Porter Cable 20V

[tez929rr]

Someone donated some Porter Cable tools to us, but we need to purchase batteries and a charger. The prices actually seem pretty reasonable on line, but before I pull the trigger I’d like some feedback from people who have used them.

 

[Robinson1]

Owned by Stanley Black & Decker who also owns Dewalt. The Porter Cable line is aimed more towards the DIY crowd. I'd put them in the same category as Craftsman and Ryobi.

I've been on jobs with other contractors who had PC tools. Ive used the drills and impacts. Honestly it's hard to mess up a basic drill. The impacts remind me of old 18v dewalt in terms of power.

My brother has about 8 PC tools and loves them. But hes not using them professionally either.

Check ebay for batteries.

 

[DFB]

If you needing/wanting the tools I would make the investment. Don't know what batteries you're looking at but I've gone with an aftermarket brand for my older tools, prices were really great and batteries work perfect

 

[tez929rr]

These are lightly used tools donated to our fire department. The reciprocating saw will ride in our rescue truck and the drill will probably sit in the station for random task use. Since the battery and charger price is so good I’ll probably get them from Amazon. If it was like some pricing I’ve seen in the past it would be cheaper to buy a set of new tools with batteries and charger included.

 

[Farmall450]

Just get a big battery for the sawzall. They're good tools for the money.

 

[kctyphoon]

The fire depart doesnt have a cordless sawzall?
Yea, i mean for free - i guess.. in a pinch im sure itll cut ok.
Truth is there are much better saws though...


Are they lithium at least?

 

[Robinson1]

The fire depart doesnt have a cordless sawzall?
Yea, i mean for free - i guess.. in a pinch im sure itll cut ok.
Truth is there are much better saws though...


Are they lithium at least?

I'd assume small volunteer department with little or no state funding.

They are all over the place where I live. Every little community has a few old trucks and very little to work with but in the end better than nothing.

One of the local volunteer departments here has a 1988 F350 with a wood flat bed and a pump on the back as their main truck. Think redneck version of a forestry brush truck.

 

[techieman33]

The fire depart doesnt have a cordless sawzall?
Yea, i mean for free - i guess.. in a pinch im sure itll cut ok.
Truth is there are much better saws though...


Are they lithium at least?

He said 20v so they're the "current" line. The problem with that is that SBD has basically replaced them with Craftsman, the PC stuff is still in stores for now, but I wouldn't expect to see anything new come out. So maybe with spending a few bucks on just batteries and a charger, but I wouldn't make a big investment in the line.

As far as the saw itself, it'll probably get the job done. But it won't be nearly as fast as the latest and greatest from anyone other than maybe Ryobi, and even their brushless saw may be better at this point.

 

[Mgraves235]

i only have experience with their drill andimpst driver in that series. battery life is very impressive for the money, the drill has stood up great to regular hobby stuff. th impact driver set for nearly a year between uses and the the battery was still fully charged and hadn't drained itself. that impressed me...

 

[kctyphoon]

Well, as long as it’s lithium at least itll work if/when they need it to. I know the 20v lines are all lithium, but not knowing for sure if he was just saying “20v” (since a lot of lines are named 20v now) but in reality it was an older 18v version, i thought clarity was important.

The worst thing is having something you THINK will work when you need it, only to pick it up and find a battery has self discharged to near empty in 3 months.

 

[American Locomotive]

At my old employer, we had a ton of porter cable 20v lithium stuff (...and Milwaukee). I was always satisfied with the performance of the PC tools. The all-metal chuck on my PC drill held drills better than the garbage chuck on the first gen M18 Milwaukee drill we had.

 

[tez929rr]

The fire depart doesnt have a cordless sawzall?
Yea, i mean for free - i guess.. in a pinch im sure itll cut ok.
Truth is there are much better saws though...


Are they lithium at least?

No, but we have cordless Hurst tools. I doubt we will use it much but it’s nice to have.