Your first cordless drill?

[bobg03]

My first set was a Porter Cable Dumpster fire, kind of left a bad taste for a few years as there was nothing I couldn't do with a corded tools.

My next venture a few years later was ridgid and have most of them still. With a smattering of m12 thrown in.

 

[speed bump]

B&D versapack that my parents got me when I was probably 9-10. I did everything with that drill and rarely did the batteries last longer than the work.

 

[mv213]

At work we tried the very early model of the Skil Boar Gun. I’m almost positive it was 3.6 volts, not 7.2 like the ones listed above. Almost worthless.

The first I bought for myself was a Craftsman 14.4 volt. It made me appreciate the handiness of cordless tools.

 

[Odd-job]

Porter Cable 18v here. Milwaukee ever since those batteries died. Luckily I didn't invest in the Porter Cable platform past the drill, but almost got suckered into Nextec.

As a Milwaukee fan boi I want to remind fellow GJ members that Stanley Black and Decker has shown the least loyalty to battery platforms across its brands historically speaking. Pretty sure they were behind the Porter Cable 18v to 21v "step up" dumpster fire everyone else seems to be referring to. Look at Dewalt 18v ---> 20v ---> flex volt. I think they made flex volt backwards compatible with 20v, but even so that would drive me nuts.

 

[steel 35]

First two, ****** craftsman, almost the only ones I was happy to **** can.

 

[farmer bill]

was a 14.4 volt milwaukee bought in the late 90's. I do recall it was made in Germany and the battery could slide on to attach from either direction, which they promoted as improving clearance for different needs.

It was a nice drill for it's time and Dad used it for a long long time before it finally needed replacing, I think the batteries died and were obsolete before the drill it's self quit working. I know some of the 14.4 Milwaukees we had after that one (different battery style)were not anywhere near as long lived as that first one. His last ones before he couldn't do that stuff any more due to dementia (he passed away this past spring) were a couple of M12 s that also lasted a long time again.

He spent a lot of time in the little shop in the garage after retiring from dairy farming making little projects including many many rosaries from wood that he loved giving away to people.

I also remember using it with some 4H kids to do some minor repair on some livestock barns at the fairgrounds and one of the kids was up on a step ladder using it and it fell and bounced off the concrete and he had a "oh no what did I do" look on his face and maybe thought he was going to get chewed on, (probably would have by his parents if they were there) I just walked over and picked it up and handed back and said keep on going.

 

[SRSemenza]

Skil 2736 Top Gun 12v NiCd. About 35 + years ago. Actually ended up with 3 or 4 of them in the family. Used the heck out of all of them. After shafts started to get too wobbly and the batteries were also going ended up switching to DeWalt 12v NiCd about 20+ years ago. The DWs are all gone now as well.

Seth

 

[brianh]

9.6 Makita. Think I got it in 88, still have it though the batteries are shot.

 

[rharman]

Craftsman, probably 9.6V I'd guess. That got replaced with a Craftsman Pro 15.6V that I still have. One of these days I'll rebuild the battery so it works. Best feel of any of the drills I've ever used.

Currently (past 12 or more years) is DeWalt. They have a good feel. Bought the 18V NiCad way back when and replaced it a few years back with the 20V Li-Ion.

 

[senlow]

Skil 12v Top Gun. It came with two batteries. I bought it in the late '80s, I think. I used it hard for years. I replaced and rebuilt batteries on it a few times. I finally replaced it with a Milwaukee M18 about 5 years ago.

 

[M635_Guy]

Whatever the predecessor to the Craftsman C3 was (but used the same batteries)

 

[RedneckWelder]

The old Makita 9.6 big giant handle

then I eventually replaced it with the nicad 18V porter cable right as Li-on batteries entered the scene but were too expensive.

the PC was a great drill, very well made much like a good DeWalt the batteries just kinda sucked.

 

[JWC86]

I was a late adopter, wasn’t until the late 2000s when I bought a POS from Walmart. Used the snot out of it thou and it did eventually fall to pieces but I got a surprising amount of service from it.

