Cordless Tools Recommendations?

[ronclark]

I am in need of getting new batteries for my aged 18v Dewalts, I got a lithium about 3 or 4 years back and there starting to show there age, replacements batteries are a bit expensive at 140$ each. so i start looking at other tools sets and it looks like i can get what i need from Milwaukee. there battery's are a lot cheaper and have a better warranty than Dewalt

Has anyone had any experience with Milwaukee?
in my set this is what i use
impact driver
hammer drill
sawzall
circle saw
angle grinder
area light

 

[Brownie Mobile]

I like ryobi and craftsman as well as 2-3 batteries charging so ill have batteries on long days of work they're good to put on a christmas or b-day list.

 

[lil_Blue_Ford]

I've heard people knock 'em, but I've had Craftsmans for a LONG time. Had a few problems, I had to warranty a couple of the tools under the extended warranty program, but they never gave me any real trouble aside from that.

The Rigid ones look well made and are supposed to carry a lifetime warranty. I thought about getting one the last time I needed to get another cordless tool (had to add a cordless hammer drill to my collection), but then I got to thinking, I already have a pile of batteries that fit Craftsman, so it just seemed better to stick with what I had. I have the hammer drill, regular drill, light, sawzall and trim saw. The sawzall sucks down batteries in no time so I hardly use it anymore since I got a corded Milwalkee. The rest of them arn't bad at all.

 

[adsm08]

Find an Interstate battery dealer. They can rebuild those units, just talked to my Interstate guy on Monday, he said a rebuild of an 18V usually runs around $80. I dunno about prices in your area, but it's at least worth looking into.

 

[UrbanRedneckKid]

No, the craftsman tools are junk. The only people that like them never owned anything else.
It's all about the Milwaukee M18 set. Available online or Home Depot. They are just amazing. I snapped a 3/8 bolt w/ my impact. And I've run over my drill with a full-size truck. And the batteries last a long time. I once drilled 14 1/2" holes in a 1ton frame and only used 50% of the battery life, the battery gauge is nice too.

Sent from my PG86100 using Tapatalk 2

 

[doorgunner]

Find an Interstate battery dealer. They can rebuild those units, just talked to my Interstate guy on Monday, he said a rebuild of an 18V usually runs around $80. I dunno about prices in your area, but it's at least worth looking into.

fyi...........a friend of mine disassembled his "fried" battery pack....he found that 3 of the individual batteries were bad....he replaced the 3 bad ones...now the battery pack is fully charging and holding it's charge again...

BUT DON'T TELL ANYBODY...the manufacturer will start making it impossible for us'ns to rebuild the packs !

 

[Sunk]

The Ridgid and Ryobi tools have come a long way, but I'm not sure they can compete with Makita, DeWalt, Milwaukee etc..

I have an 18v Milwaukee Impact/Drill set, and it's great. I use it just about every day. They just released the new FUEL stuff which have brush-less motors and are supposed to get 2-3 times the battery life as the old stuff. I've used the drill and it's nice, but nothing else. The chargers are pretty cool too, you can do an 18 and a 12V at the same times. I'd guess if you don't get the new stuff, the old stuff should be cheap.


You can always look online for batteries, Amazon has DeWalt 18v packs for $80.

 

[ronclark]

I've heard people knock 'em, but I've had Craftsmans for a LONG time. Had a few problems, I had to warranty a couple of the tools under the extended warranty program, but they never gave me any real trouble aside from that.

The Rigid ones look well made and are supposed to carry a lifetime warranty. I thought about getting one the last time I needed to get another cordless tool (had to add a cordless hammer drill to my collection), but then I got to thinking, I already have a pile of batteries that fit Craftsman, so it just seemed better to stick with what I had. I have the hammer drill, regular drill, light, sawzall and trim saw. The sawzall sucks down batteries in no time so I hardly use it anymore since I got a corded Milwalkee. The rest of them arn't bad at all.

