Powertools

[FootNote]

Some of you may have heard, but I finally moved into a house, done with apartments and it has a great garage. Now the problem with moving into a house first time is... it takes a lot of money to set it up.

One of the thing I am lacking is power tools. I will freely admit, I am a bit of a brand snob. Not saying I trash talk other brands, but I hate mixing and matching. If I buy something brand name, I want the set to match. As far as power tools I imagine it works best that way anyhow due to batterys ect ect.

The brands I am looking at are:

-DeWALT (Not going to lie, I kind of have a soft spot for this brand because I remember my dad using some of their stuff)
-Milwaukee
-Ridgid

Any of them have major flaws I should be aware of?

Thanks.

 

[RaWarrior]

We have all DeWalt stuff at work. The 12v battery packs seem to have a short useful life, seems we only get a season or two out of them before they don't hold a charge well(or the charger starts flashing the "replace pack" code). The 18v ones are much better.

We had one drill get left outside all winter, uncovered. Of course the battery went dead, stuck a fresh one in, a couple shots of wd40 in the chuck and motor, good as new. Otherwise haven't had a single problem with any of their drills or sawzalls and they're not exactly treated gingerly.

We also have a Makita set with 18v Li-Ion batteries. The cordless impact gun is awesome, it's got a really surprising punch for how small it is. Problem is they're white, so in about a week they look like crap.

 

[FootNote]

Ok, so for DeWalt, pretty much keep to the 18v+.

 

[RaWarrior]

We have probably 7 or 8 18v packs, some are the XRP's (yellow and a bit fatter), some are regulars (black and slimmer). The XRPs as you'd guess seem to have around 50%-100% more tool runtime.

The nice thing about DeWalts (probably unintentional) is that their batteries have simple spade connectors that are isolated from one another. This makes it easy to clip alligator leads to them to power other stuff up, like testing trailer lights, disengaging electric brakes, powering up a portable bilge pump, general testing of 12v circuits and devices.

We have a couple older 14.4v batteries we use for this. Used to have a spattering of 12v, 14.4, and 18v, but as the 12 and 14.4s went bad we just replaced them with 18v. I stashed one of the 14's for my general testing use. I modified the 14v drill slightly to take 18v batteries and it's been working fine for a couple years now.

 

[FootNote]

Now that I think about it my first buy will probably be a saw. I need to shorten my work bench by 3-6". I kind of slaped it together and its a bit too tall.

 

[88vmx12]

Never been much of a Dewalt fan. Years ago I had a few of there cordless 18 V tools and Hated them. They were crap and way over priced in my opinion. I went to Makita, Ridgid and Hitachi. I can tell you straight up! You need to get over your kick of the same manufacturer. I have a Ridgid impact driver 18V and my Hitachi 12V will stomp a mud hole in its ass. While their corded 1/2" drill is better for a boat anchor. I love Ridgids drills and some of the other cordless stuff. So to be truthful it is best to stay away from your thinking about the same brand and that is just my opinion. Unless you don't plan on putting them to their full working potential and just need a kit for an every once in a while project. If that is the case beware of what kind of battery you buy. I had gone thru many tools being a co owner of a construction company with my father. So to get a good tool, study , stop at any company / lumber yard tool expos and try out the stuff. Just because one has a bigger battery doesn't mean that it will last longer. One motor might consume less or more energy. All I can do is say go try them out and see if they are going to do what you want them to do. But if you plan on running any grabber type screws! Throw that F'n drill away and get an impact driver. My wife is only 5' tall and has helped on a few projects where she herself has run 6" screws with no issue. Also concider charge time and also some companies stuff you cannot remove the charged battery then put the other right back in. The charger has to rest 15 or so min. before you can put the dead one in. By then you are deep into your project and have forgotten to put the dead one in. Then you are pissed off etc. when you need it.

