Cordless Drills

[Ah Pook]

Interesting. I've heard the opposite from different sources through the years.

Lincoln welders had a "HD" line for a while. The HD was quite a bit less than the non HD welders.

[Irving]

I tried to compare prices between Depot and Took King after reading this thread. It took me a bit to figure out that Tool King doesn't sell Ryobi, but looking at the prices of the drills I saw, everything seemed to be the same between the two stores.

[Jer]

Interesting. I've heard the opposite from different sources through the years.

Lincoln welders had a "HD" line for a while. The HD was quite a bit less than the non HD welders.

You're comparing a different line (HD) to the same model numbers supposedly with inferior parts w/o any external designation to tell customers there's a difference other than where you buy them. That's a pretty big difference.

[Sparky]

The batteries are poor quality & you'll be using the shit out of the warranty. In addition the drills themselves are sub-par & the motors crap out regularly. They attempt to fix them at the store but will then send them off for repair. When I reach for a drill I want it to work. I don't wanna have to deal with regular trips to Home Depot. Again, my experiences are from those who use them daily & with heavy use so they may not fail as often but it's a better indication of long-term reliability.

I disagree. My rigid is awesome and I use it everyday at work.

[Jer]

I disagree. My rigid is awesome and I use it everyday at work.

I considered going down that path (free batteries for life for someone who goes through a ton of batteries is a pretty good selling point) and after researching on several Electrician forums & similar it seems as though you are the exception and not the rule. I'm glad you've had bad luck but based on everything I've heard I couldn't personally suggest others take that chance. Again, your first-hand experience certainly trumps the 3rd party experiences I've compiled but it's very difficult to find electricians praising their Rigid drills.

[tmleadr03]

I was an electrician for a brief period and what I bought and what everyone else had on their belt was a 12v compact Dewalt Impact. Next up was probably Milwaukee and third most common was Hitachi. Do NOT fall for Rigid's battery warranty at Home Depot. I almost did and was SO glad I didn't. The M18 fuel stuff is solid if you don't mind weight and the new 20v brushless impact from Dewalt is the cat's ass! So, in closing, Dewalt 12v compact impact for carrying around and the 20v brushless for large jobs that require more grunt and weight isn't an issue. There are kits with both of those in them and the tools included are probably the best in the business aside from maybe the comparable Milwaukee kits. You would be hard pressed to find a trade that relied on their drills more and anything other than those three brands in the hands of electricians to burnt up within weeks/months. There are a couple others (mostly German made) that are better but they're in a different price bracket than the stuff I listed so unless you're using them all day every day to earn a living it wouldn't be worth the investment.

BTW, having left my 20v at work I used my 12v impact to built this entire bench using 3" screws:



Chewed up a boat load of batteries (this is where the 20v brushless shines!) but handled it like a champ and went back to work with me Monday morning.

I am in serious need of a work bench at my shop, when can you come by?


ETA: As to the OP, I used this set for over a year now and it is really very good. I know it is an impact gun set but if the cordless drill set is anything like it you would be very well served by it. Even now that I have a shop and an air compressor I still use them as my go to impact guns.

http://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-2696...ordless+impact

[Ah Pook]

^That is a nice work space. Too clean though.

[Zman]

Someone mentioned Porter Cable earlier. It was a sad time when they moved their quality manufacturing from TN to overseas.

I have several 15+ year old P.C. tools and they are rocks. My 14.4v is on it's 3rd battery rebuild by CarGo Battery. Even found a new trigger switch on eBay to fix the electric brake.

DAMN!!! I'm starting to sound like my dad!

Z

[Jer]

I am in serious need of a work bench at my shop, when can you come by?

Thanks man. I would offer my services but 1) I'm not a carpenter by trade so my work is probably not as good as you can probably get for a lot less money and 2) being as it's not my daily work I wasn't very speedy in the completion of this. That being said if we're ever being bombed I'll run out and dive under this thing before I head to my basement. lol I'm not a carpenter but I am an engineer by nature who has a propensity for way over engineering things. I got up on this thing and jumped up and down to show off how well it was built. haha

ETA: As to the OP, I used this set for over a year now and it is really very good. I know it is an impact gun set but if the cordless drill set is anything like it you would be very well served by it. Even now that I have a shop and an air compressor I still use them as my go to impact guns.

http://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-2696...ordless+impact

While I like Milwaukee stuff I'm not a huge fan of this kit. The light is a good light but it's just a light and we all know where to find more quality lights if we need them. In the same price range I would take a look at the Dewalt 20v kits because you will get more useful tools IMO.

^That is a nice work space. Too clean though.

That was the night I finished it. It's far more dirty already and it bugs the piss out of me. One day I need to get out there with no other projects and just clean the thing up again. I really need some good overhead cabinets to finish it off and help me get organized. I've been watching craigslist for many months now but nothing that fits my needs & budget yet.

[Marlin]

Well, over the past 25+ years I had a few,

Makita - 9.6v drill. Lasted about 4 years until it fell off a ladder and broke. No experiance with the newer ones.

Milwalkee - 18v combo kit. Loved the Sawzal, That was about it though. Drill smoked about three weeks after I got the kit. Turned ito such a pain to get it fixed, I went and got a Dewalt drill. Then the charger died.

Ryobi - Anything beyond light duty, complete junk. Although, I am happy with the miter saw. Smoked three drills and snapped the chuck off a fourth. The recip saw required more coodination to use than I had some days.

Dewalt - Just about the only cordless tools I own anymore. Very happy with them They just work. I have the 950DW drill which granted, could be used as an anchor for a aircraft carrier. But, 9 times out of 10, I don't have to break out the corded drill. I admit, they haven't been perfect, I did get the chuck to go free wheeling once. 35 minutes after I finally got it to the service center, it was fixed. I did go out and get a 20v compact drill as "back-up" Been happy with that one also.