Santa makes a early visit

Well, Santa made a early delivery thanks to a sale @ Home Depot. Like most of us, I have 3 cordless drills out in the shop. Unfortunately, the batteries are like me, ready for retirement. As well, two of them have worn out chucks. So, wondering thru HD yesterday, came across last day sale on a DeWalt 20v Lith/Ion compact hammer drill and 1/4" drive Impact gun. WooHoo, hope this works as good as it looks. Thanks Santa.

 

I've spent more on batteries then all the tools combined. Used to have dewalt 18v... Got tired of batteries going bad. Switched to Milwaukee the batteries lasted 1 month longer then the 2 year warranty. Now I'm using rigid cordless stuff because of the lifetime warranty on the batteries. The tools aren't as nice as either dewalt or milwaukee but I'm tired of throwing away $50+ whenever a battery goes bad.

 

Mike, have you tried to get service on your rigid batteries yet? My employer bought us Rigid set ups @ work. 1st set of batteries lasted 6 months. When we went to get them replaced we ended up having to take the batteries AND the charger to a designated service center. Had to wait 4 days before they authorized replacements. PITA for sure. Has been the same dance each time we have to replace batteres. We have 6 different drill combos that get used daily. Needless to say, last time we buy Rigid.

 

Yeah I'm going through that bs now -- been meaning to drop off everything for 3 months. I argued with the manager for a while but they wouldn't budge on their policy. Both of my 12v batteries are going bad now Lasted 2.5 years.

 

I use the Ryobi 18 volt system. Have held up much better than the Dewalt & Makita I have used in the past. Of course the lithium batteries hold up much better than the Ni-Cads. I also like the wide range of tool options they have. The only 2 I have been disappointed in was the chainsaw (spins too slow) and the stapler which took 5 seconds to recycle capacitor between staples.

 

Bought my DeWalt 18v trimsaw,drill/driver,2 batteries,charger & case in late '97.Trim saw was just introduced,less than a month,drill was the first generation & much heavier duty than they are today.Since added 18v recip saw,charger,case & 2 batteries in 2003 & a 18v light soon afterwards.Tough as can be,had all kinds of abuse in the shop & at side jobs after work.Have 3 batteries that need replaced,I will say that the batteries now don't hold as many charges as the ones that were sold 10-15 years ago. Once in a while Lowes has a special - 18v drill/driver w/ charger 2 batteries & case for $100-150. And the batteries alone are normally $50-60 each.Part of that reduction in price is they're made in China now,compared to the old heavier duty ones made in USA some 15 yrs back..

 

Those dewalt trim saws are nice. I still have one good battery and one so-so that I'm saving just to use with the trim saw. The rest of the 18v stuff I should throw away. I just threw away my 24v nicad dewalt saw and drill. They were a very expensive disappointment.

 

I've had the DeWalt 20v drill, impact, and saw-zall over a year now. All have been great, used and abused at work daily. Ran metal roofing screws all day many times. A 1.5AH battery would almost run 2 bags of screws (500, 2" screws into southern yellow pine). The extra battery was always ready much sooner than needed. Done about 40,000 square feet of roof plus many other daily torture tests. Nothing bad to say about them at all.

 

I'm a weekend warrior at best, but my black/deck lithium ion has been going strong for over 3 years (maybe it's 4). .

 

It seems that batteries have always been the weak points on the cheaper stuff, even if not used much. Now that lithium is available in most brands the playing field is much more level.

No since spending more on a tool than necessary for your needs.

 

Is that the set with the big batteries, 3.0Ah?

Hard case, or bag ?

 

I've had great luck out of milwaukee 18 volt stuff. My drill is 5 years old on the original 2 batteries but it doesn't get heavy use either. I thought about getting a cordless impact next. What you snagged seems to be a great deal.

 

If you've never used a cordless impact you don't know what you are missing.

 

I'm sure it beats listening to a compressor for a small time.

 

I was talking about the 1/4" drivers for screws -- much nicer then a regular drill for some things.