I'm a construction inspector, and go to a lot of jobs. The plumbers use Hitachi, the electricians use Ridgid, but the lathers who hang drywall all day long, every day, thousands of screws, all use Dewalts with the lithium batteries. So I went out and bought myself a Dewalt.
Dewalts are just the marketing efforts of Black and Decker, not knocking em. RIDGIDS are a private label for Home depot...hmmm Home Depot=cheap shit. Home Depot =ridgid = cheap shit.
i have used makita,craftsman, black and decker and skill before i bought dewalt 18v about 8 years ago. dewalt has plenty of power, feels good and other than replacing the batterys at the 6 year mark ,has not had problem one in 8 years.
+3 votes for Milwaukee. I have not asked for anything that this drill cannot do. The battery lasts and the torque is there(enough to knock a tooth loose if you're using in tight quarters and get hit with the handle). I have tried a lot of other brands and they are by far my number one choice. Next choice would be Bosch. Hope this helps.
14v makita impact driver is the best, the only problem is that if you use regular dry wall screws or regular #2 tips they seem to break under the load. I don't know why you would need more in a screw gun that already over powers the screws. But for the drill I would get the 18v drill from makita.
Whatever brand you get, go with the Lithium Ion technology. They are a little more expensive right now but the energy density and the battery life is really great compared to old technology ni-cad's. The Li-Ion batterys don't get screwed up by using short charging cycles either.
We use DeWalt 14.4 's at work.They have been dropped off 3 decks of scaffold,and run over by trucks....still working.Power to weight ratio is very good. I just got a Craftsman 19v at home...so far so good,but I would not use it at work because it's heavy. I borrowed a Hitachi 12v one day and loved it.If I had to buy a drill today,I would look hard at Hitachi
i dont know about the new miluakee stuff, i really like thier corded tools, but my uncle bought one of those cordless packs a few years ago it was big cash. i cant tell you how many batteries took a crap and he actually had a hard time warrantying them in the covered time. the batteries were very hard to get off the tools, he has arthritis from wrenching for 30 years, got pissed off and gave me the set. kept the best part, the radio. i refused to put a dime into it and it sits in the attic of my garage. i have renovated 90% of my house my self and have all sorts of brand tools. i dont liek to buy the cheap stuff, but my brother bought me a ryobi cordless sawzall when they first came out for my birthday one time as i was hitting the junkyards a lot, i thought it was going to be crap, but i am quite satisfied with it, i started working on my house and figured i might as well get the drill driver and have the same battery. im very happy with it for the price. battery life is not like the top dollar tools but the batteries are cheap and some of the tools come with 2 anyway. my favorite tool is the hitachi driver i bought, when i got it they were pretty new i think the only other one i had seen was the makita and it was big cash. now everyone has them. last summer lowes had the 18v b&d impact driver on clearance for something like 28 bucks grabbed it because i liked the hitachi so much. its got more power but definitely not the same quality. battery takes longer to charge and i dont hink it lasts as long as the hitachi, but again for the price, i could have bought about 6 of the b&d for the price of the hitachi. my byobi stuff is starting to get old, im running out of good batteries, and i am considering thier new line of litium ion tools. kind of pricey compared to the regular line but might be worth it. the rigind stuff is nice i convinced my buddy to buy the set for his business because it had a lifetime warranty when it came out, he is veryy happy with it, he actually bought a few more drills. you have to wieght your options, there are different models by dewalt they are not all the same, but the better line of dewalt is pretty good stuff, if you arent happy with it, your going to have to spend big cash to get somethign better than that.
This one brought a laugh! Creepin' into the Older school category, I am The straight-line impact driver caught my eye, rusted hinge screws, any number of impact assisted fastener challenges would be good for this one. http://www.amazon.com/Makita-TD020D...558/ref=pd_sim_hi_title_4/002-8672766-3866421
I have Dewalt and Makita at work. I use the Dewalt most of the time. I like it alot. At home I have a Ryobi drill, sawzall, flashlight, vacuum and impact driver. I am impressed with it for home use, but for work? I'm not sure if it would cut the mustard. What ever you choose, check around on like ebay to see if batteries are available cheap. Also other compatable tools as well. I bought 2 new Dewalt 18v batteries for $90 a couple of months ago. Also bought a nice used Dewalt 18v sawzall with a good battery for $40.
