Battery operated 1/2 inch Impact

[G8orFord]

The 2767-20 is a beast. If you get one, be careful. It will ring a Ranger wheel stud into on level 1. As far as the M18 line of tools goes. the 4" side grinder is awesome too, as well as the portable bandsaw, chainsaw, string trimmer and blower. The little rectangular vacuum is very handy, but isn't a replacement for a real shop vac. I also have several M9 tools too, which are great for what they're meant to be used for.

I think I'd vote Milwaukee.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

So back in the day, Dewalt was the cordless gear to have, but I agree with others, the quality seems to be slipping. I feel like the move to 20v tools was to try to boost them up to try and stay competitive. But I think Milwaukee is looking to eat Dewalt’s lunch. And dinner.

I have run a ton of Dewalt gear over the years but never owned any. My entry into cordless was the 19.2v Craftsman stuff. Say what you want, but they did a decent job and often kept up with Dewalt. But they changed the batteries when Sears when under. About that time, my Craftsman stuff was hitting the end of its lifespan, my sawzall and trim saw were both dead and one of the drills was dying. The spare trim saw and a spare drill weren’t much better. Gave a drill and trim saw to a buddy who didn’t have anything and gave the drills and impacts to my dad to bulk out his craftsman stuff and went looking for new gear.

Had a long talk with the local Milwaukee rep and found out that Ryobi and Rigid are both owned by Milwaukee. Ryobi is the “homeowner” grade and naturally has the widest tool selection because it includes a lot of homeowner sort of tools. Rigid is the entry level contractor tools. Milwaukee is the professional contractor gear. A couple things helped sway my decision to go full on Milwaukee, including being able to get the powerful 1/2” impact and battery powered finish nailers with no cycle time. Oh, and the 7-1/4” saw.

Getting a pretty respectable collection of Milwaukee gear these days and I’m definitely sold on their stuff. I’ve run some of it side by side with Dewalt stuff and Dewalt just doesn’t quite keep up. Even the tools that do keep up, the Dewalt battery dies first, typically. For the 18v stuff I have a pair of 2ah packs, a pair of XC packs (about a 3.5ah, was the first extra batteries I bought), five 5.0ah packs, four 6.0ah high output packs (these will supercharge tools) and a 9.0ah high demand. I can use a wide variety of tools for a long time with those packs.

 

[Shran]

I think Craftsman 19.2 tools were every bit as good as DeWalt back then and you could get oddball stuff like a chainsaw. Their newer tools are probably OK but why bother? Even Harbor Freight cordless tools are probably on par with new Craftsman...probably half the price too. There are way too many choices for homeowner level tools these days.

 

[Uncle Gump]

I was looking at the Home Depot sale...

I'm gonna have to put a little more thought into this...

So many cool tools... limited budget.

The wife would shoot me but I want ALL of them!

 

[Uncle Gump]

I need to stay focused on the Impact...

 

[scotts90ranger]

I got the Bauer 1/2" impact open (no) box for like $65 or something silly since I already had a handful of the tools/batteries and it's ok, it's kinda flimsy in that the handle twists and stuff but it does ok. It's not going to replace a good strong air impact but it's enough to put the lugnuts on my F350 and pull them off... For the price, the Bauer stuff does ok... I'm somewhat invested, but not my only option...

I have some 18V DeWalt stuff and some M18 stuff too, I don't touch the yellow much since the batteries I have are worn out as are the tools... plus the two red types are usually more ready to go...

Honestly, I'd go for whichever of the two you can get a better deal on , we use the heck out of DeWalt stuff at work and it keeps chugging while being abused...

 

[G8orFord]

Admin remove if not allowed.
CPOMilwaukee.com is a pretty good place to shop. They have deals running pretty often and I have had good luck buying several tools through them. I usually get my orders within a couple of days with ground shipping since I think their warehouse is in Georgia. They sell new and refurb. Also have several other brands on their main website. Makita, Metabo and others.

 

[vagabond80]

maybe I've just had bad luck but ryobi has always seemed like junk compared to yellow, red, or blue. I personally have dewalt 20v/60v-flex, and they haven't let me down. also while i just keep the basics of hammer drill, oscillating multi-tool, reciprocating saw, circular saw, etc. I've been able to regularly find deals and not paid more than about 150 for any of them. actually got the drill and circ saw with a box, 2 60v batteries and charger for about 250 iirc, but that was on sale with a discount. anyway, they've been great for me, but when i was timber framing the company uses Milwaukee fuel for all the battery operated stuff, and they've never disappointed me either

oh, not terribly relevant, but my buddy gave me a dewalt 20v framing nailer from a refurb pallet. the thing sat in the box for a couple years since I didnt trust an electric frame nailer. had a job where i couldnt get the air tools there one time, and man did my mind change. thoroughly impressed with the newer dewalt battery nailer

 

[Eddo Rogue]

Dewalt has the best nailguns is what the carpenters at my work say. I noticed the Dewalt stuff is just more bulky. Me and 3 other people I know run a mix of Makita and Milwaukee. Seems like the bigger dudes that prefer bulky run Dewalt. I like to my tool belt and mobile box nice and light. I switched from Makita subcompact screw gun to the 12V brushless, because it weighs 6 oz less.

