Cordless Tools

[madmikeee]

Anyone else almost find these items useless? I have corded saws, sawzall, drills etc that get regular use and the only thing I use my cordless items for is ....well nothing except for driving screws. Short of parts picking at the local boneyard or driving a few screws I have almost zero use for them. Not to mention I go through batteries like candy. The craftsman cordless set my wife bought me about 7-8 years ago still works great but I have had to buy 4 new batteries in that time. For that cost I could have just bought a new "set".

I am considering just buying a good cordless screwdriver and not purchasing another cordless item except MAYBE a replacement cordless drill and sure as hell not a craftsman.

 

[Monte]

Depends...In a house/garage you usually have power outlets everywhere so cordless is pointless, except if you are lazy
At a construction site/for professional use you might want/need cordless tools. But for home use i don´t see it neither.

 

[lugnut71]

The most use I have gotten out of my cordless sawzall is trimming trees. Works great for small branches.

 

[mrjaw14]

I've done a lot of work under my house and in the attic. cordless tools are extremely valuable in those places. Not to mention out in the shop, yard, etc. There's times I want corded, but most of the time I reach for cordless.

 

[HeelSpur]

I have a black and decker matrix with the removable head. Very handy when your up a ladder and have to cut an opening and/or drill. Drill a hole take that head off and put a sabre saw head on or skill saw head. I don't use very often but it goes with me on jobs just in case I need it.

 

[firebox40dash5]

Depends what you've got. If they're so nutless you go for corded every time, or they go through batteries that fast, then yeah, they're pretty useless.

I work in an auto shop. I have air and 110v all along 1-1/2 of our 4 walls. However, dragging out an extension cord to cut one thing with a sawzall or drill out 4 rivets and then winding it back up is tedious and time consuming. Air is better, but I'm not a huge fan of air drills, and I've never really seen a full-size pneumatic sawzall. Doing light underhood or interior work, not having to drag a dirty air hose around is great.

I used to have Makita tools, and I'll be the first to tell you the runtime on the saws and angle grinders was pathetic. Basically all I used the grinder for was prepping small areas for welding or maybe painting, and that's all it could do any way. Likewise the sawzall could cut maybe 2 normal exhaust pipes, and the circ saw killed a battery before it ripped a full sheet. OTOH, I can get as much use as I usually need (15-20 minutes) out of my M18 Fuel grinder. Haven't tried the sawzall or circ saw in that flavor yet since it doesn't come up so often.

 

[oldwino]

I spent years in the trades dragging cords around and it's a PITA. If there is anything within a quarter mile the cord WILL hang up on it.

Just came in a few minutes ago from trimming trees and branches with 18v sawzall. Beats the hell out of fueling the chain saw and dragging it behind the truck to bump start it.

 

[mdnelson86]

I guess it all depends on what do and what tools you have.

I'm a farmer and cordless drills, ratchets, impacts, sawzalls, lights, grinders get used constantly. Couldn't imagine life without them now.

Sometimes I think what I do is about like what people would experience picking parts from a junkyard day in and out.

 

[GSteg]

While cordless tool is not for everyone, I think a lot of people are basing their experience off of older tools. A Milwaukee brushless circular saw is lighter, more powerful, and can run longer than a saw from 15 years ago. Same with drills, impacts, etc. Some people tried cordless once and vow never to try them again. Cordless is not for everyone, but neither are corded tools.

 

[Packard V8]

This debate rages here constantly , probably fifty times in various forms and questions.

Some generalities I see. Your opinions and results may vary:

Most everyone can find some good uses for a battery powered tool. I've got one battery powered drill and probably twenty AC and air drills.

Most everyone using a battery powered tool will be eventually be stranded in the middle of a job by a weak or dead battery.

Those who prefer convenience over cost and performance buy and use battery powered tools.

It's almost impossible to buy a good used battery powered tool. Every garage sale will have one to a box full of dead battery powered tools. A new battery will cost more than the tool did new.

