Game Changers - The successes and the flops?

[pirate]

Yankee screwdrivers...beloved of the shopfitters that worked all night to re-purpose shop units...cut myself so many times!
As said, by me and others, LED headtorches and hand-held and site lamps, battery tools, all that stuff...Turbo Ultra goldscrews that drive into anything...all good stuff! Quinetic switches (other brands are available) Aico RF wireless smokes/heats and some of the QuickWire stuff...
actually, so much stuff in the last few years!
My latest, absolutely essential bit of gear...and I have trialled it for 3 months now...

Lifeventure® Dual Palm Hand Warmers - Rechargeable hand warmers and portable charger

The Lifesystem’s hand warmer keeps your hands warm on cold days. The design is a split magnetic style that allows you to warm both hands at the same time, as well as doubling up as a portable charger.

www.rohan.co.uk

just the best gadget for when you are working in a cold environment! Keep them in your pockets and warm your hands while you struggle with cable connections, use them walking the dog, and as a bonus they have an output so you can use them like a battery pack to charge your phone and torches etc. I couldn't believe how many hours they lasted, and i take them everywhere now, including out on the loch in my dinghy to keep my hands warm when I can't wear gloves. For winter walking, if you have those big mitts, you can actually slip them inside the gloves...
I love them!

 

[nicebutdim]

Definitely. I used to hate nicad batteries with a passion. The worst of all battery chemistries to charge and look after.

I wasn't much more enamoured by NiMH, but now find myself using a lot of Eneloop cells and struggle to believe they employ the same chemistry.

 

[DPG]

I wasn't much more enamoured by NiMH, but now find myself using a lot of Eneloop cells and struggle to believe they employ the same chemistry.

NiMh didn't suffer from the memory effect and low charge storage issues though. Breath of fresh air after Nicads.

 

[nicebutdim]

NiMh didn't suffer from the memory effect and low charge storage issues though. Breath of fresh air after Nicads.

They were a vast improvement, but I recall them losing charge fairly quickly and batteries that weren't in regular use often needed charging fairly quickly.

I find Eneloops give performance in line with the best of alkalines, even after several months in a toolbox. I don't know what goes on inside them, but they perform very differently to NiMH cells of the past.

 

[xmetal]

They were a vast improvement, but I recall them losing charge fairly quickly and batteries that weren't in regular use often needed charging fairly quickly.

I find Eneloops give performance in line with the best of alkalines, even after several months in a toolbox. I don't know what goes on inside them, but they perform very differently to NiMH cells of the past.

That's my experience too. I don't buy the older type now. I find the Amazon Basic range seem to be rebadged Eneloops as the ones I have are made in Japan and perform the same.

 

[xmetal]

I also have tried Li-ion and NiMH PP3 size batteries too that work fine.

 

[IAmSparkytus!]

Rhino ladder clamps for van roof rack! There was nothing worse than needing your ladders off the top of the van in the pouring rain or when it’s snowing and then having to spin those old rusty ladder clamps that get stuck every half turn (hopefully everyone knows the type I mean!)

….and then the Rhino clamps came along, sorted!

 

[littlespark]

Rhino ladder clamps for van roof rack! There was nothing worse than needing your ladders off the top of the van in the pouring rain or when it’s snowing and then having to spin those old rusty ladder clamps that get stuck every half turn (hopefully everyone knows the type I mean!)

….and then the Rhino clamps came along, sorted!

I know exactly what you mean. The hook on the bottom of my rusty screwed rod type is almost straightened out now.

Still better than wasting cable ties on it.

 

[IAmSparkytus!]

Also recently started using the Bosch PowerChange arbour and hole saws. Great bit of kit when drilling consecutive holes, quick release saves a lot of time.

 

[LukeD]

Also recently started using the Bosch PowerChange arbour and hole saws. Great bit of kit when drilling consecutive holes, quick release saves a lot of time.

I got sick of changing the arbour .So I just bought a load via ebay and leave them on. Its not often i need a different size these days .The 5 cutters on them seem to cover most downlight etc ! !

 

[nicebutdim]

Rhino ladder clamps for van roof rack! There was nothing worse than needing your ladders off the top of the van in the pouring rain or when it’s snowing and then having to spin those old rusty ladder clamps that get stuck every half turn (hopefully everyone knows the type I mean!)

….and then the Rhino clamps came along, sorted!

Yeah, I bought a new set of them last month

 

[nicebutdim]

Also recently started using the Bosch PowerChange arbour and hole saws. Great bit of kit when drilling consecutive holes, quick release saves a lot of time.

Armeg smooth cutting hole saws are an incredible step up (also available from numerous other manufacturers).

Still have to watch for cutting landing on cables, but no danger of cutter going any depth into trunking and they cut beautifully smooth holes.

95% of holes I cut are 20, 25 & 32mm, so it's no great hardship changing arbors to other sizes.

 

[MJPD29]

Armeg smooth cutting hole saws are an incredible step up (also available from numerous other manufacturers).

Still have to watch for cutting landing on cables, but no danger of cutter going any depth into trunking and they cut beautifully smooth holes.

95% of holes I cut are 20, 25 & 32mm, so it's no great hardship changing arbors to other sizes.

They are 100 times better than standard holesaws, but very pricey

 

[nicebutdim]

They are 100 times better than standard holesaws, but very pricey

They last a long time - probably because I'm much more careful with them due to the high price tag,

 

[timhoward]

I suppose 3 game changers featured in todays work - all things that 5 years ago I couldn't have done.
Quinetic switches for all lighting, Quickwire T connectors and 1 splitter for the kitchen downlights, and a Dewalt cable stapler for clipping in the loft.
Between them I was able to pretty much first fix the lighting in a 3 bed house in about 2/3 of a day. (Floorboards were already up on landing)
Ok, I've still got to fit the receivers and the 3 core to the bathroom fan but I was driving home thinking that I'd never have achieved that much single-handedly in 2/3 of a day if I'd been chasing switch drops, running the extra switch cables, fiddling with downlight connections, and manually clipping it all in the loft.
Back to Earth and traditional methods with a bump for the socket circuits....