Battery drills and drivers

[CitadelBlue]

My 10 year old12 volt dewalt impact screw driver is on its last leg. Although I didnt use it that much over the years, I decided to resurface my deck with trex so it is now getting alot of use and recharging. I put off buying a replacement last week from the black Friday sales, but noticed that Lowes still has a 20 v brushless set on sale this week $149 and I can use my military discount to get a $15 discount. What do you think? Should I be concerned about the 1.3ah battery?Just wanted to get some thoughts on this combo set.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/DEWALT-20-...ries-Included-and-Charger-Included/1000135831

 

[Dan in Pasadena]

My recommendation after having had a Makita is to get a Milwaukee 20 volt. I've had mine several years now and Can't speak highly enough of it.

 

[DFB]

What do you think? Should I be concerned about the 1.3ah battery?Just wanted to get some thoughts on this combo set.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/DEWALT-20-...ries-Included-and-Charger-Included/1000135831

Ya you should if your thinking of running deck screws in any quantity those small batteries won't get you far....

Unless of course you have all the time in the world to do the job

 

[sberry]

I am all for economy but this is a place to buck up to some good stuff, buy as much power as you can. 5 and 6, even more batteries are common now, they run big bits.

 

[juddspaintballs]

The Milwaukee M12 Fuel bit driver lasts pretty long on the little batteries. The batteries are cheap and charge fast, too. I bought a Milwaukee M18 tool from Home Depot yesterday and they still had the Black Friday deals going on. 10% Military discount there, too.

 

[CitadelBlue]

Seems the amount of time that the charge lasts depends on the "ah" rating of the included battery. The dewalt comes with a 1.3ah battery. The M18 comes with either a 1.5ah or 3.0ah depending on the model. Other than that everything else is pretty much the same.

 

[JMLangford]

Last year one of my sons bought me the Drill, two 1.3Ah batteries, and a charger on sale at Christmas for $99


The great thing about this drill is that it is a 1/2" chuck.....

@ $149 and your military discount I'd say thatls a pretty good deal

Buy it

.

 

[finn]

Those small batteries in the Dewalt kit charge pretty quickly and are lightweight. I mostly used the brushless Dewalt impact driver for my last deck and had no issues with battery capacity.

I had a flexvolt pack available as backup, but do recall using it on the driver. It stayed on the circular saw.

I used my Bosch brushed driver on the previous deck, a couple of years ago. I think that kit came with 1.5 amp/hr batteries. No issues with that one either.

Nothing wrong with stopping for a cool one if you out run your batteries, either.

 

[DFB]

Only you can decide if the "runtime" will be good enough for you.

Simply put 1.3AH-1.5AH batteries are the most minimal no matter what when it comes to cordless tools. Depending on the load draw lets figure you may get 30 min running at best doing some household chores but probably less if lets say you started running down several dozen 2 1/2" deck screw or was to bore a one inch hole thru a half dozen floor joists to run some wire. Then 30 min or so to recharge each time. Ya two batteries will probably keep you going but many including myself don't prefer to quickly run out of juice, having to stop and continually swap

Never mind run what may eventually be an additional tool purchase like a recip or circ saw or even a multiool. Or a decent worklight.

The 4.0AH has pretty much set a standard for a longtime and 5.0's are now most often the norm for extra capacity kits.

Still...they continue to package the small batteries for starter tool kits. It helps keeps the entry level price competitive between the higher end tool brands examples like Milwaukee, Makita and Dewalt (generally aiming for a more commercial/professional user) and others brands often considered to be of a more economical cost platform such as Ryobi, Craftsman, Braun.

Then it's all the user discretion to "upgrade"

Market gone wild lately with all these Extended Run, High Demand and High Output batteries plus dual voltage tool platforms

 

[Trapps]

snip... What do you think? Should I be concerned about the 1.3ah battery?Just wanted to get some thoughts on this combo set.

https://www.lowes.com/pd/DEWALT-20-...ries-Included-and-Charger-Included/1000135831

Comes with 2 batteries, even with the smaller size, you'd be OK. They charge pretty quick now, so run one, charge one. You can always add more/different sizes later. The only other consideration I would have is committing to one battery platform. Not everyone does or cares. I have gone that route. Dewalt makes a good product from my personal experience. My first cordless drill/driver was a DeWalt 15+ years ago.

PS, My son is a Junior at The Citadel. Great School!

 

[Farmall450]

The 1.3 is plenty for light work. With that being said, there were/are lots of Cyber week deals for kits with 2.0+ size batteries. Regardless, you'll be well served in the BL 20v MAX.

Personally I don't like drills/impacts w/ larger than 2.0 batteries (even the new 3.0 slim). Too bulky.

 

[WittHay]

To keep the costs down in some of the kits they include the 1.3 batteries which dont have the indicator lights and i think are made in China. I have a bunch of the 2.0's which are made in Malaysia and have the charge indicator lights

The 1.3/1.5 and 2.0's are handy for the compact drill, lighter work with impact drivers, smaller impact wrenches and hand held lighting. You can always buy a 4.0 or 5.0 if needed

 

[seber]

I have 1 1/2, 3 and 4 amp. The 1 1/2 never gets used. It just runs out too damn fast. In addition, it limits the amount of power available. Try drilling a few 1" holes for stump rotting and the 1 1/2" is just about useless.

