Cordless are great for convenience but have some downfalls. Ergonomics and noise are the two big ones that keep my pneumatics in my arsenal. Not to mention reliability.
I'd like to see the effect of increasing the running pressure to 120PSI.
Dilemma... Dewalt or Milwaukee?
- Thread starter AreYaSerious
- Start date
Cordless are great for convenience but have some downfalls. Ergonomics and noise are the two big ones that keep my pneumatics in my arsenal. Not to mention reliability.
I'd like to see the effect of increasing the running pressure to 120PSI.
Delta74
Well-known member
could not resist jumping in here, I am taking a break from electrical for a while ( waiting for knee surgery and industrial work again) and spend my days flogging tools and the main brands are Dewalt, Milwaukee and makita we send thrue the doors for cordless.
As others have said for automotive electrical and plumbing cant beat Milwaukee , there ratchets, impacts and drills to name a few cant be beat, and there M18 lineup of impacts is also impressive for power.
Dewalt nothing out there beats there 60v circ saw , as a die hard team red guy that hurts to say, but getting to talk to the reps, play with the toys back to back and basically act like a kid in a candy store yup , my money is the 60v circ saw.
Makita good all around brand, lacks power but makes up for it with finesse, around here its the finish carpenters and fine detail guys that use Makita. all in all , i am personally not impressed with them, there impact drivers are weaker then the others for shear torque however i can slow that sucker down and count the rev's where say Milwaukee its all go or stopped dead.
the end of the day it is tough to go wrong with any of them, but in a perfect world you will have a bit of all of them.
the biggest one, Price... cant beat DeWalt for the price, if your broke or just starting out i can get you a hell of alot more in Dewalt then any of the other brands out there for the same cash.
Ok stop reading now if you could care less about the main things I have found working in a tool shop.
Dewalt usually lower priced and higher margins as you can imagine the boss's like us to sell DeWalt. best support from the company reps also comes from Dewalt, and a close second goes to Makita. Milwaukee could not give a rats ***, unless your Home Depot good luck getting quick service or support from the reps. main reason we can figure on that, Milwaukee has the contracts to build the Ryobi and rigid line of tools as well. so the buying power from HD makes them there prefered distributor.
Makita recently launched there new massively upgraded line of tools giving Milwaukee and DeWalt a run for there money in the pure power department however its a new 40 volt platform with ZERO backwards support to there current 18 volt setup, yup thats right they flipped off there loyal customers again, and the price is just insane, do I buy 1 new drill, 1 new battery and charger ( as a kit ) or do i save a hundred bucks, and buy the Milwaukee (or 18volt Makita )Drill , impact , 2 batteries and charger) and for DeWalt 150 bucks saved.
and dont let the voltage of DeWalt's 20 volt line fool ya, read the fine print or look at the EU where they have tougher laws on advertising, its 20 volt MAX... they use the fresh off the charger floating voltage to get the 20 volt... in reality and in the EU its still 18 volts... atleast the new 60 volt batteries are backwards compatable to work in the 20 volt gear. and there newest line of the tools the FlexVolt Advantage systems that are 20 volt based but can make use of the higher voltages from the 60 volt batteries and gain a 30-50% increase in torque ( according to the reps that fill us in on the newest changes)
anyway thanks for sticking in there with me. Again honestly cant go wrong with any of them, see who sells what in the area and try to find someplace other then HD to buy them as they seem to sucker in the average house guy and charge a premium price to the uninformed , I know here the exact same kit from HD is usually 50-90 bucks more then what we charge, and our two other friendly competitors. once in a while thou.. Milwaukee and sometimes ( but rarely ) DeWalt will use them to liquidate older models of tools and blast them out at retail prices below our costs. and we dont buy 2 or 3 kits at a time... usually our orders from each of the brands are 3-4 million $$ at a time... which gives us really good buying power.
As others have said for automotive electrical and plumbing cant beat Milwaukee , there ratchets, impacts and drills to name a few cant be beat, and there M18 lineup of impacts is also impressive for power.
Dewalt nothing out there beats there 60v circ saw , as a die hard team red guy that hurts to say, but getting to talk to the reps, play with the toys back to back and basically act like a kid in a candy store yup , my money is the 60v circ saw.
Makita good all around brand, lacks power but makes up for it with finesse, around here its the finish carpenters and fine detail guys that use Makita. all in all , i am personally not impressed with them, there impact drivers are weaker then the others for shear torque however i can slow that sucker down and count the rev's where say Milwaukee its all go or stopped dead.
the end of the day it is tough to go wrong with any of them, but in a perfect world you will have a bit of all of them.
the biggest one, Price... cant beat DeWalt for the price, if your broke or just starting out i can get you a hell of alot more in Dewalt then any of the other brands out there for the same cash.
Ok stop reading now if you could care less about the main things I have found working in a tool shop.
