Cordless drill questions

[Cat_Driver]

I've used them all and the new 1/4" Impact drivers are the best on the planet.

I've used them side by side with regular screw guns and the impact diver screw gun will drive a screw right on through a 2x4 and never stop.

Mine are 18V and now I see they have 20V

DCF885C2 20V MAX* Lithium Ion 1/4" Impact Driver Kit (1.5Ah) | DEWALT Tools

I've got some of the Dewalts that are decades old and still kill. One has most of the plastic wore off in spots from use.

 

[Soundguy]

if it's a charger issue.. that's easy. dc power supplies.. especially 'dumb' ones are the most basiccircuits to work on.

besides.. that's why i bought 2 kits. 2 chargers and 2 bats.. 2 lamps and 2 drills.. again.. may go for a 3rd.. still be less than 40$ .

led lamp is aimable, and multi-led. nice and bright.. last a long time.. I use the lamp mor e than the drill. has a good keyless chuck that I have not gotten to slip yet. drill has a single led on it for illumination when drilling..e tc.

for the hobby and farm work i do, it's great... and 13$ ? even if I bought one a year.. it would be 17.6ys before it would cost as much as a 229$ one that someone mentioned

 

[Big Wave D]

Use to be pretty exclusively a DeWalt brand user, but as time went on, I just kept seeing them become cheaper and lower grade. The metal was becoming plastic and cheap plastic at that.

Back in the day when I was installing custom kitchens, my boss was a huge Makita tool user, so I got to use them a lot and really liked them. They were the first that I'd ever seen to build the light into the tool. Blind base cabinet, that becomes a God send for making installation much easier.

Fast forward a decade and my tried and true 14.2v DeWalt drill was dying and killing new batteries with it. So, I started to look around for its replacement. In the end, it was between Bosch and Makita. The Makita felt better to me while holding them and seemed a bit lighter to me also. The Lithium-Ion batteries have been awesome as well, lighter - hold charge much better - aren't affected by cold near as much - have fast charge time. I bought the LXT version and have LOVED them. They were even running a promo that you got a bare tool as part of the package I bought. I went with the circular saw. Kit came with Impact, 1/2" Hammer drill driver, 2 batteries, charger, and blow molded case.

Hitachi and Ryobi don't seem quite up to the same build, fit and finish, and overall quality to me.

The Germans and Japanese still seem to have a high degree of quality and sound engineering in their tools. I wish I could still say that about things 'made' here in the USA. Sadly, most is possibly designed here but made elsewhere, namely china. It's getting mighty tough to find things actually built here on our soil anymore.

There has been a lot of good advice given to your question, follow it and you should have a good tool that will last you a long time.

 

[KubotainNH]

if it's a charger issue.. that's easy. dc power supplies.. especially 'dumb' ones are the most basiccircuits to work on.

besides.. that's why i bought 2 kits. 2 chargers and 2 bats.. 2 lamps and 2 drills.. again.. may go for a 3rd.. still be less than 40$ .

led lamp is aimable, and multi-led. nice and bright.. last a long time.. I use the lamp mor e than the drill. has a good keyless chuck that I have not gotten to slip yet. drill has a single led on it for illumination when drilling..e tc.

for the hobby and farm work i do, it's great... and 13$ ? even if I bought one a year.. it would be 17.6ys before it would cost as much as a 229$ one that someone mentioned

LOL, I missed the part saying you have 2 sets. As for the charger, I haven't had time to look at it yet but will. He hardly used the thing though.

 

[KubotainNH]

The Germans and Japanese still seem to have a high degree of quality and sound engineering in their tools. I wish I could still say that about things 'made' here in the USA. Sadly, most is possibly designed here but made elsewhere, namely china. It's getting mighty tough to find things actually built here on our soil anymore.

Sadly I don't know of any cordless drills that are not made in China.

 

[Big Wave D]

Robert Bosch GmbH - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Makita - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Given the above information from Wikipedia, I would say "Good Luck" in figuring out 'where' your product was made.

There is more to making a tool then final assembly. Where the components were made can have a greater affect on quality then where the tool final came to resemble its final form.

Law suits are filed all the time in class action cases where the "Made in _____" labeling states aren't completely true.

In this day and age of multinational corporations, go with word of mouth and what works for you. Good is good, crappy is crappy, doesn't matter country of origin. Seek to educate yourself as best you can, then put your money where you think it best to spend your hard earned wages, then let the chips fall where they may.