I later got some dewalt stuff, it was fine but I hadn’t yet really learned how useful cordless tools were.

Then about 3 years ago I switched over to Milwaukee starting with the M18 line, no complaints but I ended up getting a M12 also and almost never use my M18 stuff anymore. The M12 will do 90% of what I need in a much smaller package.

I’ve got more in other places: ratchet, circ saw, recip saw, grinder, more lights, etc.

They have made me pretty lazy I will admit. I almost never manually remove fasteners anymore.

 

[GirchyGirchy]

The one I have now....DeWalt 20V. I got by with corded ones until lithium came out. I never wanted to mess with Ni-Cad systems.

 

[MongoTA]

First cordless was the Dewalt 12v drill. Probably in the late 90s? Loved it. Performed well. Used and likely abused it heavily while building my house. Eventually the gearing stripped out a bit and it now sits on the shelf.

Replaced it with the Dewalt 18v. Never really took to that tool. Battery life seemed meh. It's also on the shelf. Not really worthy of shelf space.

Several years ago I picked up the Dewalt 20v drill and impact driver set. The entire 20v line, as well as nowadays the FLEX platform, has been rock solid for me. Don't know how many 20v tools and batteries I now have, but it's a few.

 

[RJMadigan]

About '87 got a Craftsman 9.6 that I used until about ten years ago when I couldn't rebuild the batts anymore (retention tabs had broken off, batts kept falling out. Bought a Panasonic 9.6 in '89 or '90 and it was a great drill. Still have it and the charger but batts are hard to find so it's probably on its' way to the dumpster now. I got my moneys worth out of both. All DeWalt now. Had a couple of good Makitas both stolen. I think if I had to drive a screw by hand it's probably kill me now.

 

[Al Borland]

Craftsman 9.6. Didn't drill much with it, used it as a screwdriver doing property maintenance. It disappeared from work one day and I got an orange 18v. from Harbor Freight. (That leapt to it's death off a roof).

 

[Miss the Pontiacs]

6010D?

Took me awhile to finally take the pics below. You are correct. This Makita was worked pretty hard. A buddy still has a brand new never been charged 7.2v battery.

 

[Jweebothee]

Big heavy blue Ryobi

 

[Buster21]

Still have mine, guessing mid 80's, I added the keyless chuck.

 

[Da Bull]

Black & Decker 9.6 univolt

 

[plinker]

Makita 12v 6213D, still have them both, should rebuild or get new batteries for it one of these years.

 

[kyrbz]

Could be wrong but I think I bought this Makita 6012HD 9.6V in the early 80's? Still use it occasionally

 

[Trapps]

My first cordless was a Porter Cable 9.6. It was a game changer even with limited power and runtimes. Next I went to a DeWalt 14.4. It was a disappointing experience. Then to an 18v Bosch which I am still very happy with.

 

[Sumboodie]

It's amazing how far cordless has come in the last ~15-20 years. I'd never even heard of an impact driver until about 2010. Friend had bought one and I used it. Was impressive vs driving screws with a drill!

 

[dnschmidt]

Had the same Milwaukee. These were made by AEG in Germany when Milwaukee was owned by Atlas Copco and were very good tools. Problem was NiCd batteries of any manufacture sucked.

was a 14.4 volt milwaukee bought in the late 90's. I do recall it was made in Germany and the battery could slide on to attach from either direction, which they promoted as improving clearance for different needs.

It was a nice drill for it's time and Dad used it for a long long time before it finally needed replacing, I think the batteries died and were obsolete before the drill it's self quit working. I know some of the 14.4 Milwaukees we had after that one (different battery style)were not anywhere near as long lived as that first one. His last ones before he couldn't do that stuff any more due to dementia (he passed away this past spring) were a couple of M12 s that also lasted a long time again.

He spent a lot of time in the little shop in the garage after retiring from dairy farming making little projects including many many rosaries from wood that he loved giving away to people.

