Cordless Tool Family Recommendation (Makita/Milwaukee/etc)

[sky]

Originally Posted by SVTCobra
If you have hours of time to spare, AvE on YouTube has a lot of tool teardown videos and testing of the batteries of the top 3 brands, Makita, Milwaukee, and DeWalt. Don't believe the claims on torque, there are no standards for testing, so you can't compare them against each other.

For the occasional home use I'd go with whatever is the most convenient, best prices, most tools, etc. Also don't be afraid to use store brand if you need limited tools, I've had a Menards store brand Masterforce drill and impact for almost 5 years and performs almost as good as my new Makita. I bought a Makita as they were the only manufacturer of a cordless tools I needed.


I've started to watch some of these last night. Thanks for all the ideas and tips. I'd much rather buy once and just keep them forever.

 

[Dave9]

^ Good luck but it's hard to depend on that because the industry keeps changing the battery formats (besides Ryobi), eventually leaving you to either rebuild packs yourself or buy generic Chinese packs that have lower quality and true capacity... which can still make sense for some tools.

 

[bchannell]

It does depend on your intended use. I use cordless tools every day, and have for several years, so the recommendations are different for a homeowner. We tend to push cordless tools at or beyond their limits, so we buy the ones we think are the best.
For the average homeowner, I'd got either Milwaukee M12 or Makita 12V. Both make 12V tools that rival 18V tools, especially 18V tools of just a year or two ago, and they are much easier to use and are very robust. I like Makita the best, because I don't like the feel of the Milwaukee battery in the grip. BUT those M12 tools are nothing short of amazing in power and durability. Another good choice is the new subcompact 18V tools from Dewalt and Makita, they're small, light and powerful.
Homeowners usually don't drill into concrete a lot or try to drill 4" holes in roofs, so 12V tools work well for almost anything else. Heck there are even subcompact hammer drills if you think you might occasionally do those chores.
I wouldn't waste my time with long drawn out comparisons online, Anything from Dewalt, Milwaukee, and Makita will do the deed. I even have a Hercules 12V cordless screwdriver that we use for ductwork and it is nothing short of amazing. The Hercules tools would do you very well and I agree with a previous post about battery price and availability. You sure can't beat HF Hercules for that. We bought the screwdriver just to use commercially just to see if it would hold up, and it's well over a year old and works like new. I am simply amazed with them. The differences between the top brands will not show up in homeowner use with very, very few exceptions.

 

[E365]

I have few complaints with my Milwaukee stuff. M18 and M12. I was finding insane deals on Milwaukee stuff at a outlet store that carried Home Depot's returns and overstocks. Averaged about 75% off retail because it was used once and returned. I would check their stock every few weeks and buy whatever Milwaukee items I didn't already have.

The only "issue" I can think of is my 3/8" drive M12 ratchet. I pulled on it once but was grabbing too close to the battery and not the tool body and cracked the plastic housing on the battery. Still fully functional, just not perfect. Partially user error.

 

[JustinH]

My electric HF impact bit the dust last week.

Purchased a 1/2 inch Kobalt 24v impact.

Came with charger, battery, and bag for $169.

Made short work of a suspension job this week on my wife's car.

 

[Wolf359]

I have both Ryobi and Milwaukee. I got the Milwaukee mainly for the impact wrench, the 2767, 1400 foot pounds. Otherwise a bunch of Ryobi tools. I say for minor home owner stuff, Ryobi is fine, but their impact wrench only goes to 300 foot pounds, Rigid is about 650. Ryobi probably won't come out with a 1400 because there's one parent company that owns all 3 so they're not going to make something that will cut into the sales of the other.

 

[Trav]

Originally Posted by Ihatetochangeoil
Milwaukee, hands down. I work commercial/industrial construction, no one uses anything but Milwaukee. Dewalt, Makita, Ryobi, are NOT industrial grade tools. Buy once, cry once.

I have a Milwaukee 2767-20 1/2" M18 impact wrench. With 1400 ft lbs of breakaway torque, IMHO there is nothing on an automobile or light truck you can't undo. https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Power-Tools/Fastening/Impact-Wrenches/2767-20 I've changed a harmonic balancer (off & on) in about 20 minutes with it; and had time for a cup of coffee.
In about another 30+ days, Milwaukee is coming out with a 3/8 or 1/2" impact ratchet (your choice of drive) that is M12, not M18, right angle impact wrench that has 220 ft lbs of breakaway torque and a profile head of only 2.2" This will be an industry best; and is designed to compete with air tools: https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Products/Power-Tools/Fastening/Impact-Wrenches/2564-20 I've pre-ordered one.
If you go directly to the Milwaukee tools website, I believe they also have the widest selection of battery powered tools. Milwaukee is revolutionizing commercial construction. You no longer see hundreds of feet of extension cords running all over job sites.


Makita XWT08 made in Japan is definitely commercial duty and just as powerful as the Chinese owned and made Milwaukee 2767-20, the batteries from Makita are superior for longevity based on my own experience with both in the 18v range since 2008 and 12v before that.
What you posted is not factual by any stretch, just fanboy fluff IMO.

Real commercial tools, made in USA...

https://hytorc.com/electric-tools

 

[Hall]

A few posts referenced Rigid and their (lifetime) warranty on batteries but if I'm not mistaken, this only applies to their tools that are bought at Home Depot. Not saying that's a bad thing either. I don't use/abuse tools enough to wear them out but batteries will die over time no matter what so I did go the Rigid route (through HD). I originally bought the drill and impact combo kit with (2) wimpy batteries and charger. Later I added a 1/2 impact when HD had a buy-one-get-one-free deal and the 2nd kit I got was the 6Ah and 4Ah batteries and larger charger - for under $100 for the impact, two batteries, and charger. Not a bad deal !

