DeWalt vs Milwaukee - question

[garandman]

Planning to buy a 1/2” mid torque cordless impact wrench, mostly for lug nuts but also some tractor parts.

So, of course, the Black Friday deals seem to be everything but 1/2” mid torque cordless impact wrench.

Have a very complete set of 18V DeWalt but there doesn’t seem to be any real advantage to sticking with them as the adapters cost the same.

 

[dnschmidt]

The Torque Test Channel tested both and the conclusion was that the DeWalt is more powerful but the Milwaukee is lighter and smaller with similar but not quite as high of torque. I've got both but prefer the Milwaukee Gen 2 over the latest Dewalt based on feel and vibration. The original Milwaukee Mid-Torque version 1 was much less powerful than either the version 2 or the DeWalt.

 

[cannuck]

I started out with Makita 9V stuff because all of my corded stuff was blue - and that was because we had a Makita factory outlet in town and I would just dump a huge pile of tools on their desk at the end of every production season and tell them to call me when everything was as new. Spent decades going from branch to branch all over North America of my "day job" client when cordless stuff went 18V L ion so started to notice a lot of red. Head office tested virtually every brand (2,000 people in the field) and found best bang for their buck was Milwaukee. We also have red factory outlet in town for support so that's they way I went. Also bought our kids Ryobi stuff (no confusion with my tools) that keeps it all "in the family".

 

[DrinkMan]

Mid-Torque? This is Garage Journal - what is worth doing is worth over-doing. How about 1700 ft-lb of break loose power?

The Big Impact

(it has actually come in handy quite a bit getting things loose for us but I'm scared to tighten anything with it)

 

[charbar]

Carpentry stuff - Yellow
Mechanical stuff - Red (with the exception of a Green 14.4V Snap-On impact I just ordered, I love that paddle trigger)

Hopefully you have better luck with that snap on impact than I ever did. Those impacts were the final nail in the coffin for me to literally give away all my SO 14.4 volt stuff (thousands of dollars worth) to friends and go all M12. I bet I went through 4 of those impacts in 6 or 7 years. And I also got tired of buying new batteries from snappy all the time. Was so frustrated with snaps ons ****** quality that I dropped around $2500 for all new M12 stuff and never looked back.


Back to the original post...I think it's stupid to say one brand is better than the other as a whole when it pertains to DeWalt and Milwaukee. Break it down to a specific tool and then we can actually argue about which company offers the better tool.

I have a pile of red M12 and a pile of yellow 20v stuff that I beat the piss out of daily in a repair shop. They are both great tools in my opinion.

 

[Farmall450]

Back to the original post...I think it's stupid to say one brand is better than the other as a whole when it pertains to DeWalt and Milwaukee. Break it down to a specific tool and then we can actually argue about which company offers the better tool.

This is the only answer.

 

[garandman]

Mid-Torque? This is Garage Journal - what is worth doing is worth over-doing. How about 1700 ft-lb of break loose power?

(it has actually come in handy quite a bit getting things loose for us but I'm scared to tighten anything with it)

8.4 pounds….

DeWalt DCF896 is 3.5 lbs. Some of the tractor stuff is pretty big but seems the mod-range tools will break it loose.

 

[finn]

8.4 pounds….

DeWalt DCF896 is 3.5 lbs. Some of the tractor stuff is pretty big but seems the mod-range tools will break it loose.

I have a high torque Milwaukee but I very rarely break it out. It’s heavy and uncomfortable to use. My go to ie the a Dewalt Atomic followed by the mid torque M18. I probably use the Atomic 3/8 or 1/2 90% of the time.

 

[SilverJimmy]

This was at the local HomeDespot last week….

I don’t have any yellow stuff but a couple friends do so I sent them the picture!

 

[duneslider]

Dewalt was first to introduce the pouch battery technology with the Powerstack a couple of years ago. I might be wrong, but I don’t think Milwaukee is there yet. The pouch technology yields more useable power out of a compact package.

This is marketing BS and really means nothing. Pouches or rolls it's all the same thing. The pouches can be a bit better to make the physical size of the battery pack smaller but that's it. They are also more susceptible to damage and less durable.

This is just like dewalts "20v" BS claim, they are no more 20v than milwaukee or Makita.

I do like the massive Milwaukee offering but haven't used many of their tools. I have used a lot of dewalt and like the ergonomics but I have had a lot of dewalt failures. I personally own mostly makita and a few bosch.

 

[finn]

This is marketing BS and really means nothing. Pouches or rolls it's all the same thing. The pouches can be a bit better to make the physical size of the battery pack smaller but that's it. They are also more susceptible to damage and less durable.

This is just like dewalts "20v" BS claim, they are no more 20v than milwaukee or Makita.

I do like the massive Milwaukee offering but haven't used many of their tools. I have used a lot of dewalt and like the ergonomics but I have had a lot of dewalt failures. I personally own mostly makita and a few bosch.

And Milwaukee 12v is actually 10.8.

Lots of companies are using 20v Max now. I just bought another brand 12v Max pole saw. I think

For Dewalt it (20v Max) was a logical way to differentiate the Lithium packs from the old nicad stem lawyout batteries.

The pouch is new technology that allows increased power density. Milwaukee is now using the same pouch technology as Dewalt in their latest batteries.

You’re in denial.

 

[duneslider]

And Milwaukee 12v is actually 10.8.

Lots of companies are using 20v Max now. I just bought another brand 12v Max pole saw. I think

For Dewalt it (20v Max) was a logical way to differentiate the Lithium packs from the old nicad stem lawyout batteries.

The pouch is new technology that allows increased power density. Milwaukee is now using the same pouch technology as Dewalt in their latest batteries.

You’re in denial.

Nope, you are wrong. Pouch batteries have been around as long as Lithium technology has been around. You can package lithium batteries in multiple ways but the two most common are the "jelly roll" or the pouch. The pouch is great for stuff that needs unique irregularly shaped cells, this is what is in every cell phone and has been in them for 20 years. I was using Lipo pouch batteries like 25 years ago in RC cars. Whether you roll it, or fold it, it's the same battery. All the big boys are using the same lifepo4 battery technology with cells that have a nominal voltage of 3.2v each. 6 cells for a total of 19.2v (nominal). Now all batteries right when you take them off the charger show a voltage higher than nominal. My bosch batteries off the charger show over 20v, makita over 20v, dewalt, etc.

What is true is that the pouch cells can be crammed into a tighter space than the round cells, so a 4amp pack of pouches should be a little smaller and lighter than a 4amp pack of round.

 

[finn]

Nope, you are wrong. Pouch batteries have been around as long as Lithium technology has been around. You can package lithium batteries in multiple ways but the two most common are the "jelly roll" or the pouch. The pouch is great for stuff that needs unique irregularly shaped cells, this is what is in every cell phone and has been in them for 20 years. I was using Lipo pouch batteries like 25 years ago in RC cars. Whether you roll it, or fold it, it's the same battery. All the big boys are using the same lifepo4 battery technology with cells that have a nominal voltage of 3.2v each. 6 cells for a total of 19.2v (nominal). Now all batteries right when you take them off the charger show a voltage higher than nominal. My bosch batteries off the charger show over 20v, makita over 20v, dewalt, etc.

What is true is that the pouch cells can be crammed into a tighter space than the round cells, so a 4amp pack of pouches should be a little smaller and lighter than a 4amp pack of round.

Exactly Smaller and lighter. Better for tool applications