Cordless drill questions

[Cat_Driver]

I've used them all and the new 1/4" Impact drivers are the best on the planet.

I've used them side by side with regular screw guns and the impact diver screw gun will drive a screw right on through a 2x4 and never stop.

Mine are 18V and now I see they have 20V

DCF885C2 20V MAX* Lithium Ion 1/4" Impact Driver Kit (1.5Ah) | DEWALT Tools

I've got some of the Dewalts that are decades old and still kill. One has most of the plastic wore off in spots from use.

 

[Soundguy]

if it's a charger issue.. that's easy. dc power supplies.. especially 'dumb' ones are the most basiccircuits to work on.

besides.. that's why i bought 2 kits. 2 chargers and 2 bats.. 2 lamps and 2 drills.. again.. may go for a 3rd.. still be less than 40$ .

led lamp is aimable, and multi-led. nice and bright.. last a long time.. I use the lamp mor e than the drill. has a good keyless chuck that I have not gotten to slip yet. drill has a single led on it for illumination when drilling..e tc.

for the hobby and farm work i do, it's great... and 13$ ? even if I bought one a year.. it would be 17.6ys before it would cost as much as a 229$ one that someone mentioned

 

[Big Wave D]

Use to be pretty exclusively a DeWalt brand user, but as time went on, I just kept seeing them become cheaper and lower grade. The metal was becoming plastic and cheap plastic at that.

Back in the day when I was installing custom kitchens, my boss was a huge Makita tool user, so I got to use them a lot and really liked them. They were the first that I'd ever seen to build the light into the tool. Blind base cabinet, that becomes a God send for making installation much easier.

Fast forward a decade and my tried and true 14.2v DeWalt drill was dying and killing new batteries with it. So, I started to look around for its replacement. In the end, it was between Bosch and Makita. The Makita felt better to me while holding them and seemed a bit lighter to me also. The Lithium-Ion batteries have been awesome as well, lighter - hold charge much better - aren't affected by cold near as much - have fast charge time. I bought the LXT version and have LOVED them. They were even running a promo that you got a bare tool as part of the package I bought. I went with the circular saw. Kit came with Impact, 1/2" Hammer drill driver, 2 batteries, charger, and blow molded case.

Hitachi and Ryobi don't seem quite up to the same build, fit and finish, and overall quality to me.

The Germans and Japanese still seem to have a high degree of quality and sound engineering in their tools. I wish I could still say that about things 'made' here in the USA. Sadly, most is possibly designed here but made elsewhere, namely china. It's getting mighty tough to find things actually built here on our soil anymore.

There has been a lot of good advice given to your question, follow it and you should have a good tool that will last you a long time.

 

[KubotainNH]

if it's a charger issue.. that's easy. dc power supplies.. especially 'dumb' ones are the most basiccircuits to work on.

besides.. that's why i bought 2 kits. 2 chargers and 2 bats.. 2 lamps and 2 drills.. again.. may go for a 3rd.. still be less than 40$ .

led lamp is aimable, and multi-led. nice and bright.. last a long time.. I use the lamp mor e than the drill. has a good keyless chuck that I have not gotten to slip yet. drill has a single led on it for illumination when drilling..e tc.

for the hobby and farm work i do, it's great... and 13$ ? even if I bought one a year.. it would be 17.6ys before it would cost as much as a 229$ one that someone mentioned

LOL, I missed the part saying you have 2 sets. As for the charger, I haven't had time to look at it yet but will. He hardly used the thing though.

 

[KubotainNH]

The Germans and Japanese still seem to have a high degree of quality and sound engineering in their tools. I wish I could still say that about things 'made' here in the USA. Sadly, most is possibly designed here but made elsewhere, namely china. It's getting mighty tough to find things actually built here on our soil anymore.

Sadly I don't know of any cordless drills that are not made in China.

 

[Big Wave D]

Robert Bosch GmbH - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Makita - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Given the above information from Wikipedia, I would say "Good Luck" in figuring out 'where' your product was made.

There is more to making a tool then final assembly. Where the components were made can have a greater affect on quality then where the tool final came to resemble its final form.