 

[Eddo Rogue]

Ryobi, rigid, new craftsman etc...is all is a step up from harbor freight, but not much. As posted earlier, homeowner grade.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Once I got the basics… (all Fuel)

1/2” impact
Sawzall
Hammerdrill/surge impact combo kit
7-1/4” circular saw
15ga angle finish nailer
12v hammerdrill/impact combo
3/8” ratchet (non-fuel, IIRC, was a freebie with the 12v kit)

then I was good for a little while and started filling out as needed and money permitted or found a good deal, like the 18ga brad nailer the local HD put on clearance for $80. That was a rather substantial initial investment spread out over the first year, and it hurt a little, but I was using that stuff daily for work then, so it was necessary. The reason for the 12v stuff was for my electrical kit, I added the PVC shear for working with the PVC electrical conduit, which is 12v only. So the idea was when I’m doing electrical, just run the 12v system and everything uses the same batteries.

I have added a ton of other stuff, couple rocket work lights, grinder, jigsaw, second 1/2” impact, leaf blower (use it for blowing off cutting tools or work space or the tractor, that sort of thing), etc. Always got other stuff on the list to get too. Zero regrets going to Milwaukee. And I will very likely be adding their new battery powered framer before the year is out to the collection

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

Dewalt has the best nailguns is what the carpenters at my work say. I noticed the Dewalt stuff is just more bulky. Me and 3 other people I know run a mix of Makita and Milwaukee. Seems like the bigger dudes that prefer bulky run Dewalt. I like to my tool belt and mobile box nice and light. I switched from Makita subcompact screw gun to the 12V brushless, because it weighs 6 oz less.

I have had my Milwaukee finish nailers around 3 different contractors that preferred Dewalt. All three had trouble wrapping their heads around the virtually zero ramp up and cycle times. Just bang and go. One of those had a Dewalt framer and spent more time swearing at it than using it. That’s also the one who bought a Milwaukee finish nailer after using mine because it blew the Dewalt out of the water for production

 

[Eddo Rogue]

I have had my Milwaukee finish nailers around 3 different contractors that preferred Dewalt. All three had trouble wrapping their heads around the virtually zero ramp up and cycle times. Just bang and go. One of those had a Dewalt framer and spent more time swearing at it than using it. That’s also the one who bought a Milwaukee finish nailer after using mine because it blew the Dewalt out of the water for production

I didn't even know Milwaukee had come out with nailguns. I might have to check em out.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I didn't even know Milwaukee had come out with nailguns. I might have to check em out.

The finish nailers have been around for awhile along with air powered nailers. The battery powered framers just came out for this year. If it’s anything like the battery finish nailers, that thing will be positively wicked. My 15ga angle finish will countersink a 2-1/2” nail in solid oak in the blink of an eye. And will repeat it as fast as you can move.

 

[wildbill23c]

Whatever brand/color you buy, its the batteries that'll kill your wallet...to get enough batteries to keep you going without having to wait for the charger. I've always had Yellow tools, 18VXRP stuff which was my entry into the cordless world. I used them for 2 years installing garage doors in new construction homes, and retro-fitting new doors into old homes. They held up great, heavy tools, but they did the job very well...Ryobi stuff fell apart after a few months of rough abuse being dropped off ladders and such. I dropped my 1/4" impact several times off the ladder onto the concrete floors on the jobsite, never had any problems. Finally gave my 1/4" impact, reciprocating saw, circular saw, and hammer drill to a friend after all the batteries of mine had died, he still had good batteries so I just handed my old stuff over to him to keep using. I had purchased a kit with 2 adapters and a couple batteries to go from the 18V to 20V stuff. The only thing the adapter didn't work in was the cordless vacuums, well they worked but on the one you couldn't close the battery door. I have a 2nd 18V reciprocating saw and I've been using the 18V-20V adapter on it for quite a while, the adapter just stays in the tool. To swap adapters its a pain, many of them get quit stuck in the battery slot and make it hard to remove. Pretty much all my larger tools are now 20V, I do have some 12V and a couple of 7.2V tools though.

Honestly its really going to come down to what color you like, they all really perform the same in the real world. Pick a platform and stick with it, batteries and chargers are the expensive stuff, once you get several then just buy bare tools and save yourself. I have a few 4ah and 5ah battery packs, but mostly I just use the little 3ah packs unless I'm running the 7-1/4" circular saw, grinder, or other high demand tools.