Anybody know of anything else that would be quite wise to purchase sooner than later, due to potential (or incoming) regulation that would be regarded as privacy-infringing to enforce? I was thinking about this because I’ve been pondering a high-quality 3D printer purchase for this reason.
Advice for varying levels of budget would be quite nice, too; I partially intend on this being a post people may want to revisit.
TINSTAAFL, buy once cry once, and all that. I can mitigate all of those trade-offs. I can’t mitigate proprietary batteries. Oh, sure, there knockoffs (potentially or actually dangerous) and generic batteries (like CEENR). The performance of the generics just isn’t there yet, but for people messing around at home, it’s gutenuf. The battery is still an expensive consumable.
I have mostly cordless tools and regret having gone down this route. The cost of one 10Ah pack would get me a “throwaway” oil-free compressor that I can repair and rebuild. And once you have the air tools, you have them for life. Dropped you drill in saltwater? Clean it up, lubricate, back in action. For the price of one cordless nail gun, I got my nail gun, a long nose stapler, a drill, extra air line, and an extra tank for additional air volume.
Is pneumatic for everyone? Absolutely not. But that battery lock-in is terrible. Proprietary anything chaps my ass, and I avoid it whenever possible.
As an aside, I often wonder how long before TTI and Stanley Black & Decker start locking out third-party batteries.