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jeepinmatt

jeepinmatt

#1 WEBWHEELER
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Mar 24, 2005
Location
Stanley, NC
It's about time to refresh the batteries in my power tool herd, and a post a couple weeks/months ago got me wondering whats the best way to go. I've currently got a lot of 18v Dewalt stuff, and my dad has a lot of 18v Ryobi stuff. We work on stuff together a lot, and it would really make more sense for us to have the same stuff so I don't have to bring batteries and charger when I'm going to his place and vice versa. I'd like to just pick one brand, sell what we have, and begin rebuilding the collection. They've both worked well, but I've always been a big fan of Milwaukee stuff, so I've been looking at it too. We've been using all of it for 5-10years, so I'd like to get at least that out of whatever I buy next.

I guess it boils down to the following:
1. Is there anything significantly better than the 18v stuff? I know more volts is more power, but is it worth the price for a casual user.

2. What brands should I be considering?

3. I assume LiIon batteries are the way to go. Everything I have right now is NiCad, and since batteries are the main cost, I'd rather be buying batteries for the right tools instead of just buying for what I have.

4. How is the durability of <insert name of brand from question 2 here>?

5. What brands and/or specific tools should I avoid (18v circular saw seems like a good example)?
 
We switched from 18v DeWalt to 18 and 28v Milwaukee a year ago at work. I'm an industrial maintenance electrician. We're still glad we did. The Milwaukee's are more robust and we've yet to even have a battery to fail.

This year we even bought a bunch of 12v Milwaukee battery tools for smaller jobs. They rock too!
 
13bullets said:
We switched from 18v DeWalt to 18 and 28v Milwaukee a year ago at work. I'm an industrial maintenance electrician. We're still glad we did. The Milwaukee's are more robust and we've yet to even have a battery to fail.

This year we even bought a bunch of 12v Milwaukee battery tools for smaller jobs. They rock too!
Click to expand...

Hows the power and battery life difference between the 18v and 28v?
 
Most of our tools are 28v. Some of the other groups have 18v. I can't really compare the two, but no one seems to be complaining no matter which voltage they're using. The 28v batteries last quite a while, I always carry a 2nd battery to the job with me but I almost never have to swap them.

I can say the 28v tools are both heavy duty and HEAVY, and I love the little 12v tools, for smaller jobs they are light, compact, and pretty tough. We carry them on our tool carts and keep the 28v stuff in our crew lockers.

The 28v Milwaukee impact handles jobs the 18v DeWalt couldn't dream of.
 
I bought a bunch of 18v nicad Bosch stuff when I got home from Iraq in '06. Impactor, drill, sawzall, radio, 4 batteries, charger. I abused the hell out of that stuff. I sold all of it at a yardsale earlier this year to get new stuff. 2 of the batteries were shot (would only hold a charge for 10 minutes maybe), 2 were still decent.

I bought a corded sawzall (those eat batteries fast). I bought 18v Li Ion Porter Cable impactor and drill. I will be getting the jigsaw right after Christmas. I have been impressed with the PC stuff so far. I havent really beat on it too hard though.
 
We have a 28v Milwaukee band saw and that thing is beast. Two sawzalls, two 1/2" impacts, a right angle drill, and several 1/2" drills round out our tools. I can't say enough good things about the Milwaukee tools after having been let down by DeWalt time and time again.

That said, for home use, I love my 18v DeWalts, but I'm not working them hard.

And if you have a DeWalt charger/jobsite radio, know that the Milwaukee Radio is NOT a charger. It'll run off AC or batteries but won't charge them.
 
I also have 18v Milwaukee kits. No complaints here. Best part is one of the kits came with a vacuum. That thing gets more use than anything.
 
Cheerwineman said:
What kind of work are you doing mostly? At work we use the makita 18v lithium-ion drills and they are great, but we are doing woodworking.
Click to expand...

Hanging picture frames once every other month. But I like good tools :D
 
I have a bunch of dewalt, so I'll stick with them. When I need a battery I just buy a new tool. If I were in the market to switch I would look hard into Rigid from Home Depot. They offer a lifetime battery replacement on their tools and they seem to be pretty HD.
 
I have switched out all my departments tools from 18v DeWalt to 18V Milwaukee and couldn't be happier.
Also, really like the battery meter's, makes it easy for my guys to check before they grab one and run out.
 
I've got a lot of the DeWalt 18 volt, NiCad tools and I'm a typical homeowner/casual user. I've thought about changing to the Li-ion stuff and investigate other manufacturers, but I feel like I've got too much $$$ invested in the 18 v NiCad to chunk it all $ start over.
 
