It has come time to make an upgrade and I need to just buy a combo kit. The problem is no one yet has figured out how to offer a "build your own" combo kit because throwing in a flashlight as a "piece" is annoying. It seems every combo I look at, something is missing but maybe that is just part of the game. A friend has been looking and he is convinced Milwaukee is the right choice over Dewalt. I realize there are better tools for more specific things, but I usually will use something up first to gauge the investment in a better tool. I am most curious about build quality between lines? Battery quality? It does seem like Milwaukee is doing a great job at releasing a cordless option for about everything. Here is a quick list of what I "think" I need or want. 1. 1/2" brushless hammer drill. The go-to tool for many people 2. 1/4" impact driver. I don't even own one and not sure why. I borrow these all the time. Handy! 3. sawzall. Gotta have one. 4. the mini circular saw. Chopping up a pallet or something, just handy! 5. Jigsaw. Not exactly sure how much I would use this and for what? Certainly more precise than sawzall 6. 1/2" impact. Should be closer to top! Would never leave home without it! Tired of air hoses for 2 bolts 7. Angle grinder. This is currently what is driving my shopping! I need one and need it now for 10min work! Here is where I get into special tools. 1. impact ratchet. I would lean on the impact driver when I can though. I walked away from air ratchets yrs ago because they will bash knuckles, are slow, and some are loud. However, SP Air has a mini impact ratchet that is just BA! Are there cordless impact ratchet options? I am talking real impact like the 1/4" pistol drivers. 2. 90* die grinder. Cleaning up gasket surfaces, cut off a quick screw, etc. I use a Dotco all the time. Have not seen anyone but Milwaukee offer this? 3. Grease gun. I want one that uses full size tubes and actually works! tired of junk guns. I bought a 12V Makita 3/8 drill years ago for a specific manufacturing job and I use it a lot for small odd jobs. Much lighter when the big drill is not needed.
If you are looking to fully customise your kit, check out Hilti. Aimed at professional use and not cheap, but with good warranty and repair turnaround guarantees.
I had a mixture of Cordless tools and about 3 years ago I swapped them all for Milwaukee. I’ve got impacts, drills, angle drills, lights, grease gun, boroscopes, grinder, and even a fan. So far I’ve replaced a couple of batteries but all my tools have held up even after being left in the service truck during the winter months. The grinder is great but if you’re doing any heavy grinding you may as well dig out the electric grinder. I can kill a battery on my grinder in about 15 minutes. On the other hand I can use my 1/2” impact for multiple days on the same battery as long as I’m not rattling on a bunch of frozen bolts.
home improvement tools.
Blasphemous! I’ve had way less trouble with the Milwaukee than I did with my snap on cordless tools and I’m normally a snap on fan.
Happy DeWalt owner here....had some issues with the first run of Milwaukee 12 volt stuff and stayed away when I upgraded my full size cordless stuff. Milwaukee does have a broader lineup and does more with an 18 volt battery than anyone. Their chainsaw is the real deal and you can't beat a Milwaukee sawzall, I'll end up with both eventually. Most of my 12 volt stuff is Bosch, it just doesn't die. I do have a Milwaukee 12 volt staple gun that is the neatest thing since birth control, don't even know where my old arrow stapler is.... Ed
Quality is pretty even through most of the big names. I was all about Dewalt when I was younger doing carpentry work, but swapped to Milwaukee in 2012 as a mechanic. Good deals can be found on Home Depot or Zoro Tools for kit sets to start with a build off of (even if you do end up with a flashlight). Go with the authorized dealers versus lowest price to keep warranty intact. My biggest complaint was with the M12 battery tabs breaking, but they've remedied that with the newer batteries.
Only use them for cab interior/I don't have to recharge my air tools, just a drop of oil.
I doubt you will go wrong with dewalt or milwakee I use Dewalt myself the 60 volt grinder is downright amazing with a 6 inch 3m cutoff disk it will cut 1 inch bolts like butter, The 20v impact will take off semi wheels appears to be stronger than milwakee according to the internet but I would like to have one in each hand to know for sure 20v drills have a lot of power but I have let the smoke out of a few so not so sure that they are the best
You work in a shop, too. You don't often have to walk back and start a gasoline engine to get air, or lay out 200' of air hose. I thought the same thing until I started using them. I only use air now for my big impact. My 1/2" drive 1400 ft/lb Milwaukee will take most Budd wheels off.
