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Old 10-02-2021, 02:54 PM   #1
ZionsWrath
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Best tool ecosystem?

Right now I'm semi invested in Milwaukee electric tools. I have the m18 fuel variant. But i only have a few and they are 5 years old.

I bought a house and will be needing more tools soon as I am a DIY type of guy. So I need to figure out what brand/ecosystem I'm going to jump into.

Milwaukee worked okay.
I didn't like that my 3/8" impact lost noticeable power after 2 years casual track use, can't imagine a professional using it daily. It wouldn't undo my 80ft/lb lugs anymore.
Other complaint was the battery is held together with tiny screws through plastic. One of them broke. I never dropped it but the tool is kind of heavy so just putting it down is rough in it.

I don't knock Milwaukee, I'm sure many tools have these type of nuance which is why I'm asking before I go spend a few thousand dollars in the next year or two.
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Old 10-02-2021, 03:50 PM   #2
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I'm interested in what you find. My impact tools are all air driven and I'll looking at getting a battery powered 3/8" impact and multi-tool. I have an older cordless Dewalt drill/driver. My beef with it has always been the batteries (NiCad). They have been pretty short lived and Dewalt wants rapacious prices for replacements. I have no experience with anybody's Li power tools.

Thanks for asking the question. Looking forward to the answers.
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Old 10-02-2021, 04:15 PM   #3
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THe Milwaukee batteries are chargers are so widely applicable- if you've already got it started, keep going. They are constantly developing and innovating their tools. I ditched my snap-on impact for Milwaukee's M18 fuel stuff and like it way more. Just feel slike it's built by people who actually work on automotive stuff. As for their DIY homeowner stuff, the battery powered sawzall and jigsaw have been a lifesaver. No need to run extension cords and stuff all over. Just set up your bench and go
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Old 10-02-2021, 04:18 PM   #4
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Below a certain price point, they pretty much all come out of the same factories in Asia anyway. Just be sure to buy brushless and you can’t go too far wrong.
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Old 10-02-2021, 04:28 PM   #5
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Which tools might you be wanting?

Right now I'd be looking at 18v Makita if I were looking for quality tools which will hold up with heavy use. Some double up on the battery (circular saw comes to mind) which seems to be a somewhat unique approach.

For occasional use most of the Ryobi stuff is good enough, and the holiday bundles can get you really good pricing. I have a bunch of that and it does the job. However, some of the tools are garbage. That said, my impact still seems to be doing fine after quite a few years.
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Old 10-02-2021, 05:15 PM   #6
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it really comes down to how you intend to use it all.

fair warning, i'm an electrician by trade, and generally get into everything on my own time. on the job, i'm responsible for everything from properly studding out ceiling fan locations in vaulted ceilings, drilling all my own holes, cutting/digging/boring tons of remodel stuff in drywall, plaster, concrete, tile, and brick. in my off time, i do welding, and anything that needs repair, replacement, or to be made. i remodeled my entire bathroom by myself... so my tools are somewhat extensive specifically for all the crap someone as stubborn as me gets into.

i'm fully invested into the milwaukee m18 and m12 lines at this point. it was about 8-ish years ago that i switched. before that i had rigid power tools for about 6ish years. i had no complaints about the tools themselves. the batteries held up fine. the main complaint i had with rigid was a lack of tool diversity/selection and battery sizing-- they only had 18v tools, so i'd have to commit to lugging around 18v tools everywhere and anywhere. at the time, they really only had a drill, circular saw, sawzall, and flashlight. my needs went beyond that. i'm up and down ladders all day long, so the extra weight of anything 18v to simply put a few drywall screws in is a significant disadvantage.

what really sent me over the edge was attempting to have menards store-brand 12v stuff in conjunction with the rigid stuff. dealing with 2 entirely separate platforms meant keeping track of 2 different chargers, and making sure that the chargers stayed working while bouncing on and of the truck all the time. when everything is new, this isn't a problem. but as things age, replacement chargers, or parts for the different brands become a significant hurdle to overcome.

and the biggest and most significant problem became the 'package deals'. my menards brand stuff only came as a multi-piece set. with 2 batteries, a charger, a drill, and impact, and a flashlight. all i ever used was the impact and batteries. but if it died, the only way i could warranty it, or if i lost the receipt, buy a replacement, was to re-buy the entire kit with an extra drill, extra batteries, and extra charger. for a while i had 3 drills, 2 chargers, and 3 flashlights just floating around being useless.

