Ni Cad vs. Li-ion

[jake26]

Hey gang,

I am in the market for a new drill. My 4 year old Crapsman has a busted trigger and the many attemps to fix it has been unsuccessful. New tools are always fun but I am at a delima.

Being a weekend DIY home owner, I want a nice 18V drill but cannot make up my mind because the sticking point is the type of battery. I normally try to purchase the more updated equipment to not immediately date them but the drill I really like is the Dewalt DC720KA but it uses the Nickle-Cadmium batteries and not the more advanced Lithium-Ion.

http://www.cordless-drill-reviews.com/dewalt-dc720ka.html

I have heard the Li-ion batteries are better because of shelf longevity and charge time but other problems exist with them such as leaving them on the charger can ruin them an the cost while Ni-Cad is half the price.

Any experiance or opinons on batteries?

 

[Torque1st]

Ni-Cad and Ni-MH have served me well.

 

[BigRed390]

Porter Cable Ni-cad from Lowes. The 4 piece contractor in a bag set goes on sale from time to time for $129. Cheaper than a lot of companies sell drills for, and my set has managed to hold up under some pretty absurd homeowner conditions.

 

[Teken]

Get the DeWalt Lithium package they are back wards compatible with your Nicad, Nimh. The lithium chargers will also recharge the older style with no problems.

But, of course you can not use the older style charger to recharge the new lithium one's. Lastly, the new style DeWalt Lithium batteries solve all the previous problems of run time, charging, etc . . .

It will cost more up front, but you will have years of use and little if any down time with this decision . . . I bought 5 sets last year to replace all ten of my batteries, haven't had any regrets at all . . .

 

[Major Ramifications]

This has been discussed before in the tool area. Post this question over there or search for threads on this topic.

Since you asked, I like my Li-Ion batteries quite a bit, but I still use quite a few NiCad tools.

 

[RonM3]

We have both here at work and I much prefer the Lithioms. Our drills will sit for a while without being used. We normally leave them in a charger until needed but sometimes that dosn't happen. The Lithioms will hold a charge for a very long time. I have had Nicads be dead after a week.

We havent had a problem with leaving the Lithiums in a charger. We have mostly Milwaukee tools and they have served us well.

 

[jake26]

Get the DeWalt Lithium package they are back wards compatible with your Nicad, Nimh. The lithium chargers will also recharge the older style with no problems.

But, of course you can not use the older style charger to recharge the new lithium one's. Lastly, the new style DeWalt Lithium batteries solve all the previous problems of run time, charging, etc . . .

It will cost more up front, but you will have years of use and little if any down time with this decision . . . I bought 5 sets last year to replace all ten of my batteries, haven't had any regrets at all . . .

The Dewalt Lithum package is capatible with the Ni-Cad? Will the Ni-Cad drill I am looking at (DC720KA) be capatible with the Li-ion? I am thinking not

 

[djjsr]

I have a cordless drill that uses either nicad or lithium ion. I have both battery types and use the lithium ion 95% of the time. The only time the nicad is used is when the lithium is charging.

Positive thing about the nicad is the price of replacement batteries, about 1/2 the cost of the lithium ion. My nicads last about 3 years before they won't take much of a charge anymore.

The lithium batteries perform better but go dead without warning, unlike the nicad that slow down when going dead.

Go with the lithium ion.

jmo.

 

[caper]

Nicad for me.We've been using 18v Dewalt nicad drills in the shop for years now with no problems.The company recently bought us a 18v lithium ion Milwaulkee.I was doing a trailer floor a month or so ago and grabbed the Milwaulkee with a fresh battery to drive some tek screws thru 2x6 planks into some steel.The Milwaukee drove about a dozen screws before it started tripping the thermal limiter.Pull the trigger and get nothing.Wait 5 sec and then pull it and it would drive the screw.The battery went dead PDQ.I grabbed one of the old Dewalts off the bench and started driving screws,I don't know how long the battery had been in the drill,but it drove the rest of the 75 or so screws without a hitch.No stopping to wait for a limiter to cool of because the batteries are too sensitive to fast discharge.No problems,just pull the trigger and keep driving screws.The battery lasted 10 times longer than the freshly charged lithium ion.The other 6 guys in the shop also find it to be less of a drill than the old Dewalts.It's sitting on the bench while everybody grabs a Dewalt.