I have used Rigid, Ryobi, Craftsman there way thy could never keep up with my than Dewalt, like i said this most of this set is almost 10 years old, i have burned up the cheaper sets.

Find an Interstate battery dealer. They can rebuild those units, just talked to my Interstate guy on Monday, he said a rebuild of an 18V usually runs around $80. I dunno about prices in your area, but it's at least worth looking into.

I know my old Nicad's can be rebuilt, but what about the Lithium-Ion NANO?
since i have tryed the Lithium batteries i am not going back to nicad's.

 

[daniel3507]

I used to work at interstate rebuilding batteries. Lithium can't be rebuilt due to safety reasons. All other rechargable batteries regardless of application can be and its a hell of a lot cheaper.

Sent from my LS670 using Tapatalk 2

 

[ronclark]

http://www.dewalt.com/tools/cordless-batteries-dc9180.aspx

These are the batteries i been using that came with my impact driver, since my Nicads died i been using them with the rest of the tools.

Like i said Lithium's are the way to go, so i dont see much point rebuilding my nicads

 

[88_Eddie]

rigid and ryobi are meant to be used by the average homeowner trying to repair small stuff. you get hardcore with them and they start breaking. we had a ryobi sawzall on a jobsite once and were trying to cut through some floor joists with it. an hour after we purchased it, the guys on our crew had broken the part that locks the blade in. HD did give us a refund though, we bought a dewalt and it faired much better.

IMO, craftsman has been going down the shitter for the last 4-5 years. however, i've had a 4.5amp corded drill from them for almost 10 years now that has outlasted a dewalt corded drill that i got 4 years ago.

if you think about it though, why would a company want to build a $100 drill that's gonna last you 5 years? wouldnt they want them to break every couple years so you have to go buy a new one?

 

[cvar]

The cordless tools I still use are mostly drills. But my batteries are all NiCd. Is lifetime of lithiums any longer?

Ridgid 18V are my workhorse drills. DeWalt & Ryobi NiCd batteries didn't last, so I gave up on those brands. My Craftsman drill has just 1 battery left. Ridgid & DeWalt circular saws are both too weak & just eat batteries.

Aren't batteries always the limiting factor, not the tool? When batteries no longer charge, a tool is worthless. $80 for 1 new battery is expensive. Funny how buying just 2 batteries can exceed the cost of a brand new tool that comes with a set of batteries & charger. So the tool is free, but you gotta buy a big stack of our special shape batteries. Sigh. Too bad there's no standard battery shape. What a waste. I wish we could buy standard little replacement 1.5V battery cells (like AA or whatever) to fix them, once they'll no longer charge. I'd like to fix all these Ridgid battery packs.

 

[Shran]

I have all DeWalt nicad stuff at home and at work...can't beat them, they're more durable and last longer than anything else I've used. I don't plan to use lithium batteries at all if I can help it.

 

[AllanD]

I have an older Milwaukee dril & Sawsall that I'm down to only one working battery for and I've decided to rebuild the batteries myself.

As mine are older they are NiCd, but my chargers are rated for NiMh and that what I'm going to rebuild them to.

Simply replacing the "Sub-C" NiCd batteries in the packs with NiMh AA's would more than double the charge capacity, but I've found NiMh Sub-C's that I can get that will bump those packs from 2.0Ahr up to 8.0Ahr

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[85_Ranger4x4]

I like my Craftsman stuff for what I use it for, I have no doubts there are better brands but I don't exactly use it to frame houses.

Drill small holes in the truck, put stuff together around the house, clean cosmoline out of rifle chambers... pretty low key stuff.

For the heavy duty I prefer corded or air...

Rebuilding the batteries doesn't really make a whole lot of sense, you are then $80 into an older setup... who knows how good the charger or actual tool is? IMO if it oddball enough that you cannot get another new battery it is probably time to look into getting a new one.