Keeping a gas powered chainsaw in working order for the one or two times I use it a year can be a pain. So I added this DeWalt 60V 16" model to my lineup. It did very nicely.
So, best brand of cordless power tools to get (re)started with today? (1 Viewer)
- Thread starter e9999
- Start date
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sterling
SILVER Star
Having sold power tools for the online rival of acmetools for a long time.I would go with Milwaukee cordless due to the depth of their bare tool lineup.
Get batteries in a combo kit,add bare tools at a reasonable $ as needed.
Watch for sales or free bare tool/batteries offers.
Most everyone has a brand preference they stick with.
As e9999 stated, it wouldn't make sense for a mass production company to make a lower quality tool with the same model number.
Model number is a model number, imop.
That being said certain companies make certain tools better than others.
Metabo is known for grinders as an example, not sure if quality has changed after being bought out.
Or if you want to be all snooty, go Festool ftw.
Get batteries in a combo kit,add bare tools at a reasonable $ as needed.
Watch for sales or free bare tool/batteries offers.
Most everyone has a brand preference they stick with.
As e9999 stated, it wouldn't make sense for a mass production company to make a lower quality tool with the same model number.
Model number is a model number, imop.
That being said certain companies make certain tools better than others.
Metabo is known for grinders as an example, not sure if quality has changed after being bought out.
Or if you want to be all snooty, go Festool ftw.
Having sold power tools for the online rival of acmetools for a long time.I would go with Milwaukee cordless due to the depth of their bare tool lineup.
Get batteries in a combo kit,add bare tools at a reasonable $ as needed.
Watch for sales or free bare tool/batteries offers.
Most everyone has a brand preference they stick with.
As e9999 stated, it wouldn't make sense for a mass production company to make a lower quality tool with the same model number.
Model number is a model number, imop.
That being said certain companies make certain tools better than others.
Metabo is known for grinders as an example, not sure if quality has changed after being bought out.
Or if you want to be all snooty, go Festool ftw.
Do you sell for ACME now? That is where I've been getting my Makita tools.
Who is ACME's rival?
sterling
SILVER Star
cpo commerce is who I used to sell for
ntsqd
technerd
Interesting that this thread would pop up again. Last weekend I was out at the MORE race and one of the pit crew had a drill/driver from Ryobi. He had a 1/4" hex drive to 1/2" square socket drive adapter in it and was able to zip loose one of the race truck's 1-1/8" hex lug nuts. Said that he'd broken a couple of the adapters, but that the tool was now over a year old and still going strong. Not too impressed with the brand, but pretty impressed with the tool.
Later I had it driven home, hard, that I should have already purchased a Milwaukee 1/2" M18 impact. I'm already carrying their M12 drill & driver and a 12VDC M12/M18 charger in the Blanc-Oh! Would just need a slightly bigger tool bag. I had to change one of those ~120 lbs tires by myself, on the side of the race course, in the heat of the day, with a jack that didn't quite have enough lift. I had to dig out the desert hard pan under the tire to get the new one to go on. I'm out of shape and was so wasted from the hurried effort that I called main on the radio had them double check that I got the lug nuts tight enough.
Later I had it driven home, hard, that I should have already purchased a Milwaukee 1/2" M18 impact. I'm already carrying their M12 drill & driver and a 12VDC M12/M18 charger in the Blanc-Oh! Would just need a slightly bigger tool bag. I had to change one of those ~120 lbs tires by myself, on the side of the race course, in the heat of the day, with a jack that didn't quite have enough lift. I had to dig out the desert hard pan under the tire to get the new one to go on. I'm out of shape and was so wasted from the hurried effort that I called main on the radio had them double check that I got the lug nuts tight enough.
No kidding plus wearing a fire suit. We used to run MDR a while ago. Fun times.
Red lock tight on all bolts.
ntsqd
technerd
MDR was quite a while ago. They ran good races although were historically poor at crowd control, but I'm glad to not have to deal with her any more.
I'm crew - usually the rover, not the Meat in the Seat, so no fire suit.
Looking at 1/2" impacts I'm seeing bare Milwaukee's for ~$200 on amazon; $250 on Acme and White Cap (WC is offering a free 5.0 battery on bare tools thru 4/30). Should I be looking elsewhere?
I'm crew - usually the rover, not the Meat in the Seat, so no fire suit.
Looking at 1/2" impacts I'm seeing bare Milwaukee's for ~$200 on amazon; $250 on Acme and White Cap (WC is offering a free 5.0 battery on bare tools thru 4/30). Should I be looking elsewhere?
I just bought a few things from CPO Outlet a couple weeks ago. They have weird stuff that nobody else has, in my case it was a dust shroud kit for my Bosch routers.
Tools are in big demand now, it's amazing how much stuff is "Out of Stock". Been lusting for one of those Makita track saw kits, but they are not easy to find.
sterling
SILVER Star
Yeah they carry some imteresting tools.
I have a tiny Sunex 9723 1/4 socket set I keep in the 40.They are also Tyler Tool fyi....
Sometimes pricing and promotions will vary from each site.
I have a tiny Sunex 9723 1/4 socket set I keep in the 40.They are also Tyler Tool fyi....