 

[HondaCBMan]

I mostly use my M12 Fuel stuff now but have 18v as well. Using the compact 3.0 and XC (extended capacity) 4.0 batteries. The latter not only increases run time but the power as well.

If it's going to be your only tools, get 18/20v. And get both a "compact" and bigger battery.

 

[CitadelBlue]

Good stuff...keep it coming.
The Citadel 76 G co.

 

[DFB]

I dunno what more to say

I also mainly designate many of my smaller compacts steadily to certain tools like flashlights, and accessory stuff. And with like it was already mentioned the impact drivers, For me especially like with quick trip up a ladder let say, and using the belt clip to attach my tool to my work bag or belt. You don't always need a big battery there.

I purchased a battery drill as a compact kit once early on. For 2 reasons main reasons really #1 it is a good drill and #2 because the price was much too good to turn down the package.

But after using it some I could say with the 18v drill in hand it feels a bit unbalanced with a compact battery. It's slightly forward heavy and always wants to rotate downward, where as with a larger XC the chuck/bit stays pointing straight while your holding loosely not a big deal but maybe a bit annoying.

We all have to start out somewhere with something and for most users it's platform choice and with future expansion in mind.

A lot of later purchases also came packaged with the 2.0 compacts as they were just screaming deals plus they work well together things like the drywall screwgun and Mid Torque wrench

 

[HankyPanky1]

I use M12 and M18 Milwaukee products. With a multi charger I can charge 12 or 18 volt batteries (which other platforms offer as well). I have the M18 1/4 2853 impact driver and the m12 1/4 2553. The smaller M12 impact driver is used on small automotive interior work, oil pans, valve covers, etc. The larger M18 driver is perfect for running deck screws and drywall screws. The extra weight from the 18 volt battery makes it better suited for these tasks than the m12.

I have found that the larger ah batteries also give you slight boosts of power over the smaller ah batteries. Example: I wanted to experiment with taking my lug nuts off of my car with the m12 1/4 impact driver. I don't normally use it for this. With the m12 2.0 battery the lugnuts would not budge. After swapping to the m12 4.0xc battery, the lug nuts came off with ease. Milwaukee says that the higher output batteries run at the same amperage as the smaller batteries but I have found this to be false.

On my m18 tools, sometimes I can use them for days or even weeks without recharging them depending on how often I use them that week. This is with 4.0/5.0 batteries. Even if you don't buy from Milwaukee, whatever brand you choose, get some smaller batteries for working in tight spaces and the larger batteries for when you might be working outside away from your chargers and you need reliable run time.

You might also want to purchase larger tools that share the same batteries. Get the 5.0ah battery and you can run your impact driver for screws and your cutting tools you may purchase in the future as well.

 

[Farmall450]

I don't think you can really beat that price with your discount. I've had the 777 and know it to be a good drill. Normally the drill or impact with 2 batteries and a charger is $150.

https://www.farmandfleet.com/produc...m-ion-compact-brushless-drill-driver-kit.html

https://www.farmandfleet.com/produc...drill-driver-and-impact-driver-combo-kit.html

If you're really worried about batteries, by both separately at 99 and you have 4x batteries and 2x chargers for another $45. however, you can easily sell the spare charger for $30. I'd say 2 more batteries for $15 is pretty good.

 

[Nineeightyone]

I'm on the 20v Dewalt platform, and it's pretty sweet. I would strongly advise opting for brushless, and the 3-speed impact driver -- DCF887, there's also one that has all the speed control in the trigger (DCF885) but it's an annoyance compared to the speed limiting options available in the 887.

I would suggest for larger projects picking up a couple larger capacity batteries as well. I've not had any issues with the impact driver lasting through projects on the supplied 1.5ah batteries, however I generally keep at least two more batteries charged and ready to go just in case, and immediately put the empty battery on the charger after changing them out.

My only overall complaint with Dewalt is that there's typically a "lower end" and a "higher end" tool, and sometimes one has to pay attention to what features are available on what model numbers -- again with the impact driver being my primary example, there is a lower-end driver available for not much less money that has some usability features lacking, but to the untrained eye you wouldn't know to look for a minor difference like that. But that's present on pretty much all tool lines as far as I'm aware.

 

[Farmall450]

My only overall complaint with Dewalt is that there's typically a "lower end" and a "higher end" tool, and sometimes one has to pay attention to what features are available on what model numbers -- again with the impact driver being my primary example, there is a lower-end driver available for not much less money that has some usability features lacking, but to the untrained eye you wouldn't know to look for a minor difference like that. But that's present on pretty much all tool lines as far as I'm aware.

Yup, but those are still plenty good tools for most. IE how this kit is the 787 not 887 impact. Still brushless. I use that same compact drill for heavy metal, etc in the shop -- it's 2 years old and thriving.



You get what you pay for. I think for $135 he's not going to be getting top of the line (from a reputable retailer) in ANY brand. (well, maybe Ryobi).

 

[Rabid Badger]

If anyone is looking for a drill/impact driver combo Amazon has an insane deal on Makita's high-end kit for $220 with 5Ah batteries.

https://www.amazon.com/Makita-XT268T-Lithium-Ion-Brushless-Cordless/dp/B01MF6D3O8

It might be a pricing mistake, as this is about $130 cheaper than it has ever been.