How did you choose your "battery platform"?

[Knotgoalie]

Blue, red, yellow, orange or a sticky plaid thing that nobody ever heard of...what opened your wallet?

I will be right up front and state that I'm full on DeWalt. Their TOTL tools are second to none and will serve for decades with a good service/parts network to back them up, but the same can be offered equally by the top competitors as well.

Having been a long time out of the game I looked, lurked and never wanted to pull the trigger on a new platform remembering the 7.2~12v Makita stuff from the 70s and how it sucked. I was on the phone with my brother one day talking about cordless tools and how I wanted a serious cordless impact but I wanted to "buy best, buy once".

His reply to me was, "You know the company I work for owns DeWalt (and a lot of other prominent brands)...right?"


The rest is history and his employee prices could make ya cry! Black/Yellow for me!

Your Story?

 

[Fretters]

Makita here. Most gear on sites is Makita, so easy to borrow batteries or use of a charger if needs be. My personal preference is Bosch over Makita though.

 

[Kaizen]

Always found dewalt to be the most durable. Love my set so much I bought another on a good deal. Just built my garage with the impact driving two plus buckets of screws. Just does it effortlessly. For the price I believe it crosses homeowner to pro levels


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[BTL-A4]

I have the Black and Decker stuff. Bought a blower, liked it and got a small saw, hedge trimmer and drill. That's about all they have, though.

I've heard that Ryobi has a decent line and makes tons of tools; you name it, they probably have it. I really don't like the Day-Glo Green, though.

I prefer corded tools and only use cordless when the job calls for it.

 

[BaMaDuDe87]

Re: How did you choose your "battery platform"?

Ryobi and Makita.

I wanted a cheaper around the house set with lots of useful, to me, additional tools. Plus my dad had already invested in Ryobi, so we can share tools batteries if the other is in need. (Ryobi)

Wanted to also have a foot in the door with a "higher end" platform also. Found the Makita on sale at a decent price and two pack of batteries on sale for a decent price as well. Other wise it would have been DeWalt.

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[jgromada]

When i was selecting mine I had read numerous reviews and done a bit of homework and eventually selected a drill/driver set from Dewalt, that was brushless. Don't regret it a bit although there were a few tools i wish Dewalt made. I had bought the impact, a blower & a string trimmer from Dewalt since. But still wish Dewalt had a wider number of offerings.

Since then I wanted a particular tool, a Milwaukee M12 ratchet. With the starter kit it would have been $150. But , last year during the summer Home Depot ran a special where i got an M12 drill, driver, Hackzall and the ratchet for $200 so I couldn't pass that by.

I now have Ridgid tools too after visiting a Direct Tools outlet store. I got a hybrid fan for $20 and then bought a starter set (1 battery & charger) along w multitool & task light at HD. I had been getting the emails from Direct Tool and ended up getting some post Christmas . This included a refurb pin nailer for $20, another Driver & Drill w 2 batteries for $75. Received the small Ridgid vac for Christmas then.

so i guess the moral of the story is don't worry too much about buying into the "Right" platform. They all make some good tools and if you are not too afraid of mixing and matching you can get some good deals.

 

[bobcatdan]

Stated with makita because they were the only ones doing cordless impacts 20 years ago. Switch to Milwaukee because, hey Milwaukee is awesome, then Milwaukee pissed me off. Switched to snap on and had good luck. New stuff is way too expensive. Got insane good deals on the mac/Dewalt brushless impact so currently running those and the snap on's are still going.

 

[Crazyjake8493]

I had Craftsman for years, but when all the Sears around here closed I got fed up that I couldn't just drive to the store to get a tool or battery I needed. Sold I sold the whole lineup (30+ tools).

My wife saw me looking at Milwaukee stuff, and bought me the M18 drill/impact combo, and it took off from there. Then I wanted the heated hoodie and jacket, and that got me started into the M12 line. I'm happy with all the Milwaukee stuff I have. Although I will say Ryobi has a good lineup of tools at a good price point.

 

[CJM8515]

Milwaukee. I love it sooo much because they have a lot of different tools and a lot of it is geared towards mechanics. I also love their warranty. I previously had porter cable and liked them too, worked well for what they were.

 

[turbodave]

My dad bought me a Dewalt 18v drill for Christmas one year and it grew from there.

