I do like the DeWalt brand, and Rigid (Home Depot). I've never owned Milwaukee, but I know many of my contractors carried them. Most of my tools have been bolt-down style - 12" chop saw, band saw, table saw, wet saw, etc. I have a corded Rigid drill for getting through tough concrete and drilling holes in steel. For my cordless, I've used Ryobi ... mainly because I had to count on it getting stolen and it needed to be cheap enough I didn't cry about it. They lime green Ryobi stuff has been pretty handy, lately - no trouble with the 5-1/4" circular saw, reciprocating saw or drill. I did use the reciprocating saw to dig out a tree by the roots ... started that baby up and slowly pushed the blade in the ground right up by the tree ... traced myself a little circle and started pushing on the trunk - she fell over, I cut the rest off and filled in the hole. Saved me some effort vs. a hand saw or hatchet.
I did buy an HVLP from Harbor Freight - it was on sale for $10. I bought several and considered them one-time use products. Some of them I even got 2 or 3 jobs out of them before they were done.