Law suits are filed all the time in class action cases where the "Made in _____" labeling states aren't completely true.

In this day and age of multinational corporations, go with word of mouth and what works for you. Good is good, crappy is crappy, doesn't matter country of origin. Seek to educate yourself as best you can, then put your money where you think it best to spend your hard earned wages, then let the chips fall where they may.

 

[TaC team greene]

I used to be a makita guy to. never really liked dewalt though. I used to watch my brother the carpenter buy a new set of dewalts every year becuase it was cheaper than just buying the batterys. Then my 12v makita battery charger died after 10 years of good sevice. So i bought 14.4 volt set of makita drills. One year later the lithium batterys wouldnt take a charge anymore. Then my nabor gave me some old orange batterys he had that were at least 10 years old and they did good for about 2 more years. they dont last long but they still will take a charge today. VERY disapointed in makita now. One year on a new set of batterys. if that were a cheap brand from harbor freight most people would never even buy that name brand agian. I decided that i was not going to wait till i bought my 3rd or 4th set of useless drilles before i moved on like my brother did. I bought my ryobe drills 2 years ago and the still charge and run like they were new. Even if the batterys died after only one year i can still replace 2 of them for less then one of the other brand. If the name brand guy wants to buy them till he has a pile of perfictly good used drills setting in the corner with deid battery like my bro. More power to you. If they can make a car battery go five years i would expect my cordless tools to do the same.

 

[JJZ 109]

I've got 2 DeWalts and a Ridgid for my seamless gutter biz. So far they all work great.
The Ridgid has a lifetime guarantee, including batteries. I had an early issue with battery failure but since the replacement, no problems.
One DeWalt is regular NiCad battery. The other is Li Ion. The lithium batteries are much ligher and charge quicker, but they also expire faster. And when they go dead, it's instant. No gradual loss of power on those. That sucks when you're up on a ladder because you have no indication that it's going. Doesn't even give you time to finish the screw that you're driving and then go down to repower.

 

[Soundguy]

LOL, I missed the part saying you have 2 sets. As for the charger, I haven't had time to look at it yet but will. He hardly used the thing though.

yep.. got mine home and the wife was eyeing it and wanted the lamp.. since it only came with 1 bat.. i just got her a kit as well.. so one fo rhte house.. one for the shop.

again.. I may buy another kit for a spare bat.. OR.. I notice that HF now sells the drill and the lamp seperately outside the kit.. sometimes as low as 10$ each.. if that is so.. I could forgo a 3rd kit and just get the lamp or drill, battery and charger.

bat alone is like 8$ .. go figure..

 

[Dutch445]

I'm leaning toward the Makita LXT kit. According to the online reviews, battery life is supposed to be much better than the white one. It also has the most tool options, eventually I would like to get a cordless grinder and another impact wrench.

Dutch445, about how long do your batteries last under steady use? Does the grinder get overloaded easily?

i think when i cut that plate steel, total cutting time may have been 15 mins or so, maybe a little longer. that seems to be the most demanding on a cordless
and yea, i could get the grinder overloaded, but they have an led monitor on it
and you can back off when the red light comes on. took a while for me
to get used to that.
for driving screws or drilling, and sawzall stuff I haven't had
a large enough project to use more than 1 battery. and i like the fact
that when the battery dies, it dies, quick. don't end up working with limited
power as it draws down.

i'd rate A+ in my book. here's the kit i bought:
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Makita-LXT601-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Cordless/dp/B00168AFA0/ref=sr_1_3?s=power-hand-tools&ie=UTF8&qid=1326288673&sr=1-3[/ame]

here is the impact i want, was on sale for $121 a few weeks ago,
[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Bare-Tool-Makita-BTW450Z-Torque-Battery/dp/B0014YVA1O/ref=sr_1_2?s=power-hand-tools&ie=UTF8&qid=1326288799&sr=1-2[/ame]


I came out of a 12 yr old Dewalt setup which the drill was finally starting to
crap out, had already replaced batteries in it, was time to upgrade.