What’s your favorite flavor of cordless tools?

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Marshall

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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.
I am all red now, I looked at those nailers, but with the way my heath is lately, No point, I do have scads of their saws and drills, the weed trimmer would cut a tree I bet, Can't justify the new mower, too much and too heavy. blower is handy as hell, blow off the steps, walk if light snow. The 9 amp battery will last a long time.

Way back I use to buy cheap, sears, or what ever , and some blue stuff, snap on 3/8" impact, but its all gone, one charger for everything now.I have one battery that came with the first drill, still works and has to be about 20 yrs old.
the old snap on impact still works a bit , but snaps on battery busted.
I like small and compact these days , I use cordless drivers most of the time now.
But they are not the best when fixing watches.

There are 3 big Milwaukee dealers in town, and they seem to be dropping the others.
Maybe its the margins?

PS on the sears , when I had some of that , they seem make a point to make stuff that would not work with any others , and then they would change tools and old battery's would not work with the new crap. These days there is no more Sears in Canada.

Son uses yellow stuff, in the trades, I find it bulky.
But he has a hi end water jet, Now that is neat. makes a CMT plasma cutter old school.
 
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Jim Bowker

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I think one of the best Ryobi purchases I made was their one-handed reciprocating saw. It's so convenient to be able to hold it in one hand and steady what you are sawing in the other. I wouldn't use it for big jobs, but for little stuff it's very handy.
 
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Makita is my go to. Drill and impact driver. Excellent build quality. I have Dewalt which is top shelf also but older. Even had a very good Porter Cable years ago I loved. It didn't like being dropped off the ladder for some reason.
 
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Summit1

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I have never tasted any of my tools, neither frequently, recently, nor intentionally, but I have numerous brands of tools.
 

NotSoFast

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I converted from DeWalt to Milwaukee years ago. The Milwaukee has little "fuel" gauges on the batteries, so you don't go crawling all to hell and gone and find out that there is no juice in it. And they are virtually unbreakable. And accurate.
Then a friend showed up with a cordless DeWalt worm drive saw. I must admit it is professional grade. His DeWalt blower has more oomph than the Milwaukie too. But I am not using them as often or as hard as I used to anymore, so I will stick with the Milwaukee platform. And I think that Milwaukee may still be (slightly) superior for drills (especially Hole-hawgs etc.)
 

Fnjoey

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I have makita, but if you're looking for decent for not a lot of money, honestly the higher end harbor freight drivers/drills are pretty good.
 

Timsdually

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Makita cordless.
Bought my first one in 1983. The 9.6V stick drill.
Now I am all X2 and 18v since the batteries interchange. My big construction days are behind me and I won't go for the 40V.
 

Hardracer

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I have all yellow,corded and cordless with exception of a PC circular saw,15amp I believe and 2 PC routers.and a blue hammer drill.
Old all cast iron craftsman tablesaw from high school times.Ingersol 5hp 60gal.compressor from way back then also sum 35years ago..still runs like a champ.use it at least 6hrs a week still.
I built a "super table"(all 3/4"wood weighs a s***-ton) I call it, with tablesaw, dewalt planer,dewalt mitersaw,8 big drawers to house all those yellow tools and a router setup all in one.chopsaw and planer flip up from hidden recess on those hatchback suv style mini shocks...table is 5 x10 ,full electric plugs all around to plug in anything from anywhere all on 8 300pd rollers(If I remember right).
Others have commented on the rigid line for the battery warr.
Ever try to get that redeemed?..they got more hoops and excuses to not honor that(father in law found that out).
Lowes and ace hardware does not honor past craftsman hand tools either(here anyway),need receipt from there stores,so pissed on that one since Sears left.
Someone posted about snappy tools needing a receipt..not my experience here with our snappy guy..if its snapon its warrantied(hand tools)
I would say for home use they all will work to some degree and of course for more commercial type heavy use you do need the better tools brands...nothing wrong with red or blue,just my settup with the batteries is I ain't buying diff.adapters to make others work with my yellow brand.
 

Silver21Ram

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A bit off topic but being about tools and who likes what ....
I've got a few thousand dollars worth of hand tools including carpentry, plumbing, mechanic, plus the usual battery powered tools, electric tools, air tools and you name it ! Probably a thousand items or more.
I'd say that 80% are excellent condition and the remaining 20% is good condition. I don't own any broken or junk. The collection is housed in 13 tool boxes/tubs, etc.

Cancer has decided that I will not be in need of these tools or much of anything else, for that matter.

What would be a way to sell used tools as described in a bulk way as opposed to selling individual items piece meal ?
Any suggestions would be appreciated !
Paul
 

Hardracer

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A bit off topic but being about tools and who likes what ....
I've got a few thousand dollars worth of hand tools including carpentry, plumbing, mechanic, plus the usual battery powered tools, electric tools, air tools and you name it ! Probably a thousand items or more.
I'd say that 80% are excellent condition and the remaining 20% is good condition. I don't own any broken or junk. The collection is housed in 13 tool boxes/tubs, etc.

Cancer has decided that I will not be in need of these tools or much of anything else, for that matter.

What would be a way to sell used tools as described in a bulk way as opposed to selling individual items piece meal ?
Any suggestions would be appreciated !
Paul
Sorry to hear about the cancer.
An auction house maybe?
They could break stuff down into lots or they would just buy you outright and sell it as theirs I believe..been awhile since I've been to one.
Or they come to your house and do the auction there.
 
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Travelin Ram

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@Silver21Ram so sorry to hear about your diagnosis. I hope you’ll be like a dear friend of mine, who received a prognosis of 1-2 years over ten years ago. She’s still going strong and enjoying life today.

Where I live there are businesses who handle moving or estate sales and they will come in and stage everything, price it, and conduct the sale on your behalf in exchange for a percentage.

Pawn shops are a frequent outlet for used tools also.

In either case you’ll be dealing with bargain hunters so prepare for some negative sticker shock.
 

frankherche

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I have always had good luck with Makita. I have a 12v drill and impact driver. They are compact and battery life is good. I have also had good luck on tools from Harbor Freight for tools that I rarely need.
 

Bandit1859

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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?
Milwaukee all the way
 

M376X6

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I converted from DeWalt to Milwaukee years ago. The Milwaukee has little "fuel" gauges on the batteries, so you don't go crawling all to hell and gone and find out that there is no juice in it. And they are virtually unbreakable. And accurate.
Then a friend showed up with a cordless DeWalt worm drive saw. I must admit it is professional grade. His DeWalt blower has more oomph than the Milwaukie too. But I am not using them as often or as hard as I used to anymore, so I will stick with the Milwaukee platform. And I think that Milwaukee may still be (slightly) superior for drills (especially Hole-hawgs etc.)
All of my larger Ryobi batteries have charge indicators built into them. The smallest ones do not. I do like being able to gauge how much charge is left in a battery as well.
 

Fatbob Frank

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Some of my very favorite cordless tools say Stihl on them now.
Lawn mower, String trimmer, and chainsaw- all take the same batteries...
 
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