I also remember using it with some 4H kids to do some minor repair on some livestock barns at the fairgrounds and one of the kids was up on a step ladder using it and it fell and bounced off the concrete and he had a "oh no what did I do" look on his face and maybe thought he was going to get chewed on, (probably would have by his parents if they were there) I just walked over and picked it up and handed back and said keep on going.

m

 

[flippin]

Black&Decker Industrial Super Cyclone 12volt. Loved that drill. It wasn't balanced like a T-handled style but there was no torque on your wrist and before impacts, this design stripped fewer screw heads.

 

[bobg03]

Had the same Milwaukee. These were made by AEG in Germany when Milwaukee was owned by Atlas Copco and were very good tools. Problem was NiCd batteries of any manufacture sucked.

m

There was an AEG facility where I lived as a young man, I worked in an IBEW wire plant where we made the cords for those tools. We had a discount program and I dated and lived with the AEG sites admin for the local facility. She got me a lot of nice stuff from the QA there for free.
Power was never an issue, kept me from ever exploring the cordless tools.

 

[RTM]

Mine was the Makita 9.6v stick battery, a gift from a coworker neighbor after assisting him with a big project. They were the industrial standard at our site, so he got a discount through the shop. Rebuilt and replaced the batteries, still my favorite user for ergonomic reasons. I’ve since added the flashlight, RA drill, trim saw (2nd most used).

Bought lots of second hand Makita since then, and finally a new 2x18v Makita blower. May finally step into the 21st century cordless tool era.

 

[Two Speed]

First was a red bodied Makita 7.2v drill driver. And at work, first one was a newer, blue bodied version of the same drill driver. Probably still rank as my favorite cordless as they seemed to go forever, went through a lot of abuse and fairly compact.

 

[Doubled33]

Seeing some pictures has sparked a memory.

I believe Makita made the 9.6v drill in a 7.2 with a built in battery. As I recall it had a round charging port on the back of the handle. I believe had one of those as well.

 

[Kuma601]

My memory was skewed, found these in the depths under the workbench.

 

[Specracer]

1st I owned, was the 12v Porter Cable (early 90's).

1st I used was the Makita many have mentioned with the long battery

 

[dsimatt]

Snap On 14.4 nicad, i think i bought it used but man it was a beast and took all the abuse i threw at it. I got tired of replacing the batteries so just traded it on the tool truck for pennies.

 

[anndel]

A Bosch VSR cordless back in 1985. It lasted over 10 years then died. One battery couldn't hold a charge after about 7-8 years then the other right about the time the drill itself died. Not bad for NiCd batteries to last over 5 years.

 

[kdeboy]

Early 2000's DeWalt. Made the mistake of thinking it was safe to leave in a locked fixer upper house my wife and I bought b/c it was in a "nice" neighborhood. Wrong, some a-hole broke into the house and the one and only thing they stole was that drill (left the box and extra battery). Using Milwaukee now, but really miss that DeWalt, had a lot of sentimental value.

 

[Oldsnapper]

First one I used was at work, early 1980's 9.6 V Makita. First one that I owned was about 1990, a used Blue Point 7.2 Volts 1/4. Now 18 Dewalt with some 20V batteries & adaptors.

 

[Wheelingit]

I can't remember what brand I first had, but it was a pretty weak tool. I currently have Milwaukee and it is very nice.

 

[Ole Slewfoot]

Still have that Panasonic EY6101. Had the battery packs rebuilt and it continued to be used up till about 4 years ago. I still like that drill and would have preferred to keep using it. Rebuilding nicad packs and their characteristics was a dead end. Could use nimh but consideirng the cost it was easier to by new tech. Replaced it with a Metabo HPT set...hammer/drill and impact driver.

Panasonic, possibly the first generation. It was an amazing tool in its day.

This is NOT my actual drill---my shop is not that tidy!

This! What a beast of a tool. I got it long before anyone came out with impacts, it spent years with the square drive adapter and never missed a beat. I still use the case to hold random drill accessories. Buying from an actual battery developer for the win.

 

[jd_1138]

Craftsman 14.4 volt drill with the flashlight and 2 batteries combo bought from the local Sears in the early 2000s right after I married my beautiful wife. I wish the local Sears was still around. I used to love to read the Craftsman catalog.