Cordless Drills

[heehaw]

i know, i know...i sound like a broken record: but....the ridgid brand battery operated tools come with a 3 year warranty: even if you don't want to register them for the lifetime warranty: i bought a couple off ebay, just because they were cheap an still had a couple years of the 3 year warranty left: if your putting on a metal roof, get their hammer drill or impact driver: makes it go a lot faster.
heehaw

 

[Robert_in_NY]

i know, i know...i sound like a broken record: but....the ridgid brand battery operated tools come with a 3 year warranty: even if you don't want to register them for the lifetime warranty: i bought a couple off ebay, just because they were cheap an still had a couple years of the 3 year warranty left: if your putting on a metal roof, get their hammer drill or impact driver: makes it go a lot faster.
heehaw

I have a Rigid 14.4v Impact driver and it is a nice tool but I am not impressed with the battery life. It has never lasted very long even when new. It only came with one battery so I have to plan accordingly, if I find a good deal on another tool with battery or a good deal on another battery I will get one just to make this tool more useful.

 

[ultrarunner]

Another little trick I do at the register when I have to buy the last product that was obviously opened, I make the girl at the register sign her name verifying that the product was already tampered with. Sure enough all the parts were not in the box and the return was made simple with the register receipt from REGISTER #1.

Very good tip about buying Open merchandise...

 

[RichZ]

Robert, the tag on my new drills say "0-750/min(RPM)", but I don't see anything about torque.

 

[Robert_in_NY]

Robert, the tag on my new drills say "0-750/min(RPM)", but I don't see anything about torque.

Ok, it doesn't surprise me really. I just know the Craftsmans and DeWalts I use do list the torque on the id tag (well at least on the models I currently use).

 

[Steve C]

Seems like years ago Consumer Reports tested rechargeable batteries. I think they cut open a D cell and determined that the actual battery part was the same size used in the AA cell's they were testing at the time. I wouldn't be too surprised if the actual batteries inside the casing were the same for a lot of brand names, but the casing are made differently for the various brands.

That is true of rechargable batteries, but cordless tools are a different animal. For instance the NiCads all use 1.2 volt cells in series to achieve whatever voltage they are rated at. Some of the individual cells have a much larger storage capacity than others and they are used to produce the batteries with the larger amp hour ratings, such as the Dewalt XRP series and the Milwaukee 18 volt NiCads. Any of these premium cells will give great performance compared to consumer rated tools. The lithium Ion batteries take this to the next level. They don't loose charge from sitting around like the NiCads do. But It has been my experience that they will all suffer diminished capacity if stored in a cold invironment, such as left in the truck overnight when it is below freezing.

Go to the light...Lithium Ion is where its at. Go there and you will never go back.

 

[caver]

I think thisPanasonic drill was probably the one mentioned in another forum about cordless drills.

We had a Milwaukee cordless in our shop for maybe a year, it recently died with a failed gear on the low speed setting. It is made in China.

 

[ultrarunner]

My 8 year old Niece/God Daughter asked for a cordless drill for Christmas... she's been asking for one since the summer...

I talked it over with her Mom and she confirmed it and said it was OK...

Went out tonight and bought a compact 18v lithium Milwaukee Drill and Impact Driver set with 2 batteries...

Kind of went overboard... thought about it for awhile and decided to use a store credit I had to offset most of the purchase price.

Gave her a tool set a couple of years ago and she has taken very good care of it...

I think the best part is her Mom and Dad keep asking her to borrow her tools... she tells them it is OK as long as they ask and put them back...

I can just see my brother asking his daughter to borrow her Milwaukee... the gift that keeps giving...

 

[EddieWalker]

Peyton has his own tools and a workbench with a vice on it. For his 9th birthday, I gave him a Ryobi saber saw. It has a laser and quick attach for T shank blades. For what he does, it's a great little saw. Not near what my DeWalt is, but still a good deal for the money.

For Christmas, I'm going to give him a Ryobi corded drill and a set of drill bits. He knows not to use power tools without me being around, so I'm looking forward to him having his own drill.

Eddie

 

[buckeyefarmer]

my dewalt 14V has done well for many years. I did have one battery melt in the charger and found it cheaper to just buy a new set with a new drill and charger. I noticed Costco no longer carries dewalt, they now have hitachi.

 

[ultrarunner]

Peyton has his own tools and a workbench with a vice on it. For his 9th birthday, I gave him a Ryobi saber saw. It has a laser and quick attach for T shank blades. For what he does, it's a great little saw. Not near what my DeWalt is, but still a good deal for the money.

For Christmas, I'm going to give him a Ryobi corded drill and a set of drill bits. He knows not to use power tools without me being around, so I'm looking forward to him having his own drill.

Eddie

I think it's great for kids with the inclination to have their own tools... it is empowering and provides a different prospective...

