I've had great luck with my new craftsman stuff. Bought a whole set of cordless tools as a package from Lowes.
I've had great luck with my new craftsman stuff. Bought a whole set of cordless tools as a package from Lowes.
I really like the adjustable speeds on Dewalt tools you can't get with some of the cheaper tools. I would have liked to have gone all Dewalt for home use. I have no experience with Milwaukee or Makita other than drills. I didn't like the Makita. Battery life wasn't good.
Another vote for Milwaukee...
I have the Ryobi tools and have no complaints. Built our camp on the river with our battery operated tools. Two sets and only wore out one saw trying to cut 3/4" plywood. Just cut to much of it at one time. Always buy my batteries around Thanksgiving or ChristmasOriginally Posted by AirForceAngler
All sheep are eventually led to slaughter
Buy a couple of rebuilt batteries off of Amazon (lot less than new & last) and keep the Porter Cable tools. That's what I have and they do fine for what I need them for.
2001 ChampioN 206 Yamaha 225
Agree with this. I'm slowly switching all my cordless tools over to the M12 and M18 Fuel tools from Milwaukee. I've had many Ryobi 18+ tools, and they're fine for the typical low use DIY person, but the batteries don't last all that long and they're not very tough. I just got a M18 Fuel cordless trim router, and the damn thing is unreal. Best cordless router I've ever used by a wide margin. The M18 Fuel batteries are the best I've used.
My M18 collection became stupid over the past year.
I even picked up the table saw and miter saw.
I was skeptical at first on the table and miter saws. No more!
I laid roughly 1,700sqft of Lifeproof LVP and only charged the table saw battery once and did not charge the miter saw. Also, I've made all of our new trim by hand and the table saw battery gets me about 280 to 300 linear feet of rip cuts on 8ft., 10ft. and 12ft. boards.
My personal favorite after owning a lot of Dewalt for years, switched to Makita no regrets.
You can get battery converters to use say Porter Cable batteries in Dewalt tools from Amazon. I do it for a number of tools since I started out with Porter Cable 20V and found a couple of Dewalt tools on sale that Porter Cable did not offer. If you need a number of tools at the same time, Dewalt will sometimes put together package deals that can be a good deal but you really have to watch pricing since sometimes their sale pricing is not that great or you could get stuck with a tool or two that you have no use for.
What about best buy? For someone who simply doesn't use one all that often.
Dewalt tools are good (still have some 18v XRP+ around), the batteries are fine except for a lack of over heat protection. Makita (what I'm using for 20+ years) are top quality, but if you pull the batteries down too far in hot weather, there's a risk of bricking a perfectly good pack (done that 3 times). Milwaukee makes great tools and batteries.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4OkT_SU6GSg
All that said, if I were a homeowner and the tools weren't beat to death, I'd replace the battery packs. FWIW, the PC cordless tools of today have dropped in quality compared to your current ones.
I agree. Ryobi has worked well for me. I not only have the drill and impact driver but also the sawzall and circular saw. Even have some light weight hard things like blower weed trimmer and hedge trimmer.
Steve
2006 Sylvan Expedition Sport
2006 Yamaha F150 TXR s/n 63P L 1041829
If you dont use them often Harbor Freight will most likely be fine.
I personally like Milwaukee but I use them a good bit and am not easy on tools.
Another vote for Team Milwaukee.
If you are a light hobby user the Ryobi stuff is good and priced well. That's what my Dad uses and it's great for him. Like everyone said, you are kind of committing to a brand and every tool in their lineup is cheaper than the Milwaukee counterpart. However, if you are a consistent user of your tools I'd splurge for the Milwaukee. The quality, power, and battery life is definitely better.
I have owned Ryobi, Ridgid, DeWalt, Makita, and finally MILWAUKEE M18 line about 8 years now used heavily and never a problem and still on original batteries! :) And they have almost every tool a person could need.
2002 Pathfinder 2200V 150 Yamaha HPDI
Home owner Ridged, lifetime warranty on batteries. Construction Milwaukee.
Just the opposite here . We tried Makita at work and nothing but trouble. We switched to Dewalt and I use the same at home
A mistake on your part does not constitute a emergency on my part.
Yeah Festool is probably in a class by itself. I have one of their routers with their vacuum system and its really incredible. Not sure a Festool drill would be on my list, though. I have dewalts and they do the job just fine. Had a big Hilti hammer drill. That one was sweet.... until it got stolen ��
1994 201 Champ re-powered with a 250 HO G2 E250LHAFA 05438419
Work I’m bridge maintenance. All we use is deWalt. All I use at home now because of the abuse we give at work and still holds up.
Eric Goff
2019 Nitro Z20
2019 Mercury 250 Pro XS 4s
model #12500033A
SB590181
I started with Bosch, but have now moved to Dewalt as they have more tools and better prices. Dewalt also makes many of their tools in the US, especially their high volume drills/drivers. I'm not a big fan of Milwaukee's parent company (TTI, same as Ryobi), but Stanley Black & Decker really isn't any better at this point lol.
All that said, you can't go wrong with either. Neither one really has any technology the other doesn't.
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