i decided on milwaukee because at the time, they were the brand that had a dual-voltage 12/18v charger, meaning i only needed 1 charger on the truck for everything-- i keep at least 2 chargers at home as spares. milwaukee is also one of the most popular brands, meaning that parts are extremely easy to come by from places like ereplacementparts.com, or ebay. rigid, or menards house-brand as examples, lacks both of these features, so they quickly become throw-away tools if anything starts to fail on them, forcing me to re-buy the tool i already bought. keeping with a mainstream brand has significantly reduced my recurring tool costs because the majority of the stupid stuff, i can repair myself-- they really all just come apart with some torx bits, if you can handle repairing a car, you can repair a drill...

all of the brands have repair services to send the tools in to be re-built. i did it once with my m18 drill, the transmission started slipping within the warranty period. took 4 months overall to get back. by that time, i bought a replacement because i can't be down a tool for more than a week.

i don't believe it's the case anymore, but during dewalts nicad battery days, drill failures were just par for the course. my dad had something like 4 drills, with at least 2 somewhere in the repair process at any point.

dewalt, imo, very fairly and directly competes with milwaukee. their biggest downside is the same to me as the rigid-- they don't offer smaller versions. if you want a drill, there's only 1 size. their overall lineup is 'fine'. they've got enough tool variety. but the noise their tools make drive me up the wall.

a coworker has a number of dewalt tools because his dad is convinced "it's THE tool to have" so it's all he ever gets whenever his dad gifts him tools.

the 20v hammer drill/driver drilling for concrete anchors has a soul-sucking squeal that makes me want to throw it into a lake. the oscillating tool has a variable speed trigger(try to maintain half speed on a shaking jiggling tool) that irritates me unless i'm trying to play music with it. i do like the dewalt sawzall better, with the dual blade positioning and pitched motor that leads to a more compact design, and they were first to market with bigazz impacts. i understand their impact tech is slightly more reliable.

but honestly, the whole thing with my dad needing to have 4 dewalt drills to maintain 1 that works for every day usage really burned me on the brand overall, and none of the benefits of tool design are going to overcome reliability. this was really where milwaukee stepped into the market 5-10 years ago, and talk to any contractor that been around long enough, most of them switched over to milwaukee from dewalt for similar reasons. reliability is an uphill battle that takes time to prove.

i know bosch stuff is decent, main problem being that it's never really gained a significant foothold in the US market. they've got the right sizes and tool variety, but everything needs to be ordered online, and i've never had any hands-on time with it.

i know at least 1 contractor that's fully invested into ryobi, and he's had zero complaints with it all. i don't know about repairability, but i know they've got a good selection of tools if you can get past the fisher price colors.

there's also harbor freights power tool line, which they've made significant strides with of late. a harbor freight corded hammer drill cost me 7 stitches a few years ago, so i'm hesitant to invest too much into their brands though. repairability is a definite problem with HF gear. always has been. always plan to buy 2.

craftsmans quality significantly changed last time they got bought out. i avoid them specifically because last i looked into it on the tool forums, only certain retailers carried the 'good' versions of product 'x', but then bad versions of other things, so then one must go to other stores to get 'good' versions of product 'y', and i just don't have time to deal with that kind of hassle, remembering where to get 'x', but not 'y', despite all stores stocking similar products.

metabo, in germany, guy's apparently start drooling uncontrollably if one tries to talk about any of it. my uncle has a garage door install business, and runs metabo stuff-- mostly drills/impacts, with zero complaints.

makita was the big dog in my area until dewalt stole all their sales in the 90's. no complaints, i'd consider them in the top 3, just have less to do with them. i've found some woodworking guy's like makita stuff over the other brands, though usually not for any specific reason.


some of it comes down to product availability, as well as product rep's. milwaukee is in every supply house around me for plumbing, hvac, and electric. if a place is going to sell power tools around me, they're selling milwaukee first, with extra self space given to other brands if it's still around after that. i know how to get in direct contact with the milwaukee rep, and they routinely take part in local contractor events. they are very visible to the contractor industry, where most of the other brands tend to just jam their stuff onto a shelf and hope for the best. i've seen a dewalt rep at home depot a few times, but don't know anyone representing any of the other brands, and they've never displayed interest in the trades. they just seem to want to take the money and run.

yeah, i like talking tools, even if it's just to myself
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Old 10-02-2021, 05:29 PM   #7
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I'm in pretty deep with DeWalt at this point after starting a collection about 10 years ago. My only substantial complaints are their options for tools/accessorie, and that some things were clearly designed by people who never had to use them.

For example, I have the 180 degree movable led work light. If you swivel the head 90 degrees back, like you would want it if you're underneath a car, it doesn't like to stay standing, even with the big battery, and it doesn't like to lie flat on it's back. No issues with my impact or drill though, it's been kind of hit or miss.

