Another Cordless bites the dust

[Mitchell Andrus]

CATCH FIRE???

Like burst into flames, or ? Jeeez... I've got 5 Makita 12V and 7 or 8 batteries in the shop.

[Bob Slater]

My Dewalt 18v has been great. It has seen pretty hard use driving drywall screws, decks, etc. The batteries needed replacement sooner than i would have liked, but Ebay is a good place for these. I used a Panasonic 14Volt drill today with a 4 year old battery. It was ultra smooth, and felt like it would keep going and going.

[Ed Gerken]

I'm a little disappointed - no fireworks from my three firestorms! But DO avoid dropping them. The 9.6v's entire head snapped off, with little gears rolling around the floor. My 12v fared better, but the handle broke from the top at the weak points around the trigger. Both casualities were from high drops off a ladder. Got that one sorta strapped together with epoxy and tape. Best one so far has been the 14.4 two-speed model, bought at a pawn shop and still holding together (crossed fingers).

The 12v was "bought" with Marlboro Miles and it did last several years and many drops and abuses. My woodworkin' wife got me the 9.6 on sale and I didn't pay much for the 14.4. So I ain't complainin'.

The batteries appear to be no-name 1/2-C NiCads. As an experiment, I rebuilt the 12v pack using ten 1800MaH NiMH AAs, bought surplus for a buck apiece. It's lighter, has greater capacity than the stock configuration and charges just fine on the stock charger.

I found that by removing the little indexing tabs, I can swap packs of different voltages amongst my firestorms. The 9.6 won't accept the larger batteries, but its pack will fit either the 12v or 14.4v driver.

Yes, I'm a Horatio Homeowner and my tools may be wimpy, but we still built our home addition with 'em!

-Ed

[Joe Jensen]

My latest cordless drill, a 12 volt Black and Decker decided to catch on fire while I was up a ladder with it Friday installing signs. Before that I had two
Skils, 14.4 volt, and the charger melted. Later they were recalled but the replacements didn't last long before they wouldn't hold a charge. Before that I had a Ryobi, eventually while the battery would hold a charge for a lot of hours use, if it sat a day or two after charging it would be dead when needed.

Since I was in the middle of several jobs I didn't have tome to check in before buying the latest, but thought I'd ask anyway for any opinions on it.

I was not about to get any of the others that have let me down in the last 10 years so I tried Sears Craftsman. This looked like a good deal on sale, 19.2 volt, two batteries, work light that uses the same battery, built in led light on the drill, hard case for $89, regular $129.99. Are the $200+ ones that much better, to be worth the extra money?

In a word, yes. The cost in a cordless tool is mainly batteries. There is a wide range of quality for batteries and the price correlates to the quality. You can get AA size rechargable batteries for $1 each or $40 each. Battteries in cheaper cordless tools are the really cheap kind. Less run time and shorter service life.

You are a pro, buy a pro drill...joe

[Richard M. Wolfe]

I don't use a drill every day like a lot of people, but I bought a 9.6v Makita long battery sometime in the mid eighties and have pretty much worn it out. It came with two batteries and I have only bought two replacement batteries for it. Guess I got lucky for them to have lasted that long even without constant use.

[Don Brubaker]

Joe,

If I may be so bold...

You are a professional, with what I understand, a well regarded
and successful sign business.
Why would you even consider Harry the homeowner drills?
Would you buy a vinyl plotter from wall mart?
I didn't think so,

Reasonable professional drills Makita, Bosch, Panasonic, Hilti.
A real professional drill,,,dare I say it? Festool.
Also consider a impact driver, a professional impact driver.
Of those top four, we prefer the Hilti.

Per

Kudos and Dittos to Per. I'm sorry guys ...... the term "woodworker" to me implies a certain sense of quality, or at least the "striving for that". There are several well known authors, and books, that have said this many times, in one form or another ...... you pay for what you get, you can buy a bunch of cheap ones and pay more in both money and frustration than if you had done the research and bought "smart" in the first place.

I can't imgine buying Craftsman, Skill, Black & Decker, Firestorm, Ryobi, or anything close to being similar. I will wait and save if I have to before I would even consider one of these brands. It is unfortunate that we have people that would even consider these and do not value what is good versus "the cheap".

Okay, I guess enough soapbox, and I'm sure I'll get some crapsman lovers' hate mail!!!! ....... just remember, crapsman, aka sears, also owns "Kame - a - Part" (Kmart)

[Dave Trask]

Stop throwing your money away on the Harry homeowner power tools.
For the money you spent on the el-cheapos ya could have bought higher
quality drills and been future ahead.

If you make money from the drills concider them as an investment.

I highly recommend these Makitas, they both have served me well
and the motors are actually made/optimized to run lithium batteries.

http://www.makita.com/menu.php?pg=pr...det&tag=BHP451



http://www.makita.com/menu.php?pg=pr...det&tag=BTD140



I bought these back when they first came out, bought one
got one free! I don't know if they offer that deal anymore.

$300+ apiece ! ...you betcha !....worth every penny... Yes indeed!

How much have you spent on the cheap drills total?

[Jim Becker]

Joe, I'm going to follow on along the same theme as a number of others. Consider the cost to your business when you have to replace an oft-used tool at a bad time (with a job half done at the top of a ladder) or frequently. It's not just the cost of the tool, itself, but the cost in time that it brings. Invest accordingly, and that doesn't necessarily mean spend a mint...

[Duncan Potter]

I am Harry the Homeowner but I bought the Makita LI ions set. Hasn't let me down yet. Good power, good battery life, quick charging.

[Joe Pelonio]

Wow, a lot of well informed responses on this topic. Since I bought the Sears
in a hurry to get through a job I'll stick with it for now, but when/if it goes the way of the others I'll definitely be looking at the recommended professional models!

[Kirk Poore]

I think Fine Woodworking did a comparison 2-3 years ago and opened up the subject drills to check the mechanisms. The more expensive drills were just better built--more metal vs plastic, better motors, etc. In this area I think you get what you pay for.

I bought a Milwaukee 18v lithium compact drill about 6 months ago, and it's been an excellent performer for roughly $170.

Kirk

[Jesse Cloud]

I like Makita and Bosch drills a lot.

Its funny because I have almost totally sworn off Crapsman tools (fool me once...) but I too bought a drill/flashlight combo. The drill was a POS and found its way to the dump, but that flashlight is the best flashlight I have ever had, something about the way it will hold an angle and the way it casts the light - I dread the day when the 15 year old charger goes....

[Radek Kowalski]

I have an 18volt Dewalt that I have had for 2 years now. I like it alot, its shorter then my Bosch and it balances much better in my hand.

On another note, I have had the 14.4 Bosch for at least 5 or more years now. The only problem with it is the battery went after keeping it in the garage during winter.

Whatever you do, keep your batteries in a 50-90 degree area.

[Harley Reasons]

J
I had a Ryobi set and the charger shorted, burned out a gpi outlet in the house and could of set the house on fire. Don't know why the gpi didn't trip sooner, maybe it was defective too. But I have shyed away from Ryobi stuff ever since.

Maybe you should look at it the other way around, stay away from that brand of GFI. Could be the GFI caused the charger to fry.

[Tom Kelley]

Joe, do yourself a favor and try a DeWalt. I've got two and never had a bit of trouble with either one. Yes they are not cheap. But maybe that's why they have lasted so well. (probably just put the whammy on me for saying that)
Tom