Best tool ecosystem?

[Sapphireho]

I have quite a few of M12 tools and love them.

[Ohio Enthusiast]

I used some 10.8/12V Lithium battery powered tools and frankly I much prefer the 18/20V versions. This is especially important for beefier tools like circular saws or rotary hammers doing more demanding jobs, but I also prefer 20V for drill drivers and impacts as well.

[cjd]

Originally Posted by Ohio Enthusiast

I used some 10.8/12V Lithium battery powered tools and frankly I much prefer the 18/20V versions. This is especially important for beefier tools like circular saws or rotary hammers doing more demanding jobs, but I also prefer 20V for drill drivers and impacts as well.

This is where the Makita 2x 18v > 36v really has me intrigued. Mostly seems to be saws at the moment (circular, chain, chop...) Already out of space though so no new power tools for me.

[Ohio Enthusiast]

Originally Posted by cjd

This is where the Makita 2x 18v > 36v really has me intrigued. Mostly seems to be saws at the moment (circular, chain, chop...) Already out of space though so no new power tools for me.

DeWalt has something similar with their 60V tools, where the batteries can power both 20V and 60V tools (at 3x the AH for 20V).

[NoHaveMSG]

Milwaukee. Good variety of tools across both 12/18v lines. Quite durable. All my contractor buddies use them so it is nice to have compatibility when they are over to help or vice versa. They don't seem to go through a lot of them as far as wear and dropping them off houses. A couple guys use Mikita and they seem to hold up okay.

We have used Dewalt exclusively at work for over 10 years do to the amount of batteries and chargers we had and stuck with them. Overall we are not really happy with them, we seem to go through a couple drills and impacts a year and a charger about once a year. They also start to sound like absolute shit after about 6-9 months of use and at that point you know they are not long for this world.

[NWFRS]

Originally Posted by NoHaveMSG

Milwaukee. Good variety of tools across both 12/18v lines. Quite durable. All my contractor buddies use them so it is nice to have compatibility when they are over to help or vice versa. They don't seem to go through a lot of them as far as wear and dropping them off houses. A couple guys use Mikita and they seem to hold up okay.

We have used Dewalt exclusively at work for over 10 years do to the amount of batteries and chargers we had and stuck with them. Overall we are not really happy with them, we seem to go through a couple drills and impacts a year and a charger about once a year. They also start to sound like absolute shit after about 6-9 months of use and at that point you know they are not long for this world.

The shop I worked for ended up standardizing on DeWalt as well. The gentleman I worked with was in charge of ordering all the drill motors and rivet guns, among other things. Also lots of weird European stuff that he was always watching eBay for. I got sucked into a lot of the maintenance. I was able to cherry pick the newest hand tools and batteries for my department, so I had no complaints. But when I went to set up my own shop, I standardized on Ryobi, just because I was sick of seeing those colors. Mental association. Silly psychological thing. I wanted a fresh start. Ryobi was at the cheaper end, and they’re pretty good about pushing that battery commonality angle. Gives me hope that they’ll at least make an effort to not change their battery design every two years.

[x808drifter]

Bring on AvE and the BOLTR videos.