Tools: power and hand tools for home and work

Run it under load: brush sparking beyond light is a haggling point, the smell of burnt windings is your cue to leave. Check chuck runout and spindle play.

Bosch DIY is green, professional is blue; Makita's pro line is metal-bodied and heavier. For home use DIY is enough; for daily work a used pro tool beats a new DIY one at the same price.

Batteries are the real cost. Ask how many packs and from what year, test runtime under load. A dead battery can cost half the whole kit.

For home: a cordless drill-driver (80% of household tasks) plus a corded hammer drill for concrete — needed rarely, and corded is stronger and cheaper. A fully cordless fleet makes sense once you own two or three batteries of one platform.

A cold start in front of you (a warm engine hides problems), a steady sound without stumbles, voltage measured under load — ask to plug in a kettle or heater. Engine hours if there's a meter; oil color on the dipstick. Test inverter models with sensitive electronics.

Worth it: bench tools — vises, clamps, hammers, factory-stamped wrenches — the steel often beats modern budget stock. Not worth it: measuring tools with lost calibration and anything electrical — without grounding and modern protection it's unsafe.