If I had to do it over again, I'd go with ryobi or milwaukee.

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Old 10-02-2021, 05:50 PM   #8
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it really comes down to how you intend to use it all.

fair warning,

yeah, i like talking tools,
YIKES, well now, we did ask -
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Old 10-02-2021, 05:50 PM   #9
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I'm also a DeWalt 20V guy, as I worked in the past in a subsidiary of Stanley and had access to their employee store which has awesome prices for their tools, DeWalt included. Since then I've added a couple of bare-tools and everything is satisfactory for my DIY level of use.

With regards to particular tools having annoying quirks, I'm sure no single brand is perfect in all their tools. If you're starting fresh, consider which tools would be your main tools and focus on those. Most brands have full lineups anyway.
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Old 10-02-2021, 05:59 PM   #10
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Originally Posted by ZionsWrath View Post

I bought a house and will be needing more tools soon as I am a DIY type of guy. So I need to figure out what brand/ecosystem I'm going to jump into.

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Old 10-02-2021, 10:09 PM   #11
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@soundman98 I don't really need portability and I'm well beyond my climbing ladders all day lugging power tools. So I have no need for lighter weight lower voltage equipment. Do you trust the torque claims Milwaukee makes for their impacts? According to them their impacts make twice the loosening torque of a comparable Dewalt. I've been leaning heavily in Milwaukee's direction - if they are as strong as they claim that seals it.
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Old 10-02-2021, 11:09 PM   #12
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I'm another Milwaukee fan. I do industrial maintenance and am an electrician (though a lightweight who does controls). I also buy tools for a maintenance technician team.

I have settled on the Milwaukee M12 and M18 tools. The M12 are my tools of choice unless I absolutely need the M18 grunt. The M12 impact driver and screwdriver are my GO-TO tools. The M12 impact with 3/8" square mandrel is also heavily used. It drives bit lag screws and bolts like a champ. Milwaukee also has a handy little M12 hacksaw I use a lot as well.

A cool thing is that Milwaukee has chargers that charge both 12 and 18V. I have them set up around the facility.

If I were a generic homeowner I'd really look at doing all Milwaukee M12 tools. They are ENOUGH for most stuff.

I'm still running some Dewalt 18/20V tools. They are good, especially their impact drivers. But Milwaukee does all I need and their M12 line is so much lighter and handier.

I could talk tools a long time too.
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Old 10-03-2021, 10:06 AM   #13
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@soundman98 I don't really need portability and I'm well beyond my climbing ladders all day lugging power tools. So I have no need for lighter weight lower voltage equipment. Do you trust the torque claims Milwaukee makes for their impacts? According to them their impacts make twice the loosening torque of a comparable Dewalt. I've been leaning heavily in Milwaukee's direction - if they are as strong as they claim that seals it.
honestly, i don't trust any of the torque claims. i don't have long term experience except for milwaukee and menards house-brand. and both of those 12v impacts slowly lost torque over the 2-3 years of constant use.

if you're not familiar, this is how an impact driver works(i watched it muted, no idea what the guy says, not really important either)


the 2 prongs are held in contact with 2 other prongs by a large spring. that spring sets the tension for the entire assembly, so any 'better/worse' functionality is going to be a direct result of that spring tension.

every mfg uses that same design, so it really only comes down to a brands specific spring metallurgy for how well each version is going to maintain spring stiffness--jury's out to whether there's going to be any actual difference between most brand though, as most of the parts are all built in china by subcontractors that very well could be supplying other brands. but of course, constantly bending any metal results in fatigue, which inherently reduces it's springiness, whether it was designed to do it or not.

i'm of the opinion that if you were to go to any brand, you'll likely run into the same issue, especially with lug nuts. i believe one would need to step up to a serious nut-buster, like milwaukee's 2767, or dewalts DCF894B to maintain a consistent spring tension for a more predictable life span of the tool.

one possible caveat would be milwaukee's surge line that uses a hydraulic fluid to increase the hammer effect. the end result is going to be the same, but the hydraulic fluid is a compromise to make up for some of the loss of impact over the life of the tool.

i currently use a m12 surge as part of my normal tool belt. i like that it's quieter, but keeping on the trigger longer allows it to build pressure and make up for the loss of spring tension that's occured over 2 years of my constant hard use.
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Old 10-03-2021, 10:24 AM   #14
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There are actual assessments available on output for a lot if you trawl YT.
The 20v stuff is a sham, don't think it can even be sold as such outside the US. It's 18v...
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Last edited by cjd; 10-03-2021 at 04:02 PM. Reason: fix autocorrect (of you troll > if you trawl... though troll away!)
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