Battery Powered Tool Brands

[bcs001]

I'm needing to add some battery powered portable tools to my collection that I can take out in the field. My long term experience with Dewalt 18v Ni-MH batteries has been ok but not great since I don't use them daily and the cost is high to swap them out. The newer lithium batteries seem to be better so I'm planning to pick a manufacturer and buy a few needed tools that will run off the same battery packs.

Right now I'm leaning towards the Milwaukee M18 series XC5.0 series because it looks to be priced and geared to the occasional homeowner but open to user experiences with other options to power a 7-1/4" circular saw, 4-1/2" grinder and sawzall to start with.

 

[nybirdman]

The 20v Dewalt tools are much better than the 18v,I have both.You can buy an adapter to run the 18v tools with the 20v batteries.

 

[woody]

no brand bashing here I'm in the Milwaukee camp and don't regret it.

 

[CH4Ohio]

I quit on my Dewalt 18V tools about 10 years ago. Been using Dewalt 20V instead. Can't say they're any better than some of the other big brands, but once you settle on a brand and start accumulating batteries and chargers, it just makes sense to stick with it. However, I have been satisfied with the Dewalt platform and batteries. Have added a lot of bare tool purchases over the years and now have a circular saw, jig-saw, about 5 drills or drivers, shop blower, flashlights, hedge trimmer, reciprocating saw (sawzall), framing nailer, etc. Once they've got you, it would be hard to switch.

 

[EddieWalker]

I tried a few different brands before committing to Makita. In my opinion, Makita has the best quality out there. They are also one of the only companies out there that make their own products. All the other brands are all made and owned by one of two parent companies based in China and I think Taiwan. They just make them different colors and charge different for each color.

 

[BlueKnife]

Milwaukee, Dewalt, Makita and Metabo are all good choices.

 

[Snobdds]

This is like asking what girl is better looking...

Prepare for every answer imaginable and not one single consensus. These things are all pretty much the same these days.

 

[Duds13]

If you're not opposed to registering the tool and batteries when you first get them, it's hard to beat the Ridgid lifetime warranty

 

[MapleLeafFarmer]

I quit my Dewalt stuff about 5+ years ago. They seemed to always grow legs and walk away on us. When we would go to use them they were MIA, batteries, tools, etc.... were prime for people to pick up and walk off with.

We switched to Metabo. More than good enough quality for farm use. Priced a little lower but best of all the missing battery problem and tool problem is pretty much solved itself. I'm more than impressed they are holding up very well.

Wouldn't have been a problem for a private user but for us where our building are kinda open and free range sticky finger theft was a big problem for us.

 

[WM75Guy]

20V Dewalt for us. My wife really likes her 20V compound miter saw to cut wood stock to make frames for her stained-glass projects. With my last purchase I think I have almost every 20V tool they make. Snagged this set for $469 from Home Depot. I started with the 18V reciprocating saw, it does OK.

 

[bdhsfz6]

I bought these adapters to use the newer lithium batteries in my old DeWalt tools:

Amazon.com: DCA1820 Adapter Compatible with 18V Battery Tools, Compatible with 20V Max Lithium Battery DCB203 DCB204 to 18V XRP NiCad NiMh Batteries DC9096 : Tools & Home Improvement

Amazon.com: DCA1820 Adapter Compatible with 18V Battery Tools, Compatible with 20V Max Lithium Battery DCB203 DCB204 to 18V XRP NiCad NiMh Batteries DC9096 : Tools & Home Improvement

www.amazon.com

 

[caver]

20V Dewalt as that is what I had switched to. I recently picked up a Flex battery circular saw kit very reasonable at sLowes as they were dropping the line and stuff was being marked down. I think one of the tool shootout channels gave that saw very high marks. Mine came with a 10ah battery and charger.

 

[Fuddyduddy1952]

I have a lot of Dewalt 20v tools and very happy with them, a lot used almost every day. I bought a few Craftsman 20v tools I wouldn't recommend and the worst part are the batteries! They rarely are used and show charged, then dead. Some I've put on a power supply so they CAN start charging with limited success. Yesterday I took one apart which had a dead Lithium Ion battery which I replaced...it lasted a few minutes.
I have a Craftsman to DeWalt adapter so I use that.

