Best Battery Powered Tools - what say Mud?

[brwnj60]

My expirience :

Had a big Dewalt-kit once.. drill, sircular saw, tiger-saw and flashlight.. The tools are good, but 18V batteries are really too heavy.. ended up permanently injuring my elbows and shoulders (10 years as builder/joiner)
Blue Bosch stuff is also good..

But the best battery-drill I have used is one that isn't included in the poll. : PANASONIC 14,4 V It outperforrms the 18V dewalt "hands down" (same or higher amp, quicker charging and tougher plastic) and it's much lighter and ergonomically much nicer ! Dewalts have a tendencie to break in the handle or at the shafts of the batteries because of the bulky and heavy bat. (if you throw them around, wich you will)

As for the handheld sircular-saw from dewalt (I guess americans call it a skil-saw, we just call it a "hand-circular" ) It's great ! but only suitable for thin materials like chipboard and particleboard.. It would cut about 100ft of OSB on one battery. Nice for small jobs on the roof and stuff.

IMO all battery-powered tools are meaningless if you have power... real powertools are lighter, stronger and more durable, so in a garage or shop I would stay away from battery-stuff

I was just going to mention the PAnasonic line- they are awesome, same or better than the real Bosch (industrial not home depot) but hard to find. I have the same experience, they have more power in their 14.4 than anyone else in the 18 volt market. unreal.
If you cannot find that get industrial Bosch, Our supplier has a lifetime warranty on all parts which is most important, they demo the drills buy climbing an 8 foot ladder and dropping the drill out of their hands while standing at the top rung. guaranteed to work or take it back. We have never had to replace any of our Bosch stuff yet in the last three yearsa

 

[Hugh Heifer]

BTW, I finally purchased a Dewault DCD760 and am very pleased with it. Great power, perfect speed, good battery life, great torque. I got it on sale at Home Depot and they were doing a trade in your old broken drill for 30% off so I really got a deal.

 

[LAMBCRUSHER]

awright, I am an industrially trained general electrician. I do alot of work in the foothill mountain area of central cal. My favorite battery powered tools have cords coming out of their handle for to plug them into a socket. They don't make a set that'll last me more than 1 year w/o trouble, and at the cost- I'll drag a genset w/ me...

 

[fsusteve]

excellent post 4XLT.

I have always bought Makita and Milwaukee tools. I ended up buying a DeWal drill from a tool shop here in town, knowing what I know about how HD spec's their tools. It sucked anyways, batteries lasted less than 6 months and sucked long before that time. I've been using corded drills for a while now, I pretty much gave up spending big money on cordless tools.