Dale Vickers

I'm Dale Vickers. Been pulling wire and bending conduit in Toledo since I was 22, right out of the apprenticeship program. IBEW Local 8. My old man drove trucks his whole life—Peterbilts mostly—and died behind the wheel at 58. That scared the hell out of me. When I hit 41 and the doc told me I was pre-diabetic and heading down the same road, he didn't sugarcoat it. Said I had maybe ten years if I kept going like I was. I dropped 51 pounds that year. Still eat like shit sometimes but I watch it now. Ain't trying to check out before I'm 60.

Divorced in 2018. No kids, which honestly made it cleaner. These days I work my union jobs, come home to the house I got to keep, and spend most nights in the detached garage out back rewiring muscle cars for extra cash. Right now I got a '72 Chevelle I'm sorting out—previous owner butchered the whole electrical system trying to save money. I've probably got fifteen grand in tools between the work truck and the garage, and over the years I figured out what's worth buying and what's garbage that'll fail when you need it most. If it don't work after a double shift in February, it don't work.

I started writing these reviews because guys kept asking me what battery impact to buy or what work light is actually bright enough, and I got tired of typing the same damn thing on Facebook. Look, I'm not a chemist or an engineer. I just know what holds up on a job site, what makes it through deer season in a cold garage, and what's still running after you drop it off a ladder twice. The Browns lose every year and winter here is brutal, so your gear better be tougher than both. I test what I actually use, I don't get paid by anybody, and I'll tell you straight if something's overpriced crap or if it's worth the money.