PowerTools

Price: $450 , - 10% off coupon
Bought: June 07

Zero Clearance Inserts:
Look for 14" X 3 3/4" inserts compatible with TS-3650, TS2400LS

Price: $50 Instore Special, - $10 MIR - $15 coupon
Bought: June 05

Haven't tested it yet, but looks pretty nice. A little heavy, but I think they're all the same weight or heavier. The boot feels really nice.
I wish I had some sort of carrying case, or some cord storage. The onboard 2 blade storage is only good for on the job; wish I had a case with blade storage too. Wish the blade changes were faster, with some sort of quick release instead of a hex key (stored on the cord).

Price: ~$30-40

• 24? point clutch (prevents the bit from rotating if some amount of torque resists... used most of the time to prevent stripping screws and overtightening)
• keyless chuck
• leveling bubbles

I like it a lot. A good general purpose drill to have around.
A must have accessory are the quick change bits. With this, you rarely ever have to undo the chuck. I also got a set of driving bits and the best things is that both sets of bits fit nicely in the drill's case so I only have to carry one thing around.

Price: ~$30-40

Probably the cheapest circular saw around. A good saw, just no frills. Some features that I wish I had though...

• saw stop thingy... to lock the blade to make it faster to change
• adjustable guide
• to be able to hold open the cover from the left-hand side
• mini light
• laser sight

On TV the guys are pros with their circular saws. I would have thought that I'd be more accurate with mine after this much time but I am not. I think the reason is that they have nice saws with good, accurate, guides.

Ahh, found out why. Their circular saws have the blade on the opposite side of mine. So it's A LOT easier to see the cuts. I'll have to remember to look for that next time. Prob easily >$100 though.

Ok, those are worm drive saws. They're really powerful, really heavy, and really expensive. I've made some custom straitedge guides that make my cuts a lot more accurate.

• Variable speed
• tons of attachments
• flexishaft

As I get more power tools, I use the Demel less and less. It is a great multipurpose tool but underpowered for large tasks. It's a must have tool for any hobbyist (is that a real word?).

Nowadays they have cordless Dremels with Li-ion battery packs, which is what I would get if I got one today.

Retail Price: $200
Best Deal found: Lowes $184 - 20% holiday promotion - $30 MIR = $117.20 (ended Dec 15th, 2004)

Really nice and fun tool. I wish I kept it, but there were some problems. I'll just focus on those for now.
The fence height adjustment was a little off. On the joiner I had, there was a slight angle that couldn't be adjusted. The Dewalt's fence looks nicer, but only goes up to 90 degrees vs the 135 degrees of the PC557. I thought the fence was nice heavy duty metal construction, but part of the fence is plastic, and breaks really easily. Mine was broken out of the box, and I noticed the stores' display models also were frequently broken the exact same way or worse.

I also found the trigger lock to be too sensitive, and I would accidentally engage it and it always took too long to disengage.

Overall, I'd say it's a nice tool that I wish I still had. I'm going to wait and see what the next revision will be like to see if we finally get a proper fence a $200 power tool should have.

Links:
http://woodbutcher.net/images/normstools/pc-557.htm
http://www.porter-cable.com/index.asp?e=547&p=2852