Cordless tool ecosystem?

[house]

If I just go with a driver, Lowe's has this Dewalt brushless on sale for $99. This is really all I need -- but I could justify a need/want for a nicer drill and a non-shitty sawzall...
https://www.lowes.com/pd/DEWALT-20-V...ded/1001239964

That is a nice package on Makita tools there. I'm kinda leaning towards Lowe's-available product, because I have some discounts and gift cards.

If you want to stick to Lowe's, I've noticed they're deeply discounting Hitachi (now "Metabo HPT") cordless tools. It looks like they have an impact with 2 batteries for $69 now. It's a less popular brand but the batteries should be around for a while, now that Metabo is continuing to produce the 18v lineup, and the tools are generally well reviewed. I even bought into it just for the cordless framing nailer which works great, but I can't speak to any of the other tools.
https://www.lowes.com/search?searchT...priceLowToHigh

[El Chupacabra]

Thanks for that heads up on Hitachi! Tempting...

[EWG]

Bump, as I am looking at the many Black Friday sales on cordless tools. I have corded tools I like (circular saw, two angle grinders, Dremel, saber saw), one I don't use much (drill), and one cheap as fuck (Harbor Freight sawzall). The only cordless tool I have is a Porter Cable 18V Li-ion drill from around 10 years ago -- still works OK, batteries don't last that long anymore, so a replacement wouldn't be a bad thing to pick up. I also have a shop compressor and air tools; mostly just use the impact wrench and occasionally the ratchet.

The electric cordless tool I most want/need is a driver.

Looking at the brushed vs brushless thing -- at the same price ($229), which of these would you get? This is for home/garage use, not professional.

1) Dewalt drill + separate driver, 2 batteries, brushless
https://www.lowes.com/pd/DEWALT-XR-2...ded/1000434587

2) Bosch promo: drill + separate driver, 2 batteries, brushed -- plus another tool (I'd pick the sawzall, since my corded Harbor Freight one is pretty shitty), plus another 4ah battery -- so 3 tools I could use, and 3 batteries total:
https://core18v.boschtools.com/bestd...wE#popmake-110

I would buy Makita, but of these two, get the brushless one. Brushless is signifigantly more robust. Does Lowe's not carry Makita? Looks like maybe they don't.

This is cheap, but only one battery:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Makita-1...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

Two batteries is a bit more, but you get an impact driver:
https://www.homedepot.com/p/Makita-1...E&gclsrc=aw.ds

Both of these are cheaper than your options for what I believe is a better tool. I've killed more than one Dewalt. Have not been able to kill a Makita yet. I love certain Bosch tools (jigsaws, for example) but not their drills. They are fine, just not the best, in my opinion.

Typically there are good prices on the drill packages because it's the gateway drug - once they get you in the ecosystem, they have you.

[El Chupacabra]

That Makita package looks nice.

Hmm...

On the way home, I stopped by Lowe's and picked up some clearance Hitachi/ Metabo: got a brushless Sawzall, drill/driver with two batteries, and impact driver with two batteries - all 18V. Both drills are brushed and come with chargers. The Sawzall is just a bare tool. About $177 with tax.

I need to Google exactly what I bought and decide if I'm going to keep it.

[Tips^Up]

Life is short, get the brushless.

I ended up with Milwaukee. Just warrantied the driver after it started acting funny. Free, fast, works brand new now. The blower has become my favorite. Used it on leaves today, use it on blowy pow (need the shovel for heavy stuff), faster and easier than sweeping or raking.

[Mustonen]

I would buy Makita, but of these two, get the brushless one. Brushless is signifigantly more robust. Does Lowe's not carry Makita? Looks like maybe they don't.

Both of these are cheaper than your options for what I believe is a better tool. I've killed more than one Dewalt. Have not been able to kill a Makita yet. I love certain Bosch tools (jigsaws, for example) but not their drills. They are fine, just not the best, in my opinion.

Typically there are good prices on the drill packages because it's the gateway drug - once they get you in the ecosystem, they have you.

Fuck Makita. Worst driver/drill set I’ve ever used. Batteries were shit and stopped working completely after a few months (would not charge). Warranty was denied. Got lectured by the person in the warranty dept about how I need to be careful not to run the batteries too far down before charging. Threw the whole kit in the garbage and went back to dewalt.

Never again. And I encourage you to not buy their shit either.

