Best cordless tools on the market?

treebilly

Student of the Jedi. OH-7106A
Joined
Aug 10, 2014
Messages
6,655
Location
North Lawrence,OH
I'm looking to add a few cordless tools to my toolbox. A 1/2" impact and grease gun are on the top of my list. It seems to be between dewalt and Milwaukee. The dewalt 20v xr impact is pretty bad ass. I was looking to stay with rigid ( since I have 5 different tools of theirs) but their impact is lacking and a grease gun doesn't seem to exist. I'm in the mood to spend some money so I'll probably be buying something in a week or so.
 
I have had good luck with DeWalt's 18 volt line. I have a half inch impact, grease gun, two drills and an impact driver.

From what I have seen, I would say its a toss up between the DeWalt and Milwaukee. A few years ago, I guess Milwaukee would have been the top choice. Both brands were better back then apparently.

If all my tools were missing, I would probably replace them with DeWalt's 20 volt line.


If nothing else, get the grease gun. They are wonderful.
 
I'm partial to M18 Fuel products from Milwaukee. There is newer technology from other makers (I adopted M18 Fuel several years ago), but I haven't seen anything that remotely makes me want to switch.



Here're 3 impacts, 1/2" drill, grease gun, grinder, and sawzall. I might add the mag drill and maybe a skil saw... not sure what else I want.

2017-03-31 12.51.51.jpg
 
When we were home building it was all Makita. Somehow we ended up with the dewalt 18 stuff now, it all works well. Drills, impact, sawlzall and radio:rockhard:
 
  • Thread Starter Thread Starter
  • #7
Grease gun is a definate thing. Well both are. I remember seeing a battery grease gun years ago and I asked the operator why he was so special he got one. He told me that the company owner bought a couple pallets of them, gave every employee one , and said that if he walked into a job and a machine needed greased the whole crew was fired. I grabbed our mechanics once and I've been trying to get them to be issued to every crew. I just want one for my personal use now. The impact is because I really detest the sound of an air compressor anymore.
 
I've got a couple 18 volt DeWalts both at the house and work .They have held up so far .The stuff at work,sawzall and drill are over 10 years old and get used often .Batteries maybe 3 years before they go on the fritz .

My wife.RIP bought me a 9 volt Sears drill driver and I thought what in the world am I going to do with this little toy .When I built my shop I drove over 4,000 screws with that thing and it never missed a lick .Little rascal did get hot every so often
 
I like Milwaukee's line up. I have an m12 1/4 hex impact that I just plain love great for wrenching on stuff, a m18 fuel 1/2" compact impact use it for tires, stumper teeth, and general maintenance on stuff, and a m12 grease gun that's "ok" but it looses its prime every now and again but pumps the grease.
 
Brushed motors are cheaper to buy repair parts. I used to fix tons of tools, but the price of electronics killed me.
 
I've got the dewalt 20v. Impact, 2 drills, and a circular saw. I've been running them since they hit the market up here, a few years ago anyways. I had the 18v for a decade or so before that and I've never been disappointed in either of them.
 
M18 here. Nothig compares to the Milwaukee 9.0 batteries. 20/60 volt is a gimmick, you can only pull so many watts out of a battery, and the biggest Dewalt is only 6.0 amp hours, and they don't charge as fast as the Milwaukee 9.0s. I've got the M18 Fuel 1/2" impact, Sawzall, 1/4" hex impact, 1/2" hammer drill, 7 1/4" circ saw, 10" miter saw, 5/8" rotary hammer drill,and a few LED lights. I'll be adding the M18 bandsaw, angle grinder, and a few other things. Milwaukee is very dedicated to "cutting the cord", as they say, and many of the cordless tools are actually based on the corded version, but perform even better.
 
After my Bosch(sp) 36 volt batts died I bought Milwaukee as Carl was so happy with them and I wanted a strong battery operated impact wrench. I love how they all function including the 1/2 inch impact and grease gun.

If you go Milwaukee make sure you get the strongest impact. They have/had some with lesser torque for some reason.
 
Raj I've got to tell you if I was anywhere near you I would bring all my electric stuff to you for repairs even if it were same price or more than replacement.
 
jCbavAu.gif


:D
 
It's a gimic. DeWalt for example had 14 volt batteries then they switched to 18 .The replacement batteries cost more than the whole kit of drill , charger and two batteries .Craftsman had the bright idea of 19.2 volt etc .

I've got maybe a dozen at work retrieved out of the scrap tub that either need batteries or had the armatures burned out from misuse .I may or may not get them repaired when I find the time .
What kills them is running them hard until they get so hot you can't hold on to them.Burns out the speed controller switch or smokes the armatures .I did manage to fix a 18 volt hammer drill by swapping parts ,works pretty good for what it is .
 
The problem with retrofitting is that the tool is still the same old tool. In the case of Milwaukee, there are circuit boards that protect the tools from harming themselves.
 
Actually I think I found out after the fact that Lithium Ion batts will charge in and power an older NiCad set just fine. Interstate batteries rebuilds battery pacs and could have just rebuilt my old Bosch set.

If I weren't so happy with the function of the Milwaukees I would be bummed.
 
I went with dewalt just because some of the stuff is assembled in usa..... Otherwise I would have went milluwakee,possibly makita. Millawakee has a huge lineup of tools imo.
 
The problem with retrofitting is that the tool is still the same old tool. In the case of Milwaukee, there are circuit boards that protect the tools from harming themselves.
I have no problem with the old 18volt tools just the batteries. I ran the hell out of them when I was doing masonry work.
Actually I think I found out after the fact that Lithium Ion batts will charge in and power an older NiCad set just fine. Interstate batteries rebuilds battery pacs and could have just rebuilt my old Bosch set.

If I weren't so happy with the function of the Milwaukees I would be bummed.
I got the Batteries Plus replacements and was greatly disappointed but if you are saying that I can get LI pack for them I'll have to check that out. Interstate Batteries you say?
 
I went with dewalt just because some of the stuff is assembled in usa..... Otherwise I would have went milluwakee,possibly makita. Millawakee has a huge lineup of tools imo.

My NiCad's are US built before the sale that's why I wanna keep them. Plus I hate flushing cash like that.
 
I have no problem with the old 18volt tools just the batteries. I ran the hell out of them when I was doing masonry work.

I got the Batteries Plus replacements and was greatly disappointed but if you are saying that I can get LI pack for them I'll have to check that out. Interstate Batteries you say?

They solder the LI cells in where NiC was and it's 100% interchangeable. .....
if I recall correctly.
 
Back
Top