 

[TaC team greene]

I used to be a makita guy to. never really liked dewalt though. I used to watch my brother the carpenter buy a new set of dewalts every year becuase it was cheaper than just buying the batterys. Then my 12v makita battery charger died after 10 years of good sevice. So i bought 14.4 volt set of makita drills. One year later the lithium batterys wouldnt take a charge anymore. Then my nabor gave me some old orange batterys he had that were at least 10 years old and they did good for about 2 more years. they dont last long but they still will take a charge today. VERY disapointed in makita now. One year on a new set of batterys. if that were a cheap brand from harbor freight most people would never even buy that name brand agian. I decided that i was not going to wait till i bought my 3rd or 4th set of useless drilles before i moved on like my brother did. I bought my ryobe drills 2 years ago and the still charge and run like they were new. Even if the batterys died after only one year i can still replace 2 of them for less then one of the other brand. If the name brand guy wants to buy them till he has a pile of perfictly good used drills setting in the corner with deid battery like my bro. More power to you. If they can make a car battery go five years i would expect my cordless tools to do the same.

 

[JJZ 109]

I've got 2 DeWalts and a Ridgid for my seamless gutter biz. So far they all work great.
The Ridgid has a lifetime guarantee, including batteries. I had an early issue with battery failure but since the replacement, no problems.
One DeWalt is regular NiCad battery. The other is Li Ion. The lithium batteries are much ligher and charge quicker, but they also expire faster. And when they go dead, it's instant. No gradual loss of power on those. That sucks when you're up on a ladder because you have no indication that it's going. Doesn't even give you time to finish the screw that you're driving and then go down to repower.

 

[Soundguy]

LOL, I missed the part saying you have 2 sets. As for the charger, I haven't had time to look at it yet but will. He hardly used the thing though.

yep.. got mine home and the wife was eyeing it and wanted the lamp.. since it only came with 1 bat.. i just got her a kit as well.. so one fo rhte house.. one for the shop.

again.. I may buy another kit for a spare bat.. OR.. I notice that HF now sells the drill and the lamp seperately outside the kit.. sometimes as low as 10$ each.. if that is so.. I could forgo a 3rd kit and just get the lamp or drill, battery and charger.

bat alone is like 8$ .. go figure..

 

[Dutch445]

I'm leaning toward the Makita LXT kit. According to the online reviews, battery life is supposed to be much better than the white one. It also has the most tool options, eventually I would like to get a cordless grinder and another impact wrench.

Dutch445, about how long do your batteries last under steady use? Does the grinder get overloaded easily?

i think when i cut that plate steel, total cutting time may have been 15 mins or so, maybe a little longer. that seems to be the most demanding on a cordless
and yea, i could get the grinder overloaded, but they have an led monitor on it
and you can back off when the red light comes on. took a while for me
to get used to that.
for driving screws or drilling, and sawzall stuff I haven't had
a large enough project to use more than 1 battery. and i like the fact
that when the battery dies, it dies, quick. don't end up working with limited
power as it draws down.

i'd rate A+ in my book. here's the kit i bought:
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Makita-LXT601-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Cordless/dp/B00168AFA0/ref=sr_1_3?s=power-hand-tools&ie=UTF8&qid=1326288673&sr=1-3[/ame]

here is the impact i want, was on sale for $121 a few weeks ago,
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Bare-Tool-Makita-BTW450Z-Torque-Battery/dp/B0014YVA1O/ref=sr_1_2?s=power-hand-tools&ie=UTF8&qid=1326288799&sr=1-2[/ame]


I came out of a 12 yr old Dewalt setup which the drill was finally starting to
crap out, had already replaced batteries in it, was time to upgrade.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

We run all DeWalts on our job sites. Its hard to change brands now since we have so many 18 volt DeWalt tools. Its nice being able to pull a battery from one tool and toss in another or have one charger on the job. I have actually been happy with DeWalts cordless tools. Yeah, there are some places they can improve but they have plenty of power, last well on a charge and do what their designed to do. The first DeWalt cordless drill I bought was a 14.4 volt drill that was reconditioned and was at one of those traveling tool sales. I still have that drill and it still does what it suppose to with never a problem.

I have only ever had one drill actually break completely. I was drilling a 4" hole through a wall and the handle broke off in the process. Other then that, the gear selector acted up in that one and that was the worst problem we had. That particular drill got used a lot and for things it shouldn't have been used for but it lasted 5-6 years. We have another 18v DeWalt that is starting to act up. Its most likely the brushes from the way its acting. $7 in new parts and it will be back up and running fine. We do use our tools a lot on job sites and I don't know of any other brand that will hold up any better then our DeWalts. So as long as we can still get batteries that work with our 18 volts then we will continue to use them unless something bad happens in which case we will look into changing over to all lithium or what ever is the best available at the time.

 

[Soundguy]

yikes!.. handle actually broke off!!

 

[Robert_in_NY]

yikes!.. handle actually broke off!!

Yes, the motor spun and the handle stayed in my hand. As soon as the wires ripped loose the motor stopped so it wasn't scary, just surprising.

