The great PF cordless tool debate

[SD]

About a year after purchasing my Milwaukee M-18 drill/Impact kit the drill trigger and direction control went haywire. Was really aggravated over this reached out to CS on how to repair or replace. Milwaukee CS was excellent because the drill was still under warrantee they emailed a return shipping tag with curbside pickup, and guaranteed me that they had 5 business days to fix or replace the drill. Sure enough few days later received email the drill was fixed and on the way back. Customer Service like this has earned my return business, jigsaw is on deck .

[rob_s]

To the various comments on battery sizing, I don't find anything under the 5.0Ah range to be useful enough to spend money on unless it's the battery's physical size that's the problem. The 5.0's aren't heavy and provide prolonged power for most uses. Whenever my last XC and 4.0 batteries die, I'll be replacing with 5.0 and 9.0's with the occasional 12.0 thrown in.

more here on batteries
https://www.protoolreviews.com/milwa...ries-compared/

The 3.0 batteries, provided you're in a shop, doing woodworking stuff, and close to chargers and have spares, are the best thing going IMO. In fact, I just got two more after my recent deck-building experience. Some folks online have complained that they are wider, but Milwaukee sent me extended belt clips for my older tools when I complained to them about it. Newer tools come with the extended clips.

FWIW, the 4.0 and the 5.0 are the exact same case size (I believe the 4.0 are 1.7 lbs and the 5.0 are 1.8) so IMO the 4.0 are a total waste.

Same thing for the 6.0 and 8.0, with the 9.0 being only ever so slightly larger than the 8.0 (6.0 is 2.3 lbs, 8.0 is 2.33 lbs, 9.0 is 2.4 lbs) so I think going forward I'll only buy 9.0s.


two more 3.0s that showed up yesterday!



4.0 vs 5.0


6.0 vs 8.0


8.0 vs 9.0

[rob_s]

About a year after purchasing my Milwaukee M-18 drill/Impact kit the drill trigger and direction control went haywire. Was really aggravated over this reached out to CS on how to repair or replace. Milwaukee CS was excellent because the drill was still under warrantee they emailed a return shipping tag with curbside pickup, and guaranteed me that they had 5 business days to fix or replace the drill. Sure enough few days later received email the drill was fixed and on the way back. Customer Service like this has earned my return business, jigsaw is on deck .

I have had GREAT services from Milwaukee! Yes, I've been without tools for <5 days turnaround but (a) if you're a pro and don't already have a spare, you're insane and (2) I've actually gotten at least one completely new, not repaired/refurbed, tool from them! Even for me as a hobbiest I have my go-to M18 hammerdrill/driver, an M12 drill/driver, and my house-use M12 hammerdrill/driver as backups.

[mmc45414]

I bought my battery circular saw (just a cheap 5.5" B&D) because I thought it was a cute toy and might be handy on rare occasions, but after I used it a few times I moved my miter saw up into the loft, and I do not think it is coming back down unless I am doing a substantial project like a deck.

One thing that helps is sticking with brands that are battery compatible, I think I have nine tools and at least that many batteries, maybe more. Some of the tools were bought without a battery, some knock-off batteries were bought separately (20v 4Ah for $27ea), some combo drill/driver sets came with just one battery. But no matter how many I actually have I have enough that if I start a day with all of them charged there probably is no homeowner project that is going to drain them all. The other day I needed the impact driver I left in the shed, not like it is on the back forty but it was dark and cold and I would have needed to put on pants and shovel snow from in front of the shed door, and I only needed to run 2-3 screws. In my frustration I ordered a spare drill and driver set, and it came with another battery (and charger).

One key to my battery saw happiness is I avoid binding using a couple (two sizes) of the plastic speed squares as guides and they have been very helpful:

[luckyman]

I’ve never used an electric mower, but the grass situation at my new house is perfect for an electric mower; I’m right up next to a large area of public land but my actual yard is small and much of it is of low maintenance design.

Anyone used a battery powered mower? Wondering about mowers from tool companies vs mowers from mower companies.

[Snapshot]

Home Depot is selling Ryobi 40V cordless mowers now, Makita and DeWalt have had them for a while. When Milwaukee releases one I will likely get one especially if it can somehow use M18 batteries, although I would not be surprised if they need a different system for this.

In the meantime I have adopted M18 for most of my landscaping tools: I have the M18 weed trimmer, chainsaw, SawzAll and now HackzAll. The latter two with a "pruning" blade are excellent for small tree limbs and similar, especially the HackzAll which is easy to use one-handed while the other hand holds the ladder or the piece to be cut (not on the ladder). The M18 blower is fine for dry leaves or garage sweeping, it also works for dry snow.

[Snapshot]

The speed square is an excellent idea for all circular saws, I keep a small one with my M18.

[rob_s]

Seemed as good a place as any to post this. If you’re not following Project Farm on YouTube, you’re wrong.

[rob_s]

Homie shoots 750 pins in a row into white oak with 6 left slightly proud. Using a 1.5ah battery!

Can’t wait to get one.

[mmc45414]

If you’re not following Project Farm on YouTube, you’re wrong.

JB Weld cylinder head? I'm IN!