G

 

[Lew L]

I have a couple of 18 volt DeWalt drill drivers at work and they are great!!!! Much better than the 18volt POS I have at home. Also have a "Yellow" 18 v sawsall at home---- it's great also---- the chain saw only gets used for the big stuff now. Batteries hold a charge for a long time.
When the Skil Xdrive batteries ( Holding a charge for a week at best) give up I will buy a DeWalt driverfor sure.
Lew

 

[Redbone]

I have a Makita 12v that I bought in '92 and while the drill still works but the charger finally gave up last year. I have bought 2-3 batteries over the years but figured that was normal.
I now have Milwaukee 18v kit with the drill/ driver and impact. Gannon is right that a impact will drive even the biggest screws easily. I also have a Milwalkee kit at work with a cordless sawsall which works great as well.
I only typically use my power tools for around the home projects but I did put the makita through it's paces when I built my house. I will put the milwaukee to work this summer building a garage and deck projects.

 

[Fire-medic]

Dewalt owns Porter-Cable now. I own both for drills. My 1st cordless was a D. 12V which still works but is hard to find batteries for. When I went to buy last time, I bought a Craftsman 19.2 V driver drill & am happy w/that. I used to do more than I do now w/my tools, but I generally look for how-long it's gonna last me, run-time, and price.

I have a Dewalt table saw, to give you an idea of how-old it is, it was made in Milwaukee, it's a cast-iron table & wings, belt-drive, and has always done whatever I needed it for; it's only an 8" blade, but I have a Powermatic 66 for bigger stuff, or a cast-iron 12" radial arm saw I bought new nearly 35 years ago, still works fine, and great for trim & compound angles, but watch-out for ripping! The table saw is safer for that.

Honestly I think that any brand-name tool is going to give good service, go for features important to you, price, and maybe ease of repair, though for a lot of stuff unless it's a cord or switch, when it dies you just buy new.

I look at Craigslist for tools, you can often find good deals and save a lot of $$. 'Fine Homebuilding' magazine runs articles on tool comparisons, they do durability testing and I think they are a good source of comparison.

I bought a Porter-Cable articulating sawzall, the head can be turned in multiple ways to cut. If you do much remodeling, this tool can fit into places others cannot.
http://www.amazon.com/Porter-Cable-9750-Tiger-Reciprocating-Variable/dp/B0000ASDMK

Yeah, if you have different batteries it can be a pain in the butt. The newest tech costs more $$ so be prepared. You may not need it, and if you can get the job done w/something which costs 1/3 the price of "the newest," why bother spending the $? If you're a contractor working all-day w/it, that may justify the extra $.

I didn't see you mention Bosch, they make good products known for durability and function too. I think I would look at them before Hitachi or Ryobi. And yes, I do own multiple Milwaukee hand tools, a polisher, a grinder, a Holgun 1/2", a 3/4" drill, a Sawzall, all v. durable. I bought much of my friend's power hand tools when he closed his welding shop & also got a TIG welder that I don't use, it's borrowed long-term by another friend.

 

[PATMAX]

I swear, FireMedic and I have lived parrallel lives. Only thing I can offer from personal experience is, hold off for Black Friday sales at the big box stores or cruise Craigslist. Try to stay with same battery 18v ahttp://www.vmaxforum.net/member.php?u=70nd up. Impact drivers are taking over but do not to be confused with hammer drill.
Some tools are just better corded. I have Dewalts 1/2 " drill for mixing grout, joint compound etc.
Sometimes an auction or estate sale can yeild some amazing finds. I once scored a Gerstner Machinist Chest in Dayton Ohio full of machinist tools for a few hundred bucks. I actually felt bad when I got home and went through it because the previous owner spent thousands of $ and countless years assembling this collection that I got for literally pennies on the dollar. In closing, don't forget a decent box. HF has more than acceptable ones until you can spend the big bucks

 

[Redbone]

I swear, FireMedic and I have lived parrallel lives. Only thing I can from personal experience is, hold off for Black Friday sales at the big box stores or cruise Craigslist. Try to stay with same battery 18v and up. Impact drivers are taking over but do not to be confused with hammer drill.
Some tools are just better corded. I have Dewalts 1/2 " drill for mixing grout, joint compound etc.
Sometimes an auction or estate sale can yeild some amazing finds. I once scored a Gerstner Machinist Chest in Dayton Ohio full of machinist tools for a few hundred bucks. I actually felt bad when I git home and went through it because the previous owner spent thousands of $ and countless years assembling this collection that I got for literally pennies on the dollar. In closing, don't for get a decent box. HF has more than acceptable ones until you can spend the big bucks

I have a Porter-Cable 1/2" electric hammer drill that is about 15 years old which works great for any HD metal drilling and concrete work.

