18 volt tools

[Byke]

As my 18 volt Snap On 1/2" impact, drill motor and flashlight wear out after more than 5 years of heavy use I am starting to look for replacements. Any opinions on what are the best out there without spending an arm and a leg?? The new generation Snap On look good and claim they are the best but the prices are out of this world. I have used some Makita stuff and was not impressed with the battery life or power. I have always liked Ingersoll's quality in air tools, they have 18 and 20 volt tools, are they any good? Opinions, suggestions??????

 

[leadfoot067]

i like the makita 18v lith ion stuff...

 

[Byke]

The Makita battery pack tools I used were the older ones. Maybe their quality is better now along with battery tecnology. Thanks Shane, I will look into them when I am shopping around.

 

["S"-box]

Dewalt for the win!!! Yah there are probably more powerful when it comes to cordless impacts, but the reliability of the dewalt **** is hard to beat. I have been using mine for @ 10yrs and have yet to see a battery fail. I have all the **** too. Drill, saws all, portaband,impact, impact driver, root hammer, saw etc.:awesomework: even dropped my impact or in lake Washington and it still works

 

[hiwater]

HILTI makes some wicked 18volt tools, We have replaced all the other brands we have tried with them. The charge lasts a long time with heavy use, cool little feature by squeezing the release buttons on the battery it lets you track battery usage so you are never surprised by dead batteries at the wrong time.

 

[Byke]

After looking up the HILTI tools on line it looks like this might be the company making the new Snap On 18 volt tools.

 

[Dogboy]

I bought a Milwakee 18v 3/8 impact/ drill combo. The drill is good, but the impact sucks. It was stronger than my boss's 3/8 Dewalt when I bought it, but in less than 6 months, it lost A LOT of power. Now the 5-6 year old Dewalt is way stronger than the Milwakee.

My opinion, get Dewalt. Most of our cordless tools at work (except my Milwakee) are 18v Dewalt, and have never ever had problems.

 

[nick c]

I use and abuse my DeWalt stuff daily for work. I have a Rigid set I bought when I bought my house. Its covered in dust because it never gets used. Batteries are worthless and wont hold charges.

A co-worker bought brand new Makita stuff when his DeWalt stuff started wearing out, dropped the impact off a roof and it broke the nose cone. His Makita stuff was nice as it was light weight and we carry our tools from job to job, often up and down ladders. But it wore out in less then 2 years and now he uses it for home use and has since paid to have his DeWalts rebuilt.

DeWalt is more expensive then some others, and batteries dont come cheap but they sure hold up better. Hell I use my impact driver as a hammer from time to time. :redneck: They have way more power then others I have used.

My next home set will be the newer generation of 9-12v. Either the DeWalt or Milwaukee stuff. I've used both and they both are great. Some of the service guys I work with just carry the smaller stuff now and just keep the 18v gear in the van for big work they carry back to the van to do. There's not much this newer lower voltage stuff cant do.

 

[t1h5ta3]

fwiw: the snap on guy had a trade in dewalt 1/2" inpact on the truck as trade in, my 3/8 snapon gun makes more torque than it...

 

[Byke]

Thanks for the input everyone. It sounds like Dewalt seems to have the happiest users. I have been happy with my Snap On, I am just having problems with the batteries more than anything. The Lith-Ion were not out when I bought them so mine are all Ni-Cad and they are expensive to replace ($100) and don't last long or hold a charge.

 

[thursday]

we use and abuse our dewalts on the job. Dewalt makes a great product, the chucks in their cheaper non-srp 18 volts can be garbage though. They don't break or anything but they tend to unloosen easily, the srp drills are very very stout.

 

[DuctTapeMafia]

I bought Matco this year and am pretty impressed. Battery life is awesome and my 3/8 Lion will break away over 100 ft lbs. As far as what to stay away from, Cornwell. Broke straight out of the case. They claimed some insane break away torque and it couldn't do half of that.

 

[BROKEN-WRANGLER]

Thanks for the input everyone. It sounds like Dewalt seems to have the happiest users. I have been happy with my Snap On, I am just having problems with the batteries more than anything. The Lith-Ion were not out when I bought them so mine are all Ni-Cad and they are expensive to replace ($100) and don't last long or hold a charge.

I was constantly replacing dewalt drills and sawzall's and I finnally bought a Makita 5 pack and love it. Stuff does everything I could ask. I am a electrician and using my cordless to still 3/4-1 1/2 inch holes through wood or steel it does great.

 

[CHOP SHOP]

I think the dewalt users may have older tools.

Dewalt used to kick ass, but I have noticed they have conecntrated on Walmart caliber tools lately.



The new stuff is not like the older stuff.



I LOVE Makita and Milwaukie. I have dewalt drils and impacts cuz they were FREE. I have killed a few of thier drills, they will strip out the low/mid/hi ranges. The inpacts work till the head is "impacted" loose.

My $200 dewalt saw is broke too. ****in junk, shoulda never got away from a milwaukie. Damn dewalt was nice and light too.


PS, anyone ever kill an OLD blue 9.6V makita drill? Not the battery but the actual drill?

 

[unclestripey]

I use Bosch stuff, reliable, powerful, ergonomic, and not yellow. I tore apart a $350 dewalt router once, it was the same inside as my ancient homeowner black and decker, never bought another yellow tool. If you go Makita stay away from the ones with the white, they're cheaper for a reason.:awesomework:

 

[zukkev]

Ryobi has been my power tool of choice...Have a 14.4V drill/driver that just needs a battery, but the drill id still good...Have 2 18V Drills (one from a 5 pack (cordless sawzall, 5.25 saw, light, drill, and vacuum), and one drill kit only), and after 8+ yrs of use, I need to replace the batteries, but the drills/tools are still good.. :awesomework:
We have Yellow tools at work, and they are ALL constantly in for repair/replacement... I would never buy a yellow tool for myself...

 

[mark]

Dewalt of new = junk. We have all but replaced our dewalt stuff. They were good when new, but only lasted about 2-3 years before they just started having issues and even the li-ion batterys don't hold up like the "should" have.

I bought a Makita Li-ion set a couple years ago when we were first looking at changing, back when it was "new". Good tools but even on non-regular use the batterys just don't hold like they used to or should and don't seem to last as long as others.

Right now we are on Milwalkee, and its Milwalkee for the win. Tons of different tools and options, and the batteries hold up nice and the power gauge on them is even better. The drills feal a little weaker but the impacts are nice as is the grinder, the porta-band, the saws-all and hack-all, roto hammer....

We have a couple of the (big) 1/2" impacts as well and they have a ****-ton of balls compared to the Dewalt I bought a few years ago (and quickly lost its "impact" power) and pretty comprable to may air impact. So far I've been impressed with both the M18 and the M12 line of Milwalkee tools and its been over a year since we bought the first set and we have had ZERO battery issues. Can't say that for the last couple Dewalts we bought.

 

[Byke]

:awesomework:

 

[thebonds]

I bought a snap-on 1/2 lithium impact in october. Came with two batteries. I have only charged each battery twice since then. I use it at work in a body shop and on the weekends on my toys. Tons of power and amazing battery life. It is awesome but I paid for it, well still paying for it.

 

[monstaru]

Ryobi is what I have been rocking for years now.
I recently upgraded to the 200ft lb 1/2" impact.

Lithion batteries from the green series are where it is at.
cheers