I just picked up the dewalt 20v max lithium set. I haven't had to use them hard yet but I like it so far.
 
Honestly, you cannot go wrong with the new Li-Ion toolery. also +1 for the brushless offerings (Fuel from Milwaukee and the XR brushless from Dewalt).

I'd keep an eye toward compactness (i.e. craftsman and Ryobi tend to be behind the times on how large their tools are)
 
Ill just throw this out.
Before you buy check out a batteries plus.
If you can get a commercial account and buy about 6-8 batts at a time you can get them around $30/each
 
My personnal opinion - Dewalt 18v NiCad batteries suck... I've got a pile of brand new batteries and chargers that only lasted like 2 -3 months. I bought from Lowe's and they won't take them back now. They are bulky and heavy compared to others and don't lock in very well. I had 1 battery I had to insert a piece of cardboard or something to wedge it a tad for it to work - before it died too. I heard of shocking them with 24v to try to bring them back to life???
I am ready to sell off my dewalt collection and start over after Christmas. So I'll be checking in on this topic...

Bummer is... I think every single battery powered tool on the market is MADE IN CHINA. Floored me when I heard even Milwaukee is now MIC.
 
6BangBronk said:
My personnal opinion - Dewalt 18v NiCad batteries suck... I've got a pile of brand new batteries and chargers that only lasted like 2 -3 months. I bought from Lowe's and they won't take them back now. They are bulky and heavy compared to others and don't lock in very well. I had 1 battery I had to insert a piece of cardboard or something to wedge it a tad for it to work - before it died too. I heard of shocking them with 24v to try to bring them back to life???
I am ready to sell off my dewalt collection and start over after Christmas. So I'll be checking in on this topic...

Bummer is... I think every single battery powered tool on the market is MADE IN CHINA. Floored me when I heard even Milwaukee is now MIC.
Click to expand...

My Dewalt batteries have held charge fine, but I agree about them not locking in well. Its annoying enough when you're at ground level, but when I was building my shop, I was working at the top of the trusses at 19ft, on a ladder on a scaffold, and where I was drilling I somehow kept hitting the release with my side. The first time the battery fell 6-7ft to the scaffold and was fine. The next time it fell 19ft to the concrete... Still has good power, but doesn't click in very well anymore, haha.
 
I use Milwaukee lith ion 18v stuff at home and they've never let me down. We just bought 4 rigid lith-ion 18v impact drivers for work. Fixing to do another SECU roof in locust. Takes about 20k screws and they will more than likely be dropped a few times so I'll report back soon with how they hold up.
 
Did a bunch of digging and deal searching. Ended up with the following
Milwaukee Fuel brushless 18v 1/2" compact impact with 2 XP 4.0ah batteries ($320 shipped, Toolbarn.com)
Free 18v Sawzall with purchase of ^^^
Fuel brushless hammer drill ($80 shipped, ebay)
Regular 18v right angle drill ($50 Home Depot closeout)

The compact impact pulls the lugs off my Duramax with no problem. All of the rotating tools have a nice LED that comes on before the trigger is fully pulled, and stays on for 10-20 seconds afterwards, unlike some tools I've owned. The battery meter on the batteries is great, and the Milwaukee quality is what I expected, top notch.
 
I work for a large commercial maintenance group and we have several guys in all the big trades, 3 plumbers, 2 HVAC, 1 refrigeration, 4 electricians, and 5 carpenters. We used 18v dewalt for years but finely got tired of the batteries not lasting that long. Recently when a guys batteries go bad we've been switching them out with rigid stuff from home depo. I like the fact that they have a lifetime warranty, INCLUDING BATTERIES. We're going to test it out and see how good they are. So far it's been around a year and everything is good. The guys that carry them seem to be happy.
 
I finally had to scrap my Dewalt drills as well due the batteries going dead vs cost of new ones. I have been to a few trade shows and have participated in the Bosch Bash. Literally stand on a 5ft platform and throw the drill at the ground( concrete) as hard as you can. If you can break it you get a free one. That sum bich was abused and always worked! the lith-ion is the the mack daddy too. So I bought a combo drill/ impactor on sale and have to say they smoke my old Dewalt. The batteries last long, more torque, compact and the charge indicator is a plus. It was tested on the same day I got it. While building deck, I set it on the tire of my truck, not 3 hours old. I need to run back to Lowes, forget about drill on tire until I start to pull away and feel a thump and realize crap!, I just ran over my brand new drill, on gravel no less. Hop out of truck, go back and pick up drill, couple scratches, squeeze trigger and all good!! I recommend Bosch.
 
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