 

[ajchien]

I'm on 2 platforms. Ryobi 18v and Milwaukee m12.

For me, ryobi 18v has the widest range of useful tools, mixing lawn care, woodworking, automotive, swimming pool, and miscellaneous (shop vacs, lights, and radios).

I've added Milwaukee m12 because it has some lightweight options like the automotive ratchets and right angle drills for tighter spaces.

 

[Donald]

I have just ordered some aftermarket batteries for Milwaukee M18 and Ryobi 18V.

The price of the OEM batteries is crazy high.

I will try and use the batteries while I can still return to AMAZON.

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by Donald
I have just ordered some aftermarket batteries for Milwaukee M18 and Ryobi 18V.

The price of the OEM batteries is crazy high.

I will try and use the batteries while I can still return to AMAZON.


The aftermarket ones don't seem to last so I only get them from authorized dealers. Plus there are differences with various batteries. For instance with some Ryobi batteries, even though there may be two 4 amp hour batteries one model may give you double the current of the other.

 

[hatt]

Originally Posted by JHZR2
I'm not one that adheres to the "all one tool family" approach, to get the same batteries. Ive found that the best deals are when batteries are sold in the kit.

I like dewalt drills. So I have DeWalt drills and impact driver. But I liked the makita subcompact 18v and their cordless vacuums (have 3), and leaf blower for car washing. When I was looking for a stronger impact than my IR a few years back, Milwaukee was by far the best, and really leading the pack with highest torque, so I went with that for the big impact. I had a 12v scope for probably a decade now from Milwaukee, so since I had one battery, I got a cordless ratchet too - why not?

So I have tried to get best of breed for each, at the point of time I was shopping. Dewalt and Makita have caught up with ultra high torque impact guns, so at this point it's less of a consideration then it was at one time for me, so if I was doing it again, I wouldn't necessarily get the 20v Milwaukee for the impact, unless their tools had what I really wanted for something else.

So look at the cross section of tools you want and deals you can get.

It's a lot easier to keep 10-20 year old tools running if you don't need to buy several different types of batteries. I'm still using ancient Dewalt 18V, some over 20 years old. A 2 pack of batteries every once in a while keeps me going. I'm going to have to move into this century at some point but I'm going to be using only one line.

 

[clinebarger]

I too am still using 18v Dewalt stuff at home, The duty cycle just doesn't demand replacements....'til Dewalt discontinues the batteries? Probably Makita if they do.

 

[4WD]

Heck … I'm still using 18V Black & Decker … think I have 7 tools and six chargers and too hard to start over. Probably time to get a couple batteries though.

 

[dlundblad]

Originally Posted by clinebarger
I too am still using 18v Dewalt stuff at home, The duty cycle just doesn't demand replacements....'til Dewalt discontinues the batteries? Probably Makita if they do.


They have adapters. $100 IIRC, but if you have enough tools they're worth it I guess. At least they were for Don. Lol.

 

[bchannell]

Everyone talks about how "powerful" cordless tools are and, many years ago, that was a concern, but today, with all the powerful tools abvailable, they will all do anything that the normal homeowner will encounter. I mean, as I said, homeowners almost never push their tools beyond what a cordless tool would do. Now, there certainly are exceptions, as some of the older HF circular saws, that wouldn't cut a 2x4", but aside from junk (which Hercules is NOT), there are simply a lot of good tools out there. Me and my guys have used most brands on the job, and I can tell you some stories, but most of the bad experiences were when we were pushing a tool far beyond what they were designed to do. For instance, drilling a 4" hole in a commercial roof with a cordless drill, and the building maintenance was insistant his older blue Ryobi could do it. Well, it burned up almost immediately. The second green Ryobi lasted just a tad longer and his newest green Ryobi actually caught on fire with flames coming out of it. If you think I'm exaggerating, here's a pic of it just after the flames died down, we couldn't get cell phones out fast enough to catch the flames. A trip to the ground and my work truck and my Milwaukee M18 hammer drill finished the first hole and drilled four others. Now it kicked out a few times, as the roof was 10-12" thick with layers of fiber board, plywood sheathing, cemesto like board, and tar. There is now way any cordless tool is designed to do this, but in this case we would have had to install pigtails to have electric on the roof, so we gave it a go. But, as I said earlier, if you're a homeowner, using a cordless drill for projects around the house, you could use almost any brand. We have a Hercules 12v screwdriver that I bought just to see how it would hold up to ductwork installs and after a year or so of near constant use, it is nothing short of amazing, still working like new. If I didn't use my tools to make money, I'd probably have one of the new Skil 12v drills and drivers, or Hercules, they're plenty good. I do admit for more serious work, the Milwaukee and other are hard to beat. I tried out one of the original Rigid Octane drill/drivers and it was nothing short of killer. I mean it and my newest Milwaukee can hurt you if you don't use some sense when drilling. I saw an article the other day where one of the newer drills, can't remember which one, has operator feedback that kicks in when the drill jams, so it won't hurt the operators hands/arms, good move!

 

[Wolf359]

Originally Posted by bchannell
I mean it and my newest Milwaukee can hurt you if you don't use some sense when drilling. I saw an article the other day where one of the newer drills, can't remember which one, has operator feedback that kicks in when the drill jams, so it won't hurt the operators hands/arms, good move!


That's a nice touch. The Milwaukee high torque impact wrench (2767) does something similar, when you have it at 1400 foot pounds for reverse, it slows down to 750 rpm once it detects that you've broken free so that it doesn't fling the bolt once it's loose.