Hi all I want to get into a tool system ,basically one type of batteries. . Is there a sort of standard set of tools that are the best ? I am not looking for red devil or Powermax or any of those basically own brand systems. nor do i want screamingly high end systems What I am looking for is high end D.I.Y. stuff or low end professional kit. Any and all recommendations welcomed.
drill driver, impact driver, SDS drill, track saw or circ saw, planer ... depends what you'll be tackling
There's very little interchangeability between tools and batteries from different manufacturers, there are adapters but they are bulky and from what I see elsewhere, don't perform that well.
I picked 18V makita and have been happy with that, including a couple of
2x18V tools, they do have a 40V range now, but have not abandoned the older 18V users, still bringing many new tools to both battery types.
For DIY use, I wouldn't bother paying the extra for brushless. Makita is good, but get LXT gear. They also do G series, which is a dead end.
I think there's still a premium on most XGT tools.
I see what you mean, but I am 'talking' more brand (Makita Milwauke, Ryobi etc)than what tools are needed, I should have made that more clear.
That is pretty much why I wanted recommendations on a specific brand so that no matter which tool I needed I could just grab a battery and no matter which one I grabbed it would work as all the tools would be the same brand and hence use the same batteries
So 1 for 18V Makita.
Make that 2.
To save money, you could also look at Aldi or Lidl.
The Lidl stuff seems fairly decent, although it is a while since I bought any.
Cheers
Dave R
Those are the 'bread and butter' tools. There are also offshoots into carpentry tools, gardening tools and construction (concrete etc) - most manufacturers do the bread and butter, but some are better than others at the offshoots.
(eg Festool for carpentry, Makita or Bosch for gardening, Milwaukee for construction)
There are also platforms that have a limited range, eg Greenworks for gardening, but not the bread and butter. Not to be considered unless your focus is gardening.
There are roughly three levels of battery systems: (aside from tools with dedicated batteries, eg 3.6v screwdrivers)
10.8v/12v: compact, low power tools 18v/20v: standard tools 36v (2x18)/40v/54v/60v: high power toolsI'd start with the standard 18v/20v systems to begin with.
(10.8v = 12v, 18v = 20v, 36v = 40v: they are electrically the same, just labelling differences)
On a high drain tool I'd want to use the native battery, but many tools don't need a high current.
One thing to be careful of is the adapters may not correctly signal to the tool that the battery is out of juice, so I'd be wary of running them on a battery that's less than 50% charged.
There is a shared battery platform:
And because xkcd.com/927 there's another shared platform:
The 2x18v feature of Makita is handy in that you can use the standard batteries for high power tools without needing to invest in a separate
40/54/60v battery system. They are bulkier though.I went with Makita for that reason, and also they have a good range of garden tools. I have one Ryobi I use via an adapter and that works fine.
For many tools, it's cheaper to buy a 'starter pack' with maybe a drill/driver, a charger and one or two batteries, than to buy the parts separately. If you don't want the drill, ebay it. The going rate for batteries is ballpark £5 per 10Wh, ie a 5Ah 18V for £50, so that's what you should expect to pay.
Theo
It really depends on what you are trying to do.
Although most of my tools are still mains I have in the past had cheap tools but over the years found replacements from Dewalt and Makita are much easier to use and give better results.
In my experience it's the "flex" in cheap tools that give poor results. For instance if the adjustment to set a saw blade at 90 degrees to a reference face plate is made of plastic or a recycled cola can the angle tends to change by a few degrees in use.
In terms of cordless platforms, the two with the widest range of tools are probably Makita and Milwaukee, although it worth noting that the Bosch platform also forms "Ampshare" which is shared by a number of the smaller players - so make a larger range than just what you can get form Bosch alone.
The Milwaukee brand (part of the TTI group that includes Ryobi in the mid range, and Power Devil at the bottom end), are relatively new to the UK, but have pushed hard in recent years. They by all accounts have a vast range of tools, and the tools perform well. However there is the question of their serviceability, since spares are often pricey, and the internal quality of construction can be such that they are less able to withstand harsh conditions. (e.g. in Makita kit, electronic control modules will normally be fully putted and bonded to an ali heatsink layer making them fully waterproof and resistant to damage. The equivalent Milwaukee tools often use unprotected PCBs without even a conformal coating. In the US this matters less, since they come with long warranties as standard. Here they are only 1 year by default, but with the option to extend to 3 years is you register each purchase - so well worth remembering to do!)
It does depend a bit on what tool you are getting and also how hard you are going to work it. If you need / plan to push it really hard, then it is worth stumping up the extra for brushless, since they won't melt their brush holders or burn out armatures in the same way the a brushed tool will. So for many tools I am plenty happy with brushed versions, but some like my 18V angle grinder or my 36V chainsaw I went for brushless because they are tools where you may expect high current draw, and also extended periods of use. If I were going to use a circular saw intensively, I would also go brushless.
Yup the LXT range is vast with both 18V and 36V tools. Not sure why they did G series really. The 10.8V platform also has a reasonable range of tools.
Battery voltage is the equivalent of the "Megapixel" wars between camera manufacturers a few years back.
To some extent - true when makers claim 20V rather than 18V etc. However there is a very sizeable step up in performance going up from 18V to 36V though.
I went through the same deliberations a few years ago and, after much thought and research, went for 18V Makita; the only regret is that I didn't do it sooner. I've slowly added to the Mak tools (and disposed of the corded tools, and the odd non-Mak battery tool) but baulked at the cost of the Mak finishing nail guns so bought a "Ryobi 18V One+ 18G nailer" and a Badapter so I could use a Mak battery - excellent and highly recommended.
. . . and 3. I'd recommend at least 2 batteries and the fast charger.
I've also got an LXT 10.8V drill - my most used power tool - and multitool. Much lighter in use and still plenty good enough for most jobs I do.
The obvious saving is batteries - less than half the price. But nothing like the variety or availability of tools. Still got an 18V drill, circular saw and jigsaw, all working well, and seen me through some decent DIY projects. Must be 10 years old, but the 2A batteries seem to be struggling a bit now. They'll be replaced with Makita as and when.
Yes, a tool I haven't purchased, supposedly they have new nailers coming next year?
.. and 4, Makita 18V as above 2 batteries and fast charger. I also use EGO 56V for high power stuff like lawn mower, leaf blower and chainsaw.
Do look at the Ryobi nailer I mentioned before, it works very well. The battery adapter is well designed and clicks inside the Ryobi body with hardly any unnecessary increase in size. My nailer was discounted to about £170 and the adapter was just over £20.
Ryobi are unusual in that they carried over the battery system from their NiCd/NiMH tools. You can fit a lithium battery in the old tools and it'll work, but the downside is the batteries have a large 'stalk' that sticks up into the tool, where you would pack extra cells on the NiMH version. This makes the batteries bulkier and harder to adapt to other brands of tools.
So going with some other brand's batteries and adding an adapter to use Ryobi tools makes sense, but I wouldn't start with Ryobi batteries - they are expensive anyway. In the US Ryobi is a budget/mid-tier brand, sold for low prices at Home Depot. In the UK we get the same tools but not the low prices.
If shopping used, old Ryobi NiMH tools (those that aren't green) used with a modern battery could be an idea, although they will likely perform worse than a modern tool and may not save very much.
Theo
It's totally specious. Power is voltage TIMES current Battery life is weight divided by power.
it only makes sense in the context of using a *fixed sized* battery cell, like a nickel sub C, There to get more power you need more cells. Lithium packs can use almost any cell size.
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