Switching Craftsman power tools over to LiON

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That porter cable set is pictured with one 1.5 and one 4AH battery on the saw but the specs say the kit comes with 2@ 1.5 Ah batteries. So not sure what you get. Nice looking set. I have one 4ah battery for the craftsman tools and it is amazing how long it lasts between charges.
 
The reviews said it came with 1 each of the batteries, and the pic looks like the circular saw has a bigger battery in it
 
The reviews said it came with 1 each of the batteries, and the pic looks like the circular saw has a bigger battery in it
That would make this kit a good deal as that 4Ah Battery alone is $89 purchased seperately.
 
I believe that kit pictured is a porter cable and not a ridgid.
 
The weakness on all these kits is the reciprocating saw--I have yet to find one other than Hitachi that works even close to a corded one. I've a Li-ion Hitachi kit with circular saw, recip saw, hammer drill, regular drill, and impact driver from 6 years ago that works as new, and it's been beaten to snot. For the money, I'm confident there's nothing better.
 
Craftsman reciprocating saw works fine with one exception. When operating overhead the sawdust goes right down into the saws inner workings. Other than that its strong with a good battery.
 
Every Li-ion battery back I've opened has some sort of microprocessor based circuitry inside. Individual cell voltage balance is critical to Li-ion packs and the circuitry apparently handles that. I believe the circuitry also protects the pack from use at low voltages which is why I suspect the packs cut off abruptly when they get low.
Yes, you have a state of charge region that you want to operate the battery in. The trick is to optimize battery lifetime vs usage time. Go outside of the range and you can start to degrade the battery.
 
I was an early adopter and got the top of the line Makita 1/2" 18v cordless. No regrets at all other than the price. Fine Woodworking at the time rated it the best. It was the only one that could continuously core doors for locksets. I know I have worked its butt off and it still works great.
 
The weakness on all these kits is the reciprocating saw--I have yet to find one other than Hitachi that works even close to a corded one.
The Milwaukee one works great


I was an early adopter and got the top of the line Makita 1/2" 18v cordless. No regrets at all other than the price. Fine Woodworking at the time rated it the best. It was the only one that could continuously core doors for locksets. I know I have worked its butt off and it still works great.
Yes i have used a few makita 18v tools and they are great but they cost allot more than the Milwaukee which is why i went that way
 
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