What’s your favorite flavor of cordless tools?

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DILLIGAF

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I hear ya! Once you have tons of batteries for whatever brand you are stuck with them.

Ive broken every brand of tool in 25y of construction work. Same goes for batteries. They all suck after a while.
 

nlambert182

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That makes my hands numb just reading that! o_O
Haha it's not too bad. 3 days before Thanksgiving my wife asked if I thought I could build, paint, and install the shaker cabinet doors in our kitchen prior to the family coming. 32 doors and drawer faces built in 18 (straight) hours from rough cut poplar. Real assembly, not pocket holed.

I spent the next 15 hr day sanding everything smooth. Those little makitas worked wonders. Tossed on my favorite podcasts and took off.

Primed and painted that night and hung the next morning. I installed the last drawer pull as my mother in law walked in the kitchen.

All of the tools mentioned above made quick work of it... I spent the weekend sleeping after that.
 

Mike Townsend

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I have had a few different brands but many years ago my dad bought me a Ryobi tool set with around 6 tools. Then I went to lithium 18v drills and batteries and they worked so much better. Even the old ones worked better with the new batteries. It just kind of snowballed from there. I have around 10 different tools(just need stuff for around the house) and now a brushless carbon fiber weed eater and a battery powered mower that take 40v batteries. The weed eater is awesome for its lightness and brushless power.
 

Badger 13

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All Milwaukee for me, with the exception of 2 old Bosch drivers that are never used. Most recent Milwaukee item acquired was the M18 Inflator, which works very well.
 

mullet6577

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I'm cheap and use a variety of 18V and 40V Ryobi tools. Most recent acquisition was an 18V 1/2" impact for control arm and ball joint work on my daughter's Jeep, and a lower ball joint on my wife's Santa Fe that I wasn't expecting to fix. The cordless worked great on everything except getting the remnants of ball joint out of a knuckle...that required the old Craftsmen compressor and a Craftsmen air hammer.
Hand tools are all switching to the 18V Ryobi as needed or found on deals, yard equipment is going to the 40V minus the mower because I couldn't finish my yard without charging batteries.
 

JW2 Innovations

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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.
Yeah, the play on numbers is amazing...all the same size cells used inside. Marketing gimmick. Anything that says 18v to 2Xv is all the same battery size and qty.
 

JW2 Innovations

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Have quite a collection of Craftsman 19.2v tools and ran into too many battery issues, even new ones. So went to Ridgid due to cost and warranty coverage. Also have 12v Milwaukee stuff when I don't need that much torque or small jobs. Happy with both.
 

Fergusontd

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I have a 14.4 v Dewalt drill, the original batterys died after 5 years. I teplaced them with a 14.4v RXP and it has ser ed me well. I also have a Dewalt 8v Screwdriver I use constantly. The rest of my power tools are electric.
 

nlambert182

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Porter Cable is the only time I'm pro-PC...
They seem to get a bad wrap for some reason, likely because they're not what they used to be... but in all honesty, what is? Most are made overseas anyhow.

One exception is that Ridgid and Ryobi are both owned by TTI, but only Ryobi is made in Japan. Ridgid (as far as I know) is still made in Ohio and while it does have a better warranty if you register in time, I've seen numerous horror stories on the woodworking forums of trying to get Ridgid to honor the lifetime service agreement. This is partially why I steer clear of them. That... and their tablesaws, bandsaws, and miter saws are plagued with quality issues. Not as important for mechanics tools as it is for woodworking where precision is necessary. (They do sell an oscillating spindle sander that I am set on though... should be purchasing it soon)

Most Milwaukee tools are made in China or Europe, though they did move some manufacturing to the US. I haven't easily been able to identify which tools are made here, but I do know their drills/impacts are all made in China.

Makita's drills and impacts (and a lot of their other battery powered tools) are made in China but the sanders I use are made in Japan. They do still make some of the battery powered tools in Japan as well if you look for them.

DeWalt is all over the board. They tout being an American company, but honestly while some stuff is "assembled" here (using global components from Mexico, China, etc..) quite a lot of their products are made in Taiwan or China.

Porter Cable tools are pretty much all made in China and/or Mexico at this point.

Bosch is manufactured in a few different places but the bulk is now Mexico, China, and Taiwan, with a few things made in Malaysia, Switzerland, and Germany. To note, their compact form sliding miter saw is well known for its small footprint and tight tolerances which is known to give great cuts. It is still made in Switzerland.


A lot of tools are made in the same plant and rebadged for whichever company they sell to. For example, my PC air compressor is the identical twin to the Kobalt AND Husky house brand compressors that both Lowe's and Home Depot sell. The only difference is the price and the color.

At this point I think you might as well just pick a flavor and run with it. :)
 

Fediej

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12 volt heated Milwaukee jacket. MANY blue/green 18/40 volt Ryobi cordless tools including 18 inch chainsaw. Plug in Ryobi compound miter and table saw, Craftsman circular saw (30ish years old), Ridgid drill, Black and Decker router and belt sander and a few Harbor Freight as well.
 

ramffml

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I picked up a Ryobi cordless set on sale from Home Depot 5 years ago and just kept buying green. They are cheap and have tools for absolutely everything, so I see no reason to change.

Before that I picked up a black and dekker 20 volt 1 speed cordless and that is still my favourite. The thing is so small and light in the hand, it's usually my goto for quick 10 second jobs.

Back when I did construction 20 to 25 years ago I used the "new" Dewalt 18v, and they were best in class. They were accidentally kicked off 2 story roofs and still kept working. But nowadays I prefer to spend money on other things, my tools are for home use so "professional grade" is not something I'm looking for.
 

Irishthreeper

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Dewalt 20V. The circular will even cut through a 4x4 with 2 passes nicely. With the vacuum I can do my truck and wife’s car on one charge. The only thing I don’t like is the ion batteries give little warning before they quit. Also love the driver and impact driver.
 

pacofortacos

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I Use RIDGID (home depot), because if you register your purchase in 90 days or less. Everything including the batteries are warrantied for life.
Look at https://www.directtoolsoutlet.com/

The new Ridgid tools there are also eligible for the LSA.

They run specials all of the time so it pays to check back daily if you want something special.
For ex. I bought the Ridgid 1/2" 1500 ft/lb impact wrench for $80 from there.
 
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