Cordless drills - Makita vs. Milwaukee vs. Dewalt

I recently picked up a Dewalt myself. Obviously can't speak of the battery longevity issues mentioned in the thread.

 

I have had my dewalt for 6 years now and the battery's is starting to go slowly.

I like the dewalt but the damn battery's is too much $$$$$$.

 

Eh they are all pretty good.....just depends on what Brand ya like they all make good variable speed drills and Pneumatic drills....I'd say Makita. for a drill Just depends on the tools IMO.......

 

They are all made in China. But then again what isn't now days. There is a power tool company called fein which I believe is German, i don't know for sure if they make cordless drills though.

 

I prefer Bosch for cordless with the lithium Ion battery, works great for me.

I use the Dewalts at work and take the abuse my technicians for the most part. Only reasons I replace them is that the techs burn up motors or tear up the chucks. Batteries are kinda on the eh side tho, then again these guys keep them on the charger 24/7.

 

great choice OP, you won't be disappointed. as oz stated, the panasonic is an outstanding cordless. chose one after my crapsman bit the dust. should i ever need another one though, there is a little-known german company that has an outstanding rep amongst those who use them named festool. tom silva, the gc on "ask this old house" uses one.

 

There is a trick to "jump start" the batteries, especially the older Ni-cad packs. what you want to do is take a DC power supply or a DC welder of some sort and attach the neg to 1 battery terminal, and then VERY quickly touch the positive to the other battery terminal. Basically you are sending a very short blast of high voltage through the cells and breaking up crystals that have formed. I have tried this on about 10 packs and it worked on 8 of them.

The newer lithium packs and chargers have pretty smart circuitry that allow you to leave the packs on the chargers 24/7. You dont have to worry about killing the battery like you did with the ni-cads

 

Or Festool

 

I like Bosch too, all of the Bosch stuff I've had has lasted a long time and worked great.

 

i use the c3 crapsman. works good with the lith batts. usta use dewalt but the batts cost as much as the dang tool. i use my drill daily removing panels from aircraft . so i can say for the price of the drill crapsman is pretty good. would not drill anything that needed precession though. thats what my palm drill is for

 

many of my coworkers have the 12v lith bosch drills. they seem to be really happy with them and there small which is a plus in aviation work.

 

I have an older Dewalt drill my buddy gave me almost 10 years ago. I've replaced the batteries, but that is it. Last year I bought a Milwaukee 12 volt hammer drill, impact driver kit. I remodeled my kitchen using the Milwaukees, and only have had to recharge batteries. I also have a corded Ryobi that I have mounted in a drill press.

 

Not true. Makita has a plant right here in Buford GA.

 

I am a big fan of Ryobi. I used to work at a place where I installed hitches in full size pickups, and I used to drill through everything with the Ryobi drills and sawalls. Now I used them as my personal tools

 

I've done that to my old Makita battery. Hooked it up to an industrial charger. 8 seconds and no more otherwise it can explode on you. Worked on mine, but still no where near as good as a brand new battery. However better than nothing. But remember it's a 30+ year old battery.

 

I did not know that next drill for me will be a Makita.

 

makita

 

Oh... W/Bosch drill bits

 

it's called we had them on display showing OUR brand vs THEIR brand.