A couple years ago my 18v batteries were starting to wear out and Dewalt offered the adapter to use the new 20vmax li-Ion batteries in the old 18v tools so all my old tools are still working great with new power, and I've now added some 20v stuff to the mix.

 

[Knotgoalie]

My dad bought me a Dewalt 18v drill for Christmas one year and it grew from there.

A couple years ago my 18v batteries were starting to wear out and Dewalt offered the adapter to use the new 20vmax li-Ion batteries in the old 18v tools so all my old tools are still working great with new power, and I've now added some 20v stuff to the mix.

Another + for DeWalt on the battery adapter...don't chuck it, keep using it!

 

[Voi]

Blue, red, yellow, orange or a sticky plaid thing that nobody ever heard of...what opened your wallet?

I went with Makita due to their X2 yard equipment and because of their XRU08z trimmer, which was (and I believe still is) the lightest and shortest brushless string trimmer on the market.

Milwaukee was a close second and I think I could have easily chosen a separate line of yard tools like Ego or something and then picked all my tools, fans and lights from the M18 and M12 lineup. Their dual voltage chargers were very appealing. But as things are going now grabbing batteries out of my blower, for example, and putting them in my impact or one of my fans has proven very useful.

 

[Tallpilot]

Milwaukee. I love it sooo much because they have a lot of different tools and a lot of it is geared towards mechanics. I also love their warranty.

Milwaukee for me for the same reasons.

 

[bob15]

I buy what I feel or thought at the time, the best brand/model for that tool. Cordless tool brands in include: dewalt, PC, metabo & milwaukee.

I will say that I am disappointed in dewalt's 1/2 drive gutless wonder impact gun and milwaukee's 18 volt battery hogs: their sawzall & circular saws.

 

[ThatSickRip]

Our whole fleet of trucks it outfitted with DeWalt. I bought a new house in 2016, coming from a condo and a basic Porter Cable kit, and found a Milwaukee M18 kit on sale at Home Depot. Ive been bleeding Red since lol.

 

[Parrothead]

DeWalt because I can use their brand new batteries on my 10+ year old tools that still work. I know they’ll still support the product unlike Makita, Milwaukee and others.

 

[metaldad]

A) makita 9.6 stick batteries. they dead.
B) makita 12v batteries. dead
C) dewalt 12v batteries, dead. replacements off amazon sucked.
D) ridgid 18v ............ lifetime warranty, only 1 charger in house
E) milwaukee 12v, spotlite, bandsaw, work great. hacksall is a hobbyist tool.
F) milwaukee 18v, sawzall let out the magic smoke after seldom, LIGHT use.
it's between ridgid 18v and milwaukee 12v, leaning towards red, not orange.
BUT - i'd rather string a cord.

 

[jonesg]

Blue, red, yellow, orange or a sticky plaid thing that nobody ever heard of...what opened your wallet?

I will be right up front and state that I'm full on DeWalt. Their TOTL tools are second to none and will serve for decades with a good service/parts network to back them up, but the same can be offered equally by the top competitors as well.

Having been a long time out of the game I looked, lurked and never wanted to pull the trigger on a new platform remembering the 7.2~12v Makita stuff from the 70s and how it sucked. I was on the phone with my brother one day talking about cordless tools and how I wanted a serious cordless impact but I wanted to "buy best, buy once".

His reply to me was, "You know the company I work for owns DeWalt...right?"


The rest is history and his employee prices could make ya cry! Black/Yellow for me!

Your Story?

I didn't buy a battery platform, I bought Milwaukee because they have the auto tools I wanted.

I was happy with dewalt but they were lagging in auto tooling. I gave the dewalts away to a kid, he's been very happy with them.

 

[finn]

I started with a Black and Decker back in the late 80s or early 90s. Worked fine for the time period.

Upgraded to a Craftsman drill a couple of years later. Ended up with a couple when my son gave me his when the battery died..

Got a 12 Bosch driver as a gift from my other son, and liked the quality, but then got an 18 volt Dewalt as a retirement gift.

Needed another drill and an impact, and bought 18v Bosch.

Needed another battery for the 18 v Dewalt, so I bought the 20 v Lithium ion kit.

