I have the Makita set of 18V lithium ion and am tickled with them. The saw is terrific. When you need to cut a piece of wood, you can be finished in less time than it would take to plug in a cord and run it to where you need it.
i have a complete set of Milwaukee 28 volt power tools with the so called great LI batteries. The circular saw can cut thru 3/4 plywood as well as my worm drive electric saws.
Ive been less then thrilled with them. the batteries have a 5 year warranty on them. my batteries failed to hold a charge after 2.5 years, and i took them (4 batteries) to my dealer. they tested them and their test confirmed that there defective.
new batteries cost aprox $100 each x 4 = $400.00
i figured that i should get something back since they only lasted 1/2 of their warranty period.
wrong. I have to mail them to Michigan factory for warranty work. problem is Lithium Batteries are considered hazardous waste and cannot be shipped thru mail. I can pretend there something else and ship them, but if they happen to end up in an airplane baggage area, they can explode. i wont risk that.
Fed-ex and ups can ship them, buy the estimated shipping cost was MORE than the price of the batteries.
they might as well put a 50 year warranty on the batteries, cause you cant honor it anyways.
I went ahead and bought 2 new batteries at full price , and so far so good. but its only been a little over 1 year. I spent alot for these tools, and cant just throw them out.....or maybe i can
In 2005, I bought a Ford truck, and little did I know, a package showed up a couple weeks later. Turns out it was "rebate" "incentive" kind of thing. It was a bag with 5 Craftsman, 19.2 tools, including a saw.
I remember thinking how, oh well, a token gift I'll not use much.
My oh my!!! I've used them to death. Now, of course, I want a better set with a better quality name brand. Big convert to cordless tools.:thumbsup::thumbsup: