Cordless Tools

[John_Kunkel]

Coming from the aircraft industry, I long ago amassed a good selection of pneumatic tools rather than electric for my powered tools. I had a few cordless tools but found them lacking in power and reliability (mostly battery life).

So, lately, I've been watching a lot of TV shows about cars and home improvement and just about everybody is using cordless tools for EVERYTHING.

So, tired of dragging out air hoses and extension cords, I decided to come into the 21st century and try some newer cordless tools. After watching a video of a 1/2" cordless impact loosening a semi-truck lug nut (been there) I was convinced and am not going crazy collecting cordless tools.

The brand I chose is Milwaukee, for no particular reason other than I had a couple of their smaller impact wrenches and already had the spare batteries and charger. Wow, the 1/2" impact is all it's said to be and the 1/2" drill is so powerful it needs a side handle to control the torque.

Late in life but wiser. What's your experience? 

[70 sublime]

We were also power cords and air hoses then my son got into the building houses line of work

Milwaukee is what he went with as the workies all had their own brand so saw them all in action and the red ones were lasting the best

Now we get his hand me downs ( still in good shape ) so he has an excuss to get the bigger new one

For fathers day they did get me the new Milwaukee impact gun
Will be using it from now on taking wheels off in the shop or out away from power or air sourse

[Kern Dog]

Milwaukee does make quality products.
Before I retired, I saw more and more Carpenters, Electricians and Plumbers switch over to cordless saws, drills and reciprocating saws.
DeWalt had a "sawzall" for years but they didn't really gain popularity. What changed? Battery technology. The new wave of batteries allowed the tools to have greater power with longer duration.
Being stubborn, it took me awhile to accept the cordless tools but I did, to a point.
For all day work, they are great but do have limits lower than air powered or corded electric stuff.
I don't know if there will be a point where a cordless nail gun will replace one fed with compressed air. Shooting thousands of nails a day with consistent performance at a light weight? I don't see that changing right away.
The cordless circular saws are okay but repeated cuts over time overheats the saw and it shuts down. I rarely ever ran a corded saw to the point of overheating. I've burned out brushes and triggers but never overheated one.
I have several of the M12 and M18 Milwaukee tools. Circular saw, reciprocating saw, two 1/4" drive impacts, 3/8" and 1/2" drills, multi-tools, 4" angle grinder, 3/8" ratchet, weed eater and leaf blower. The weed eater overheats and shuts off when subjected to extended use. The grinder shuts off when pressed into what I'm cutting.
I've considered getting a 1/2" drive impact wrench for car stuff. They seem to be popular.
I don't see them fully replacing air and corded electric completely but they are getting better.

[JB400]

Grew up with DeWalt, since they were basically the best at the time, and they were everywhere. Still have a 14.4v and use it daily. Unfortunately, DeWalt is getting phased out in my area, and Milwaukee is moving in. Have the Packout boxes, but they're occupied with yellow tools.

[hemi71x]

Hi John K.
Well i started out with DeWalt tools, and kept on going with them, finding out that they suited me pretty well.
But i do have Milwaukee tools, also.
Both 3/8 drive and 1/2 drive, and both brands have plenty of guts, in my opinion.

[Dino]

I love my Milwaukee impact. I also have a DeWalt drill that's 10-25 years old and is seemingly unbreakable.
I recently bought a Milwaukee circular saw and I'm very impressed.

[armor64]

WE are a mixed household. Dewalt 20v as we used to have 18v, and the 20 batteries work on the 18s with a cheap adapter, so we used the still good 18s for years after. Then, got a 60v weedeater/chainsaw/hedgetrimmer and loved it as the 60v batt worked on all tools for 3x as long. HOWEVER, ended up going with 12v Milwaukee stuff to supplement for smaller tools (ratchet is the GOAT) and have had literal YEARS of problem-free usage on everything. 

[timmycharger]

I find myself using 1/4 battery powered drivers for just about everything in my house and shop.  I have mostly Lowe's store level stuff and a few Harbor Freight ones but as long as they get the job done, I am not hung up on brand.

[Old Moparz]

The first cordless tool I had ever used was a Makita drill in the 1980's while working for a siding company. It was perfect for working up on the ladders & scaffolding without having an extension cord in the way. Back then 2 batteries would get you through the day & they weren't even lithium. I wanted to buy one for myself but they were extremely expensive at the time. I stayed with my 1/2 inch, corded Craftsman Industrial drill that is now almost 40 years old & still used for HD work.