Those who view power tools as a capital investment and expect them to last forever, those who want serious power will use AC or air powered tools. Good used AC and air tools are thick on the ground for very little money. I've got AC drills, impacts and sanders old enough to collect social security and they still work long and hard when called upon.

jack vines

 

[Horns]

I crew for a dirt late model race team and we use all cordless drills and impacts. Cords are too cumbersome trying to get around beneath the car, and they get in the way walking and working around the car.

Batteries last quite a long time for us actually and only take about 45 minutes to charge. We can usually work a whole night on 2 batteries per tool.

I will say, anything thicker that needs drilled or anything that needs the sawzall, a corded is used.

~Via Mobile

 

[scaron]

i'm with you, man; all my power tools are corded. but i'm just doing this at home, in my own garage or basement workshop, where access to power isn't an issue.

 

[PRH44]

Cordless portability is an absolute must in the construction industry. We use a lot of Hilti 36 volt hammer drills along with Milwaukee, Dewalt cordless hammer and standard drills. Cordless band saws are huge for us when running conduit out of a lift or climbing high on the steel structure
Every man that hits my job is tooled with a battery drill kit. In this case corded tools would cost us too much time and money stringing cords, tripping breakers, moving gen-sets about running after fuel.

However when working on the ground in the tool conex fabing up racks and such. Good quality corded power tools such 1/2" drive Milwaukee drill and a Greenlee bandsaw are my tools of choice.

 

[Jawn]

I love my 12v Makita cordless stuff... (drill, impact, circ saw) thinking of getting an 18v set too (drill, circ saw). But it's a good idea to have corded backups where practical.

 

[truckdriver]

The only corded tools I have are recip saw and grinders. Now that Milwaukee has those in the fuel line I will probably try them out. I have air drills,die grinders and impacts and except for the die grinder, I rarely use those. I hate getting the cord or air line caught on everything,and damn sure don't want to drag it into a vehicle. If you have 3 batteries(li-ion) per family you should never run out of battery unless using grinder/saw. Why the heck would I want to use corded tools when I don't have too?

 

[bonestock gt]

I work in a race car Fab shop and we have air lines and cord reels in most places and we use cordless impacts and drills almost exclusively.

 

[scoates]

I do mostly auto/hotrod stuff and love my sears cordless 1/2" & 3/8" impacts. I also have one of their cordless lights that I use exclusively.

Sent from my SM-N900T using Tapatalk

 

[LS6 Tommy]

All my guys have cordless hammer drills, small circular saws & reciprocating saws. REALLY handy in facilities maintenance...

Tommy

 

[Westly]

In places where 90% of the outlets are 480V, then it must be cordless! The perpetual struggle is making sure there's a charged battery available.

Sawzall most often used for cutting something useful off of something rusted to kingdom come, driver most often used on massive amounts of smallish nuts holding some panel on some machine.

 

[Mr Ratchet]

I'm not a fan of cordless. I'd rather mess around with an extension cord than with batteries.

I think Packard V8 summed it up pretty well. Manufacturers are always changing their battery designs so they don't interchange.

I do have one cordless tool, a drill. It's great for small and quicker jobs. My last cordless drill went through four batteries and a charger before I replaced it with a new set. The drill it's self still worked great...... when it had power.

 

[rice rocket]

The move to Li-ion cells has been huge for all things portable (cell phones, tools, electric cars, you name it). If you've only ever used Ni-cad batteries, you owe it to yourself to try some of the new stuff on the market.

I too was hugely frustrated with Ni-cads, batteries would kill themselves if you didn't follow the "proper operating procedure" to a T, but Li-ions are a whole new world.

