bring the entire row home with us, and damn the sugar crash we know is incoming because of that choice.
You spend your whole life trying to expand our sugar-rush horizons. You talk about better sugar highs, even to the details of what you could potentially halucinate if you put down the A-Type candies and just TRY some B-Type.
In this metaphor, you’re putting your pancreas, and your potential (or expected) Diabetes at the forefront of risks to your life, because you want us to appreciate the CANDY STORE we’re going to, rather than just the CANDY.
WHY you have chosen to do it, and why your methods are what they are, speak more about your attention to quality, over the easiest “Fix” we can possibly get. You’re basically calling Willy Wonka on his schtick, and introducing us to Godiva, Lindt, and a whole world of higher quality sweets tailored EXACTLY to our PARTICULAR sick, twisted, unhealthy need for the sugar high. YOU, Good Sir, are doing us all a MAJOR service. In a lot of cases, you very well could save our decline into the Tool version of Diabetes. (Probably Bankruptcy from buying the tools that cost more to maintain and keep, than the tools that do the job in a reasonable price range, doing enough work to pay for themselves or their upgraded replacements. I THINK that’s an equivalent to the Metaphor… I think I just got caught up in a bit of a sweet tooth thing, and rolled with it… But I hope you get the idea.)
Stuart
Here’s a food-related analogy:
Let’s say I was a food reviewer. As a food reviewer, I’d be compelled to try different foods, including some pricier ones that I otherwise wouldn’t have been encouraged to test.
For instance, is kobe beef really tastier than sirloin?
But then how do I make it clear that the kobe beef I’m talking about isn’t something I would have on my plate if not for the editorial curiosity?
In reality, kobe beef is something I’d like to try, but every time I see it the pricing is prohibitive.
If personal enjoyment is ignored or taken out of the equation, editorial curiosity will often encourage me to try things I otherwise wouldn’t have justified, and it’s this that I realized hasn’t been clearly conveyed enough.
I focus on the hose reel here, but there are other products that I’ll be talking about soon. Some of these things have been on my queue for a while, but they’re always hard to talk about.
I suppose I could simply include such tools in a series with the tagline “I spent way too much money to explore these tools, so you don’t have to.”
JoeM
That is likely a better analogy than my “Kid in a Candy Store” thing, yes. I was hoping it worked that way… I think the Metaphor got away on me or something… I dunno.
My point, ultimately, is that your reasoning does pay off. Your work is appreciated for its particular twist on the usual review sites. I don’t believe I am alone in hoping that, whatever your methodology, whatever your drive to do what you do, you are afforded a life that is capable of continuing the way you have been.
And… Just for reference… I kinda figured my Willy Wonka/Candy Store Metaphor would get a massive eye-roll from a lot of readers, thinking I was crazy or something. I figured the metaphor would make a couple people chuckle, and a lot of others relatively confused.
Greg
Been reading for a few years, have learned a lot and there were a lot of hits on the site. Your one miss was pushing the Festool painters tool. Turns out it’s made in China just a cheap promotional item, logo already worn off. Still a phenomenal conversion rate on here. Thanks for all you do
Stuart
To be fair, I was genuinely interested and even excited and it wasn’t released yet and so I was optimistic.
https://14cyiuhvcgv.com/limited-edition-festool-5-in-1-painters-multi-tool/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
But yeah, it turned out to be a rather ordinary 5-in-1 painter’s tool.
It wasn’t a great buy, but it wasn’t terrible either.
fred
Here is what might be an interesting special-purpose variant on this tool’s theme:
https://www.amazon.com/Movimiento-Pro-0087-Timing-llave-buj%C3%ADas/dp/B000GTTOMA/
ShawnB
I don’t understand the angst. You say “most people” aren’t going to jump from a $25 hose reel to a $200+ one, but clearly a number of your readers did make that jump on their own (and had a positive enough experience to recommend it).
There are issues with reels that are plastic (brittle after extended UV exposure), steel (rust), and generally most models manufactured to meet big box store price points (economy fittings that only last a couple years, and difficulty getting exact replacement parts due to constant model “updates” and a throwaway consumer mindset).
The Eley reel appears to be designed with all of these issues in mind (aluminum frame, quality fittings, stainless hardware, 10 year warranty, easy to order replacement parts for every model ever made, etc). It’s not cheap, but isn’t absurdly priced either — it’s in line with a commercial air hose reel or pressure washer reel. It’s probably not perfect, but there really isn’t a comparable product, much less a cheaper knock-off, which tells me it’s probably expensive to manufacture.
So I’m a bit baffled why this wouldn’t “make sense” for a tool site. Especially when we don’t seem embarrassed to pay a hefty multiple for a tool that is very similar to alternatives but carries a certain european COO or was made by a small batch boutique.
Stuart
Most users will upgrade progressively, often stopping at different stages based on their comfort, means, and interest.
$25 hose reel. $60 hose reel. $100 hose reel. $200 hose reel.
$25 hand plane. $100 hand plane. $200 hand plane.
$10 wood chisel. $20 wood chisel. $65 wood chisel.
$15 pocket knife. $40 pocket knife. $75 pocket knife. $120 pocket knife. $250 pocket knife.
It’s my progression that isn’t linear. I might talk about buying a $200 hose reel, or a $200 pocket knife, or a $250 hand plane, or a fancy woodworking square, a $75 set of hex keys.
I’ve found that at times my mention of these products can be misconstrued as being part of my regular purchasing and usage habits, and it’s been difficult to clarify that it’s not always the case.
RC Ward
For most of us a 200 dollar hose reel is just not going to happen , ever. But it’s nice to read about one and know that the option is out there. I read magazines about 200,000 dollars speakers and how great they are. I’m never going to hear them let alone buy them but it’s fun to gawk at.
James
I own a Eley hose reel along with their large ID polyurethane hose and garden sprayers, we love them, they are commercial quality and hold up to the constant beating of the SoCal sun. It has out lasted every thing else in the garden many times over. No hassles, no fixing, no replacement costs, it is worth more than the price of admission.
I also own the PB Swiss coin driver and many of their other tools. I smile every time I open a battery door without nicking, denting, scratching or having to look for loose change. I encounter many of these across my vintage camera collection which is a tale for another time.
I purchased both these items before I found your blog.
Some of us are always trying to optimize and find perfection or at least something that resembles perfection. It’s the never ending quest that brings us joy, purpose and personal gratification. Keep on doing what you do, don’t doubt it, do it because it feels good and feels right.
Charles F
First, I like your reviews, (and the comments). You provide something useful. It’s why I come here.
You aren’t perfect. You’ve said some things I disagree with, as a pro. But hey, I’ve said some things I disagree with now…
I do find buy once cry once to be better for most things. But I still give my guys buck tools made in USA chisels (review them if you haven’t… they are a woodworking “secret” for a reason).
An aside – the expensive northern tool hose carts also suck. Took 5 years to die but…. I’m giving up on hose carts or going straight to real pro. They seem like a good idea. I’m going to say they aren’t