Sometimes pricing and promotions will vary from each site.
sterling
SILVER Star
Batteries will eat up some $.Looks like 5.0 is $129.00 online
ntsqd
technerd
$142/pair on amazon for 5.0's. I figure that I'll start out needing at least 2 batteries, and more as I acquire other M18 tools. Not sure that I'll need the higher AHr batteries for most of my uses.
Amazon product ASIN B00T7KJ640
Amazon product ASIN B00T7KJ640
LOL... I just ordered another $80 of stuff from Tyler Tool this morning.
Turns out Amazon doesn't sell everything.
- Thread starter
- #93
I do have a bit of love/hate relationship with the notion of cordless tools TBH. The basic concept of freedom from the cord is just fantastic in terms of utility, no doubt. The cost of the batteries OTOH gives me pause, it just seems like too much sometimes. And the batteries are just pretty much disposable, they're not exactly modular and just "slip in new cells" when spent, which would be great. Now, when I see the price of individual high-drain 18650s from a reputable brand, those batteries don't look quite so outrageous anymore, but that unfortunately also makes a DIY refit exercise less attractive. And, the fact that batteries are just not interchangeable between brands of tools is also a pain. Imagine that AAs etc would be brand-dependent instead of universal. Seems like a step backward. The tools are satisfyingly powerful, though. So, to me it seems like the problem with cordless tools is basically the battery.
Anyway, I guess, bite the bullet and enjoy the tools...
Anyway, I guess, bite the bullet and enjoy the tools...
1911
chupacabra
I've been adding to my Milwaukee M18 collection lately; an SDS rotary hammer, a hand vac (to suck the dust out of concrete holes, also works well to remove rat nest material and turds out of the engine compartments of wife's Lexi), seems like some other stuff that I don't remember. Some 8 amp-hour batteries. Bought them from Acme and was happy with all transactions. Shipping was fast. Had to wait a couple of weeks for the rotary hammer because it was out of stock but I have it now.
- Thread starter
- #95
there is another interesting twist to the question of "what brand?" and that is "what voltage?" . For instance, I was just looking at the Makita lineup and there are 2 voltage lines to choose from: the old 18V and the recent "40V max" (Geez, I thought that Makita would be above the BS "max" voltage marketing but no...) Of course, the 40V lineup is quite a bit less extensive, they have something like 50 tools in the 40V lineup vs 275 for the 18V. So, big advantage for the 18V line there, but I suspect that they will likely put out a lot of new tools for the 40V and likely fewer for the 18V, and likely none after a while. So, while there is plenty of choice in the 18V and there will likely be batteries for a long time, it's likely that the 40V will eventually take over. There is no compatibility hardware wise between the 2 lines that I can see, so it's like 2 different brands for all purposes. Dang...
MrMikeyG
SILVER Star
I grabbed the newer M18 "Packout" brushless vacuum. The packout portion is immaterial for me and the hose connection is a bit weird, but it's quiet, has 2 speeds, and an XC12 battery fits in it.
ntsqd
technerd
I'm pretty sure that the future will be higher and higher battery voltages until some sort of equilibrium is achieved. No idea where that might be. Might be 48 volts, might be 96 volts, could be 128 volts. In the mean time I'll try not to be too deep into these 18VDC Milwaukee and DeWalt systems. The DeWalts are going away as I type anyway since thier batteries are dying, I'm down to 2 from 5 that work well.
- Thread starter
- #98
seems like a good solution is a battery that can do more than one voltage. You'd think that would be easy to work out on an IC board. Doesn't Dewalt already do that? But you need to have enough cells (at least 10 if 18650s to double the voltage) to make that possible, so needs to be a fairly bulky battery already.
I don't mind the Makita approach where they use 2 separate 18V batteries to get 36V for their bigger tools. At least you can still use the batteries individually in lighter tools where it's better.
I don't mind the Makita approach where they use 2 separate 18V batteries to get 36V for their bigger tools. At least you can still use the batteries individually in lighter tools where it's better.
ntsqd
technerd
As tech improves I expect cell sizes to continue to shrink. In the future a 96VDC battery may not be any different in physical size, and it's very possible that it could be smaller. Look at what has happened with memory storage just in the last 5 years. Granted they're different things, but higher energy density is what everyone in that field is striving for. I'm sure that most have the worthy goal of surpassing the energy density of liquid hydrocarbons.
- Thread starter
- #100
that's true, engineers are working feverishly on batteries theses days. For very good reasons. Things are likely to improve as far as energy density, although there may well be a practical limit. Voltage is not the only issue, though, I'm sure they could already make a 96V battery the size of a current 18V right now. It just likely would not hold more energy than a current 18V, even though the power delivery may be higher if the wiring is the same. So, not necessarily much more attractive overall except for niche applications.
But yes, if battery voltages change and they don't make the hardware backwards-compatible, all your investment in tools may be adversely affected. But, I guess one could just simply let tools die of old age and replace them with higher voltage ones when needed. Just that the batteries may not be compatible between the lines if not variable voltage, and you'd just end up having a couple of old tools with no battery for them, not a huge deal.
But yes, if battery voltages change and they don't make the hardware backwards-compatible, all your investment in tools may be adversely affected. But, I guess one could just simply let tools die of old age and replace them with higher voltage ones when needed. Just that the batteries may not be compatible between the lines if not variable voltage, and you'd just end up having a couple of old tools with no battery for them, not a huge deal.