 

[rtole]

I am helping a freind add on to his house, with table saws, miter saws, circular saws, planer, lights, and I am sure there are others, having some cordless stuff is nice. With not having enough extenstion cords, yet tripping over them constantly, I wish we had more cordless stuff. I have Milwalkee m18 stuff. He has dewalt 20 volt stuff. The only time we ran into battery trouble was roof day with the crane lifting for us. It was 30 below zero and we were working for 10 hours. Only at the end of the day were we short on battery power. We both have a impact driver and drill and 2 batteries each. At times all four were going at the same time, so we could not use one while the other was charging. I always heard that lithium batteries were usless in cold..........I was impressed with both brands. I still like my m18 better, but the dewalt was doing darn near as good.

 

[gdh33]

Cordless drill and driver for convenience. If you only need to do one or two things, it is so easy and quick. Or if you are constantly moving locations, or away from an outlet then cordless wins. It you are doing a bunch of work in one area, why wouldn't you use air or corded? Hauling a cord and wrapping it back up is a pain if you are tripping on it or have a 5 minute job. I have a Bosch 12V drill and driver and they fit mostly in my jeans pocket. Charge them maybe once a year for my use.

 

[BajaBound]

Craftsman c3 with lithium batteries. The new design c3 lithium batteries are even better.

 

[MattPersman]

Lithium ion like others said have really made things better. Used to be you could get a ni cad set and just hope they worked for a year or 2. There are some better ni cads out there but the lithium are so much better on average. 7-8 years on a set of cordless? That's a ton. This stuff is wear items if you are using it everyday. If you are using it 1-2 times a year then corded probably is a better idea.

 

[KCarGuy]

I am One of Many that has fallen Prey to the "Cordless" Tool Must Have.

Yesterday, I was working on my Dining room addition and Got Fed Up with the short use Life that my 2 Batteries have lately started doing...Time to Spend "Way Too Much" for 2 New Ones.

Anyway, I went out to my Garage to grab all my "Corded" tools and went Old School and Continued working without having to stop, swap batteries, etc.

I really am Tired of spending my Hard Earned Money on Replacement Batteries...
I Think this year, I am only using them where there is no outlets anywhere near the job that I am doing.

I bought a Porter Cable Drill for $50 over 20 years ago and spend $0 since then...and it works great.
I bought a Dewalt cordless Drill for $135 about 5 years ago and spend an additional $120 on Batteries...and they need another set.
(what a waist of good Money)

I need to use my own tools in a much smarter way!

 

[madmikeee]

I see the need for cordless as stated in the past posts, especially on job sites but for people like myself who are hobbyists and general handyman work I see no need for cordless short of a good quality drill and driver. There is a place and need for all sorts of tools but I have finally figured out that for an average guy like myself who loves tools but not useless waste , battery powered tools are not all that necessary short of a drill and driver and even that is debatable.

 

[Voi]

Great thread. I'm going through some of the same thought processes myself as my current cordless systems age.

I would love to have a full sized cordless reciprocating saw. A brushless one with a high amp-hour Li-Ion battery would be even better. It seems like most of the time I use my corded one I have to run a lot of cord to get where I need to go.

Back when I drove a tiny pickup and was doing some cabinet building a cordless circular saw would have been great for breaking down sheet goods in the parking lot. But I have access to a full cabinet shop now where sheet goods are delivered so really a non-issue.

We have a cordless hand held Dyson vac for inside the house. I often wonder what some of these smaller cordless shop vacs are like. I think I'd use one and my wife is certain she'd use one.

I don't work on cars but still want an impact wrench for some of the other work I do. I could go air but then I can't take it on long trips when my back is hurting and I want it as a back up for wheel changes. A cordless impact wrench powerful enough for lugs is definitely a future buy.

Lastly, I went with a cordless oscillating tool and am glad I did. To me it seems as convenient as the cordless aspect of a drill or impact driver.

 

[GSteg]

We have a cordless hand held Dyson vac for inside the house. I often wonder what some of these smaller cordless shop vacs are like. I think I'd use one and my wife is certain she'd use one.

