18v Kits

[Bull]

I'm looking to buy an 18v tool kit to use while working on my old barn. I am unsure whether to go with Milwaukee, DeWalt, Hitachi, Makita, or Rigid. Seems that for just about any brand, you will find people saying that they are great, and others saying they are terrible. What do you guys here think?

Also, are the reconditioned tools worth looking into? They are available at a significant savings, that is for sure.

Thanks for your help.

Dave

 

[iiibdsiil]

The Ridgid 14.4 volt drill is definitely heavier (weight) then the DeWalts. I gotta imagine it would apply to the 18 volt too.

BUT, you can register online and get a lifetime warranty on the Ridgid tools, including batteries. It's hard to beat that.

 

[wantedabiggergarage]

In the Ridgid, the lifetime service agreement, is NOT available on refurbished.

 

[l_bilyk]

They all have nice features (except one)

The milwaukee tools are absolutely bullet proof. They are probably the toughest tools in the bunch, and what I would buy if i were shopping for a cordless 18v kit.

The makita kits are lightweight (good for smaller hands) and feature 4-pole motors.

The rigid carry a lifetime warranty, but they are somewhat crude and heavy

The dewalt cordless kits are not very good in my opinion. They are not as tough as milwaukee, use lower capacity nicad packs, and don't have the warranty of a rigid tool.

Don't have any experience with hitachi

 

[wilbilt]

DeWalt has a huge variety of combo kits, so it might be easier to find one that fits your needs. Personally, I don't feel DeWalt is worth the extra $$ over other brands, especially since they are essentially B&D tools (which cost 1/4 the price).

I have a couple of 12V B&D drill/drivers that have served very well for about 8 years now, and are identical except for color to the "compact series" DeWalts.

I also have a 14.4V Milwaukee I recently bought, and I like it very much. It has a much nicer "feel", and the battery can be reversed for working in close quarters. The keyless chuck is much better than B&D/DeWalt, and it has a 1/2" chuck, to boot. I will probably expand my collection of Milwaukee cordless in the future.

I know the 18V and 24V are "zippier", but a lot can be said for the lighter weight of the 12V and 14.4V battery packs.

 

[rambler]

In late 2004 I've brought a 18 volt Milwaukee 4 piece cordless tool kit (circular saw, 1/2" hammer drill, recip. saw, flashlight, charger & 2 batteries plus a free Milwaukee radio for 550.00 bucks at Home Depot. At the same time, I've also purchased the Dewalt 18 volt cordless tool set less the radio for the shop at work for the same price. I have to say the Milwaukee is the way better than the Dewalt and the warranty is 5 years for the Milwaukee but only 3 years for the Dewalt. If you go to any power tool discussion forum comparing the Milwaukee vs the Dewalt 18 volt cordless tools, you'll see a 3 to 1 vote for the former. Don't compare these good heavy duty tools to some of the cheaper 18 volt knock off that sells for less than 200 bucks per set. You're comparing professional tools to toys. Spend the extra money and you'll won't regret it. Too bad the extra 18 volts batteries for the Milwaukee cost about 125 bucks each. But I don't like waiting for the next battery to finish charging or maybe I'm using all the tools at once and don't like switching back and forth. In Canada, Home Depot has the Ridgid line as their house brand. My vote is for the Milwaukee.

 

[ranger_dood]

Ryobi is my vote, even though it's not listed.

 

[l_bilyk]

Too bad the extra 18 volts batteries for the Milwaukee cost about 125 bucks each.

Just as an aside, I rebuilt a battery pack for my 18v milwaukee drill using this method for under 20 dollars:

http://www.instructables.com/id/EIOLSCLBZ6EP287JJA/

 

[rambler]

Just as an aside, I rebuilt a battery pack for my 18v milwaukee drill using this method for under 20 dollars:

http://www.instructables.com/id/EIOLSCLBZ6EP287JJA/

Thanks, I'll have to try that next time one of my Milwaukee 18 volt batteries pack it in.

 

[Blacknwhitepit]

Ryobi is my vote, even though it's not listed.

+1 For Milwaukee.

P.S. Dude, are you serious?

-BWP

 

[l_bilyk]

Well ryobi is great value for your dollar, but I dropped a cordless circular saw and that was the end of it.

No kits out there match milwaukee in reliability.... except maybe bosch? The 5 year warranty speaks for itself. My drill was a used and abused hand-me-down and it still works great, even though it looks like it's been to hell and back.

 

[ranger_dood]

+1 For Milwaukee.

P.S. Dude, are you serious?

-BWP

Perfectly serious. For those of us who don't want to spend several hundred on a kit, the Ryobi kits make lots of sense. They're not bad tools, either. My dad has a 14.4v kit and my brother has a 18v kit, and they've both been though Hell and back the past few years, and both are still working 100%

Sure, they're not contractor grade, but for home use, they do just fine.

 

[Uncle Buck]

I will throw my vote for the cheap Ryobe as well. Most of the premium brands mentioned would be the ideal choice, but I have other considerations and the Ryobe products I own have performed flawlessly for several years at a fraction of the cost of the high zoot equipment touted above!

 

[eschoendorff]

I will throw my vote for the cheap Ryobe as well. Most of the premium brands mentioned would be the ideal choice, but I have other considerations and the Ryobe products I own have performed flawlessly for several years at a fraction of the cost of the high zoot equipment touted above!

