My Beloved 7 year old 14.4 PC Hammer/Driver Stolen

[evodawg]

Now what do I replace it with? I looked at the new PC's and I'm not impressed!!! Made in Freakin China now!!!

Rich

[Lew Hodgett]

I had an 18VDC DeWalt that met the same fate; however, it was 8-9 years old and didn't owe me anything.

Not sure they are still built the same as 8-9 years ago, but DeWalt deserves a look.

That said, if it's a good drill, it probably has Milwaukee on it.

Lew

[Mike]

I just had to replace my trusty Dewalt cordless drill. Searched all over, agonized over it for a long time, and ended up getting a Rigid combo pack. 18 volt Lithium batteries, pack had a drill and impact driver along with a useless flashlight and radio. The light and radio really didn't seem as if they were factored in the price - the kits price was at or below competitive brands drill/driver combos.

The impact driver is awesome. I can drive screws/bolts/you name it, all day long - can't say enough about it. The drill is really nice also - good weight, balanced, chuck grips like a vise. The drill has an 'auto-clutch' feature in place of the low/high speed selector - initially I wasn't a big fan, but I'm getting used to it. The only place it would seem to be a problem is drilling in metal - its always on fast mode until it senses a need for high torque.

Overall, I've been very happy with the Rigid so far. I know warranties have been kicked around in this group like the proverbial dead horse, but I have to say, the lifetime warranty that covers both the tools and batteries is nice. Cordless tools usually way outlast their batteries, so the idea of getting a free replacement battery a few years down the road is kinda nice.

[Martin H. Eastburn]

That China might be Taiwan not mainland. Depends who made it.

The mother boards are mostly made there. Intel makes their experimental ones but some years ago design went to one spot mostly.

Mart> "evodawg" wrote:

[Martin H. Eastburn]

I got two Li-ion tools from Skil. I found out you must keep them in the house. The ratchet head in the shop is dead. The hand driver in the house is still good.

I must have boiled or froze the ratchet battery.

Mart> >> Now what do I replace it with? I looked at the new PC's and I'm not

[Mark & Juanita]

I've really liked my Milwaukee. Built solid, much more so than my PC was.

[Jack Stein]

Every time I bought a cordless package it came with a useless light. Now last year, my wife bought me a Sears cordless package, 20v drill, circular saw and light. I immediately thought, another useless light... wrong I was. This light, which is large, has a nice stand and tilts to where you need it which is nice. About 8 months after I bought it, the power went out for 3 days. I used this light the whole time, but, at night, I just left it on, all night. The charge level stayed at full. All night the next night, still full, 3rd night, same damn thing. I was really impressed, never had a light last so long, and it still showed full. This light, and most of the new ones, have some sort of bright lcd bulbs that use very little juice. Since the batteries are the same you use with your tools, the light is always ready to go in an emergency, and lithium batteries hold a charge forever even if you don't use them all the time.

As for which drill I'd buy, I would buy the smallest drill I could find with a regular Jacobs chuck, a clutch, variable speed and lithium ion batteries (2 batteries required)