I have the dyson vac and a cordless Craftsman shop vac. They're both great for what I do. I use the craftsman a lot because I usually do small projects here and there, but not large enough that I need to pull out my 12 gallon shop vac. One thing I hate about my corded shop vac is the power plug is short. I can't get from one end of the garage to another without having to unplug, or get a longer extension, which adds time. With the cordless, I can take it anywhere.

 

[Voi]

I have the dyson vac and a cordless Craftsman shop vac. They're both great for what I do. I use the craftsman a lot because I usually do small projects here and there, but not large enough that I need to pull out my 12 gallon shop vac. One thing I hate about my corded shop vac is the power plug is short. I can't get from one end of the garage to another without having to unplug, or get a longer extension, which adds time. With the cordless, I can take it anywhere.

Thanks. Is this the Craftsman you have? The C3 one?

 

[krdiesel03]

Thanks. Is this the Craftsman you have? The C3 one?

I have the same one and use it all of the time, Nice thing about the C3 system is that they have not changed it in 10 years. They keep coming out with more tools that are cool. You can find the 4ah battery for 69 with coupons, and then get the 3 year swapout warranty for 10 bucks.

 

[mark5767]

Hmmm... I'm thinking about a corded version of my Milwaukee M12 heated jacket, it would have to be a pretty long cord!

 

[GSteg]

Thanks. Is this the Craftsman you have? The C3 one?

Yep, that's the one. It works well with the 2.6ah lithium battery, but even better with the 4ah. Milwaukee has their own wet/dry vac, but it cost about 2x more than the Craftsman. You seriously can't pry this vac away from me.

 

[truckdriver]

I would love to have a full sized cordless reciprocating saw. A brushless one with a high amp-hour Li-Ion battery would be even better. It seems like most of the time I use my corded one I have to run a lot of cord to get where I need to go.

Here you go.If I decide to get a cordless sawsall this will be it.
http://www.milwaukeetool.com/power-tools/cordless/2720-22

 

[Lombie]

What do you guys think is preferable for a dremel/rotary tool? Cordless or corded? Or do the same rules apply as with the larger power tools mentioned in this thread?

 

[taumac]

I have both I prefer corded for big tools like circular saw, jig , sazall, sanders, big 1/2 drill but I like my cordless drills and sazall.



Have a good one, Gerard

The 5 Stitches Garage part 1 http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=142100

The 5 Stitches Garage part2 http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=211899

 

[wildstyle]

My 18v xrp dewalt jigsaw is one of my favorite tools that I own.

Sent from my SGH-I747M using Tapatalk

 

[krdiesel03]

What do you guys think is preferable for a dremel/rotary tool? Cordless or corded? Or do the same rules apply as with the larger power tools mentioned in this thread?

only issue i have with the cordless dremels are that they get heavy for the larger one's

 

[Snaperoo]

As a dealer in automotive tools, I am seeing a huge shift to cordless tools. As the quality and run time improves, it's starting to push air tools out of the picture. Battery ratchets are so much easier to use than air, and the new cordless impact guns rival air tools in terms of power output. Keep in mind that you get what you pay for, so don't expect much if your buying cheap tools.

 

[ihateminimumwage]

The craftsman cordless set my wife bought me about 7-8 years ago still works great but I have had to buy 4 new batteries in that time. For that cost I could have just bought a new "set".

That is your problem right there. The technology has gone leaps and bounds in the last 3 years, let alone 8. Everything available now is lighter, holds a charge longer, charges faster, and is probably twice as powerful as that old CM set.

My M12 drill with battery weighs about the same as my old Dewalt 18v XRP battery alone, and drills through steel with a step bit like it's nothing.

I've used cordless tools in carpentry, construction, automotive and diesel work. I can promise you if you update to the Milwaukee M12/M18 lines or Dewalt 20v tools, you will drastically change your opinion on cordless tools.