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Re: Battery tools, which brand?

To: shop-talk@autox.team.net
Subject: Re: Battery tools, which brand?
From: John Miller <jem@milleredp.com>
Date: Sun, 30 Nov 2003 20:01:48 -0800
> I have the milwaukee 18v combo pack--drill, circular saw, flashlight and
> 'hatchet' sawzall.

I recently bought the Milwaukee 18V cordless sawzall also.  Between 
remodeling the house and needing to cut some pieces out of a junkyard Saab, 
it's proven quite handy thus far.  The hatchet-design is clever and in some 
cases quite handy, but I'll hold my judgment on that until I see how it 
holds up after five or six years.

I've had a corded Sawzall for years, and it's done great work, but most of 
the recip-saw work needed around the house has been run-here-cut-this-pipe, 
run-there-cut-hole-for-electrical-box, etc. and you'd spend more time 
moving the cord than cutting.  For something like cutting a bunch of steel 
for panhard-bar brackets, as I've done in the past, the corded tool would 
probably be preferable.

For what it's worth, I also just replaced my DeWalt 14.4V drill (amazing, 
it breaks when dropped onto a concrete slab from 18ft up.  Who'd have 
thought?)  The one on display at OSH was US-made, but sometime after that 
one was made they moved manufacturing to Mexico (as seems to be the case 
with most of the DeWalt tools, at least the cordless ones.)  The Milwaukee 
drills are German (rebranded AEG?  Bosch?) but everything else appears to 
be US-made, if it matters to you.  Makita seems to be heading for China 
now.

John.





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