I always end up with all dewalt. Durable and good ecosystem. Haven’t killed one and I’ve abused them far beyond what I’ve ever abused those Makita.

[El Chupacabra]

I have a Makita corded angle grinder that is about 25 years old, and works great. Sounds like their cordless tools may not be to the same standards.

Anyway, I think I'm going to keep my pile of discount Hitachi. Reviews online on what I bought seems solid. Going to keep them in boxes for a couple days, wait and see what turns up on Black Friday / cyber Monday deals. Easy to return to Lowe's if I change my mind.

[Todd Zander]

the bosch impact driver with a 1/2 drive for sockets and 1/4 for bits is looking mighty appealing these days. that would benmy
only bosch tool however as ive bought into and am committed to ryobi. if driving 100's of 3" screws with the ryobi the hammer mechanism will overheat and fail to work properly.

[EWG]

Fuck Makita. Worst driver/drill set I’ve ever used. Batteries were shit and stopped working completely after a few months (would not charge). Warranty was denied. Got lectured by the person in the warranty dept about how I need to be careful not to run the batteries too far down before charging. Threw the whole kit in the garbage and went back to dewalt.

Never again. And I encourage you to not buy their shit either.

I always end up with all dewalt. Durable and good ecosystem. Haven’t killed one and I’ve abused them far beyond what I’ve ever abused those Makita.

All the batteries are the same, and all the chargers are the same. Our construction crews have pretty much proven that anecdotally, and the actual cells inside the batteries are exactly the same cells between manufacturers. And yes, I've disassembled the battery packs and rebuilt them. Chargers, at this point, are identical as well. People compare older tools to newer ones, which doesn't work, since the older tools had older battery tech. New tools are Li-ion, and you can't compare old battery tech to that.

So what you are comparing is the tool itself. Milwaukee, Bosch, and Makita make really great tools. Dewalt is considered a tier down in the trades, but totally fine for household use - in fact, most of the brands are. Dewalt is still usually fine for tradespeople - many of them have them. Festool is the absolute best. However, you will have to sell a child to afford them. Ryobi also is a tier down. I really don't know much about Hitachi. Again, unless you absolutely abuse your tools all of these are fine for a homeowner. And when I say abuse, I mean many, many days when you run a tool through at least 3-4 battery changes and high loads.

Warranty is another issue. I've had good luck with Makita. My kids blew up a lawn trimmer by smashing against the ground while using it and Makita warrantied it despite it being 3 months out of warranty. However, no one will warranty batteries. Battery life is dependent on many things - temperature while charging, are they fully charged each time, what load are the batteries being discharged under, how many times they've been dropped, and variance in cell robustness from the battery factory (there are sometimes lemons.) However, I know for sure different warranty centers perform differently, so Makita factory service in your area may suck for all I know.

Any, hope the info helps.

[basinbeater]

https://youtu.be/aZUbbu6J19E

sent from Utah.

[Mustonen]

No, they designed a system where the tool could drain the battery past where the charger would charge it.

It was documented and even acknowledged in the owner’s manual, which the warranty person most helpfully directed me to.

Bullshit.

[bagtagley]

Been using a Hitachi cordless drill for a couple years. Really happy with it. Works as well as anything else I’ve used. Batteries last a while and charge fast.

[muted]

I don't mean to interrupt the Makita hate, but I just bought the Makita package for work, as we won't use them a ton so 12v cheapos are fine. (I have the 18v package at home, has worked great for years) Thanks Beece, bought this morning after reading this thread!

[lifelinksplit]

I think we've gone through this discussion a few times. Like a few people have said most major brands will be just fine for homeowner use. As a carpenter I've had both makita and dewalt and both were fine(liked makita a touch more). Using all dewalt(20v)now mostly because last crew I was on used all dewalt so it was nice to have compatible tools/batteries. Only complaint is the impact base is rubber and I have broken/torn 2 of them(current is just taped up) but us framers are hard on shit. I think the biggest difference for me is all the new 60v shit and then it comes down to preference on how the batteries mount on certain tools(like circular saw) for balance etc. Battery tech has come a long way and I constantly find myself grabbing battery operated tools far more often then running cords.

[GeezerSteve]

I have a Makita corded angle grinder that is about 25 years old, and works great. Sounds like their cordless tools may not be to the same standards.