 

[kozal01]

I have mostly Dewalt 20v tools and a handful of Milwaukee 18v and 12v tools. The tools themselves have all been great, both brands make great tools, however I have had more battery issues with my Milwaukee stuff than Dewalt. Some of my Dewalt batteries are over 10 years old and still work great and have only had one actually crap out on me. I've had one relatively new Milwaukee 18v battery die on me and a couple 12v packs in the last couple years.

 

[WranglerX]

I'm needing to add some battery powered portable tools to my collection that I can take out in the field. My long term experience with Dewalt 18v Ni-MH batteries has been ok but not great since I don't use them daily and the cost is high to swap them out. The newer lithium batteries seem to be better so I'm planning to pick a manufacturer and buy a few needed tools that will run off the same battery packs.

Right now I'm leaning towards the Milwaukee M18 series XC5.0 series because it looks to be priced and geared to the occasional homeowner but open to user experiences with other options to power a 7-1/4" circular saw, 4-1/2" grinder and sawzall to start with.

I have all older DeWalt 18 volt tools, got adapters and lithium 20 volt batteries and charger..... Wanted to stay in same tool line as I didn't see a need to dump perfectly good tools because of poor (older) batteries.... And new 20 volt tools/batteries is just a marketing gimmick, the new lithium batteries are still 18 volt....

 

[BigGG]

As a homeowner/DIYer I went with the Ryobi One+ line. They have kept the battery interface the same from nicad to first gen li-ion to newer li-ion. They have probably the broadest line of tools using the same battery, and are good enough for heavy DIY use. I did burn out a compact drill-driver driving 3" screws in bridge timbers. My friend was using it, and I think he had it in high gear, because it twisted his wrist in low.

You'll get ridiculed on job sites and not taken seriously if you're a contractor, however.

Compact drill, hammer drill, impact driver, 6-1/2" circ saw, recip saw, 4-1/2" grinder, die grinder, 34° framing nailer, lopping shear, hedge shears, led light, caulking gun

 

[bigtiller]

For the occasional user, you'd be hard pressed to tell a difference in most brands of the same quality and price range.

An idea, go to your closest and most visited home improvement store and buy what they sell. That way, it will be convenient to add on to your original purchase.

In my opinion, look at these;
Festool
Makita
Milwaukee
Dewalt

 

[bumperm]

Another advantage with Makita is that most of the "generic" batteries/tools tend to use their battery mount format.

 

[LittleBittyBigJohn]

Right now I'm leaning towards the Milwaukee M18 series XC5.0 series because it looks to be priced and geared to the occasional homeowner but open to user experiences with other options to power a 7-1/4" circular saw, 4-1/2" grinder and sawzall to start with.

I have all these things in Milwaukee M18 well hackzall instead of sawzall. I like the platform. I got my first piece probably in the 2017-2018 range. Started with a Weedeater and blower. They are both still going strong. I have since added hammer drill, impact screw gun, hackzall, random orbit sander, jig saw, trim router, Fuel grinder, Fuel 7-1/4 circular saw, and possibly others that I can't remember. 1 battery quit holding much charge in that time, luckily it was inside the warranty and they sent me a new one. My first circular saw was brushless but not Fuel, it always seemed to be finnicky and would not always work when you pulled the trigger. I took it apart to see if I could fix it and got it so far apart that I couldn't get it back together, got frustrated, and trashed it... I replaced it with the Fuel one and it's a beast for sure. My hammer drill is kind of starting to do the same thing now, but I've got lots of miles on it in the probably 6 years I've had it. The angle grinder seems to use the most battery of all of them, with the blower close behind. I can sharpen a set of 3 mower blades with a 5AH battery but not much longer than that. I've got 6 total batteries that I've accumulated on tool deals when you can get a free battery with a bare tool. I try to keep them rotated, so far aside from the 1 that I got replaced I can't tell a difference in the life of any of them.

 

[Racer4]

I started getting dewalt for use in my garage. They ran a trade in at the local ACE hardware. $50 off the sale price if you traded a drill, battery and charger.

I traded a metabo nicd driver drill and a 12v dewalt drill and got a 20v 1/4” hex impact and a drill. Each tool came with a charger and 2 2 ah batteries.

I added a 3/8” impact and a 1/2”, and a couple flashlights picked up on sales at the Lowe’s.

I run Makita stuff for my construction business. No complaints. All their cordless stuff is top notch.

Here’s my charging station I just finished in my garage:

Dewalt, Milwaukee (cordless ratchets), Stihl, Makita, dewalt clone (grease gun). Plus a trickle charger for my craftsman work light.