Li-Ion Cordless Drills

[J. Z. Guest]

I was surfing around over at popularwoodworking.com and came across this comparison (http://www.popularwoodworking.com/upload/contents/335/068-73_APR08PW_Drill_Review.pdf) of 18 V Li-Ion cordless drills.

I thought it might be of interest to others.

My personal experience:

I bought the Ryobi. It now includes two batteries and the flashlight for the price shown in the article. It still seems to be the case that you can't buy more Li-Ion batteries without buying a charger. (at least for now) However, you can buy 18 V NiCd batteries for $20 ea. (in a two-pack) The Ryobi was the powerhouse of the test, as they went for a power increase (from 1.7 Ah) instead of a weight reduction.

I handled the Makita quite a bit and very nearly bought the Makita kit that came with the impact driver for $280. I went with Ryobi because their 18V system is so big, and has so many useful non-tool devices.

I also have their 18 V radio, shop vac, dustbuster, jigsaw, and impact driver. If I had it to do again, I'd pass on the dustbuster and radio. The radio isn't loud enough, but it does have an input jack for a discman, mp3 player, or walkman. The dustbuster needs to have its snout right up against the target or it doesn't have the suction. The jigsaw is great for scrolling cuts, but in the orbital mode, it doesn't have enough power to work smoothly. With the laser, it is very easy to make pretty straight cuts freehand.

My brother bought a Ridgid cordless drill a while back, and when the clutch crapped out after 2 months of very light use, they shafted him by charging him $30 for the repair. To add insult to injury, they stripped one of the screw holes in the enclosure when they made the repair. Now, the batteries have died too. (this was their 18 V NiCd model) So I'm definitely not going to buy any Ridgid portable power tools. (I am happy with their table saw & jointer)

[Don Pierson]

Yesterday I recieved my Makita. It is so much lighter than my old Ryobi 18v nicad. I wanted another cordless drill and I really liked the LED light on the Makita. So many times I am trying to drill a hole or put in a screw in a dark area, making it difficult to hit the spot.
I understand why you went with Ryobi because of their extensive set of compatible tools. After the cordless drill my next favorite tool is the Ryobi cordless brad nailer/stapler. So much better than having to have an air compressor/air hose...pick it up and shoot a brad...it great for tossing together a jig or temporalry holding thing in place.
I had seen the comparison review but the LED light was my rationalization for treating myself to a new toy.

[Ryan Hovis]

I have had good luck with Skil's new 18V tools, and Miwaukee's 14.4V as well. Skil makes a 3/8" chuck drill, jigsaw, sawzall and circular saw, the circular saw isn't much good for cutting anything other than thin trim but the rest of the tools are great. I sold mine and kept the rest of the set. The Milwaukee drill is a little heavier duty and has a 1/2" chuck, I use it more for working on vehicles or construction and keep the Skil stuff in the shop. I added a 1/2" impact wrench and flashlight to my Milwaukee set. Cordless impact is possibly the greatest tool ever invented, I have more time on it than either of my drills. If you can swing it, the 28V Milwaukee kit is as good as li-ion gets.

[Grant Vanbokklen]

I think that is just luck of the draw. I've seen some good use out of Rigid tools by co-workers. That lifetime warranty and battery would be a good deal for someone using the drill everyday.



My brother bought a Ridgid cordless drill a while back, and when the clutch crapped out after 2 months of very light use, they shafted him by charging him $30 for the repair. To add insult to injury, they stripped one of the screw holes in the enclosure when they made the repair. Now, the batteries have died too. (this was their 18 V NiCd model) So I'm definitely not going to buy any Ridgid portable power tools. (I am happy with their table saw & jointer)

[Joe Vincent]

I have a NiMH Makita 14.4 volt drill. The batteries are still going okay. I tested the Makita 18 volt LiION drill recently and it's superb. Lighter, more balanced, and more powerful than my drill. The accompanying impact driver was really nice. I currently don't have an impact driver and while I don't know that I need one, I've been thinking about buying one to go with my current 14.4 batteries. I wonder if I should do that or just wait for my current batteries to die and use that as an excuse to get the new Makita package of LiION drill and driver?