That's true.
You could make a case for either brand. I bought a Ryobi 7.6V back when Makita 7.6 was nearly the only thing available. The Ryobi died only after my drunken idiot friend hammered the battery in backwards. No joke. I loved it. The case with batt and charger fit under the truck seat. Had nearly the staying power of the Makita, and was better in the hand. In the latest round, I was shopping for a set after my batteries for the old 12V Milwaukee setup finally gave up. Homeless Despot had an 18V set of drill/driver and 1/4 hex impact, 2 batts and charger, Milwaukee and Makita, same price. My best buddy has been running 18V DeWalt for A LONG TIME, and they still suffice, but they were not available at the time I had to have something. Easy, says I. I will buy the Makita, since it is made in Japan, right?? Nope. Both the Milwaukee and the Makita are Made In Bloody China. Long, drawn out post to get to the point- The brushless tools offered by everyone these days are lightyears ahead of the old stuff. Not cheap, but very efficient, easy on batteries, and will AMAZE you with their power. If you buy an impact, be sure to verify/appreciate their power, or make sure you have plenty of left handed drill bits handy.....don't ask how I know....
Have to agree with westerner on the brushless stuff, power and battery life is awesome. Ed
Check Amazon for deals. I was contemplating the Milwaukee 18v 1200 lbs torque. Thought it was a bit pricy, a popup appeared, stating if I opened a amazon account I could take $90 off. click, clickety click! I really like it. I have added more cordless tools to my collection Good deals on the 12v ones if you do not require max. ower
Milwaukee and mainly cause they have the best grease gun and most versatile 18 volt platform I carry a grease gun grinder and a 3/8 and 1/2 impact and they are the stubys believe it or not I cant believe how lazy they made me I really like there ratchets to pretty decent power and quiet Also millwakee makes 90 degree die grinders as well as normal die grinders I carry the blower in both lowboys for cleaning the deck between loads
Well.....After several hours shopping, I am sort of starting to wonder about Rigid???? They are made by the same company as Milwaukee. I have a couple Rigid tools and they have held up. They are not a LOT cheaper, but noticeable. One thing I liked was the in store lifetime warranty, vs 5yr mfg warranty of the big M. However, I am not sure I want to be seen with Rigid tools.....lol But I guess if that was the case, I should get Hilti goodies.
They are very specific about registering for the lsa on Ridgid tools, might want to read the specifics. Ed
Milwaukee all day long. Have the 3/4, 1/2, 1/2 stubby and half ratchet along with die grinder, grinder drill and a lamp. Nothing has failed and I treat with the same respect a drunk treats a cheeseburger at 4am
Maybe I am too old to consider the cordless stuff. Power tools don't feel right to me without an extension cord or air hose hanging off of it.
I have a good friend that has been a mechanic for 20 plus years and been a loyal Snap-on customer. A few weeks ago I stopped by the shop to BS with him and happen to notice a 'well used' Milwaukee 1/2 drive impact on his box. When I asked how he liked it, he said that thing just laughs at the 18 volt Snap-on impact. It's the best he has ever had. Just my $.02
I have always bought snap-on, but have not been happy with my cordless 3/4 impact, bought a Milwaukee 3/4 earlier this year, battery lasts longer and the tool has more torque then I expected
What I did was hit the Depot and wrote down prices on many tools. So far, it does NOT look like the Combo kits will save me much, especially if I have to accept at least one tool that I don't want, like the 6.5" circular saw instead of the 7.25". I am trying to figure out if I can get deals on Milwaukee? I have concluded that Rigid stuff is strategically priced about 75% of where Milwaukee is. So if I can score at least a 25% discount, that becomes a no brainer. However, I am also thinking down the road and every little "gotta have" tool that come out with.
I think I should also add that the “gotta have” turned into genuine must have with every extra I bought. The last example being the cordless ratchet. I’m old enough to have used air ratchets before and had my knuckles rapped and ear drums bleeding from the hideous things. The first job I used the Milwaukee ratchet for was pulling an engine from a digger. All the hose clamps and firewall bolts just sailed off with it.
While I agree, it seems no one yet has truly made a cordless full impact ratchet like AirPro has offered. Look up a video of that!! These things FLY and that is what I am looking for in a cordless!