Still planned on eventually going all Bosch, but Farm and Fleet had a great deal on Dewalt... buy two tools and get a starter kit with a 5amp hr battery and another charger.

Accidentally bought a Dewalt drill instead of a driver, ordered a driver, and it looks like I am going whole hog Dewalt.

Needed an sds hammer drill, and now that I have several Dewalt batteries, I bought a Dewalt hammer drill.

Bought a couple of large batteries on Amazon, so now I have five Dewalt tools and five Dewalt batteries, along with two chargers.

The Bosch stuff is outnumbered. I would have gone Bosch if Dewalt haven’t offered the 20 v upgrade battery kit.

Good marketing on their part.

I also have a 12 v Milwaukee hacks all, which soured me on Milwaukee.

 

[BMack37]

Milwaukee, lots of power and huge lineup, best in class in a lot of categories and always innovating.

Bosch would be my second choice.

Dewalt rubs me the wrong way with how many battery platforms they have and currently sell: 8v, 12v, 12v Max, 14.4v, 18v, 20v Max, 40v and Flexvolt

 

[rustbucket5]

i needed a powerful impact and at the time milwaukee was the only one who made an impact with more than 500ftlbs of torque plus i get one hell of a deal on black friday

 

[engineer2]

Makita 18V because that's what most contractors around here use and they get good online reviews. It's been a good platform. I have 5 year old batteries that perform as good as new. They have over 300 tools and are constantly updating them. They just came out with a 36V power head with attachments for a string trimmer, chain saw, rototiller, hedge clipper, edger. Tempting!

 

[Robinson1]

In the past 15 years I've went from 18v Dewalt to Porter Cable to Bosch and the last few years been buying 20v Dewalt. I've come full circle! Right now I've got about half and half Dewalt and Bosch. Unless Bosch comes out with something outstanding I'll be buying Dewalt moving foward.

 

[WittHay]

My first lithium battery cordless was the Milwaukee Fuel 1/2 impact and shortly after the Fuel grinder and then it grew from there. Chose Milwaukee because it was the most powerful impact at the time. Opposite for my DeWalt 12 volt. Choose them because they were small, ergonomics was right and just handy little tools for odd jobs around the house and farms

 

[ca90ss]

I choose whichever brand that has the tool I want. Can't think of any reason to limit myself to a single platform.

Currently have:
Milwaukee M18 and M12
Ryobi 18v
Fein 18v
Snap on 14.4v
Festool 10.8v, 14.4v and 18v
Bosch 10.8v

 

[lis2323]

My dad bought be a DeWalt 20v drill. Loved it. Some time later my toilet seat broke, and I couldn't get the bolts off. I bought a DeWalt oscillating multi tool. Then I bough the v20 leaf blower and 2 6 ah flexvolt batteries. Just for battery economy.I plan on sticking with DeWalt.

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[Tduby]

If you’re looking at wood working mostly it’s hard to beat Dewalt I own Milwaukee tools and even I’m considering doing 2 battery system or ditching Milwaukee. I started with Milwaukee because they have more stuff for electrical and plumbing trades but Dow that I’m building a new garage I see how lacking Milwaukee is in wood tools.

 

[mmason7764]

Makita for me:

Main reason is the local industrial tool supplier sells Makita and handles all the warranty work over the counter.

My Brother in Law is a professional plumber and has all Makita. He said "there's only 1 choice" (in this town)

The 36 volt tools that use two regular 18 volt Lion batteries is genius.

After acquiring 8 Makita cordless tools, 2 were made in Japan, 1 in the UK, and the rest China. At least a few were made in places I don't mind doing business with.

 

[Tallpilot]

F) milwaukee 18v, sawzall let out the magic smoke after seldom, LIGHT use.

Was this over 5 YEARS after you bought it? Sometimes things slip through quality control. Be irritated at the inconvenience but get it replaced. If it happens a second time then consider losing faith in the product line.

You can't expect it to last as long as the dumb plug in sawzall you bought in the 80s. It isn't just a switch and an electric motor. It has logic boards with tiny capacitors that have a much shorter mean time between failure.

 

[rsanter]

i used to have the old 9.6 volt black & decker industrial series. They were great and I used the hell out of them for years. When the batteries went the top dog out there was the dewalt stuff. So I started getting that stuff. Now I will admit that today there is good competition coming from Milwaukee but I am fully entrenched in the dewalt and they have served me very well

 

[Bockscar]

Re: How did you choose your "battery platform"?