 

[EddieWalker]

I used to be a makita guy to. never really liked dewalt though. I used to watch my brother the carpenter buy a new set of dewalts every year becuase it was cheaper than just buying the batterys. Then my 12v makita battery charger died after 10 years of good sevice. So i bought 14.4 volt set of makita drills. One year later the lithium batterys wouldnt take a charge anymore. Then my nabor gave me some old orange batterys he had that were at least 10 years old and they did good for about 2 more years. they dont last long but they still will take a charge today. VERY disapointed in makita now. One year on a new set of batterys. if that were a cheap brand from harbor freight most people would never even buy that name brand agian. I decided that i was not going to wait till i bought my 3rd or 4th set of useless drilles before i moved on like my brother did. I bought my ryobe drills 2 years ago and the still charge and run like they were new. Even if the batterys died after only one year i can still replace 2 of them for less then one of the other brand. If the name brand guy wants to buy them till he has a pile of perfictly good used drills setting in the corner with deid battery like my bro. More power to you. If they can make a car battery go five years i would expect my cordless tools to do the same.

Never thought I'd hear anybody say they liked Ryobi, much less recomend it over something like Makita. I'm sort of wondering if this was meant to be a joke?

Eddie

 

[Soundguy]

Yes, the motor spun and the handle stayed in my hand. As soon as the wires ripped loose the motor stopped so it wasn't scary, just surprising.

either real good motor, real bad plastic.. or you got strong hands..

 

[Mickey_Fx]

Everyone seems to have their favorites. I'm on my 3rd brand of cordless drill motors and so far this latest one has been the best, a Panasonic. Don't generally think of Panasonic when thinking of tools. Had this drill for about 3 yrs and no issues to date. Came with 2 battery packs, Ni-MH 3.3Ah and decent charger. Not the cheapest drill but a good one. Prices are in the $200 range. Looked at a lot of reviews before buying and was hard to find a neg comment. IMO very much worth consideration.

Panasonic EY6432GQKW Cordless Drill Review - Expert Tool Reviews

[ame=http://www.amazon.com/Panasonic-EY6432GQKW-15-6-Volt-2-Inch-Cordless/dp/B00009KDGX]Amazon.com: Panasonic EY6432GQKW 15.6-Volt 3.3Ah NiMH 1/2-Inch Cordless Drill/Driver Kit: Home Improvement[/ame] 217 reviews here and gets a 4.5 star rating.

 

[cdaigle430]

I'm getting ready to replace my 14 volt Makita cordless drill. I'm considering two 18 volt Makitas, the LCT (the white one) and the LXT (the green one). I'm also considering the DeWalt 20 volt Max.

All 3 are 1/2" drive, and the kits I'm looking at include the drill, two lithium batteries, a 1/4" drive impact, and a charger.

The LCT is the least expensive, on sale at Home Depot for $229.00. The LXT seems to have the best warranty with 3 years for both the tool and batteries. The DeWalt has the highest RPM and torque numbers. Both the LXT and DeWalt have 30 minute chargers, the LCT is a 15. That concerns me slightly because I suspect it's harder on long term battery life. The LXT has a 3 year warranty that covers the batteries, where the LCT is only one. The LCT can accept LXT batteries, though.

Any opinions would be great. I have an old Makita that has served well, but the batteries no longer hold a charge and I have some Home Depot gift cards to use. :thumbsup:

I looked around for quite some time after I bought a house 7 years ago. I found the supposedly best of the best-Makita, DeWalt way to expensive, and the Ryobi the cheapest not only in price but reliability. I ended up going with the Craftsman kit which consisted of the Drill\Hammer Drill, Saws All, Light, two Dia Hard 19.2 volt battery backs and rapid charger. I have countless hours on them, especially the drill-had the saws all replaced once under warranty because the trigger stopped working. & years later and I'm still using the origional batteries! Paid $140 for the whole kit and couldnt be happier.

My dad has the Dewaltt kit, paid almost $300 4 years ago and has already purchasd two battery xr replacements at a wopping 120 bucks each. My crafstmen outruns and out torcs his dewalt enay day-even with my origional batteries and his new.

My craftsman drill is also lighter and I like the grip better than his DeWalt.

We had the Ryobi here at work and both batteries were dead within wo years.

I saved a ton of money going with the Craftsmen.
Just my experience...

 

[Gizmo2]

FWIW, I have had exceptional satisfaction using this company and they seem to sell it all. Power Tools Inc.
Recent purchases...

 

[Robert_in_NY]

either real good motor, real bad plastic.. or you got strong hands..

That particular drill was very strong and I believe the years of tourqe stressed the handle where it attaches and it finally was stressed enough that it finally broke.

 

[KubotainNH]

I think the batteries last longer when they are used and recharged on a regular basis. Often times when I see a bad battery I also see a new looking drill that got used every other month, I use my drill multiple times a week. The drills look beat after a couple years but the batteries last at least 5 years. One other option is to buy replacement cells at radio shack and replace the offenders but then the next one will die, it's just as cheap per cell to have Batteries Plus rebuild the whole thing. I've also had luck with zapping dead batteries back to life with my car charger, usually the cells short out and this will bring them back for a bit. Obviously best with batteries in the 12v range.