cordless drill opinion

[bonniejean]

I'm in the market for an 18V cordless drill. I was looking at

and was wondering if anyone has it and could give me their opinion.

Thanks, bonnie jean

[dpb]

Not it but have two of "old-style" 18V Milwaukee Red -- _it_ I like a lot and recommend highly. This one, not yet seen...

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[Robert Allison]

Haven't used that one, but it is hard to go wrong with milwaukee. Here is a link to a test of 18 volt cordless drills from march of last year. You might find some helpful info there:

[Jerry]

l.com/2g9bkl=A0and was wondering if anyone has it and

Milwaukee tools is now owned by a China Company as is Rigid Tool Company. I use Dewalt and don't know who owns them, but you can't beat DeWalt. Don't buy a 3/8 inch drill motor but the 1/2 inch one. The 18 volt DeWalt XRP 1/2 inch is commonly used by contractors and is the best on the market. Mine is made in Mexico. It is almost impossible to find tools made in the USA. I have used my XRP for 8 hours on one battery charge for installing metal roofing screws.

[Joe]

DeWalt is Japanese Black and Decker. It's pretty decent, maybe a little crude compared to Milwaukee. Of the maybe 20 brands of tools in my shop, Milwaukee and (are you ready for this?) Makita seem to get the job done best, Bosch next, Hitachi, Panasonic (hard to find), Porter Cable (sanders mostly), and down on the list Craftsman power tools. Pretty high on the list, Craftsman's hand tools, made by Danaher, the people that also make Matco professional tools. FWIW...

Joe

[bonniejean]

at

and was wondering if anyone has it and

That would be real nice but I am interested in this particular drill because of it's weight (light) and the fast charging battery. DeWalt doesn't make one like that. Makita does but it doesn't seem to get as good reviews as the Milwaukee. I have recurring carpel tunnel and a regular weight drill makes my wrist ache.

I also have a small hand, even for a woman. In reading customer reviews about this drill, women seem to really like it's small outline. (My boyfriend bought me a "ladies" Glock 45 for my birthday. Very very comfortable.)

But I don't think they make this "version" with the hammer feature. Actually they don't make any other tools that will use this battery. That is a negative but Milwaukee says they will be coming soon.

I knew a bunch of you guys would start in about this brand vs that brand. ..makes me smile. But I'm not that much into the finer points. Now if you wanted to talk about knitting...

bonnie

[ransley]

l.com/2g9bkl=A0and was wondering if anyone has it and

Its a nice drill if its the Li-Ion battery, Milwaukee has a new Li-Ion

12v minature drill driver out, if weight is a concern, it also fits in your pocket. Ridgid has a new line of Li-Ion 18v and minature 12v. Ridgid has a lifetime warranty even on batteries.

[JimR]

No experience with Milwaukee, but --

Craftsman -- decent tool, but batteries die quickly and are expensive to replace -- plus they have several different types of 18V batteries which are not interchangable Ryobi -- Light weight, but batteries don't hold charge for very long and need to be swapped frequently Ridgid -- Heavy tool, but batteries seem to provide power for extremely long time, plus all parts (including batteries) have a life-time guarantee.

The biggest operating expense for cordless tools seems to be the replacement batteries, so the Ridgid guarantee is important to me. I bought several of their 18V tools and batteries (to always have charged ones on hand) and if/when a battery can't be recharged I send it back to them and they send me a free replacement. Regards --

[RBM]

As an electrician, all my power tools used to be Milwaukee, as they were the standard in the industry... Then they became crap... I use mostly Dewalt now.. and they're pretty much crap too, but hey, there are only so many companies to choose from. Regardless of the make, I prefer 14 volt tools, as they have pretty much the same power as 18 volts, but are lighter and more manuverable. I just replaced one of my crap Dewalt driver drills with a model DC730, which, despite being crap, is really nice and small and light, certainly worth looking into

[Jim Yanik]

"RBM" wrote in news:47e2c363$0$5608$ [e-mail]:

aren't the lithium powered drills lighter for the same or even higher voltages? And they have the useful benefit of not losing charge in storage for up to 6 months,for those who only use them sporadically.

[Bob M.]

Short charging time = short run time so make sure you have at least two batteries.

Check out this Makita - doesn't weigh much at all:

it doesn't have the long-life battery that my Makita does, but it is much lighter and according to the site, .5 pound lighter than the Milwaukee.

The hammer feature .... good thing you don't want it, you're not missing much. If anyone wants to drill in concrete, they're better off with a true hammer drill.

[RBM]

Sure, but as yet they don't seem to have them for all the voltages. I'll wait until Li-on is the only type available, then hopefully, they won't cost lung to buy

[Jerry]

Funny how those China tools just disappear or break within the first half hour. I guess us all American electricians just don't know how to use them.

[ransley]

If you wait till Liion is the only type offered you wont ever buy one.

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Milwaukee has a good reputation for tools. For an 18V, that one is light. Most 18V are too heavy unless you truly need the power. Often you can get away with much less. I love my Panasonic 15.6V because of the size and weight. If you decide to get it, I don't think you'll be sorry.

[Chris Miller]

i have one of these from milwaukee - li-ion 18v hammer drill and it came with an impact driver and two batteries for under $300 at toolup.com. definitely liking it so far, though i haven't used the hammer function yet. one thing to note about them is that they are heavier than some of their counterparts. depending upon what you're using them for, that may be a factor. the makita impact driver is nice, but the battery dies too quickly because it's too small.

-c

Have you thought about getting one with a hammer feature for drilling into concrete, just in case you have to.

[Chris Miller]

[Chris Miller]

the li-ion batteries by milwaukee have an internal counter which count the number of times the batteries have been charged. they are warrantied up to

2,000 charges so that's pretty damn good.

-c

[RBM]

If you wait till Liion is the only type offered you wont ever buy one.

When everyone is screaming that they're the best thing since sliced bread... I'll buy one

[ransley]

HDs ridgid has a lifetime wattanty on the tool and batteries