My first cordless drill was a 7.2 Makita....threemonths later they came out with the 9.6 so I traded it in for that....used that for years....batteries died and bought a Craftsman set in 2005....drill, recip saw, circ saw, jig saw and light for some reason I brought the extended warranty and used it when a let a coworker use the drill....some how he killed it....replaced without a problem and have been using the set still. Got a 1/4 impact driver 6 or seven years ago all tools work with the lithium batteries I do not know whats instore with the Craftsman line but we shall see....in 2011 I bought a 12v drill/driver combo from Menards their Masterforce brand and have been pleased with them....the drill is starting to smell funny so I am afraid that it is about to give up the ghost and probably would buy another Masterforce not sure that any other maker could convince me otherwise

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[Laucker]

Wanted a cordless impact and i had an entire set of 10+ year old craftsmen ni-cad. Batteries were going and i was time to move on. Ended up with Milwaukee, but I may expand into Bosch as well.

 

[BigEd]

I was given a bunch of Ryobi tools many years ago and have replaced or added as necessary. They are satisfactory for my homeowner needs.

 

[Zebu Fellenz]

Bosch 18v. The tools feel good, work good, and when I bought them I was happy to be able to get a Swiss made drill and a US assembled impact wrench.

Unfortunately most of my Bosch tools burnt in a building fire. I'm debating replacing with new Bosch or jumping ship to Milwaukee.

 

[gtae07]

I was just looking for a cordless drill, and in the price range I was looking for the specific Porter-Cable one I wound up getting had the best reviews. So I got it, and though I was skeptical I also got the impact driver (turns out, those things are great...).

I don't use other cordless tools, though. Most of the rest has a cord, so I don't care about batteries.

 

[dsimatt]

Milwaukee, my Grandpa used them so was no brainer when buying tools for home use.

Snap On at work for the longest time but their prices are insane so looking to switch over to Milwaukee at work to.

 

[NUTTSGT]

I had a Cman drill but it was at a point when it seemed that Sears was changing battery sizes every few years. Once it died, I was done.

I bought a Dewalt 18V drill-driver/recip saw combo since everybody else around here had Dewalt 18V stuff. I had it a few months and found a 5 pc combo at HD for $299, bought it and sold the new drill and old recip for $100 to recoup some cash.

I've had Dewalt 18V ever since. I love my impact driver so much I bought a spare "tool only" as a back up.

I picked up a used jig saw and drill at a swap meet for $40. Then a buddy was buddy was selling his practically new jig saw for $60 so I bought that. I will resell the old one at the next Ford swap meet I bought it at.

 

[Rickster]

Started with IR because they had the tool selection I was looking for. Pretty heavy duty for me, still have them and they work great. Picked up a Bosch 12v LI drill & driver at a garage sale for cheap, wow they work great, small, plenty of power and I added the larger bats for extended run time. They are my go-to set. Now adding home tools on the Ryobi One+ line. Been getting them reconditioned from Tools Direct at good price, so far no problems with the "reconditioned" part.

 

[zorrox]

Milwaukee for me. Used to have Makita too, but I I decided to consolidate. I think Milwaukee has a superior tool selection and the 2 in one chargers, so I got rid of the teal and now all my tools are red.

Currently have:
fuel 18v grinder
fuel 18v drill
fuel 18v impact driver
fuel mid torque nut smacker
18v hackzall
18v fan
fuel 12v 3/8 ratchet

Also a corded sawzall and even a Milwaukee toolbox. No complaints about anything I have bought!

 

[crewchief888]

My 1st cordless drill was a CM, with nicad batteries, it didn't last long. Went with a ryobi kit, batteries crapped out after 18 months.
Li ion batteries came out I switched to rigid, mostly because of the LAS. So much for that after the batteries crapped out after a year.
I then went to bluepoint for a 3/8" Dr impact, little over 2 years and the batteries and gun were junk.

Switched over to Milwaukee fuel 4 years ago,18v 3/8" Dr impact, grinder, 12v fuel 3/8 & 1/2" drill, 1/4 hex driver, 12v flashlight. All still going strong after years of abuse in my service truck.