Dewalt usually lower priced and higher margins as you can imagine the boss's like us to sell DeWalt. best support from the company reps also comes from Dewalt, and a close second goes to Makita. Milwaukee could not give a rats ***, unless your Home Depot good luck getting quick service or support from the reps. main reason we can figure on that, Milwaukee has the contracts to build the Ryobi and rigid line of tools as well. so the buying power from HD makes them there prefered distributor.
Makita recently launched there new massively upgraded line of tools giving Milwaukee and DeWalt a run for there money in the pure power department however its a new 40 volt platform with ZERO backwards support to there current 18 volt setup, yup thats right they flipped off there loyal customers again, and the price is just insane, do I buy 1 new drill, 1 new battery and charger ( as a kit ) or do i save a hundred bucks, and buy the Milwaukee (or 18volt Makita )Drill , impact , 2 batteries and charger) and for DeWalt 150 bucks saved.
and dont let the voltage of DeWalt's 20 volt line fool ya, read the fine print or look at the EU where they have tougher laws on advertising, its 20 volt MAX... they use the fresh off the charger floating voltage to get the 20 volt... in reality and in the EU its still 18 volts... atleast the new 60 volt batteries are backwards compatable to work in the 20 volt gear. and there newest line of the tools the FlexVolt Advantage systems that are 20 volt based but can make use of the higher voltages from the 60 volt batteries and gain a 30-50% increase in torque ( according to the reps that fill us in on the newest changes)
anyway thanks for sticking in there with me. Again honestly cant go wrong with any of them, see who sells what in the area and try to find someplace other then HD to buy them as they seem to sucker in the average house guy and charge a premium price to the uninformed , I know here the exact same kit from HD is usually 50-90 bucks more then what we charge, and our two other friendly competitors. once in a while thou.. Milwaukee and sometimes ( but rarely ) DeWalt will use them to liquidate older models of tools and blast them out at retail prices below our costs. and we dont buy 2 or 3 kits at a time... usually our orders from each of the brands are 3-4 million $$ at a time... which gives us really good buying power.
bob15
Well-known member
Please set the red kool-aid down.
Milwaukee most certainly abandoned their 18v users when the dropped their old German-made 18v systems for their newer fuel line-up.
Plastikosmd
Well-known member
- Joined
- Nov 17, 2016
- Messages
- 1,254
M12/m18
I love the flexibility
I love the flexibility
Badgerstate
Well-known member
Id probably go Milwaukee. IMO, the quality of DeWalt is just so-so and you cant beat the quality and selection that Milwaukee has in their M12 and M18 line.
Having said that, Id go Ryobi over either Milwaukee or DeWalt. Not because Ryobi is better but because Ryobi is just as good and costs 1/2 to 1/3 as much.
Given the choice of DeWalt or Milwaukee though, Id go Milwaukee M12 for the hammer drill/drill driver, impact driver, jig saw and circular saw. Id then get either a corded Milwaukee sheet sander or would get into the M18 line with the M18 random orbital sander and get the charger that charges both M12 and M18 batteries.
Having said that, Id go Ryobi over either Milwaukee or DeWalt. Not because Ryobi is better but because Ryobi is just as good and costs 1/2 to 1/3 as much.
Given the choice of DeWalt or Milwaukee though, Id go Milwaukee M12 for the hammer drill/drill driver, impact driver, jig saw and circular saw. Id then get either a corded Milwaukee sheet sander or would get into the M18 line with the M18 random orbital sander and get the charger that charges both M12 and M18 batteries.
I now have M12, M18, and 20V. 
Started with M12 love these for most things and M12 has some nice mechanics tools. Then got the Dewalt 20V hedge trimmer with battery for same cost as Milwaukee bare tool. Then got M18 grass trimmer since I prefer it over the Dewalt. I'd go M18 over 20V since I more often prefer the red version, but have nothing against Dewalt and the hedge trimer is great.
Started with M12 love these for most things and M12 has some nice mechanics tools. Then got the Dewalt 20V hedge trimmer with battery for same cost as Milwaukee bare tool. Then got M18 grass trimmer since I prefer it over the Dewalt. I'd go M18 over 20V since I more often prefer the red version, but have nothing against Dewalt and the hedge trimer is great.Tennessee Cattleman
Well-known member
Currently running my first battery powered Milwaukee drill, a M18 Fuel and it seems to do great without much battery recharging. I have had 3 Dewalt's over the last 20 years or so from a 12v to 18v Ni-cad. Found a really good deal on a Red drill, so I decided to try it. Batteries improvements have came a long way.
Renegade1LI
Well-known member
Easy, just get both.
dnschmidt
Well-known member
DeWalt has an opportunity here that Milwaukee must fear. I'm TEAM RED all the way but the 20V Powerstack battery puts the M12 line in jeopardy as it makes DeWalt’s atomic 20V tools the same size as M12 but far more powerful. Milwaukee has to get a small stacked lithium battery out ASAP.