[Eric Haycraft]

I had an 18 volt nimh kit from dewalt and a hammerdrill. 2 out of the three batteries went bad at roughly the same time and the third was lent out, so I had a few choices. Buy a new kit of tools, buy more nimh batteries, or get a new dewalt nano impact driver kit. I went with option 3 because it allowed me to continue to use my older tools and I got an impact driver too. Quite frankly, I am impressed with the dewalt setup. The nano batteries also claim to have 2 or more times the life span of the regular lithium ions. That remains to be seen, but if it is true it is certainly worth the extra up front costs. To anyone considering an impact driver, don't wait..get one. Stripped heads on screws are a thing of the past and anyone no matter how weak or strong can drive large screws with ease (my 60 year old mother for example).
If I didn't have the dewalt bodies to begin with, I don't know what I would have ended up with. Shortly after my dewalt upgrade, I noticed a milwaukee v28 kit on CL and picked that up for a steal. Strangely, the drill on that kit aside from being overly heavy is also horribly underpowered. That drill only gets used if I need to use 3 drills at once and don't want to change bits all the time. I use that kit mainly for the sawsall which is excellent.

[rocky brown]

[quote=Joe Vincent;810078]The accompanying impact driver was really nice. I currently don't have an impact driver and while I don't know that I need one,


oh, you need one...

rb

[Lance Norris]

My first Ryobi 18v tool was the circular saw. This thing is awesome. Maybe you wouldnt want to build a house with it, but it works great for cuts at the lumberyard, to shorten boards so they fit into my 6' truck bed. Then I bought the Ryobi chain saw. Not so good, but does work. Again, you wont be cutting down the redwood forest, but for small pruning jobs and limbs, it works. Then I bought the Ryobi right angle drill. I have used this extensively. It works great, the only thing I dont like is the key-less chuck. The drill free spins and you have a collar you have to hold to tighten the chuck. Makes it kinda hard to get good torque to tighten a bit. If you use the drill motors power to tighten it up, you can get it where it need to be.Lastly, I bought the LI-ION drill/flashlight kit. wow... great drill and batteries. I really like the "gas gauge" on the batteries. plus the new batteries fit and power the older NI-CAD tools. Excellent. You have to give Ryobi credit for this. They just as easily could have made them not interchangeable. I bought a second green drill body on fleebay so now I have 2, one for drilling and one for driving. I am very happy with my Ryobi 18v tools. Here is a link to the thread about the battery gas gauge:

http://www.sawmillcreek.org/showthread.php?t=71156

[Ellen Benkin]

If I had a drill that broke after 2 months I'd return it to HD.

[Richard Dragin]

Makita Li-on wins hands down. The deal with the impact and driver for $280 is the best way to go and you will use the impact more than the driver. If you carry bags while you work the makita is light, powerful and charges last a long time.

[J. Z. Guest]

After the cordless drill my next favorite tool is the Ryobi cordless brad nailer/stapler. So much better than having to have an air compressor/air hose...pick it up and shoot a brad...it great for tossing together a jig or temporalry holding thing in place.

Don, that is advertised as a stapler. It shoots brads too!!?? I'm all over that. What range of brads will it shoot?

[Pete London]

I bought a Makita LXT Li-Ion 18V 4 pak about 4 months ago for $339 at Home Depot. The 4 pak included the drill/driver, Sawsall, circular saw and flash light, two batterys and a quick charger. Very, very satisfied. Excellent equipment.

[Pat Germain]

FYI, I just returned from my first visit to the new COSTCO which covers a few acres near my house. They have fours cordless tool sets available: Makita, Kawasaki, DeWalt and Milwaukee. They all looked pretty nice and the prices seemed downright reasonable. You can take your pick of the brand you prefer. I don't know anything Kawasaki tools, but my experience with the other three has been first rate. Sorry, don't recall what kind of batteries they use. They're not available on the COSTCO web site.

[Ron Kellison]

My first Li-ion tool is the little Bosch PS20 10.8v screwdriver. It fits in a pocket of my apron, it has an amazing amount of torque and the battery seems to last forever. I'll now reserve my 14.4 Dewalt XRP for drilling holes and driving lag screws.

Regards,


Ron in Ottawa

[Randal Stevenson]

FYI, I just returned from my first visit to the new COSTCO which covers a few acres near my house. They have fours cordless tool sets available: Makita, Kawasaki, DeWalt and Milwaukee. They all looked pretty nice and the prices seemed downright reasonable. You can take your pick of the brand you prefer. I don't know anything Kawasaki tools, but my experience with the other three has been first rate. Sorry, don't recall what kind of batteries they use. They're not available on the COSTCO web site.


