On 2007-07-02 11:23:43 +0100, Stuart Noble
said:

It's becoming obvious that Andy is a tool snob, and will invent
imaginary scenarios (like people lining up at the B&Q returns counter)
to justify his tool addiction.

If you don't want to buy quality products, that is your choice.

Have you never seen people at B&Q returning broken products? I
would find that surprising.

Horses for courses is the only sane approach.

Exactly.



A cheap jigsaw will cut laminate flooring, but not a worktop.

Assuming that one were to lay laminate flooring in the first place. A
cheap jigsaw won't even cut a reasonable line on thin material. As
to using a jigsaw to cut a worktop, the suggestion is ridiculous, for
any jigsaw unless you are talking about the hole for a sink.


A cheap drill will do much the same as an expensive one providing you
don't intend using it all day and dropping it off scaffolding. Both
strategies are equally valid and the market structured accordingly.

Level of utilisation is only one factor. Others are weight,
ergnonomics, precision of control, accuracy and servicability.


The idea that anyone on here has an intimate knowledge of what Makita
or Kress are thinking is faintly ridiculous.

Other than the management of the companies concerned, that is obviously
true. However, market reports and financial data are in the public
domain. Marketing strategies for distributed products are common
across virtually all industries.

Part of marketing is figuring out what the moves of your competitors
are likely to be before they make them and that is done usually without
intimate knowledge.

Given all of that, it is not very difficult to work out a range of
possible scenarios for business practices and that is what has been
described.