 

[sdt354]

I have 18 volt Boch impack driver, drill, and corded saws-all. I love them.
I also have a 7 volt Snap-On adjustable torque driver and a snap on 7 volt light. I threw the light in the dumpster after 1 year. Check the Snap-On replacement policy on power tools sometime if you need a good laugh? The 7 volt is the smallest driver I could find. So, I bought it for tight spots. One battry started falling apart after 1 year also. I won't replace with Snap-on.
I have a Makita skill saw that is about 20 years old and as powerfull as the day I got it. It has a cord.
The Boch saws-all is about 8 years old and works great still. The other Boch stuff has held up fine. 18 volt tools are your best bet. I'm not brand loyal. I'd buy any of the brands you mentioned.
Steve-o

 

[[email protected]]

I purchase 90% of the power tools for our company. We do a lot of different tasks so we have a lot of different tools. A typical truck will have a corded drill, cordless drill, cordless impact driver, corded impact wrench, corded sawzall, cordless sawzall, corded bandsaw, hammer drill for 1/4" - 3/4" solid holes, rotary hammer for 1-1/4" up to 6" cored holes, plus a bunch of other industry specific tools that I won't get into.

I have purchased many different brands over the years. Ridgid, Bosch, Milwaukee, Dewalt, Metabo, Makita, Fein, Hilti..... Only thing I can say is that good tools are not cheap and cheap tools are not good!

If you are a tool snob, hilti stuff is great. Fein is great as well but I don't spend the money on it for my guys because they kill their tools. We work in very abusive conditons. The only time I spend the big bucks for the high end tools is if we need a nice hammer drill or coring rig (Hilti) or a magnetic drill press (Fein)

If you plan on occaisional use around the house at least buy a decent name brand tool-minimum. Any of the brands you mentioned would be fine.

I have found that my crews have MUCH less issues with batteries now that we have switched to LI-ION. Before I purchased tools the guy before me bought all dewalt 18V ni-cad stuff. We had to replace battery packs all the time. They are not cheap.

As far as other cordless stuff goes my guys know that a cordless sawzall or circ saw is convenient for a small task but if they are doing any real work, they do not even bother with them. These tools wear out the batteries quickly and performance is way below what the corded versions offer, IMO.
If you are on a budget (who isn't) I would suggest to buy these tools in corded versions. They are much cheaper this way.

 

[RaWarrior]

That's a good point about corded tools. More powerful, cheaper, and can be cordless if needed. I rigged up a deep cycle boat battery to a 750w inverter so it could be easily carried around as one piece, "portable outlet". That deep cycle and inverter powered the corded sawzall for 90 minutes almost continuously before it tripped the low voltage fault on the inverter. The cordless killed it's pack in around 10 and wasn't as powerful.

 

[Fire-medic]

During hurricane season I use a 12 V car battery & an inverter (if necessary). Of course we also have a gas generator.

I have used the 12 V battery/inverter like Ra & it's convenient. I've thought about mounting one permanently in my truck, but I have a pair of charging battery clamps & a cigarette lighter adapter, so as-infrequently as I use it, it works great.

That's a good point about corded tools. More powerful, cheaper, and can be cordless if needed. I rigged up a deep cycle boat battery to a 750w inverter so it could be easily carried around as one piece, "portable outlet". That deep cycle and inverter powered the corded sawzall for 90 minutes almost continuously before it tripped the low voltage fault on the inverter. The cordless killed it's pack in around 10 and wasn't as powerful.

 

[TURBOVMAX]

Buy tools with cords on them and good extension cords and you'll probably have them for the rest of your life. I have a Dewalt set (costly) that I bought and all of the batteries have pretty much shit the bed. So I have these nice new looking tools and the batteries cost about $50.00 a piece.

Two $50.00 batteries equal one high quality 1/2" corded drill... that will last a long long time.

 

[[email protected]]

Whatever you buy be sure to register it w/ the manufacturer. Keep the receipt and write down the model and serial #. It can come in handy in case of theft, getting it repaired for free, or buying parts in the distant future.

We actually have a database that keeps track of all this stuff for us but just this basic info can be very useful. We also take photos of all tools. I used this earlier this year to help send a tool theif to jail after raiding one of our trucks.