I am ashamed to say that I have and use the Ryobi 3 speed hammerdrill. I got it like 3 or 4 years ago and I am just now on the second set of batteries. I gotta admit, that drill stood up to an awful lot... so, maybe on second thought, I'm not that ashamed at all

 

[Blacknwhitepit]

Since I have owned a Ryobi made Craftsman cordless drill (Was a gift) I was less than impressed. Gave it to my 14 year old nephew. Perhaps I have been spoiled by contractor grade tools; but you don't have to pay contractor grade prices.

I never buy new. I always keep my eye open for Milwaukee at Flea Markets and Pawn shops (and EBAY of course). They may not all look pretty, but they run and they last. I bought a 25 year old Milwaukee Hammer drill for $5 at a flea market. It only needed a new power cord. Put a new one on and it worked like new.

And if you EVER need parts their parts supply and online diagrams are second to none.

Buy quality tools once, or keep buying inferior tools many times.

-BWP

 

[boiler7904]

Fine Homebuilding magazine had a review of 18 volt combo kits in the January 2006 issue. From their article:

Best Overall Choice - Milwaukee. Power:A-, Endurance:A, Controls/Adjustments:A+, Battery/Charger:B+
Best Value Choice - DeWalt. Power:A+, Endurance:B+, Controls/Adjustments:B+, Battery/Charger: C+

Ridgid, Porter Cable, and Bosch were listed as very good tools that would be recommended.

Metabo and Makita ranked behind the recommended group.

Panasonic, Hitachi, Craftsman, and Ryobi not recommended for a variety of reasons. The main reason was that they did not offer value for the money.

This article was written before the new Makita 18 Volt LXT Lithium Tools or Milwaukee V18 Lithium batteries (tools are basically same as with NiCad battery packs) were widely available. I've heard nothing but good things about the Makita LXT tools.

The DeWalt 18 volt platform is by far the most versatile with over 30 tools available. Around here, Dewalt dominates the 18 volt market for commercial construction. Milwaukee is a distant second. You see a small mix of everything else.

As far as the reconditioned tools go, the tools themselves are usually perfectly fine. What you have to watch out for is the batteries. The batteries that come with reconditioned tools are used and may or may not have a long life ahead of them. Replacement is pricey unless you can convince the vendor to give you new batteries.

I think your best bet is to go to a dedicated tool store and handle the main tools from each kit that you are considering and see what you do or don't like.

If you're willing to buy without handling each kit, check out Heavy Duty Tools. They have good prices and give awesome service. The only problem is that their stock moves quickly and sales disappear as soon as items sell out.

 

[Bull]

boiler, that info was very, very helpful. Thanks a lot for taking the time to post it all!

 

[boiler7904]

boiler, that info was very, very helpful. Thanks a lot for taking the time to post it all!

No problem. Glad the info could help. I'm in the process of moving and happened to remember seeing that banner across the top of the magazine on a stack on a bookcase. That article did a quick run down on each brand like I posted for Milwaukee and Dewalt along with a paragraph about each kit. I forgot to mention in that post that their ratings were based on the circular saws, drills, and batteries from each system.

 

[Bull]

I went to the Heavy Duty Tools website and found a Milwaukee kit that I wanted to buy...but it is sold out. Oh well, I'll keep checking with them. You have ordered from them before and received good service?

 

[boiler7904]

I went to the Heavy Duty Tools website and found a Milwaukee kit that I wanted to buy...but it is sold out. Oh well, I'll keep checking with them. You have ordered from them before and received good service?

Heavy Duty Tools is the website for Strickland Electric Supply. They might have inventory that is not listed on the webpage. Might try giving them a call at the number listed on the site.

I have ordered from them a few times over the past 12-15 months and have had nothing but good service.

They ship orders the day they receive them - I only use standard ground shipping and always have orders in 2 days or less (North Carolina to Chicago suburbs).

They provide customer service when something goes wrong. Case in point. I ordered a Bosch Impactor from them. The case came cracked and with a broken latch. I called the customer service number and one of the owners of the company answered - how often does that happen? Told me that he would send out a new case as soon as he had one. Nothing happened for 2 or 3 weeks. I got busy and fogot about it too so I couldn't really blame him. I called back and talked to him again. He went into his inventory and opened a new unit to give me the case. It was on my desk at work the following day. All I had to do was ship back the old one (at his expense). I'm willing to pay for service like that. The thing with them though is you don't have to. They rock bottom pricing backed by awesome service.

You usually pay for shipping from them (they do have free shipping listed on some items) but the savings on the tool itself more than makes up for it. My Impactor was on sale for $135. List was $200. I paid $7.00 in shipping. My other good score was Makita router bits. I got a six piece set listing for $125 for $14. At that price, I bought two. Shipping was a whopping 4 bucks because I also added a set of Klein linesman pliers. You can do the math on that one.

One other thing. Get on the email list. They send out sale notices in advance of them being posted on the site.

I'd buy all of my tools from them if they always had what I was looking for when I was looking for it.

 

[boiler7904]

I'm looking to buy an 18v tool kit to use while working on my old barn. I am unsure whether to go with Milwaukee, DeWalt, Hitachi, Makita, or Rigid. Seems that for just about any brand, you will find people saying that they are great, and others saying they are terrible. What do you guys here think?

Also, are the reconditioned tools worth looking into? They are available at a significant savings, that is for sure.

Thanks for your help.

Dave

Just curious what you ended up with.