For years and years - probably 25 or more - I had a bog-standard B&D jigsaw.
I'm sure the older posters will remember the one. It was blue a plastic,
single speed, 'straight ahead only' job. It gave sterling service, and the
only thing I ever did to it was to renew the sleeve bearings that the up and
down bit ran in (we had a B&D shop in the town at the time, which sold spare
parts). A couple of years ago, the motor finally gave up when I was forcing
it to cut through some reinforced concrete or similarly abusive job that we
all expect our tools to cope with from time to time ( :-) ), so I thought
right, time for a new one and a bit of an upgrade !

Now remember that the old one had gone on an on. I also have an old B&D
hammer drill that handles anything from MDF to concrete lintels without
complaint, and a vertical stand to go with it, a modern B&D 1200 watt
circular saw, that I have no complaint with at all, and a B&D router that's
not the most accurate bit of kit in the world, but is adequate, and
reliable. So I had no compelling reason to change from B&D. I know that they
are by no means 'professional' quality tools, and you wouldn't trust them to
make you a living every day, but I have always found them pretty fair, with
a good price to performance ratio, and perfectly satisfactory for serious
DIY projects.

So I bought a KS638SE scroller jigsaw.

Not to put too fine a point on it, it is the biggest pile-of-**** power tool
I have ever had the misfortune to own ...

No matter what blade you've got in it, and how appropriate it is for the job
in hand, it is almost impossible to make the thing cut a straight line in
any material thicker or harder than a piece of cardboard. It is similarly
impossible to get a vertical cut through any material thicker than a quarter
inch. The scroller knob clicks up, and even flies apart, releasing its
spring, if you as much as look at it wrong. The blade anti-bend-backwards
wheel's slide mount adjustment locking screw, comes loose, allowing the
wheel to move back away from the blade, on any job that needs a cut taking
longer than about 30 seconds to complete.

This morning, I was using it to make a cut-out to accommodate pipes, in a
Contiboard shelf from inside a standard kitchen base unit. Melamine covered
chipboard about 12mm thick. Hardly a challenging material. New coarse-cut
blade in it. Had all the above problems, and what should have been a two
minute job, took about twenty. I got so mad with it that I came close to
just tossing it in the bin there and then.

So have I just been unlucky to buy what was a poor model ? Has anyone else
got one of these that they'd care to comment on ? Have B&D brought out a
better one since that anyone would care to comment on ? Or anyone got any
suggestions regarding any other makes and models that are suitable for
occasional, but 'serious' DIY work, without carrying a TTP price tag ?

Arfa