Viking Drill Information

[dwall174]

I have been wanting to buy a good quality set of drills for awhile, And I've heard some good remarks about Viking/Norseman drills.
Apparently Viking & Norseman drills are manufactured at the same plant in St. Paul, MN.

The set I was looking at is the 115 piece Type 240-UB "Ultra Bor" model# 93840 SP-115
On Vikings web-site their Price List (page 60) lists the set at $616.49

That same set model# 93840 SP-115 Type 240-UB, But under the Norseman brand name is available through Amazon for $287 and E-Bay for $312.

Is there really that big of a difference between the manufactures list price & the E-Bay / Amazon sellers, Or does Viking/Norseman sell lower quality drills to wholesale outfits?

Doug

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[mksj]

I have that set, as well as a shorty (mechanic) 1 pc set. They are very good drills, they are all the same, they are just discounted significantly from their list price. FYI, I recommend getting some duplicates of the numbered drills that are used frequently for tapping. I use the mechanic (shorty) set specifically for my mill and lathe where I want higher stiffness (less walking) in the drill. I also find that when I use the drills in my portable electric drills the chucks usually damage the drill shank and this increases the run out is I try to use them in my mill. So I recommend using a junker set for the electric hand drills.

FYI, Zoro's everyday prices are slightly higher than other vendors, but I often get 15-20% discount notices which make them less expensive than Amazon, eBay, etc.

 

[Aukai]

My good stuff will never go in a hand drill That's what Erwin, and Drillhog's are for, and get the screw/stub length for the machines.

 

[projectnut]

I have been wanting to buy a good quality set of drills for awhile, And I've heard some good remarks about Viking/Norseman drills.
Apparently Viking & Norseman drills are manufactured at the same plant in St. Paul, MN.

The set I was looking at is the 115 piece Type 240-UB "Ultra Bor" model# 93840 SP-115
On Vikings web-site their Price List (page 60) lists the set at $616.49

That same set model# 93840 SP-115 Type 240-UB, But under the Norseman brand name is available through Amazon for $287 and E-Bay for $312.

Is there really that big of a difference between the manufactures list price & the E-Bay / Amazon sellers, Or does Viking/Norseman sell lower quality drills to wholesale outfits?

Doug

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It's a common practice for manufacturers to offer their products at substantial discounts through authorized vendors/dealers. They make agreements not to compete against their dealers while still being able to sell their products online or through company owned stores.

I recently purchased a replacement tire pressure monitoring system for our motorhome and Jeep. I first went to the company's store where I purchased the original system many years ago. They were offering the system I was interested in, but the cost was several hundred dollars more than I could purchase it from eTrailer, Amazon, and a couple other outlets. When I talked to them on the phone they suggested I purchase the system from an authorized dealer such as eTrailer noting that I could get a considerably better price. They sell in bulk to the authorized vendors and would not undercut them by selling the same product for less money through their store.

It was an interesting experience in that the dealers didn't offer all the products available from the company, and those that were available only from the company were far more reasonably priced. I ended up ordering a complete system from eTrailer for $200.00 less than I could have ordered it through the company store, but also bought a number of spare parts not available through their vendors for an additional $35.00. Years ago these same spare parts were available through vendors, but cost in the neighborhood of $100.00. The volume of sales was so low it wasn't worth the vendors time to stock them so the company took over that end of the business exclusively.

 

[dwall174]

I have that set, as well as a shorty (mechanic) 1 pc set. They are very good drills, they are all the same, they are just discounted significantly from their list price.

Thanks that's good to know!

Doug

 

[dwall174]

I recommend using a junker set for the electric hand drills.

My good stuff will never go in a hand drill That's what Erwin, and Drillhog's are for.

I have a pretty good size drawer full of old drills I use mainly with my handheld drills, I usually look for them at garage sales & C/L adds.
I've also found some good deals on drills from local on-line auctions, Here's a box full of drills that I got for $25 & as a bonus there was about 24 MT#1 & MT#2 drills in the box.

Doug

 

[ddickey]

I have those drills also in screw machine length as well as a jobber set. I bought off of a dealer on eBay. Can't remember his name but prices were good.