Craftsman 14 volt tools.. junk or good?

a buddys brother p***ed away a while back. he brought over a truckload of tools for me to sell for his brothers kids. got to a point where he said I could just keep the rest for my troubles..he just didn't want to deal with them.

mostly a bunch of nothing left over, but there is a Craftsman drill, vacuum, and circular saw in almost new condition. 14 volt ? or 14.4?? I forget. no battery or charger. I'm wondering if these are worth a damn and worth the cost of a battery and charger.

I'm thinking they would be near useless. anybody out there used these and what is your opinion on them??

 

I have a 14.4 drill, it works, nothing to write home about...but usually you can buy a kit with the drill, charger, and two batteries on sale for less than you pay for the charger and one battery separately

We use a 19.2 Craftsman cordless circular saw to build the robots sometimes...it's LOUD

 

I haven't had any Craftsman 14 volt tools. I do have a 9 volt set. I have in the past also had 18 volt Milwaukee drill, Makita drills, Black and Decker drills. All of them without exception (so far) have battery troubles. They have nickel cadmium batterys, and they are really particular about the care they get. Charging, discharging, leaving on charger, running flat, always running to same level. All of these things contribute to battery failure. Search the internet and you will find loads of info on this. The new ones are Lithium-Ion and are supposedly better, but I can't vouch for this as I haven't had any yet. My current sears 9 volt tools batteries are worn out or destroyed (I think) due to misuse by me. Cost of a new battery is nearly the cost of a new drill, so-------what do you do? I love the convenience of a battery tool but seems every time I need to use one it's dead or goes dead quickly. So I usually end up using a corded tool. sigh. Perley

 

yeah, you have to pay attention to the charging. And having a few extra batteries is nice.

Lithium battery tools are great, but expensive. No interchange either, you need the right tools/battery/charger to work together.

 

What squirrel said....I've noticed he is a smart dude!!

 

I'm not really a fan of cordless tools for my home shop, since when you need it quick they will be dead. few years back we used DeWalt cordless drills just about every day, always charged and always kicked ***. just don't drop them 3 floors down an elevator shaft.

 

I'd never own any newer craftsman tools ever again. Ok for home use I guess but not if you plan to ever really use them. Now the older (20+years old) craftsman stuff is great.

 

With my Craftsman 14.4 drill, I have to take it directly off the charger to use it. The power will be down if set just a few days (or maybe overnite). Like 49ratfink says, unless charged immediately beforehand, it will be dead when you want to use it.

 

well I just went to the sears website. $37.00 for the charger and $21.00 - $34.00 for the battery. they don't even sell the 14.4 tools anymore. I guess that says it all right there. this stuff will go to the swap meet pile.

 

the only decent cordless in the cheap category I found was the vpx series from Black and Decker, they discontinued it almost as soon as it came out though, I have the 14 volt lithium ion drill and i've beat the **** out of it, never had a problem. They made those orange fireturd drills right before it, and after it they went back to the cheap orange junk drills again. who ever heard of a cordless drill where you couldn't remove the battery?

 

My son has 2 Sears 14 V cordless drills, THey are junk. LiOn is way to go now. Most of the stupid things come from China anyway. Use em till they break and toss. What a shame.

 

I miss the good old days when you bought something from Sears and it was good. my Grandpa built a little cabin with his Craftsman circular saw back around 1965. I got it now and it still works great. craftsman doesn't mean **** nowadays.

 

None of the battery tools have any longevity if they aren't used often. The worst thing to do is to let them sit. Get a corded Milwalkee drill for around the house. It will work any time you pick it up.

 

the lithium ion drills don't care how long they sit, thats why I like them so much, I know i can grab the drill and it will work. With the old nicad drills i could be sure they were dead. EDIT I just looked on ebay and I can't believe how much the batteries and chargers,etc. are going for for my vpx one, and lots of bids too, I think B&D really blew it on that one.

 

I have used one for years .Not worth buying a bat.and charger ,Sears runs sales and you can buy drill and charger cheaper than if you buy just a bat and charger ,The drill itself isn't bad. Also if there is a Sears repair near you .You can buy reconditioned for dirt cheap.I did this once and got a whole kit,Saw ,drill ,flashlight for 60,00

 

I have an old 14.4 drill/circular saw combo set. Both work okay when charged, but those times are few.

