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Philpug

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Time for a new drill...I have a Makita 18V (and a Craftsman 19.2) that the battery is dying on so I need to replace that but I aslo need a weedwacker, a second drill, jig saw, saw zaw too. Do I stay with Makita or start fresh and look at DeWalt or Milwaukee? I am open to options. Who has seen an awesome holiday deal this fall?
 

Erik Timmerman

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Do Milwaukee. I am in the process of converting still have some Makita, but really sick of the batteries dying. The Milwaukee stuff really seems a lot nicer.
 

Blue Streak

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Time for a new drill...I have a Makita 18V (and a Craftsman 19.2) that the battery is dying on so I need to replace that but I aslo need a weedwacker, a second drill, jig saw, saw zaw too. Do I stay with Makita or start fresh and look at DeWalt or Milwaukee? I am open to options. Who has seen an awesome holiday deal this fall?
Bosch.
 

BC.

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Nice topic....I am looking for the same stuff.....need the “community” to keep up the suggestions/advice.
 

Muleski

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I've had good luck with Milwaukee recently as well. Not so much with battery powered DeWalt. I've had battery life problems. I used to be a big Makita guy...20 years back.

No experience with Bosch.

The drill of the World Cup, outside of the USA, is Hilti. Great drills, and impact drivers.
 
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Philpug

Philpug

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Oh yeah. Easy. It'll take off ones that needed an extension on a breaker bar! It does 4 wheels and the battery gauge isn't even drained one bar.
I have a corded impact wrench now, so that isn't that high on my priority list. I would rather have two regular drills.
 

bbinder

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I have a Ridgid 18 volt. I bought a drill and impact driver combo because it came with a lifetime free battery replacement
 

jzmtl

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If you want to share battery with garden tools your only choice is Dewalt. Bosch is solid but have less tool choice than others (many not available in North America). Milwaukee has quite a few mechanic tools, while Makita has few funky tools as well.

I'm locked into Bosch 18v and some 12v, not familiar with other brands.
 

John O

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I used to be a Makita guy, absolutely loved the tools when the batteries were fresh, but had battery life problems from multiple generations of tools and gave up. My latest drill/impact driver combo that I picked up is a Bosch and I've been extremely happy with it. My guess is you'll also be very happy with Milwaukee or DeWalt. There will likely be a good Black Friday or Cyber Monday deal, so now is the perfect time to shop.
 

BS Slarver

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Biggest skiing in America
1. Festool - the Stockli, kastle of power tools,
IMO the best drills period ! You can get one on a 30 day money back trial and If you don't like it send it back.

We have 5 of them in the field, one burned up after 5 years of daily use and the service dept. had it back in a week FOR FREE !
2. Bosch
3. Milwaukee

Edit : 1 doesn't do weedwacker stuff
Forgot about Hilti for a moment - they would be #2
 
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Erik Timmerman

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Re: Weedwhackers and stuff, I have a Stihl battery operated chainsaw which is just great. I do quite a bit of chainsawing for our mountain bike association and I rarely pull out the gas husky anymore. I don't have a weedwhacker one, but I will say that I would not want a drill powered by this giant 48V battery, or a weedwhacker powered by the puny 18V. I'd highly recommend Stihl if you are looking for that stuff. I'd wonder a bit about runtime on the weedwhacker or a leaf blower because it is constant use where a chainsaw or whatever is only running when you are actually cutting.
 

L&AirC

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I might be an outlier but I love Ryobi. I have done several large scale construction projects and have all sorts of Ryobi cordless tools. I decided I wanted a second drill (the old on works fine, just need a second to bring to the mountain), and saw they just came out with a brushless drill. I've only used it twice so far; screwing in boards and drilling a 3/8" hole through 2 X plates between floors. Frickin' awesome.

I have their circular saw from way back when everything was blue, and would like to get one of the newer models, but the blue on won't stop working.

I have yet to make the batteries (large ones) die. Recommend you wait until home depot or lowes is having a sale of some sort as they are pricey but last year I got some 50% off during an HD sale this time of year. I think it was a Xmas one.
 

WheatKing

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Milwaukee.. I beat the crap out of my 18V Milwaukee tools and they just keep going. They're 5 years old now.. and still kicking.. multiple house reno's plus farm use. I have a cordless drill and impact driver, corded sawzall and 12" mitresaw.. all milwakee.. i'm adding a few cordless tools to my christmas list.. 3/8" impact would be nice..

Festool is nice.. but I'm always dropping tools in the mud, they get rained on, frozen, dropped onto concrete, kicked across the room etc.. it'd be like using your Renouns for early season rock skis, you just don't do it..

Gardening stuff.. Stihl, or if it has a blade, Fiskars.. why mess around. I hear the Stihl battery stuff is good.. but.. I've invested in their gas stuff so, not looking to change up stuff anytime soon.
 

Uncle-A

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Time for a new drill...I have a Makita 18V (and a Craftsman 19.2) that the battery is dying on so I need to replace that but I aslo need a weedwacker, a second drill, jig saw, saw zaw too. Do I stay with Makita or start fresh and look at DeWalt or Milwaukee? I am open to options. Who has seen an awesome holiday deal this fall?
I use the both Makita 18V and Craftsman 12V (Milwaukee Made for Sears). They are the Lithium batteries and recharge in 30 minutes. I like them a lot and the Makita Impact I have used on Lug Nuts but ALWAYS go back and check with a star lug wrench. The Craftsman 12V made by Milwaukee does everything I need for mounting bindings and around the home but does not do Lug Nuts. I also have a Craftsman 12V Milwaukee made 90 degree angle impact that works great. But the reverse switch is too easy to go from forward to reverse if I tilt it sideways it can slide into reverse without touching it. I am told they have fixed the issue but do not have a newer one to test. My only thought about the Sears is I am not sure how long they are going to be in business and they have sold off the hand tools division if not all the tools. Someone in the thread talked about Ryobi, I have not used their tools but I did sell their fishing reels and they had a LOT of returns from my customers. All with bad gears inside the reel so I am not a fan of their product.
 

jzmtl

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Re: Weedwhackers and stuff, I have a Stihl battery operated chainsaw which is just great. I do quite a bit of chainsawing for our mountain bike association and I rarely pull out the gas husky anymore. I don't have a weedwhacker one, but I will say that I would not want a drill powered by this giant 48V battery, or a weedwhacker powered by the puny 18V. I'd highly recommend Stihl if you are looking for that stuff. I'd wonder a bit about runtime on the weedwhacker or a leaf blower because it is constant use where a chainsaw or whatever is only running when you are actually cutting.

Yeah it's probably a good idea to separate them, I have a Ego 56v and while it's super powerful, I wouldn't want that giant battery on my power tools. Ego has a full line of battery powered brushless motor garden tools too and they are pretty nice quality.
 

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