I looked at the combo set... but decided against the saw since I won't be around and she has younger sisters... ages 4 and 6. The Drill and Impact is Milwaukee... the label of origin list Canada, Mexico, Korea and China... ;-(

My cousin's son has a small workshop with bench and assorted tools... they live on a farm and he's 8... For his sixth birthday he asked for Nails and Screws... his dad put together an assortment including some spikes about 14" long... he would spend hours nailing and screwing screws into an old stump they rolled into "His" shop.

Two years ago, I gave my niece a little tool set I put together... Safety Glasses, Gloves, Apron, Klein screw divers, Stanley hand saw, hammer, wrenches etc... There were 12 little girls at her party and the only "Toys" they wanted to play with was the tool kit... kinda does an Uncle's heart good.

She helped me reside my box utility trailer a while back and everytime she sees my with it... she checks to make sure the screws she put in are still tight...

Her Grandfather will be building a little shed sometime soon at his home... maybe he will ask her to help... and bring her tools...

 

[ultrarunner]

The combo drill set was a big hit at Christmas... it was worth it just see her beaming smile.

She's pestering her grandfather on the other side of the family to start his shed so she can be there to help with her tools...

She will be 13 when the 5 year warranty is up... so who knows where we go from there?

Her number 1 wish has and still is a Horse... I'm glad Uncle could come through on her second wish for the cordless drill.

 

[RichZ]

Well I finally had a nice day, where I could try out my cheapo Black and Decker 18 volt cordless drill. I used it to repair some metal roofing on one of my barns and to put up my winter plastic window covers on my goat barn. I gave it some pretty heavy use, using it to drive in screws through sheet metal into wood and very heavy plastic into wood. I then used it to repair some fencing. All in all, I used it pretty heavily for about 2 hours, and amazingly it worked better than I expected. It worked as well as any cordless drill I've owned.

Now, I'm not claiming it's as well built as other brands, but it had the power to do what I needed, and the battery held up fine for it's first day of hard use. The drill will be used often, but not as hard as I used it today. Considering that none of my other cordless 18 volt drills lasted more than 2 years (DeWalt, Hitachi, Porter Cable or Bosch), if this drill lasts a year, I"ll be very happy, considering that I spent a whole $25 on it.

I'll post ocassional updates on my cheapo drill use. But after using it occasionally for a few weeks and using it one day pretty hard, I've yet to have to recharge the battery, either. I'm just soooo sick of paying $100 to several hundred to only have to replace my drill every other year.

 

[EddieWalker]

Sounds like an interesting experiment. How long will it last, and is it a good investment for what you get?

I just spent $115 for two brand new Makita 18V litium ion batteries. I use my cordless tools just about every day, sometimes, all day long. I like to have four to six batteries with me all the time. When I'm down to four, I buy two more. The tools don't seem to wear out, but the batteries are only guranteed for 3,000 charges.

Eddie

 

[RichZ]

Thanks, Eddie!!!

I doubt this drill would hold up to the kind of use a contractor like you would give it. But if it holds up for a year, for the use I give it on the farm, I'll be happy. I'd say farm use is a little heavier than homeowner use, but no where near as heavy as contractor use. There are days when I might use my tools as heavily as you do, but those days are infrequent.

Still, if a $25 drill holds up for a year, it's cheaper than a $200 drill holding up for two years. We'll see. I'm just happy that it's usable, so far.

 

[scgargoyle]

I'm very close to investing in a cordless tool system to build my new house, so I read threads like this often. Unfortunately for me, there doesn't seem to be much consensus on which brand to buy. Right now, I'm hovering between the Milwaukee M18 and the high-end Makita stuff. I love my Milwaukee corded tools that I've had for many, many years, but I was disappointed by a Milwaukee 14.4V cordless I bought about 7-8 years ago. The tool itself is fine, but the batteries seem to go bad quickly. We don't use it very often- maybe that's why? I'll have to try bumping the batteries back to life like I've heard of people doing. Once I start building the house, the cordless tools will likely see use nearly every day for about a year. If they last that long, it will be money well spent. I'm hoping the new Li-on technology will work better for me than the old Ni-cads. Interestingly, I have an ancient Makita 9.6 that uses stick batteries. Although not very powerful, the batteries still charge up! That unit must be close to 20 years old. I'm also shopping for a new circular saw. My old Skil was $30 back in the 1970's, and it still works, too.

 

[bp fick]

I have four cordless drills. Two DeWalt's, a Craftsman 19.2 that I got free with a sack of cordless tools when I bought my Ford pickup in '05 and a little cheaper $19 loss leader, 12v built in battery, from Home Depot with a Singer branding on it, I think. They all have their place.

Weight. That Craftsman and the big DeWalt are power houses and have been awesome, dependable and long lasting, but the batteries cost you your first born. And, when I am up a ladder to do a small job, or just need to do a small, repetitive job, a heavy drill is a killer.

Funny thing is, that little crappy Singer is almost 5 years old and not a whimper of a problem. Original built in battery. Go figure.