Nah. Makita brushless drills and hammer drills are bomber.

[El Chupacabra]

I'm 99% sure I'm sticking with the clearance Hitachi tools I bought, so I'm out.

I think Foggy or whoever said it earlier is right - just pick one, all the big brands are fine for home use.

[civilcoconut]

I have a 18v Makita system that dates to probably 2007/2008. The sawzall, impact driver and oscillating multi tool are still chugging along so far.

I killed my corded skilsaw and drill and need to replace them, preferably with more 18v if I stay makita. Is it worth staying in the same ecosystem? Realistically I should replace at least one of the 3 ah batteries I have.
I find the corded skilsaw is a pain as a homeowner because I'm usually not cutting enough to justify rolling out the cords so half the time I just end up using a hand saw, but its probably cheaper to buy a new skilsaw. I just want the drill for random around the house stuff. I have a corded drill if I'm using it a lot.

[NBABUCKS1]

I'm a Makita guy because it was the first tool I bought. Wish I had went Milwaukee first due to wide breadth of tools.However I'll put a plug in for Harbor Freights Hercules (brushless) brand. I'm slowly moving over to this as they have a great warranty and are pretty quality tools. I have an adapter that goes Hercules battery to bauer tool (non brushless) for the one off tools I want to buy.

[caulfield]

There are some backwards incompatible changes in the LXT line that the rest of the internet will explain better than me. I think you can cut some plastic on either the tool or the battery and make all combos work (with reduced tool-battery comms) but no promises. 2007 is a long time ago.

The conclusion of this thread and most people is pick a color and run it. Teal is good but it kinda sounds like you want to switch it up and now is the time if you are going to. Hercules rec seems solid. If you stay with Makita, Home Depot has pretty frequent deals that gets you bonus tools or batteries.

Based on the amount of Makita x HD ads I get on youtube, I am a little concerned that they are more about selling to weekenders like me instead of building pro stuff now.

[civilcoconut]

There are some backwards incompatible changes in the LXT line that the rest of the internet will explain better than me. I think you can cut some plastic on either the tool or the battery and make all combos work (with reduced tool-battery comms) but no promises. 2007 is a long time ago. The conclusion of this thread and most people is pick a color and run it. Teal is good but it kinda sounds like you want to switch it up and now is the time if you are going to. Hercules rec seems solid. If you stay with Makita, Home Depot has pretty frequent deals that gets you bonus tools or batteries. Based on the amount of Makita x HD ads I get on youtube, I am a little concerned that they are more about selling to weekenders like me instead of building pro stuff now.

Sounds like it's a battery change, not a tool change. My oscilatring multi tool is only a few years old and accepted the old battery.
I'm not wedded to Makita in any way, mostly I'm just trying to figure out if I should just go buy some ryobi/etc combo kit and upgrade the whole thing.

[Core Shot]

<p>
It does suck to have a mixed bag. Too many chargers etc. if you are daily driving I&rsquo;d say nothing beats Milwaukee. I did pick up a kit last Christmas (HD sales) after being a makita fanboy prior. Both are good. But Milwaukee has more options. For a weekend warrior hazard fraught has damn good quality for the price. If you need or want a full kit it&rsquo;s hard to beat the Milwaukee bundle when it&rsquo;s on sale. I never thought I would need a cordless skill saw but dang it&rsquo;s gravy once you own one. Drill driver multi tool sawzall &nbsp;is the minimum kit. And to be honest ryobi ain&rsquo;t that bad. And cheap. Similar to HF in pricing.</p>

[nickwm21]

AMZN has battery adapters to go between any of the major brands for $15. Opens the game up considerably.


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[El Chupacabra]

I ended up with three different cordless tool brands - Bosch, Ridgid and Green Machine. If I'd thought about it more at the start, I'd have skipped Bosch and just gotten Ridgid for the lifetime warranty, which includes batteries.

I think the Bosch tools are a little nicer, but the Ridgid warranty has a real value that outweighs the nice factor. I picked up Ridgid tools when I wanted a cordless impact wrench, and the Bosch one is really expensive. Everything I have from Bosch (drill, impact driver, reciprocating saw) is also available from Ridgid for similar sale prices.

The Green Machine ones are 52 volt IIRC - a chainsaw and a leaf blower. The Bosch and Ridgid stuff I have is 18 volt, usual hand tool stuff.