RE: Cordless drills and impact drivers

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firefighterjake

Minister of Fire
Jul 22, 2008
19,588
Unity/Bangor, Maine
I'm considering purchasing a 18 volt cordless dill and impact driver . . . any opinions/experience on what is good, bad or just plain ugly.

At this point in my life I don't need the top end stuff since I'm not a contractor . . . but I would like something that will hold up long term and be a little more rugged than my very tired 12 volt Black and Decker cordless drill.

I've looked at Dewalt, Makita, Bosch and Milwaukee . . . right now I'm leaning pretty heavily towards Dewalt and the white-and-gray Makita . . . but I'm open to other suggestions . . . mostly doing light carpentry work.
 
I have had my 18 volt dewalt drill, impact, sawsall, circular saw, hammer drill
for about 8 years now, used daily second set of batterys
with the current technology, I would wait and see who offers the most bang for the buck
coming into christmas they all will have some great deals
free battery, free tool
if you stay with the brands you mention you shouldnt be disappointed at all
I have used the dewalt and makita and I was happy with both
makita batterys became hard to find here
good luck
you will get hundreds of opinions on this
 
I just went through this as I was starting my basement finish. I picked up a Porter Cable kit containing a 1/2" drill and an impact driver. The impact driver lasted for about 20 screws and then kept cutting out. It was junk. I returned it and picked up a Milwaukee and it has been awesome. The batteries last a long time and they never miss a beat.
 
i would also look into Ryobi products, they are usually a bit cheaper without sacrificing any quality in my opinion.

I have had a 18v drill for about 6 years and have straight abused it, still purrs like a kitten. I have not had a chance to use any of thier new Li-Ion stuff though..... I am sure it is great.
 
Jake, while I like my DeWalt and Makita stuff I would strongly consider Ridgid sold at Home Depot just because of the lifetime warranty they offer which includes the battery.
 
I have also used the new Dewalt and makita stuff. They are very nice. I have and 18v milwaukee that is great but doesn't compare to the new stuff. Look on CL for slightly used drills, they come up occasionally.
 
RSNovi said:
I just went through this as I was starting my basement finish. I picked up a Porter Cable kit containing a 1/2" drill and an impact driver. The impact driver lasted for about 20 screws and then kept cutting out. It was junk. I returned it and picked up a Milwaukee and it has been awesome. The batteries last a long time and they never miss a beat.
The new batteries cut out when low on charge so maybe the battery had a problem, not too many people think Porter Cables are junk. I bought the Rockwell drill driver set that has a lifetime warrany on the batteries, so far I like it a lot , has a metal chuck on the drill which some don't.
 
I built a garage, shed, small barn, addition to the house, porch. deck and to many tree stands with my royobi kit and it has never failed me in the 7 years i have owned it. I have the saw,drill ,light,sawall,jug,chainsaw and soft bag. It's priced right and man they some tough tools, even dropped the drill from a tree satnd we were building and simply popped the battery back in and continued on.
 
oldspark said:
RSNovi said:
I just went through this as I was starting my basement finish. I picked up a Porter Cable kit containing a 1/2" drill and an impact driver. The impact driver lasted for about 20 screws and then kept cutting out. It was junk. I returned it and picked up a Milwaukee and it has been awesome. The batteries last a long time and they never miss a beat.
The new batteries cut out when low on charge so maybe the battery had a problem, not too many people think Porter Cables are junk. I bought the Rockwell drill driver set that has a lifetime warrany on the batteries, so far I like it a lot , has a metal chuck on the drill which some don't.

I had also bought a corded porter cable hammer drill at the same time. That thing drilled 6 holes and the chuck quit spinning. This is all lowes and HD products. I took it all back and got the Milwaukee cordless hammer drill and impact driver.
 
I had an 18V Black and Decker that survived 5+ years of abuse. I was quite impressed. I cheaped out and replaced it with a "test run" of a super low end 24V unit I picked up at Menards. I can't even remember the brand name. Well it puked on me the same year and I replaced it with a Porter Cable 18V. I've been very happy with the Porter Cable. I've learned that whether you are a contractor or 100% DIY - stick with the brand names. I think you will save money in the long run...
 
I have 18v DeWalt ( a couple of drills, a circular saw, recip saw and flashlight) and have never had a problem with any of them. They have Milwaukee here at work and they work well also. I think any of the name brands will work fine for you. Look at other tools in their line to see if anything interests you as the interchangable batteries within the brand can be very useful. Also, check out Toolking.com for their specials, especially on the reconditioned products. I think they are running 10% off all DeWalt for September.
 
I do carpentry work and use dewalt. They don't last forever but I can usually get a couple years without repairs. the milwalkies are nice but to much money for my cheap a$$. Rigid and craftsman also seem like pretty good
lower end brands.
 
The last craftsman unit i had(just a yr and half ago) crapped out with very little use. I've used cordless for yrs, know all about charging etc. wasn't impressed. If HD(Rigid) is offering a lifetime type of coverage, I might lean that way.
 
I got for 4 years out of hard daily use on my Dewalt 18 volt before it gave up the ghost. Seems the newer ones are a little beefier.

From what I have been readiing the lithium ion batteries do not do well in cold weather. They will just die with no warning. So the latest pruchase is stil NiCad.
 
yes same one....it was expensive..but its powerful and light weight..the little impact driver is great...and the bigger battery will fit those tools..but the small batteries are more than adequate...they charge up quick and last pretty long...
 
Well I was pretty much sold on the compact 18 volt Makita drill/driver and impact driver . . . until I found a deal I couldn't pass up . . . went with the Milwaukee 18 volt compact drill/driver and impact driver . . . it was $40-$60 less than comparable kits . . . seems like it charges up a bit slower and isn't quite as powerful as some other makes/models, but overall users seemed pretty happy with the set. Thanks for offering up opinions folks.
 
was gonna tell you about the battery tech on the Makita, cordless batts are made up of a gang of cells, when charging the first one to hit full stops the clock, no matter that the rest are not full, this is what creates "memory" in a battery, over time it gets worse. The Makita battery has a tab on it that has contacts for each cell, that way each cell is charged to full, this is important on Li-ion as over charging can cause a fire just like thermal run away in discharge. I have the makita black and white, and even bought a 3 amp hour battery off ebay to get longer run time compared to the 1.5 amp hour the home owner rated sets come with.
Almost all the guys at work use Makita black and white, one guy has the milwaukee and it is still going strong a year or two later, so you didn't get a bad set, in fact from what I have read the drills are made by the same factory with the same components, the battery is the only difference. the Milwaukee also comes with the belt hook and bit holder which are extra on the Makita.
 
Used the impact driver this past weekend when putting up some strapping in the dining room ceiling . . . it was one of those "I should have bought this years ago" moments . . . very nice tool . . . and a quick charging time. However, like Rowerwet mentioned I'm tempted to buy a bigger battery for longer term use.
 
firefighterjake said:
Well I was pretty much sold on the compact 18 volt Makita drill/driver and impact driver . . . until I found a deal I couldn't pass up . . . went with the Milwaukee 18 volt compact drill/driver and impact driver . . . it was $40-$60 less than comparable kits . . . seems like it charges up a bit slower and isn't quite as powerful as some other makes/models, but overall users seemed pretty happy with the set. Thanks for offering up opinions folks.

Congrats on the new tools, I bought a Milwaukee set a few years ago with the impact driver/drill/circ saw/light and I've worked all of the tools hard. No complaints at all on my set, one of the best purchases I ever made. Enjoy!!
 
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