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All the Pro brands make excellent stuff, so I'd go with the brand you can get most easily. Which for most people means brands home depot carries, instead of Bosch or Festool. I have used all of them and I think Dewalt has great ergos. You can find new tool-only ridgid tools on eBay for dirt cheap. Get the batteries on sale and you are set up well for cheap.
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My company has an employee rewards program where people can award you points for various crap. Then you can buy all sorts of products on a special website. I've used points to buy a few DeWalt 20v Max tools (impact wrench, driver & drill) and they are great. Have a few more points added to the hopper recently . . . might have to pick up something new (eyeballing a sawzall).Quote:
Originally Posted by BPTactical
Thanks for all the input so far. Now that I'm not on mobile, I can flesh out some more of my dislikes of what I currently have.
-The first Ryobi drill that let out the smoke was when my dad put all his weight on the drill using a 4" hole saw through my roof. I saw that one coming.
-Recently, I was using my trusty sawzall with a 12" blade to cut up a tree limb and that let out the smoke. Previous to that, no issues. I used that sawzall all the time and it probably was just getting worn out.
-I already mentioned that my 14" compound miter saw is LOUD. Also the laser never quite lined up correctly, and within the last year or so something must have bumped it because it's now at a 45 degree angle from the cut. Not a huge deal because I never used it anyway. Also, now when the blade is locked into the 0 degree position, the indicator says 1 degree. I believe I've checked it for square and I think it still more or less is square. Honestly I'm not good enough of a wood worker to tell. Or maybe I am and that explains my struggle with those Christmas boxes I built last year.
-I bought the little 12v screw driver thing thinking I could keep a regular bit on that for smaller jobs like taking apart body panels or electronics. However, there is no speed control on the trigger and I hate it.
-I've run the batteries hard enough to where they overheat, shut down like they are out of power, and won't even charge for a few hours until they cool down. That was cutting 4x4 fence posts building a shed. I think there were at least 8 of them and I probably had a dull blade. All the batteries recovered, but I never have that issue with the weedwhacker or using the drill to make 100's of pilot holes in a day. It's only ever happened with the sawzall. I'd like to avoid that issue in the future, but that might just be a generic failure due to my abuse and not a tool quality issue.
Some of your tool issues come from overtaking them. You need tools rated for the job, then a little extra umph.
Like trying to use a little pancake compressor, to pull your front end. Will and can it work? Sure. But not as well as a larger unit.
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For cordless DeWalt and Milwaukee.. but not any DeWalt or Milwaukee, you have to bet the commercial or contractor models with the metal chucks and other parts, not the plastic chuck made for home use models..
I use DeWalt 20V for work, I work commercial low voltage so drilling a ton of holes while pulling wire and so on. I?ve stuck with DeWalt simply because I?m invested in the batteries.
Corded tools I use, Hilti and Bosch hammer drills. I have an old Milwaukee corded drill with a 3ft extension on it so that I don?t have to bend over to drill holes in bottom plates or get on a ladder to drill top plates. That thing has lasted decades.
Don?t have a ton of experience with table saws.
I have to 60v Dewalt table saw and I like it, but I wish it had a cord adapter as well. The 20v chop saw it really nice, it is very handy to not have to have power in an area t build a house or building. I use the 60v batteries on my saws when I am on bigger projects. I also like them for the chainsaw when I am out trimming trails for the atv/utv. The weedeater will do a large yard with a single 5 ah battery, and I dont have to mess with gas and dealing with difficult to start. My next purchase will be the 20v pole saw to trim the trees higher without having to carry the generator in the utv for power.
We've had good luck with everything but Ryobi, Crapsman and Festool. As you can imagine, we use tools hard here, many times till absolute failure. To date, we've never even had to even maintain anything from Dewalt. We use lots of Porter Cable routers (among other tools) and the most we've ever had to do was change brushes which it totally expected and routine. We have two DeWalt cordless drill from WAY back, and while the batteries are pretty tired the drills run like they are brand new. I have my first chopsaw still. It's a Makita. It's probably 25 years old now and has made millions of cuts. Still perfect.
I'm sure there are subtle differences from one brand to another, but I consider DeWalt, Makita, Milwaukee, PC, Bosch, and probably some others I can't remember to be equivalent. We do have several Rigid tools, and they appear to be top quality, too.
Ryobi and Craftsman have been junk in our experience. Both of those brands are the only tools I've ever thrown in the dumpster.
Festool is weird. Super expensive with a reputation for extreme quality. When new, they are beautiful tools with innovative features that really impress. Sadly, they're not durable enough for professional use. We've killed several very expensive sanders and an $800 vacuum. There are a few lying around in the shop, but they are just back-ups at this point.
I have the pole saw and it?s good for trimming branches around my house.Quote:
Originally Posted by encorehunter
I have some of the other 20v outdoor power equipment and it has about the same power as the smaller gas versions. I love not having to wear ear protection. Putting them down while working I don?t feel the need to rush back to it like the gas.
Also the electric company you may have might have a rebate on them, if so it?s a good way to get into the battery system.
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Keep it coming. Great input!
I do like my corded Milwaukee Sawzall. I have some garbage corded drill, but I like to use it to run my nibbler for long periods. Battery powered weedwhackers are fantastic for home use.
I have no experience with them, but Rigid seems to fall in the middle and they offer lifetime service agreement even on batteries of bought with the tools.
Not sure if someone here has experience with them or their service agreement.
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