What’s your favorite flavor of cordless tools?

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Travelin Ram

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I have been full circle on this topic myself. Decades back I bought an 18v Makita drill / driver when they were fairly new to the market. I have abused it many times doing things it really shouldn’t like hole saws and concrete drilling yet it has never faltered.

These days I no longer use tools to make money, more the opposite. Working on things is something I enjoy and I do appreciate the feel of a quality tool. A few years back I decided to start investing in cordless as I replaced air or 120v corded tools.

I did some research at the time, and team Red looked more affordable and available, so I bought a couple of Milwaukee pieces. Didn’t think they were as well built as the blue, so when some thieving ****** stole most of those, I gave away the remainder and started fresh with DeWalt. Which have served OK so far, emphasis on “okay”. Under heavy use -beyond their reasonable use to be fair- they don’t push through like the old Makita does.

A while back while on the road I needed a drill for a lightweight task, so I picked up the cheapest thing I could find, a Ryobi. Got the job done, and it’s well worth the price paid. However it’s a grade below the red and yellow in my opinion.

So, this week I decided to spend some more money on blue. When I started the cordless conversion I expected to eventually toss out the old Makita. But it’s still reliable, and the best quality of the bunch I feel. Got a compact 1/2” impact on the way to see of the new stuff is as well built as the old.

If you read this far, I salute you as a fellow tool nut. But isn’t tool use what separates us from the animals? So, what’s your favorite and why?
 

danielmid

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I'm on team yellow, 20v Dewalt, hoping to expand to 60v when I get a house for some bigger tools. Last add was a "medium" (really a high) 1/2" torque gun that zipped off lug nuts and shock bolts like nothing, then a solidly okay cordless heat gun.

My strategy has been to check HomeDepot.com randomly to see what package deals they have going, I'm sure this works for other brands as well, I scored a 2 pack of large 5aH batteries with charger for less than a single battery most recently.
 

chri5k

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I have mostly DeWalt. Been happy with the performance and battery life. I say mostly because I did get a Milwaukee framing nailer. The DeWalt nailers have an annoying spin-up time when you press the trigger. This is due to using a centrifugal system. The Milwaukee uses a closed pressurized nitrogen system. It fires instantly upon pressing the trigger.
 

zrock

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tried dewalt once when i needed this stuff for work, thing did not even last 10 min before 2 fully charged battery's were dead. Took it back and went makita and have never had a issue with them and continue to grow my collection.
 
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Travelin Ram

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@DILLIGAF I see one lonely Bosch case hiding there. I do have a Bosch laser level that’s been great. I use it mostly outdoors and it exceeds the range rated.

I will also admit to a few random Harbor Freight tools (nothing cordless though). I’m not above buying them for a one time or rarely used piece.
 
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Travelin Ram

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I have mostly DeWalt. Been happy with the performance and battery life. I say mostly because I did get a Milwaukee framing nailer. The DeWalt nailers have an annoying spin-up time when you press the trigger. This is due to using a centrifugal system. The Milwaukee uses a closed pressurized nitrogen system. It fires instantly upon pressing the trigger.
That’s the kind of valuable information you only find from first hand reports. You probably know this already, but there are adapters made to use brand A batteries in brand B tools. So you could use your yellow chargers and batteries with the red nailer.

That’s my loosely formed plan going forward.
 

Fritter

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Back in the day (as in way back) I bought a few Porter Cable tools, all are still in good shape and get the job done. Switched to Dewalt for the miter saw and kept going with the 20v XR cordless gear. I’ve had no issues with the equipment and they get the job done.
 

danielmid

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@DILLIGAF I see one lonely Bosch case hiding there. I do have a Bosch laser level that’s been great. I use it mostly outdoors and it exceeds the range rated.

I will also admit to a few random Harbor Freight tools (nothing cordless though). I’m not above buying them for a one time or rarely used piece.

For hand tools I've never been let down with buying HF tools and then if I use it enough to break it I'll upgrade it.
 
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Travelin Ram

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I have most of the 19.2v Craftsman set for quite a few years now. The NiCad batteries SUCKED but the Li-Ion batteries worked great.
From what I understand from the Utubes the 18-20v Craftsman and DeWalt will use the same batteries. Both are made by Stanley Black & Decker.
 

TotallyHucked

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I was team Milwaukee for a good while and then became team whatever the best deal I could find lol. Then I got tired of dealing with all the different batteries and chargers so I've slowly started to change over to Ryobi. So far, everything has worked great and I've had no issues. Plus I like the green, it matches my toolbox lol
 

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I know that you mentioned cordless so my apologies for digressing, but here's my take and experience all around in my woodshop through many years of trial and error. I have ran and tested most of what's on the market.

I've tried Dewalt, Milwaukee, Ryobi, and Ridgid cordless drills/impacts and they were just average. Definitely not worth the money I spent on them. My corded drills are DeWalt though, and they've been just fine.

I have been using the Porter Cable 20v system for the better part of 10 years now. I have 2 impacts and 2 drills (1 set stays in the Ram), the circular saw, jig saw, multi tool, and recip saw. I even have the same recip saw in the corded version. In 10 years they've never let me down and the total cost of all of those tools is still less than their DeWalt/Milwaukee brethren. They see the lion's share of tool use.

For my sanders, I run Makita exclusively. I tossed the others (DeWalt, Skil, and a Ryobi). They don't vibrate much and are solid work horses. I looked into cordless, but because I sometimes may have a full day of sanding I don't want to fuss with battery swaps.

For my miter saw, I run a DeWalt 12" sliding miter saw. Zero issues and it's as square as ever. I thought about the cordless, but didn't want the hassle of additional chargers.

For my big air compressor I run a Porter Cable 60 gallon compressor. Zero issues for the past 6 years.

My table saw is a late 90's craftsman hybrid cabinet saw and has had thousands of board feet of lumber ran through it. Never missed a beat and deadly accurate.

My corded jig saw, corded circular saw, and one of my handheld routers are all Bosch. Zero complaints from any of those. My other 2 handheld corded routers are a variable speed Skil, and a DeWalt. No complaints from any of those.

Some tools, such as my 14" bandsaw, my floor standing drill press, etc... are Delta, which don't make handheld tools any longer (that I am aware of).

My planer is a Porter Cable lunchbox planer. It's on the original knives and has had thousands of board feet ran through it. Still works like new.
 

bcbouy

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Dewalt and Makita.i just bought a Makita electric grease gun and needed a battery/charger for it and Makita had a sale on a drill/driver combo with 2 batteries and a charger so in the cart that went.now i have a couple sets of drills/drivers and a bunch of batteries and chargers.one set for each shop plus a spare set.my corded stuff is all over the map.you name it,i have it.
 
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pacofortacos

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I have Ridgid and Ryobi in the cordless lines - just impossible to beat the prices on these during sales at Direct tools outlet or even some of the HD sales.

Ridgid 1500 ft/lb 1/2" drive impact wrench for $86 - though to be honest, I doubt I'll ever use that one lol.

I bought a Ryobi brushless snow blower this year and it worked perfectly - kept our 11.2" of snow for the winter under control ! The biggest amount at one time was maybe 1.5-2" this year :)
I knew buying that snow blower was a good investment lol
 
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