Look at the color of the Makita's. The white ones have lower amp hour (1.4 if memory serves me) batteries then the bluegreen ones. My local Costco has multiple Makita kits (4 and 7 piece if I remember correctly). The one I looked at for a friend had 3.0Ah batteries.
I gave it my seal, and he is still himhawing (wants something for nothing).

[Grant Vanbokklen]

I have a NiMH Makita 14.4 volt drill. The batteries are still going okay. I tested the Makita 18 volt LiION drill recently and it's superb. Lighter, more balanced, and more powerful than my drill. The accompanying impact driver was really nice. I currently don't have an impact driver and while I don't know that I need one, I've been thinking about buying one to go with my current 14.4 batteries. I wonder if I should do that or just wait for my current batteries to die and use that as an excuse to get the new Makita package of LiION drill and driver?


I have 14.4 NiMH Makita stuff that I use at work for the last two years. I find the time that the battery will put out useful life to be weak. The tools are great but I have to switch batteries often during a drilling session. The battery I have from two years ago is still doing it's thing, but one got lost and I needed another, so I bought a kit at amazon for $140 that included two batteries, charger, light, drill, and impact. Some of it is duplicated, but I'll use it or sell it to recoup some cost.

I'm thinking now that I should have picked up a 7 piece Li-Ion LXT Makita Kit at Costco and got rid of my other stuff because those 14.4 NiMH batteries have always sort of bugged me. I just want to have one type of charger and I've got a bunch of different Makita tools/batteries that work off the same type charger. A few guys at work are getting those white Makita drills and impacts and really liking them.

[Bill Rehbock]

I'm another Li-Ion Ryobi fan. I bought the Drill/Circular Saw/Recip. Saw/Flashlight Combo a little while back when HD had the Combo/One Free Tool special. I picked up the One+ Impact Tool as the free piece.
The Circular Saw is a delight for a 5.25" saw. The battery connects from the side rather than the back, providing effortless balance and the shoe has a nice accurate 1" offset. I pair the Ryobi 18v Li-Ion kit for general-purpose duties with my DeWalt 36v Li-Ion gear for the heavy work.
Sears just introduced the C3 update to Li-Ion, which is all basically the same as the Ryobi One+ line, with the Sears-style battery connector. The sears prices are overall a bit higher; the Ryobi industrial design is better with nicer overmold grips, etc. and it's much easier to find deals on Ryobi Li-Ion batteries and One+ tool deals at HD and EB. Lastly, with the Li-Ion battery, the old Ryobi One+ P300 Nailer actually is much more useable than with the old One+ batteries.

[Don Pierson]

Sears has a cordless nailer/stapler $74 very similar to the discontinued Ryobi P300...
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00911577000P?keyword=nailer

[Karl Brogger]

I have 3 Panisonic 15.6V drills. They are really tough drills, more power and lighter than the DeWalt 18V drill. Plus alot shorter, which is nice for getting into tight places. The first Panasonic I bought lasted almost 4 years. The chuck took a crap so I pitched it and bought two more. The third I bought shortly after. I'm lazy and don't like to change bits that's why I have three.

I also recently bought a Makita 18V Li-ION impact driver. That thing is awesome! Two complaints though. Where the battery mount meets the handle mine cracked and is hanging on by the grip. The batteries don't last very long under heavy use, but they do last longer than 15min which is how long it takes to charge a battery. The two jobs I had in mind when I bought the Makita was assembling faceframes, and install for pounding home 3 1/2" screws.

The biggest thing when it comes to cordless tools is the batteries. Li-ION is the top of technology right now. Ni-Cd is very unreliable, they develope a memory and after not too long they won't take a full charge any longer. Ni-Mh batteries are still a very good way to go. They hold peak power longer, don't develope a memory and can be charged many many times before they crap out. Plus they don't go dead sitting on the shelf as quickly as Ni-Cd.

My $.02

[J. Z. Guest]

Sears has a cordless nailer/stapler $74 very similar to the discontinued Ryobi P300...
http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00911577000P?keyword=nailer

Don, thanks for the tip. However, I don't want to buy into a new system just for a brad nailer. The battery contacts look completely different and are of a different voltage.

I'll probably just get one of the AC-powered Arrow brand brad nailers, if I decide I really need one.

Until then, I've got a tack hammer and a nail set, which are also cordless, hehehe.