Q I’m a longtime reader and online lurker of all things PM. I’m beginning to take on new home projects, so I’m requesting more tools for special occasions like my birthday. I point family members to your Web site and ask for the tools that you recommend. But that means I’ve got many different brands of power tools. Is there one brand that ranks best overall? This would be particularly helpful to know concerning cordless power tools, so that I can swap batteries as much as possible.

A We get asked this question a lot. The simple answer is no. Over the past 20 or so years, we’ve found that each manufacturer has at least one strong suit. For example, we haven’t seen a reciprocating saw yet that can outcut the iconic Milwaukee Super Sawzall, and Bosch’s jigsaw handily beat all comers in a recent test. Among cordless tools, we’ve had consistently high results from Bosch, Makita and Milwaukee, to name three professional brands. DeWalt, Ridgid and other well-known names in the industry also perform very well in our tests, and some less expensive brands such as Hitachi and Ryobi provide more than enough performance for homeowner needs.

Even within brands, you might be attracted to smaller, lowvoltage tools that take a stick-type battery that fits in the handle, while larger tools of the same marque use a larger, slide-on type of battery. If you find yourself needing to swap batteries among various tools, buy a combo kit, such as one that contains a drill, a circular saw and a reciprocating saw.

I suppose I’m just stating the obvious, but sooner or later manufacturers should settle on a standard battery configuration. Yes, we’ve heard a lot of reasons from manufacturers over the years about why this isn’t possible. But then again, other industries have put this kind of squabbling behind them and moved on to successful standardisation. It’s time for the power tool industry to do this, too.