Cordless circular saws

[dg]

I am after a cordless circular saw for some general cutting where a lead is impractical.

I am aware that battery life wil be limited, but in considering some

18v models is there any reason why a cheap one from say B&Q will have significantly less run time than a Dewalt or Bosch Pro model?

Any recommendations on which models at the low to mid range price perform better?

dg

[AlexW]

Crap bats & chargers...

For cordless stuff the quality of the battery is important even at the same ampere-hour rating, as this rating might not last for ever...

I had an B&Q PPro drill driver, the bats lasted about 4 months before they were semi-hopless (would not even hold charge overnight). My friends dewalt (albeit over twice the cost) faired much better over a year or two under pro usage conditions.

I suspect the quality of the charger (overcharge protection, conditioning etc) has a big effect here too.

HTH,

Alex.

[Rick]

I got the PPro drill/driver, took it back after first usage, it was just useless.

Rick

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Yes. Poor quality cells and a poor charger. You gets what you pay for.

[EC]

I had the PPro circular saw. Went back after a couple of uses. Bought another battery as I thought I had a duffer but no. Cut about 2 foot along 22mm floorboards before grinding to a halt. Felt really underpowered.

Went back and swapped it for a mains powered one!