I have a brushless Milwaukee 1/2" impact gun - amazing torque but it's fairly bulky and heavy. Recently I bought an AirCat (NitroCat) 1/2" air impact gun - it's lightweight, compact and has a bunch of torque. It's now my go to impact gun in my shop but I'm a huge fan of Milwaukee cordless tools.
Well I have wasted some hours trying to convince myself that Rigid was a good way to save some bucks. While I think that is true, I think my time and direction of this thread now should be "where can I get a deal on Milwaukee tools?" I am not going to accept anything but best in class FUEL tools. They might be heavier but I will deal with it. About everything I can find is that Rigid makes good tools, but they are in some cases inflated on the specs and that is enough for me. It has been said that Milwaukee uses the same manufacturer as Rigid, which is TTI, but has ultimate quality control and R&D on their line of tools. I messed with the Rigid 4.5" grinder and was simply baffled at the on switch! I could barely operate it with clean hands. throw on some grease and I would eventually throw that thing! Its little things like this..... Then there is also the unspoken "pros among pros" holding red tools. Sort of like when I show up with my Fluke meters to a job.
Acme tools will have some good deals on Milwaukee...have bought alot of my DeWalt thru them. The toolguyd website will also list daily hot deals when they happen. The key is to sit back and wait for a good deal...then jump on it, lol. Ed
The lesser brands are fine for bit but go try to buy a battery for a 20 year old rigid
Maybe? This quote about cords and hoses takes all the guesswork outta that I am 60 and have been in the trades all my life, so I know what a smidge of 'old' feels like....
Go get some good cordless stuff. You can thank me later.
Hey, I am a manufacturing guy so I have a strong appreciation for air and cords when needed. Air has a distinct advantage for some things but believe it or not, compressed air is far from cheap! 20yrs ago, if you had 5min work, cordless was your guy. Now that has been pushed to 50min! We are finding more and more things to use cordless on, but the biggest thing for me personally is having functional tools in my truck for remote work. I bought $2K in hand tools years ago because I was tired of visiting people to help them and ask, "do you have a pair of pliers"? They look at me perplexed, and 10min later show up with some wally specials. I plan to be one of the few civilian trucks rolling around with service truck level goodies..... Rule 1, cover your 6.....
You would think a tyre shop would be one place you would see air impacts. They have a use for them all day every day and have to have air in the shop regardless, but last time I bought tyres they were using Milwaukee 1/2 inch impacts for cars and 4wds.
Another vote for Milwaukee. They are so versatile Go M18 for the bigger and heavier use tools, M12 for the small drivers and impacts for tight areas.
Last year Amazon had a holiday deal on a very small 12V Bosch driver and I couldn't pass it up. It's my first and so far only cordless Bosch tool which is a bit inconvenient but I really like the tool. Its small size makes it really handy to use in tight spaces.
On my DeWalt 1/2 impact, setting 1 is 100 ft/lbs for torqueing lug nuts. Ed
I have rigid tools and am very happy with them. Part of the reason i went with them is because the circular saw uses real size blades. I have the 1/2 impact and it works very well.
Milwaukee is definitely great for mechanic’s tools- they have put a lot of innovation out for the mechanic/industrial fields. Powerful impacts, including two 1” impacts, great mid torque and stubby impacts for tighter areas, great ratchets, etc. Beware when buying the big kits a lot of them offer the older, brushed tools with less power. You want the Fuel brushless tools and the latest generation of them, not the older stuff, particularly when it comes to impacts. The brushless also tend to be better on power consumption. The high draw tools like the grinders, circular saws, sawszalls need the bigger amp hour batteries. The kits also tend to include the smaller batteries.
I bought red tools today! the HD has a lot of free battery deals with tools, and some discounts. I was also able to work a further discount direct with the HD Milwaukee rep. I cannot say I am all that impressed with the drill and driver, but I will try to get used to them. I think people are infatuated with "power" but I need control and the first thing I noticed is the drill, even on the lightest clutch setting, will not set reliable torque because it seems like they are using the BLDC motor current to set that rather than a slip clutch. My old Dewalt still does it better! We played with drivers at the store and I think they will all sink a screw but they have this "tap screw" setting that I simply would never trust. Bells that sound good but won't work in the field. We stripped out several small screws in sheet metal. All I really wanted was something that would run at higher speed but less torque but seems you get the less speed AND less torque deal. Also, none of these drillers will start up at a near zero speed. They seem to jump right from full stop to about 10rpm, which is not an issue for making holes, but it is a problem trying to get lined up on a screw again. I have my suspicions that they use very low resolution tach cards and need to see decent rotor speed just to pick up because they don't use a real encoder. Something a brushed tool just doesn't care about. That could be solved with more tach resolution but I am sure it is a cost issue. I have noticed this same thing with a Dewalt brushless as well, so I am not just attacking the reds. I have not yet driven anything with the 1/2" impact but I don't think I will have complaints there. It seems to have a nice progressive trigger so control should work out well. I did not get any M12 tools but I am hopeful the smaller tools will have more refined skills and I think the little 3/8 or 1/4 impact could be in the near future. I work with a lot of smaller stuff where power is not really needed, just light, compact, and easy to control. I use the hell out of my little 12V Makita drill...probably more than the bigger drills. IDK, maybe I should have looked more at Makita.....