 

I got a fairly inexpensive 4 in 1 Ryobi set from Home Depot for Christmas a few years back, when my wife and I bought our new house. I've use the hell outta the flashlight, circular saw, power drill and the little radio that takes the same big battery.

The funny thing is I listen to the radio all the time in my Willys pickup because the truck came with a radio delete... when I park the truck anywhere... everyone that looks in comments on that damned little radio instead of the truck. Go figure lol...

I've had nothing but good luck with my cheapy Ryobi set...

-Chris

 

I've got an 18 volt Craftsman drill that came with 2 batteries and a charger. The first battery ****ped out in about a year (out of warranty) and the second one died in two. Since the drill had worked fine, I went to Sears to price another two batteries..... turns out ONE battery would have cost me 2/3 of what I paid for the whole set! NO THANK-YOU!

My wife and kids got me a Ryobi set for Father's Day as a replacement. While checking it out, I thought the battery pack looked similar to the Sears unit so I dug out the old Craftsman, slapped in the Ryobi battery and fired it up.... no problem! I went to Home Depot to check on battery prices and found I could get one of their packs for about 1/3 the price of the Sears pack.

My advice? See if you can find a cheap battery replacement like I did..... that way, if the tools die, you won't have as much invested. By the way, don't worry if they don't fit quite the same way..... the plastic retainer clips on mine don't sewcure to the battery, but it still works fine.

 

The new craftsman 20 volt lithium series of tools and batteries are exceptional. None better.

 

BATTERY INFO

dont leave the batteries on the charger after they have charged, it kills them, charge it and take it off. My 14 volt didnt last long on batteries, followed this rule and my 19.2 volt has been going for a long time wiht little battery breakdown. you can rebuild the batteries yourself if you google, I never messed with it though.

 

I believe craftsman battery drills are as good as any,but the problem is they change there battery design every 3 months.the 18 v.battery you bought before will not fit the new one you bought.and if you find the old style battery it cost $50.00.i buy ryboi because they never change there battery design and you can buy 2 batteries for the price of one of the craftsman.

 

I've had great luck with my rigid set from home depot. 18 v drill, hammer drill, 2 batteries and charger. I'm pretty amazed at the drill, used it on things I would have only used my corded one on before

 

a lot of times if you open the packs up, they have the same batteries inside, all you have to do is resolder the new batteries in your old packs, just make sure you don't mix up lithium and nicad they require a totally different charger. I'm surprised they even make nicad ones anymore, most non lithium ones are nickel metal hydride, nicad is a dead technology.

 

nope, it's older, but it still costs less and it still works, so it's not dead. That's why you find em in cheap cordless tools.

 

I have about ten nicad drills and every one died from sitting. I haven't had a problem yet with the lithium drill. I remember when dewalt came out i bought a 9.6 volt which was supposed to have been the **** then, it died in two weeks. It's still collecting dust in my garage,

 

The newer Makitas are pretty good,,and very fast recharge

 

You can rebuild your battery packs. I've bought new cells here: http://www.cheapbatterypacks.com/?sid=1343580

 

I used a Craftsman 14.4 set for two years as my primary screw gun when I was doing RV service work. It ran pretty well all day every day.

Then I got back into IT work and the setup went home. Within 3 months both of my batteries quit holding a charge. I think it was because I went from daily use, to it sitting more often than not. I knew people that horrible luck with the 19v and other sizes, but the 14.4 served me very well.

But, battery powered tools always have some limitations. Limited torque, limited life, and of course there is always the problems with a dead battery when you need it the most.

Personally I like to keep one hardwired version of a tool that I have that is battery powered. So if it come down to it, I can plug in.

 

I have been in the construction field for over 15 years and have used every cordless tool made...there is no tool around that can hold a candle to the DeWalt 12, 14 & 18v. models. The problem that people run into is that they don't properly charge their batterys from the get-go! completely discharge the batterys(right out of the box) and completely charge them...and repeat those steps the first few times you use the tool(this sets the batterys "charge memory" and will greatly increase the longevity and performance of the tool)...with that being said, sell the craftsman "harry-homeowner" P.O.S. and use that $$$ to put toward a high quality DeWalt screw gun...with the proper care and attention to detail you won't be disappointed...and if anyone would like to send me their old DeWalt "junk"-contact me for information on where to send it! thank you.

 

That's what I would expect. nicds don't like to sit, but lithium batteries wear out from constant use. I see this with laptops, phones, cameras, ipods.

If you're using a drill every day, nicds are great, if you let it sit a lot then go lithium.