Best Pocket Hole Jig- Armor Auto- Kreg 720- Massca M2

do you want to know which pocket hole jig is the best value for 2021 stick around and we'll see if we can't figure it out together hi i'm mike with woodcraft716.com today we're going to be looking at armor tools auto jig mask m2 pro and craig 720 we'll take a look at all three of these what they have to offer and which one might fit your shop best i have to mention that i'm not sponsored by any of these three companies although i must mention that armor tool and mask of products did send me these jigs for free to do independent reviews on i'm really grateful for that that was a really nice gesture and i probably wouldn't have them without them sending them to me so i appreciate that but i did do independent reviews on all three of these i'll put a link in the description below if you want to check those out individually when i first did my initial review on these pocket hole jigs i had just received them and i didn't really have time to play with them and check them out and really use them so now that it's been six to nine months we're gonna revisit them and see how they stack up to each other let's talk about price real quick the 720 pro retails for 149 the mascot m2 pro retails for 149 and the armor tool auto jig retails for 139 i believe that's accurate at the time i filmed this video one thing that all three of these have in common is they all have excellent dust collection there's not a problem there they all do a really good job and that's probably the only thing all three of them have in common the next thing we'll talk about is how strong or durable these three are we'll go through them one at a time we'll go real quick we'll just highlight some things and talk about their construction first we'll talk about the armor tool auto jig it's a heavy duty plastic it's got some good construction it has some on-board storage it's got some metal guides that run all the way down to the bottom and to the top and it has this flippable piece in the middle to give you smaller or larger holes it's user friendly and i think it's built to last to set the collar on your bit it has an auto adjust to the size of material that's in there that's a pretty good feature i really like that and uh it comes in handy with the auto collar adjust and the height adjustment and the clamping adjustment all in one movement this makes it really easy to set up for a beginner there is some color coding on the side for the material you're using and the screws you should use with it i don't find that to be super helpful but i guess if you're new it may come in handy after using this for a little while i haven't had any problems with durability or strength or any issues with this holding up now let's take a look at the maska m2 pro this one is by far the most sturdy out of the three pocket hole jigs we're reviewing today this thing is completely made of aluminum and steel i believe it to be rock solid the only plastic i could find on it is the dust shoot the rubber that's on the handle and the little plastic that's on the pad that holds your material other than that this thing is built to last you for many years it also has these material supports that hold a longer piece of wood it will also double as a repeatable stop i do like that feature although i rarely do a repeatable stop but it's a nice one to have to set up the collar is real easy you just look at it from the front and there's some measurements on there you loosen the brass knobs and you set it to the correct dimension of your material then you just take this round adjustment block that has different dimensions on it with a little peg on the back you put the peg in the hole in the unit and you line it up so that the material you're using is under the guide block simply put your drill bit in until it touches the guide block tighten the collar and you're good to go to adjust the clamping mechanism you just loosen this nut and screw in or out the rod and then tighten the nut back up until your piece fits in there good the m2 pro with its all metal construction has steel guides all the way through top and bottom a really cool feature that the m2 has that none of the other ones have is you can take it apart and make it a portable pocket hole jig all you need to do to make this a portable jig is flip it over and remove the four allen screws take the plate that's provided by maska and put it on the bottom and reattach the screws once you have the plate installed it's already become a portable pocket hole jig you just put it on your board and clamp it with a face clamp make sure you set your bit before you take it apart i've made that mistake a few times so if you're only going to buy one pocket hole jig this year the mascot m2 pro is kind of a two for one you get the portable and the base model so that's a pretty good idea and a pretty good deal all right now we'll take a look at the craig 720 pro this is made of a cheaper plastic than the harmer tool it's just somewhat flimsy it bends real easy and it's just not the quality of the k4 or the k5 although i feel like the results are pretty similar it has some nice features i just wish that it was a little more durable and a little more built to last one of the things i do like probably the most out of the 720 pro is the whole spacing between the two narrow guides i do a lot of the farmhouse furniture and i'm cutting a lot of one and a half by one and a half that need pocket holes armor tool spacing is a little bit too wide for that even at its narrowest setting and the mask m2 only has two holes in it it's not hard to just lift up the handle and move it over and drill another pocket hole but i do like the spacing on this i wish some of the other brands would consider doing this the guides themselves are steel but the lower portion of the guide is plastic and i just feel like that's going to wear off over time the clamping mechanism is pretty nice it just feels a little cheap but it is easy it'll clamp three-quarter just as easy as it'll clamp one and a half so there's no problem there it holds it tight and holds it secure so we're good there and to set up the collar all you need to do is actually look at the drill bit and it has markings on it at one and a half three quarter and a half inch so that's fairly easy to adjust my only concern is again over time i've noticed that as my collar spins on there occasionally it does chew up the measurements and it is a little harder to see and on the back of the unit there is some measurements for different size materials you just put your bit in there and move your collar to the right dimension they advertise the 720 pro as being able to be flipped on the side so you can put a sheet good in there and drill your pocket holes i've never used that i can't see that making any sense if you have a four foot sheet you're really going to be reaching over that it just doesn't make sense to me i would rather stand it up and prop it up along the edges to do a long piece of plywood so taking a look at this here this sheet is over five feet long and the clamp has no problem holding it up and i think if i needed to put pocket holes into a large sheet good i would just use a portable pocket hole jig overall i still do use this and i do like it i like the clamping mechanism and i do like the spacing of the two closed pocket holes sweet so those are some of the things that i like about all three of these and some of the things that i'm not so crazy about so now we're gonna drill some pocket holes using each one of these jigs and we'll compare them here in a minute at the end [Music] okay taking a closer look at these right now we can see that they're all about the same in quality they all have a little bit of tear out probably because i'm using construction grade two by fours one thing that i did notice is the auto jig and the m2 have one and a quarter inch spacing on center while the craig has a one and a half i found that to be interesting i never noticed it before it doesn't make a difference to me but it may make a difference to you so after reviewing all these pocket hole jigs i just want to say that everybody's shop is different and your opinion and your needs may be different than mine i'm gonna have to say in my opinion the best pocket hole jake for 2021 is the mascara m2 pro because of the metallic construction and the fact that you can take it apart and have a portable pocket hole jig the two-in-one version i mean this puts this a step above the other two and i'll still use all three of my pocket hole jigs because i have them and i like certain things about each one i'll leave it up to you guys to decide which one you think is the best fit for your shop let me know in the comments below which one you think should be crowned pocket hole jig at 20 21 and if you like these awesome woodcraft 716 t-shirts with the small logo on the front and a large logo on the back i'll put a link in the description below to where you can pick it up for under 20 bucks it directly supports this channel and i'll put that money back into making videos and producing content and don't forget to like and subscribe hit that bell icon so you can stay informed with everything woodworking and remember to always create and inspire thanks for watching we'll see on the next video [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Woodcraft 716

Views: 24,758

Keywords: woodworking, kreg 720 pro, 720 pro, kreg k5, kreg k4, 720 vs auto jig, 720 pro vs massca m2, massca m2, massca m2 pro, m2 pro, m2 pro bundle, massca products, armor tool auto-jig, armor tool, auto jig vs 720 pro, auto jig vs 720, kreg vs armor, armor vs massca, kreg vs massca, pocket hole review, pocket hole comparison, best pocket hole jig, best pocket hole jig 2021, best pocket hole machine, best pocket hole jig for beginners, pocket hole king, pocket hole

Id: PTYyBiJxDv4

Length: 10min 9sec (609 seconds)

Published: Thu Dec 02 2021