My dads gen 2 millwakee drill has better trigger control than my gen 3 but mine is smaller and has more power so it's a trade off Makita is pretty good I have a drill and impactor for the house its 10 years old and going and I like it but it is really light on power compared to my millwakee
I just recieved the standard pistol grip 1" impact to remove and reinstall 1-3/4" cylinder rod nuts did a great job. My 3/4" Milwaukee is ok but seems a bit weak. Love both of my 1/2" impacts. Only need for an air compressor anymore on my job is to inflate tires and blow out coolers on the mulcher.
I had a dealer close that handled DeWalt got a discount thru him not look to others as happy with them. Looked at Hilti but price did set me back a few steps, if was still wrenching for a living would use those as very dependable by all accounts.
Can’t go wrong with DeWalt or Milwaukee. I think Milwaukee has a better line-up. The M12 and M18 brushless are great platforms. I rock both, but my primary is Milwaukee. DeWalt is easier to find because every NAPA store carries it. I can’t air freight batteries, but I can take them as carry on when I fly to the Bush. because of that, I have a lot of DeWalt scattered across the state.
I inherited a collection of the Rigid tools from a failed business. I use them extensively around the house and farm and have been satisfied w/ their performance. I am not sure, however, I'd consider them professional duty tools. Of course, not having been able to use such tools when I was actively turning wrenches on acft, I could just be too old to know better. That being said, I'm actively looking at the 4.5" angle grinder and the 1/2" 1100 ft/lb impact. At this point I'm committed to the platform.
I've got a full set of the Snap on cordless. Mixed feelings about most of it. Definitely not as powerful as the Milwaukee impacts. 1/2" impact has larger body then Milwaukee. Biggest battery is only 6AH from snap on. Drill seems fine, and so is the grinder. Not as much selection of tools either, as compared to other brands. I mostly got them for the warranty and flat rate repair. They usually just send you a new tool, if you wreck your old one enough, so you should probably run it over with the D6 first. This last point can be taken either way, but not everyone has snap on cordless tools, so I find my batteries don't get "borrowed" off the charger like my Milwaukee batteries did.
Just a heads up on Rigid tools, I've had them for years, they also state specific places for you to use them, as in carpentry and limited mechanics uses. If you have too many claims, they will in fact cancel you out of their system, this I know for a fact, any new tool you buy, you can't register it for warranty once you've been cancelled. This must have been five years or so ago by now I was cancelled. The other thing you have to have in order to get warranty is every tool included in the package including the bag it came in, if you don't have the complete kit, you either have to buy to missing pieces or they can refuse to service any of them, again, been there done that when some of the turned up missing as in stolen or lost, not sure which. I believe Rigid and Milwaukee are owned by the same company or were at one time anyhow. I've had Rigid, Milwaukee, Dewalt and some others over the years, Rigid caused the most trouble of any of them it seemed, Milwaukee was a close second and for me anyhow, Dewalt proved the best in terms of not much trouble. But quality changes all the time with the invent of new voltages, new options for tools and how they are used and or abused and stored. It also makes a big difference in where you can buy them, for me I always buy them locally as needed and Dewalt seems to be the most plentiful around me.
Been using Makita 18 volt system for years happily. Milwaukee has re-invented themselves as nearly being extinct years ago.
+1 on Milwaukee Cordless I own probably a dozen of them, crazy rugged and powerful. The Bluetooth feature that lets you track and lock out tools from your phone is pretty neat. Makes my old dewalt stuff seem stupid in comparison. The 1” impact is a game changer of a tool. I’ve found some pretty awesome deals on grainger for Milwaukee stuff, maybe worth looking into.