Cordless Battery Powered tools

[RoamingGnome]

Cordless tools... Whatcha all using?
I've been using cordless impact guns for almost 20yrs now, and along the way have used a few different brands - Started off with the first gen cordless 1/2" impact gun from Canadian Tire - it was awesome until the old school NiCad packs and charger started getting temperamental, after that I moved on through Dewalt, SnapOn and in the last few years settled on the Milwaukee brushless "Fuel" line... - It seemed all the other mechanics around me had switched to Milwaukee tools, even the shop had bought the 1" impact gun - what a beast!

I settled on the 12v lineup and I've got a healthy selection of Milwaukee M12 Fuel cordless tools now - Among the surprises - I'm very happy with my M12 "Hatchet" - (6" pruning chainsaw) and have been teetering back and forth about getting the M18 chainsaw as a backup for my Echo gas powered one... If I'm going to go cordless for the bigger stuff it's nice to have a variety of tools that take the same battery pack...

[Toolslinger]

For many years (the Ni-Cd, and NiMH phase) I was a Dewalt junkie. Still have them all pretty much. They were the kings then, and the market was theirs to loose.

Well, they screwed up when they went Lithium. I guess they figured they'd just release the tools without interchangeable batteries, and we'd all run out and spend all that money all over again. Eventually they made a lithium pack in the 18v size, and they're pretty good. They also sold an adapter to put the new 20v batteries on the old 18v tools. For $100... If they had half a brain, they would have given those things away the day they released the tools, and they'd still be on top.

My heavier gear is still the Dewalt (mostly older 18v line) with 1 new 20v drill. It works fine. If I was starting from scratch, it wouldn't be my choice.

The lighter gear is all Milwaukee M12, and mostly the Fuel series. You can do most of what you could with the old 18v Dewalt drills with the M12 series. Gotta change batteries a little more often, and you better have strong wrists to handle the torque on the smaller bodys. Nice that they're lighter for sure.

I encouraged my long term girlfiend to go with Ryobi, and that was a good call. Ryobi was the only one that I know if that kept the same battery interface, and so the change to the lithium tech was seamless. For non commercial use, their tools are just fine. Not as powerful as the Dewalts, and Milwaukees, but they absolutly get the job done. Wouldn't hesitate to buy again for the same application of heavy homeowner use.

I don't really use a lot of cordless in a commercial setting at this point, so I don't need what the Dewalt series was. I find regadless of brand, I have more issues now with the lithium batteries due to limited use, where the old NiMH didn't matter if it went dead flat. The Lithium batts are dead once they discharge below a certian point.

[Harry]

I never used battery operated tools for my job when working. No battery powered welders. A few years ago someone gave me a craftsman 19.2 volt set that had a drill, a right angle drill and a light. These were nicad battery operated. Since then I’ve added a few extra tools like a angle grinder, saw-all and drill driver. I also picked up lithium batteries and a charger that can charge four batteries at a time. I probably use the drill driver the most but the right angle drill is handy in tight areas. They are handy but can’t see replacing them at this time. Harry

[Eugen]

A few years ago I wanted a good cordless impact and figured the mid-torque Milwaukee was it. I also wanted a battery system that worked on other tools of the same brand, because I got then the cordless drill and 1/4 impact set. So the M18 Fuel became my choice of cordless tools, until I wanted a cordless ratchet and Milwaukee only had it in M12 But I got it nonetheless, and got two non-brand batteries for cheap, just for the ratchet. That ratchet I still love, saves me a lot of time when doing/undoing many bolts or in difficult to reach locations. Besides the price, which I sort of can live with, on the promise that I got quality tools that last a long time, I do have one gripe. The cordless drill chuck started to sometimes go zzzz a while ago. Just goes round and doesn't lock. Doesn't do it often, but I kinda expected better than this for the price. Worse than this though is the impact, which at first was my prized possession. By the way I haven't used it that much, just occasional use, in the last 3-4 years since I got it. The forward/reverse switch stopped working. Lots of people complain about this. Took it apart and put it back together right, easy fix, don't know how long it'll hold. Another thing wrong with it is that it sometimes it behaves as though the trigger is pressed lightly, it makes that high frequency sound and the LED light is on. The only way to stop it is to take the battery out. Lastly, this could be my imagination, but it doesn't seem so powerful like it was at the beginning. Again, this was a pricey tool, perhaps my expectations are too high.

When Gerry mentioned the Milwaukee M12 die grinder I thought, not bad, I already have the batteries. The lowest price here in Canada is $228 for the tool only, no batteries, no charger. For almost this price I could get a 20V Makita die grinder, a charger and two 5AH batteries. All of a sudden staying with the same battery system made no sense. So if I were to get a cordless die grinder, good bye Milwaukee, hello Makita!

[RoamingGnome]

@Eugen If you are already thinking of jumping ship and going from red to green - I'd still suggest trying the el cheapo Princess on sale (until May 07) - I know it's more of a drive for you to the nearest Princess than it is for me, but that no questions asked easy return / replacement policy could let you clean up your bushings and then wait for somebody to have a sale on cordless tools... Fathers Day sales ares coming eventually

[Eugen]

@Eugen If you are already thinking of jumping ship and going from red to green - I'd still suggest trying the el cheapo Princess on sale (until May 07) - I know it's more of a drive for you to the nearest Princess than it is for me, but that no questions asked easy return / replacement policy could let you clean up your bushings and then wait for somebody to have a sale on cordless tools... Fathers Day sales ares coming eventually

yes, reason prevailed and I was going to order the PA one and ship it to me, as it's a good price, is powerful, and the reality is that this type of tool I'll probably only use near a plug, so the cordless aspect is not the most important. Again, thank you for point it out to me, it really makes sense to get that. Getting a flappy wheel set from them too, while I'm at it.

[RoamingGnome]

@Eugen - No Problem!

I'll admit I bought all of my Milwaukee M12 stuff in the last 6 months before I retired, - when I could work overtime and either excuse the cost to or explain that they were all my retirement gifts to me, and it wasn't likely I'd be buying more tools... (Little did she know... )

They were usually all on sale at Home Depot - the buy 2 bare tools, get a free 2 pack of batteries deal. I haven't had any issues with mine, guess I've been lucky. I was pleasantly surprised by the torque of the M12 3/8 Impact and the 3/8 ratchet, snapped a couple of bolts at work during the learning curve, my SnapOn 3/8 impact had already had 1 rebuild, but by the end was putting out less than 80 lbft with a fully charged battery. It was good and strong when it was new, but the cost of buying tools off a truck and having to wait for weekly visits for service/warranty work made it easy to justify moving to "retail" tools from a big box store.

[Jancoe]

I run makita 18v. I have just about every cordless tool you can think of. Being a RV mechanic you need to have cordless and one of those tools is in your hands all day. I really like makita. The only tool I ever warrantied was a battery charger. The only problem I have is that it's never on sale. Alot of these cordless tools have come a tremendous way in technology and sometimes wish I'd buy a cheap brand but then again I'd have to battery up on that.

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[DavidBarkey]

The few battery tools I have a mostly the old blue Riobi that I have up graded to the lithium battery packs The time of use out of the lithium is way more than the old nicads in the same tool .

[Harry]

I never used battery operated tools for my job when working. No battery powered welders. A few years ago someone gave me a craftsman 19.2 volt set that had a drill, a right angle drill and a light. These were nicad battery operated. Since then I’ve added a few extra tools like a angle grinder, saw-all and drill driver. I also picked up lithium batteries and a charger that can charge four batteries at a time. I probably use the drill driver the most but the right angle drill is handy in tight areas. They are handy but can’t see replacing them at this time. Harry