Portable Tools Opinions and Feedback

[Russ Dickey]

I'm in the market to replace and upgrade to some modern portable battery hand tools. I've researched the net and feel like I can't trust many of the sites because I can't tell which ones are paid reviews or biased by affiliate advertising.

So I'm coming here to a group that I trust for some honest feedback on which tools you guys have had good (or bad) luck with. I'm looking at all of them, DeWalt, Makita, Milwaukee, Kobalt, Craftsman, whatever.

Thanks in advance for your thoughts.

[MOTORHEAD]

My Milwaukee Super sawzall has enabled me to remove stumps of 80' pinetrees, cut-up and remove 160 gal fiberglassed in Bertram fuel tank, Dewalt grinders cut thru concrete like butter. Makita drill/driver with clutch I've had so long I have to special order batteries,
Craftsman stuff I bought as a kid (I'm 72 now) You can't go wrong with quality.
Yeah, it costs more than Harbor Fright.
(and tons of snap-on and mac )

[Luce]

I'm a fan of DeWalt. I have 4.5" angle grinder, sawzall, 3/8 impact, screw gun impact driver, and a few drills, all the older gen 18V Lithium Ion. Hard to beat!

Whatever you do, pick a good brand and stay with it. Nothing beats having 6 tools, and 12 batteries and 4 chargers so you don't end up dead in the water waiting on battery chargers.

I've just started upgrading to the new 20V Li-Ion system at work and I like it even better so far.

[OnyxCobra]

I am an Apprentice (Mature Aged) and I have a host of Milwaukee Fuel 18 Volt gear (Impact driver, drill, driver and other gear) it is amazing - and two of the other tech's are switching from Snap On to Mil after using my tools
Matt

[bret a ewing]

For close work a 90* drill is invaluable. For quality and ergonomics Bosch is the choice.

[Seagull81]

Home Depot bought Ridgid tools. I don't know if they still do it or not, but when I bought my 1/2" drill set it came with a lifetime warranty on it. That included batteries and charger. They have replaced the batteries and charger at no cost. I had bought two sets for the DeWalt I used to have. Batteries are expensive even if you rebuild them.

Question for the group.
I was told when Craftsman went to China for their Craftsman brand tools that Lowes went with the folks that used to make the Craftsman brand tools and now the Kobalt tools are from that good company and made in the U.S. Does anyone know for sure?

[GregAgrest]

DeWalt has never failed me. My son is a contractor and uses DeWalt exclusively, he swears by them.

[sllib]

I've been a DeWalt fan forever, both at home and for work. One thing to keep in mind no matter what you use: batteries will last a LOT longer if you keep them from freezing temps.
Bill

[itstock]

M18 Fuel is the only one that you should be looking at.

Dewalt is absolute JUNK.

[itstock]

Originally Posted by sllib

I've been a DeWalt fan forever, both at home and for work. One thing to keep in mind no matter what you use: batteries will last a LOT longer if you keep them from freezing temps.
Bill

Batteries tend to last longer if they don't have Dewalt on the side of them. I don't know how Dewalt continues to screw up their batteries so badly for so long.

And yes, I used to have Dewalt tools. I got tired of them breaking in half. Literally. Actually the batteries were the part that made the Dewalt lineup the worst, but the 2nd drill breaking in half was the straw that broke the camels back.

[twobjshelbys]

My 18 year old Porter Cable (the commercial version) cordless drill was working fine but the batteries couldn't be replaced for for less than the cost of a new drill. I looked at 20V Dewalt and 18V Makita and decided on Dewalt. It's a great drill and the battery lasts much longer than the old PC.

[twobjshelbys]

Originally Posted by Seagull81

Question for the group.
I was told when Craftsman went to China for their Craftsman brand tools that Lowes went with the folks that used to make the Craftsman brand tools and now the Kobalt tools are from that good company and made in the U.S. Does anyone know for sure?

Sears gets whoever makes them the best deal. I don't think any of their hand tools are made in the USA any more, and by that I mean wrenches on up... Power tools were always made by someone else with the Craftsman brand label. The problem is their standards have been dropped significantly. Even the hard tools like wrenches no longer carry a lifetime warranty.

[Three Peaks]

Hard to believe anyone could break a Dewalt drill in half, but I guess with enough effort it could happen.
I'm an electrician and I work on big industrial projects. I also was a contractor for 20 years and I bought Dewalt tools after being fed up with Makita battery issues and the Makita thermal overload switches going bad constantly. The Contractors I've worked for since I closed my shop mostly use Dewalt tools and they get used hard every single day on the jobs we use them on. I'm seriously impressed with the fact they can live day after day with the abuse they get from some of these gorillas I work with, but they do. We do manage to destroy a few over time, but the contractors just buy more as they are about the best thing going for the money.
They new 20 Volt Li-Ion are the way to go if you are buying new tools. Lighter, more power, and the same reliability I've had with all of my Dewalt tools. Watch Amazon for pricing, I've found some great deals on there and replaced a few Dewalt tools I've used to death for many years at great prices.

Bob

[itstock]

Originally Posted by Three Peaks

Hard to believe anyone could break a Dewalt drill in half, but I guess with enough effort it could happen.
I'm an electrician and I work on big industrial projects. I also was a contractor for 20 years and I bought Dewalt tools after being fed up with Makita battery issues and the Makita thermal overload switches going bad constantly. The Contractors I've worked for since I closed my shop mostly use Dewalt tools and they get used hard every single day on the jobs we use them on. I'm seriously impressed with the fact they can live day after day with the abuse they get from some of these gorillas I work with, but they do. We do manage to destroy a few over time, but the contractors just buy more as they are about the best thing going for the money.
They new 20 Volt Li-Ion are the way to go if you are buying new tools. Lighter, more power, and the same reliability I've had with all of my Dewalt tools. Watch Amazon for pricing, I've found some great deals on there and replaced a few Dewalt tools I've used to death for many years at great prices.

Bob

This is numero two of a completely different casing that broke in half. One with a 4" hole saw on low speed through plywood, the other with....a 1" paddle bit.

Oh, and the "20v" tools are a gimmick. They operate at 18v. I guess when you have tools that continually break, you need to do some gimmick like that to try and trick people. And yes, this is really my drill that I broke. The second one.




From one electrician to another...buy Milwaukee next time. If the tools break, the guys can't work. I'd rather pay slightly more for a tool that lasts considerably longer, does everything better, and has a better warranty should I have to use it.

[Russ Dickey]

Great discussion points and feedback from everyone. I really appreciate all opinions on this.

Thank you!
Russ

[lippy]

I try to minimize the number of battery powered tools I have. The portability is good but the power and life are usually poor, and you need a charger for each one. For my battery drill, I just replaced a DeWalt with a Milwaukee M12. The M12 is disappointingly slow and weak compared to the DeWalt I replaced. For corded tools, I recently bought a Hitachi right angle drill that's great (I used it a lot on my Cobra), and my older US-made Milwaukee hammer drill and Sawzall are great too.

[itstock]

lippy, you need to step up to an M12 fuel. And I can only assume that you are comparing the regular M12 to an 18v Dewalt.

Which model do you have?