Makita

[John]

Makita cordless drills used to be great now they are rubbish.

[bgsengine]

IMHO, Most Cordless tools are junk - Battery costs often more than the tool itself, Some companies advertise a 2 year warranty, what they don't mention is the battery is only a 1 year warranty..
Ive had more problems with cordless tools or all brands (Including Dremel, Ridgid, Worx, Ryobi, Homelite, Oregon, Makita) than it seems they are ever worth the money - When you absolutely NEED something, is usually the time they choose to fail, it seems.

I'd just as soon buy corded electric - My Makita corded drill has 25 years on it and counting, never had to replace *ANYTHING* on it yet. Had a cordless Impact from a "High End Brand" tool truck that lasted all of 6 months , got it warranted, lasted another 8 months, just threw it in the junk pile and bought a Jepson corded impact from H.F. (for use on the road.) and it hasn't let me down yet - Even got a set of spare brushes with the new unit, haven't used them yet either.

I haven't even tried other cordless brands as yet.. Just had so many problems with so many different brands, I just won't go Cordless (or wireless computer stuff like mouse, keyboard, etc.) any more. (Even my Phone is corded!)

[HondaG100]

Since lithium batteries have become common the battery problem has mostly gone away. People did not understand how to care for the Nickle Cadmium batteries. My day job has dozens of Makita drills and impact drivers that are abused by many and hold up well. Dewalt also makes a good product and I have an impact and drill that I have used in my own shop every day for many years now. Hilti is said to be the best but I have no direct experience. Spend enough to get a good unit and it will last for years. The convenience of cordless far outweighs the the problems they have IMO.

[bgsengine]

Most of the batteries I have had problems with were Li-Ion - very few problems with Ni-Cd - problem with Li-Ion is they don't handle temperatures very well. after a winter in storage in an unheated shed, come spring is when we usually start seeing yet another batch of failed Li-Ion batteries - Likewise summer time storage or charging when the batteries are hot. Li-Ion does not like temperature extremes.

With Ni-Cd we'd be able to "condition" them to take a full charge once again , with Li-Ion, that trick does not work.

Maybe its just the region we are in, but Li-Ion powered stuff has been more trouble than they are worth - as I said, they work fine if you don't mind spending almost as much as a new tool to buy backup spares, and take good care of them.. but for the expense I've gone through with cordless battery powered stuff, I'm happy enough to put up with corded electrics instead. - for the price of a new Li-Ion battery, I can buy 2 corded tools that last 10 times as long.

[madmantrapper]

You can't beat a cored tool, except when power is not available. I can't seem to want to break out the genset every time I need to use a tool in the booneys.

Paul

[KE4AVB]

It seems to depend the user view point if battery power tools are any good or not.

For me I have had cheap Chinese drills and name brand ones. They all worked for their intended purposes but as the batteries ages they can be expensive to replace except those that can re-built and usually with powerful batteries as batteries improve. When the battery is on a cheap Chinese drill it is usually cheaper to just cheaper to replace it with a new drill set.

Most problems with my batteries is usually traced back to cheap charger that over charge them.

Of all the ones I have the Dewalt one is the most powerful. It does have one draw-back which is its weight. But when need some serious drilling in the field it is usually the one I pull out.

When come to in shop use I still prefer my corded electric variable speed versions of my drills for long term use. I do have a couple air powered drills, just don't seem to reach for those much.

[madmantrapper]

The only air powered tool I use anymore is the spray guns.

[Greyfox]

I know i will probably take allot of flack for this but i go with harbor freight cordless impact, 2 year warranty on it. If it gets dropped and broken, still covered. And batteries are cheap to replace. Now let the bashing begin....

[KE4AVB]

I know i will probably take allot of flack for this but i go with harbor freight cordless impact, 2 year warranty on it. If it gets dropped and broken, still covered. And batteries are cheap to replace. Now let the bashing begin....

My experience HF is there good and bad tools. There is times I need a tool is fairly robust tool in my line of work and HF tools just can't usually take it from me. Now with that said I have seen other companies tools perform just as bad as HF ones it depends who is manufacturing them and their quality control. Matter of fact my brother has Snap-on and Mac impacts that don't seem perform any better the last time I used them.

I got a couple 1/2 air impacts from HF that just can't loose those stubborn blade nuts which is why I looking into some those 1000 ft lb versions as I know their rating are peak power but still got to be better than 250 ft lbs versions that I have. I may even need to upgrade to 3/4 impact tools. Right now I having better luck with two 25" 1/2 pull bars I got from HF on getting these loose.

[bgsengine]

I got a couple 1/2 air impacts from HF that just can't loose those stubborn blade nuts

Is there any never-sieze compound in use? It's easy to overtorque them which is why they then never come loose - after the blades been running a lot of them that are not of a star or Double D hole design will self-tighten - Ive seen a lot of machines where they use never-sieze compound on the threads or worse on the nut flange, but it works at opposite purposes in these cases.

But I agree - a lot of them, we end up having to load the deck in the truck and take it over to my brother's Truck & Auto shop to borrow his 3/4 impact and big diameter air hoses. I've bent even the "best" brand of breaker bars trying to get some nuts loose (3/4 inch drive , tool steel breaker bar, had to use a cheater pipe, and still bent the damn thing. thought we were gonna have to cut the nuts off with a torch.)

I've found that a little heat can go a long way - Sometimes - just heat the nut hex with a propane torch for a few minutes and suddenly that 250 Ft Lb impact zips the nut off.