The Brushless Impact Driver JCB-18BLID (left) and the Brushless Combi Drill JCB-18BLCD (right)
New range of cordless tools from JCB - Serious and surprising?
By PETER BRETT
PART of my job is to keep up with tool news from far and wide, and recently I have noticed a trend – particularly from the USA – where ‘own brands’ sold in places like Lowes and Home Depot, have featured ever more strongly in tests and reviews.
Most often they score very well in the ‘value for money’ category, which can be perceived as a backhanded compliment, but increasingly, the features and performance of the tools have measured up with international brands. I have read several tests in which the ‘own brands’
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have outscored the others. And just like our tradespeople, the Americans don’t like paying more without a very good reason.
I guess the above is a result of fi erce competition in the power tool market, the increasing sophistication of Far East manufacturing, and a much wider knowledge of battery technologies driven by mobile phone and electric car development.
Hence, it was with quite a lot of interest that I took delivery of a load of cordless tools from JCB. The strapline on the box
read ‘Serious Tools. Surprising Prices.’ And since the JCB branding stands for a lot, I clearly needed to take this strapline seriously.
What’s on off er?
What is obvious is that the new JCB range of tools is not a half-hearted attempt to launch a few tools and then ‘see how it goes’. The range of tools is fully formed and comprehensive, with a selection of JCB-branded power tool accessories to go with it.
The tools themselves are very well
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