Cordless Drills

[Jer]

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.

Thanks for bumping this so I can be reminded of how clean my shop USED to be. Dick.

[Ah Pook]

Thanks for bumping this so I can be reminded of how clean my shop USED to be. Dick.

Anything to help.

[Jer]

Anything to help.

That natural gas heater on the left side of the photo STILL isn't installed or I could go out there this winter when I have nothing else going on to clean it up. Double dick!

[Ah Pook]

That natural gas heater on the left side of the photo STILL isn't installed or I could go out there this winter when I have nothing else going on to clean it up. Double dick!

Nut up and put on a second pair of socks.

[Byte Stryke]

My 14 year old Dewalt 14.4 volt drill is on it's last legs. It might last for another set of batteries but for that price I could almost buy a new drill. Also the battery latch is ridiculously cumbersome.

answered your own question.

Dewalt... works

doing floors I used a dewalt, I would go through a 50# box of 2-1/2" flooring a day at least 3 days a week for 5 years.
I Still have it.. it still works.

[n8tive97]

I moved up to the DeWalt 20 Volt Li Ion Combo Pack to finish my garage and back deck.....

[hobowh]

Ryobi has com a long way, but still home owner quality not heavy use. Porter cable has gone down hill now a homeowner quality brand. Milwaukee, Dewalt are great all around tools, but cost more have had good luck with the new ridgid tool, and the lifetime warenty on batteries, and tools are great. If you want the best get the Mil if you want good all around get the Dewalt (not my fav) or rigid. not a fan of dewalt only because the quality is hit and miss, but the drills always seem to be decent.

[Ah Pook]

As stated in the #1 post, I will not be buying anything from Big Orange. If I buy a Dewalt, I want a Dewalt, not a pricepoint imitation.

Going to try and make it to Tool King this week. I forgot that I originally bought the Dewalt set from them.

Again, thanks for the info.

[Jer]

As stated in the #1 post, I will not be buying anything from Big Orange. If I buy a Dewalt, I want a Dewalt, not a pricepoint imitation.

Going to try and make it to Tool King this week. I forgot that I originally bought the Dewalt set from them.

Again, thanks for the info.

This urban legend that Home Depot gets inferior tools to supply houses is complete BS propagated by tool houses to keep them in business. I've talked to reps from Dewalt & Milwaukee who say that they cut NO corners in the tools they supply Home Depot with and don't even know what tools are going to what suppliers until long after they've been manufactured. I was actually told this by several reps both outside of as well as in actual supply houses where they're trying to push the very tools I'm questioning. I can't speak for others but it just doesn't seem to make sense to produce inferior products that could/will hurt your image/name and the added complexity for tracking and supply chain just wouldn't offset small savings from cheaper sourced parts.

[def90]

This urban legend that Home Depot gets inferior tools to supply houses is complete BS propagated by tool houses to keep them in business. I've talked to reps from Dewalt & Milwaukee who say that they cut NO corners in the tools they supply Home Depot with and don't even know what tools are going to what suppliers until long after they've been manufactured. I was actually told this by several reps both outside of as well as in actual supply houses where they're trying to push the very tools I'm questioning. I can't speak for others but it just doesn't seem to make sense to produce inferior products that could/will hurt your image/name and the added complexity for tracking and supply chain just wouldn't offset small savings from cheaper sourced parts.

When I bought my last DeWalt about a decade ago (I do low voltage work and do entire prewires of homes with my cordless) there was a difference. The Big Box store drills had plastic chucks and the versions from contractor supply shops had all steel chucks. Don't know if there is a difference these days or not, haven't looked for one for a while, I just replace batteries every couple years.