My vote is DeWalt. I've had no luck with Ryobi, or Hitachi. Craftsman works well for awhile. I do have a corded drill also (old balck and decker 1/2"). As a result I bought the Dewalt set with the cordless recip. saw. Very handy.
dewalts are not that great, Milwaukee are really good, makitas are ok, Panasonics are really good too they are right up there with the Milwaukee if not better. Just remember you get what you pay for.
18v Dewalt use it daily in the shop for the last 10years, and it'll still just about break your wrist,had to replace the charger once.It's paid for itself over and over.I had our snap-on guy try to sell me one of his which I'm not saying are bad, but I told him lets see what yours does in 10years,and he walked away.
If you are not happy with a DeWalt, you will probably need a Makita. I use Horrible Freight 18V. I have a coupe of them because it is cheaper to buy another one than to buy a new battery. You can get an 18V variable speed reversible with a keyless chuck for 15-20 bucks. I did have one bad experience with them. I had a brand new one and tried to drill a 1/2" hole in a frame, and it went up in a puff of smoke. They exchanged it, but I only use a heavy corded drill for heavy drilling now. The cordless drills work great for most stuff.
Milwaukee 18V....or, if money is no object, a brand most of you have probably never heard of...http://www.festoolusa.com/category.aspx?ID=2 Very expensive, and worth every penny. Their tools are designed for production shops, where time=money, and reliability is key. I use their stuff every day, all day. Their C12 is like the Enterprise...boldly goes where no drill has gone before.
I've been using DeWalt 12V and 14.4V drils and drivers on the job for years. I like the torque driver with 1000lbs of torque. I don't use 18V because the it's just extra weight for those big batteries in your hand and you get the same torque.
I've been using dewalt for 15 year and nothing is better. I first started using them in my construction business in the early 90's when all they had was 9 volt. all the corless dewalt tools are tough and cannot be matched by anyother. I don't care what anyone says when you take a tool out on the jobsite and use them the way we did and they hold up the way the have that is a tool you can rely on.
I just got 24v B&D cheap. I like it so far. Not too good for over head work or tight places though. For over head work with plenty of power I like my old stand by Makita 9.6v. I've had it for years and I just can't seem to distroy it.
We've used (abused) Dewalts 12v at work for years. Nobody takes care of them. I've taken them home for more abuse.(Note to self: don't leave them in the rain for a week even if the drill still works it's not a good idea.) I have no complaints. Just remember that it's usually cheaper to buy a new drill, two batteries, charger with cool black case than just batteries. On a almost related note I have a METAL case from one of my first cordless Dewalts. Any great ideas for uses for the plastic cases??
I have the 18v Snap-On, and I love it. One of the best things is they make several other automotive related tools that use the same battery. The 18v 1/2" impact gun is an awesome junk-yard tool The other advantage to the Snap-On is that you can get a 12v plug in the cigarette lighter charger for the 18v battery, great if you need to be mobile. Both the wall charger and the 12v fully charge the battery in about 45 minutes or so. TopHat
the thing i dont like about dewalt is if you need the brushes changed you have to bring it to a dewalt repair place to do that. most other drills allow you to change the brushes very eaisly. In my expierience when you bring it to the repair place it just never comes back the same. I dont know what happens there but they just replace the motor and it just isnt as strong when you get them back.
24 volt black and decker. They can be a little hard to find sometimes. I have 2 in my shop and 1 at home. I got the first one about 3 years ago around christmas at lowes when they have sale items for their christmas promotions. We have used it in our shop since then and when we needed to ad another I had a hard time finding one. Target had them this past christmas time So I bought one for my son and took one home for me. They last quite a while on a charge and have very good torque. Haven't had a problem of any sort with any of them. Can't say that about others we have bought. Will continue to buy this drill if I ever need another , hands down best I've ever bought! Thanks, BOBBY FORD
seems like my dewalt 18v works great but when i got it the fucking batteries were pricey as hell. if your just using your portable every once and awhile(not making a living) my buddy that has one just buys harbor freight batteries and transfers them into the dewalt cases. what i mean is swap guts of the batteries and this seems to work fine and is cheaper! kinda like taking apart a 6v lantern battery, they are full of AA bateries.
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