About 15 years ago I bought a Ryobi cordless drill that worked well but was basically a homeowner's grade tool. The reason I had bought it was the cost of the battery replacement. I hated buying a damn battery that costs more than buying a new tool with a battery. Been burned twice before with the a cordless drill where the battery was discontinued. Anyway, when I started replacing the old nicad batteries with lithium ones the difference was incredible. The charge lasted longer, had more power & made life on a ladder easier. I have since added a circular saw, impact gun, flashlight & a smaller drill for tight spaces.

I have some air tools, the basics like a ratchet, impact gun & chisel that I use in the garage since the compressor & hoses already live out there. I don't want to start spending more money at this stage but if I have to replace something because it broke I will consider a cordless one. Most of my power tools are for woodworking like a table saw, miter saw, several portable circular saws, drills, sander, etc. The framing & roofing guns are air but I don't do that work often enough to replace $600 worth of nail guns that work fine.

[LaOtto70Charger]

The DeWalt impacts are nice. For home I have the 19.2 Craftsman and they have been doing very well for years now. Bought the milwaukee 18v 1/2" drive after popping my knee using a breaker bar trying to remove a nut that my air impact couldn't budge. Those things are amazing. I never bother with the compressor except to fill tires now.

[b5blue]

My first real test for cordless long ago was De Walt and for daily demolition it was good. Use/non use was the real issue. Sitting idle month after month led to a non rechargeable battery that costs more to replace.

[Kern Dog]

I too remember the cordless Makita drills in the mid to late 90s. The HVAC guys used them to screw together ducting in houses. They had that slim battery, maybe it was a 9 volt? I don't recall exactly.
In the early 2000s, I bought a DeWalt cordless reciprocating saw. I hate that word...reciprocating, I prefer Sawzall though that is a brand name of Milwaukee.
The Dewalt saw did work but battery life was crap and it took awhile to recharge.
These Milwaukee tools seem to have even power up until they shut off, the DeWalt just got slower and slower. The New stuff has a battery life meter. The old stuff just let you know by how slow and weak they were getting.
So far, these are great but I don't think air powered stuff will go away completely. Painting cars, running bodywork tools, sandblasting, a tire machine all take a fair amount of power that to do with an electric or battery powered tool, it would weigh a lot more and be cumbersome.

[timmycharger]

I love my little Milwaukee Hackzall tool that is a mini sawzall basically, gets in smaller spaces and is very light weight.

I know what you guys mean about the older battery technology. This translates directly to the RC car world, one of my other hobbies. We are so far ahead now with these lithium batteries and brushless motors in our tools vs the old styl Nicd/NImh type batteries that will give you the slow death.. no more of that, its usually full power until dead.

The next thing I am looking into is a batter powered cutoff wheel. I have an angle grinder but I want one that will use the thin cutoff wheels I use on my air tool.  I would rather not fire up the compressor unless I really need to.

[Mytur Binsdirti]

I had some tree work done at my house & I was surprised to see that the guy in the bucket truck was using a battery powered chain saw to branch the trees. I asked him about them & they are commercial saws with 30V batteries. he said that they go through 1 1/2 batteries per day.

Around the house, I've got a 20V DeWalt drill & some yard tools; a weed whacker, hedge clipper, power washer and I just ordered an edger tool. Haven't gotten any battery powered car tools yet other than a light.

[will]

   I had a bunch of Craftsman cordless power tools. I loathed the batteries dying out, figured I would be dropping money on either Dewalt or Milwaukee. I found an adapter to switch a Dewalt battery to Craftsman on E-bay. For the amount of tinkering around the house I'm pretty set. I did get the Dewalt driver/drill two batteries and a charger for a Christmas present from the wife, plus she's good at finding bargains.

[John_Kunkel]

The next thing I am looking into is a batter powered cutoff wheel. I have an angle grinder but I want one that will use the thin cutoff wheels I use on my air tool.

Here's the one I have.

https://www.amazon.com/WORX-WX801L-Mini-Cutter/dp/B07RPPH82W?th=1

[timmycharger]

The next thing I am looking into is a batter powered cutoff wheel. I have an angle grinder but I want one that will use the thin cutoff wheels I use on my air tool.

Here's the one I have.

https://www.amazon.com/WORX-WX801L-Mini-Cutter/dp/B07RPPH82W?th=1

Nice! Thanks, John. Appreciate the link!