I've heard good and bad about a lot of the brands. I think with some
brands it will be a crap shoot.
About 20 years ago I bought a Sears cordless drill. I read good reviews
about it, but my batteries didn't last all that long. I knew people
that did automotive work that had Makita cordless drills, and they were
supposed to be good, but all of the ones that I saw seemed to have
crappy batteries.
About 8 or more years ago I decided I wanted a good cordless drill so I
got a DeWalt 14.4V. It still works perfectly and both batteries are
still good. I use it for occasional home use, not professional use
every day.
My DeWalt is NiCad, I know the benefits of LiIon, also I thought I had a
use for a cordless impact and a small sawzall. A couple of years ago I
found a Ridgid set on sale at HomeDepot and bought it. The drill worked
well but I didn't put the other tools to a good test until later. I
found that the impact and the sawzall would only run a second or two
without shutting off. (LiIon batteries have protection circuits so they
don't discharge too fast or charge/discharge too far.) I didn't
register the tools when I bought them, and I don't know if I have the
receipts anymore. I'm thinking about sending in the batteries to see if
they will warranty them anyway. I've also thought about buying a couple
of NiCad batteries on ebay but those are pretty expensive. My other
option is to sell my individual tools on ebay and then just buy a new
set from a better manufacturer.
I've longingly looked at the ads over the past few years. Makita has
LiIon sets that look good, DeWalt seems to have dabbled in LiIon but
they mostly advertise NiCad still. I saw Milwaukee and new Sears sets
advertised a lot for Black Friday. And of course there are the real
cheap brands like Ryobi. I may have to break down and buy a new DeWalt set.
For people that have failed batteries- you can search the net and find
instructions for rejuvenating NiCad batteries. One procedure I've found
involved freezing the batteries, another procedure involved overcharging
the individual cells with a car battery. I don't know how well these
procedures work because I haven't tried them. The other option is to
take your pack apart and replace the individual cells. NiCad cells are
1.2V each so if you have an 18V battery, it has 15 of the smaller cells
in it. Now the challenge is finding the cells for a reasonable price.
One online source I found wanted $3 per cell, meaning $45 for one
battery. You can find places online that will rebuild your pack for not
much more than that.
I still like my cordless drill, and for me a drill benefits the most
from being portable. My other big tool quest is for an air compressor.
I can get a small impact wrench for automotive use in my garage. I
don't know that I have that much use for a cordless sawzall but it might
be useful occasionally.
> I'm getting a cordless impact driver for myself tomorrow. The big
> orange box has good deals on a Dewalt combo (DCK236C for $149). But I
> also noticed they have special pricing on Milwaukee with the driver
> for $149 or a combo with a hammer drill for $199.
>
> Question for the list - How does Milwaukee compare to Dewalt? Both
> these tools are 18V. The Milwaukee uses Lithium batteries, which I
> understand to be better that NiCad, hence a price difference. I've
> used 12V Dewalt drills for about 15 years and am happy with my Dewalt
> power tools, though I occasionally exceed the capabilities of my 12V
> drill. Milwaukee is a brand I've heard of, but don't know how they
> compare to Dewalt.
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