 

[X1 Mike]

Another vote for Li-ion. One of the biggest benefits for a casual user is the fact that the batteries don't drain fast in storage. If I don't use one of my old Dewalts for a month I know I have to wait for the battery to charge before use. My 18v LXT Makita is always ready to go, so a quick project ends up being a quick project.

 

[jake26]

Thanks to everyone who responded. I forgot there was a tool section so I apologize for filling the Garage board with Tool talk.

As for my decision, I think it is back to the drawing board in choosing a drill but I am going to make certain it is a Li-ion. Thanks!!

 

[dclafleur]

Saw a deal on amazon for a Milwaukee combo today, don't know if it fits what you're looking for but seemed like a good deal to me.



http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001F7BIMG/ref=ord_cart_shr?ie=UTF8&m=ATVPDKIKX0DER

 

[DHCrocks]

The Dewalt Lithum package is capatible with the Ni-Cad? Will the Ni-Cad drill I am looking at (DC720KA) be capatible with the Li-ion? I am thinking not

you can use the Dewalt Nano (li-ion) batteries in any of their 18v tools including the old ones. I have a bunch of older XRP stuff 18v, nicad that I replaced the batteries with the new Nanos. they work perfectly fine, better in fact.

 

[jake26]

you can use the Dewalt Nano (li-ion) batteries in any of their 18v tools including the old ones. I have a bunch of older XRP stuff 18v, nicad that I replaced the batteries with the new Nanos. they work perfectly fine, better in fact.

That is great news but the Nano charger and 2 batteries is $150.

Since my posting, I have been searching for a "second choice" to the Dewalt 720. I was contemplating the Bosh 36618-02 or the Makita BF452 (both li-ion batteries). It seems all three rank very similar with only minor differences. I may just have to pick a color.

Choices ... choices.

 

[JMCX]

I forgot my Makita Li-Ion battery on the charger for two weeks and it killed it.

 

[trailwart]

look into the rigid line, lifetime on drill and battery. buy once and be done

 

[ourkid2000]

Nicad for me.We've been using 18v Dewalt nicad drills in the shop for years now with no problems.The company recently bought us a 18v lithium ion Milwaulkee.I was doing a trailer floor a month or so ago and grabbed the Milwaulkee with a fresh battery to drive some tek screws thru 2x6 planks into some steel.The Milwaukee drove about a dozen screws before it started tripping the thermal limiter.Pull the trigger and get nothing.Wait 5 sec and then pull it and it would drive the screw.The battery went dead PDQ.I grabbed one of the old Dewalts off the bench and started driving screws,I don't know how long the battery had been in the drill,but it drove the rest of the 75 or so screws without a hitch.No stopping to wait for a limiter to cool of because the batteries are too sensitive to fast discharge.No problems,just pull the trigger and keep driving screws.The battery lasted 10 times longer than the freshly charged lithium ion.The other 6 guys in the shop also find it to be less of a drill than the old Dewalts.It's sitting on the bench while everybody grabs a Dewalt.

I have a Li-on drill that I use at work and I have always noticed that when I grab a fresh battery and try to drive screws right away that it will give me attitude......

What I find solves this problem is to run the drill with no load for a minute or so.......strange, but it works and I have no idea why. After it runs for a minute like that it's good to go for the rest of the day.

It could just be my drill, I dunno.

 

[Teken]

look into the rigid line, lifetime on drill and battery. buy once and be done

The warranty is good on paper, not reflective of the real world though . . . Go Google the warranty and see how the consumer is treated when a warranty issue comes up and how it is handled . . .

You will be very surprised to say the least . . . DeWalt, they can't fix it, they replace it . . .