I would have thought that 3ah batteries are fine for DIY work, particularly with brushless tools which are more efficient (I am told!).
I was intrigued to find that my new drill is barely more powerful than the old NiCd one it's replacing.
I had to take the 12v Milwaukee back, and got 18v.
I get to use various makes and models of cordless tools at work. I am now all Makita. I rate it higher than the Milwauke set that was stolen from my van. Both the impact driver and combo drill seem to be better balanced weight wise.
I'm certainly a Makita fan. But really couldn't have afforded the range of power tools I have at their prices for DIY. Totally different for heavy pro use.
Mind you the apprentice destroyed a 3 month old Makita impact driver.
Fuck knows how he did it. Hands over the vents and full power is my guess. He is going to be very unhappy when the replacement cost is knocked off his wages.
"Did you not smell it burning?" "No" "Did you not see the smoke coming off it?" "I didn't notice anything"
FFS. It was someone in a different room that first smelt the burning and ran it to stop him.
3 months old - warranty claim?
If the battery is okay, that's how much? 50 squids?
Yes, because he will not have to pay the VAT.
I think I'd ask for a £10-20 contribution, but I couldn't make someone on such low wages pay the full cost. Particularly, as you can only guess what he did wrong. You can't rule out that it was duff.
It's funny that I'm such a softy, but I'd have no compunction at all about getting Makita to replace it. "Burst into flames in my apprentice's hands, but I'll try to stop him suing you for PTSD. Top of the range replacement? Can you throw a couple of new batteries in to sweeten the deal?"
Worked OK right up until he used it.
He has a brand new A class Merc with a private number plate. Could you manage to buy one on £6.00 an hour?
I'll let his Mum and Dad pay for a full replacement drill if they can afford to buy him that car.
Working life has come as a shock to this one. Especially when he met me and I got him to hold the cables that I then meggered at 1000V for being a lazy bastard.
You wuss! You should have got him to strap them to his balls.
Ahem, if you ask his parents nicely (threaten to electrocute him again), could they please buy me a brand new Merc?
Indeed I realise that, however my link was to something that was "high end" enough to satisfy most users - but dropped some of the pricey add ons that might be of more interest to contractors looking to reduce the number of times some scrote pinches the tools out of the van!
My logic is that if you are buying a decent enough tool, then it will last a decade or more. So in reality you are buying into a battery system - since they will not last as long as the tools and probably get replaced several times in the life of the tool. Going for a reasonably well known manufacturer also adds the option to expand the tools you have with relatively inexpensive "body only" tools added at a later stage.
I bought a top end Makita 18V combi in about 2003, with 3 x 2.8 Ah batts, then added a body only impact driver a bit later. Both are still going strong. I had replaced the batts once already, and they needed replacing again - so I had to think about whether it was time to move to the Li-ion, or splash out another £150 to £200 on batteries for those.
There were other things to mix into the decision for me: I had a couple of 14.4V dewalt tools (small circular saw, and angle drill), which also needed new batteries, and I was never totally satisfied with the performance of those - especially in the saw.
Lastly there were some tools that I would like to have the option of adding, but the choice of new tools for the old Mak battery system (that they used for decades) was diminishing.
So it made sense for me to flog the DeWalt kit (and the new owner bought some "compatible" batts for it), and invest in a new twin pack of drill and ID. Then add a saw and angle drill. All in all it cost more than twice what it would have cost to just replace the batts, but I gained much more flexibility and a significant improvement in performance from the saw and angle drill. Everything now plays with the same batteries which makes life much easier.
Might not cover "abuse" though...
(although on the bright side Makita replacement armatures[1] are not that expensive - I guess it depends a bit on what let out the magic smoke)
[1] Conventional ones anyway - not look at parts prices for the brushless ones.
You're putting words in my mouth.
Anyway, do you really need cordless? Mains are far far better value and much more powerful. My £100 700W hammer drill is far better than my £400
36V cordless.Bill
presumably you could read his weight if he held the wires ;-) I met that (on someone else) in 1959!
It's very difficult to run a mains drill if you've just removed the consumer unit to fit a new one
Not unless you are totally lacking in imagination and resourcefulness.
I wouldn't want to be doing that job with no mains available anyway. I like a good floodlight when I'm mucking about with wires.
Bill
Same here with various 14/18V Lidl and Aldi drills. 2 of the LIon batteries failed within weeks of each other after c.3 years, although replacements not too expensive at about £20
I started with a set of BQ own brand tools (ID, drill and angle drill) for under £40 the lot IIRC. But of little use now the batteries have failed - shame, they worked well.
New to Aldi is a 'brushless' drill:
Not sure what brushless brings.
All of that said, I bought my partner a 12V Bosch Blue about 5 years back - lovely to use and quite powerful - well able to drill into masonry with an 8 drill bit for example. And batteries still seem to be strong. But at £150 many times the cost of Lidl/Aldi.
I've noticed two things about Aldidl power tools: small batteries and, in the case of this drill, can't see the voltage anywhere.
Like this £150 a pair?
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