Cordless 101

[aktundra]

I guess I have to breakdown and get another cordless drill. I have had a 9.6v black & decker for over 20 years. Still would work great but the battery charger disinigrated and has long since been discontinued.

I am confused by all the different voltages on the market now days. What are the pros cons ?

Also, it seems that every brand has it's own propriatery battery/charger. Is there any brand that is more universal battery than another ?

 

[WarDamnEagle]

There are threads on this subject in this forum if you search for them. I have had a 9.6v Makita for almost 20 years and recently decided to replace it. My conclusion was that most of the manufacturers are standardizing most of their stock on 18v. I was concerned about the weight but they aren't that bad.

I looked at all the major brands: Dewalt, Makita, Milwaukee, Hitachi, etc but decided in the end to stay with what has treated me well. I went with a Makita rotary hammer driver drill in their LXT series. It came with 2 batteries and their rapid charger. I plan on adding an impact gun which you can buy pretty reasonably without batteries (as the LXT batteries are all interchangable).

Everyone has an opinion on this subject and I'm sure you can find good and bad opinions about every manufacturer.

 

[porten1134]

more voltage= more power, more voltage= more weight.

whadda plan on using it for? if your just turning screws or making a small hole every once in a while a little one will do just fine. if'n your gonna try to drill out 20 holes with a 7/8" spade bit,or making 1/2" holes in 1/4" steel then you'll want some more muscle. if its the kinda thing your gonna pack around all day you wanna balance between weight or power.

most all the drill/battery combo's are specific to the brand, so not much interchangibility(is that even a word?) amongst brands. the only ones i think will interchange is dewalt and the black & decker firestorm brand....but seeing as dewalt is manufactured by black & decker its not much of a suprise.

myself, i do believe the old addage is true....they dont make em like they used to. if i got 2-3 years out of a cordless i was pretty happy. then again i was an electrician and i used 'em pretty much every day and harder than most folks will around the house. makita pretty much had the cordless tool market locked for so many years i'd trust they know what they are doing by now. i used to buy dewalt exclusively, but i switched to a ryobi.
the ryobi had a little less power, but was half to a third the price the battery longevity was a teeny bit better in the dewalt, but not much.

my personal feeling is they are all about the same in terms of voltage=power, an 18v rigid had just about the same pover as a 18v anything else. in terms of quality and performance you'll probably get what you pay for(more or less).....but thats a different thread.

 

[AShoe]

If you don't need a ton of power, the ryobi lithium ion 12 volt works great. It's light, small, has good power, and is resonably priced.

 

[45Kevin]

When I used buy the brand name tools. I could claim the cost because I used them for work. My first cordless drill was a 12V sears. It was reasonable powerful and lasted 5 or 6 years.

My next drill was a 12V Ryobi. I knew that Ryobi had a `cheap`name, but I found out the Sears was made by Ryobi so I bought one. It also lasted about 5 years.

Then I won a 14.4V Dewalt and got at least 5 years out of it. A very good weight to power ratio.

About 5 years ago I bought a 5 piece ste of 18V Milwaukie for $800 or so. The circ saw deck lock (plastic) broke within a month. The batteries both died within 3 years and now the recip saw doesn`t work. This set was never used for work (I am in an office now) and di not get used that often. Bateries cost over $100 each. I am extremely disappointed with them.

When I buy any new cordless tools I will be buying the cheaper ones. I think Ryobi are still very good value for the money, and not that much less in quality than the more expensive brand nammes. Most of them have too much plastic, and bushings instead of bearings. Even if I went back to working with the tools, I would probably go with the cheaper tools and chuck them when the batteries died. In all cases except the Milwaukie, the tools outlasted the batteries.

Did I mention that I was less than satisfied with the Milwaukie

 

[KLF]

Interesting about your Makita experience. I have a bunch of tools and batteries in the Makita 18V LXT line, very very happy, one of the best tool investments I've ever made. The original pair of batteries that I bought back in 2006 are still doing very well, and I use that impact driver a LOT. I used it on Saturday to hang sheetrock, it went all day on one single charge.

I have been EXTREMELY happy with the circular saw. I take it on the job, guys will initially look at it and scoff, but the end of the day they are looking to buy one.

The only exception is the metal cutting circular saw, the BCS550. I finally got to use mine yesterday, and I have to say I'm disappointed. I was cutting some 3/16" plate, and the blade was obviously going dull after only cutting about a foot or so. I forced it to finish the cut I needed, total cut length was about 48" or so. Now the blade is totally done. New blades are ~$40 each. And by the time I was done all 3 of my batteries were dead and very hot. I guess it won't replace a plasma torch after all.

 

[Lake Rat]

My wife bought me an ryobi 18v cordless drill when we first got together back in '02 for a christmas present, other than the original batteries going bad (ryobi came out with new ones about the same time that last longer) I have used it to drill through frames, 1/4 in. plate, wood working, screwing things (together, get you minds out of the gutter) and have generally beat the hell out of it, it's still going strong, even thought it was the least expensive on the market. I thought I was going to have to replace it not long ago because it would work intermittantly, then I'd wiggle or shake it then it would work. Come to find out, the prongs for the battery connection in the handle were not making connection properly, bent them back into place..no worries so far, still going. my .02

 

[Poser]

The only exception is the metal cutting circular saw, the BCS550. I finally got to use mine yesterday, and I have to say I'm disappointed. I was cutting some 3/16" plate, and the blade was obviously going dull after only cutting about a foot or so. I forced it to finish the cut I needed, total cut length was about 48" or so. Now the blade is totally done. New blades are ~$40 each. And by the time I was done all 3 of my batteries were dead and very hot. I guess it won't replace a plasma torch after all.

Complaining about the lack of performance of a cordless circular saw trying to cut 3/16” steel; this is awesome!





Saved.

 

[tclark]

If you just want something to do odd n end stuff and not major construction I'd highly recommend the Bosch pocket drivers. I've had the impact and drill/driver for 2-3 years now and they're still going strong. Very compact and lightweight but suprisingly powerful. Full charge in 30 minutes. I've got a full sized Dewalt 18v drill and I honestly rarely use it, only when doing more intense jobs. I bought the set with 2 batteries and a charger for well under $200.

 

[KLF]

FYI: I'm gonna change my opinion on the BCS550 saw. I've since used that thing a bunch of times, still on the original blade. I think I just needed to get used to it, how hard to feed it, the feel of it cutting, etc. It's still cutting quite nicely. So I'm glad I bought it. It cuts WAAAAY better than a oxy or plasma torch, better than an abrasive blade chop saw, probably cleaner than porta-band saw, and is much more flexible in what it can do.