Battery powered tools

[Mrs Pingu]

I'm in the market for a new jigsaw. And possibly a recip saw, and maybe some other stuff eventually too.
Strikes me that battery powered is good enough now. I'm not building a house or anything, and I am a weak and feeble woman so I don't want anything you need to be a body builder to lift (yes hedge trimmer, I'm looking at you).
I'm aware that Bosch, Makita and DeWalt seem to be respected brands... so knowing that I'll need to start from scratch with some tools, batteries and a charger, what does the forum suggest?

[Kim]

I have some Makita 18V (one of the lighter-weight drills, oscillating tool, circular saw, and the surprisingly skookum $25 knock-off impact driver).  My main complaints are that the otherwise excellent oscillating tool is designed for someone with enormous hands, and that the battery on-board circuitry will brick itself "for safety" after three failed attempts to charge (which can apparently happen after you leave it to self-discharge completely - I've not experienced that myself, but I recharge them after use and they haven't gone more than a couple of months without being used).

I've used some of the 18V DeWalt (and the 12V NiCad stuff, back in my theatre days), and it seems similar in quality.

Probably makes economic sense to buy as many tools as possible as a kit, rather than piecemeal.

[Jurek]

Makita.

[Polar Bear]

I am a fan of Makita though I prefer mains powered rather than cordless.

My reasoning is that I don't need to worry about battery maintenance for the months and months that I am not using the tools but when I need them they are instantly ready.

I note that cordless use is seemingly unbiquitous amongst tradesmen implying that they are durable enough if you don't buy the really cheap stuff.

[robgul]

There's little to choose between the 3 brands in the OP - what seems to be the trend now is to buy "bare" tools (i.e. no battery) all of the same brand/model range and then have a couple of batteries and a charger that works with all the tools.

The one downside with this is if, as I do, you have a drill for, err, drilling and another drill for screwdriving that are being used in close harmony.   In my case I have a reasonaable quality drill and then an Aldi cheapie battery drill with a magnetic bit holder for the screwdriving.

Portability has been the name of the game for a reciprocating (alligator/crocodile) saw and a brad/stapler gun - a lot of the use for these has been at my wife's allotment where there's no power - I've bought the cheap VonHaus brand stuff and that's fantastic value.

. . . but like Mike, I prefer corded tools for the heavier duty drilling, especially in bricks/masonry - as well as circular saws, jigsaws, multitools, sanders etc.  Perhaps if i had the top end de Walt or that ilk stuff I may think differently?

Rob

[bobb]

If you're potentially going to be getting tooled up with lots of cordless stuff, you might be interested in The power for all alliance started by Bosch.

A vid of some nifty tools for workshop, home and garden

[Asterix, the former Gaul.]

Cordless I have
- a couple of drills, one heavily used for ten years and still good.
- a planer
- a hedge trimmer
All Makita

I would recommend any of them, especially the hedge trimmer which is powerful enough for our beech hedge in normal circumstances.  When I wanted to reduce the height it was a job for loppers.

Also have a number of corded Makita which are good too.  I have a de Walt jigsaw and a also had a big de Walt router. The jigsaw is ok but the router was rubbish compared an equivalent Makita, mainly a problem with depthing IIRC.  I won't buy any more de Walt.  Bosch I like, my Chinese circular saw is a favourite after owning a McAllister but I did buy an East European drill in which the bearings failed after little usage so I would avoid low end Bosch.  Not tried their cordless stuff being locked in to Makita!  Ryobi stuff works ok for a while then bits fall off or break, sometimes vital, sometimes less so.

[FifeingEejit]

I am a fan of Makita though I prefer mains powered rather than cordless.

My reasoning is that I don't need to worry about battery maintenance for the months and months that I am not using the tools but when I need them they are instantly ready.

I note that cordless use is seemingly unbiquitous amongst tradesmen implying that they are durable enough if you don't buy the really cheap stuff.

Yeah, my brother uses 18V Makita. IIRC
Every bloody year he asks me to get him something from their catalog for his birthday, which is followed by "you know I'm a Fifer"

[redshift]

Last year, we started down this road, wanting to replace an old Bosch 12V drill and driver set.  We found 3rd party batteries to keep us going, and did a lot of research, noting things like cross compatibility and suchlike.  We came to the following conclusions:

1. Most of the 'own-brand' makes are made by the same Chinese company (Positec), and have the same battery configuration.  They probably work just fine, with the advantage that batteries are widely available from a number of badges. Positec's own brand is WORX, and they do a system where they all take the same batteries.
2. The only company which seem to have always used the same battery connection system is Ryobi.
3. 18V seems to be a sweet spot for how much bang you get for your buck.
4. Price is everything.  If Toolstation or Screwfix are having a deal, that's probably your best bet.

We ended up with a DeWalt drill/driver + impact driver combo because we got it on a Toolstation deal where it was £100 cheaper than anything else that was equivalent.  True, we're locked into DeWalt for the foreseeable future, but that's not the worst thing that could have happened.  I still have my 'made in Switzerland' Elu router, which is the same company, and you can still buy parts for it.

I'm pretty sure that had the price been right, the WORX stuff would have been perfectly adequate for what we want.

[Mrs Pingu]

Ooh, these Nanoblade saws look cool https://www.bosch-diy.com/gb/en/p/advancedcut-18-06033d5101-v45675

[Brucey]

having got through about £1Ks worth of cordless drills alone (mostly but not only battery failures) vs corded tool failures (of all kinds) which amount to a fraction of that, I'm with Polar Bear; mains tools (esp for occasional use) unless there is some compelling reason not to.   

With tradesmen time is money and you don't have to save much time each day to pay for as many cordless tools as you can eat.  Tradesmen's batteries don't left for weeks at a time unused and therefore are less likely to fail in storage. 

FWIW I still like using cordless drills for some jobs because of the nature of the controls; however many other cordless tools are noticeably inferior in use to the corded equivalents.

cheers

[grams]

A lot of mains drills are incapable of low speeds which means they'll destroy drill bits if you try to drill metal. Cordless drills are increasingly brushless (which gives you infinitely fine speed control) or at least have some sort of basic speed controller.

[Kim]

Yeah, cordless drills are far more useful, unless you're lucky enough to be drilling into a lot of masonry within easy reach of mains power.  And even then, the answer is probably n+1.

For other tools it's less clear-cut, unless you know you'll be using them outdoors a lot.  On the other hand, once you've got one battery tool, you've taken on the care and maintenance of a couple of batteries, so there's less of an argument for avoiding cordless in additional (compatible) tools, unless you need the power.

(Is there even such a thing as a mains-powered electric screwdriver?)

On a related note, I specifically eschewed the Shiny! New! Cordless! Dremel™ when I upgraded from my knackered B&Q knock-off recently.  I reckoned that there were very few situations where I was likely to want to use it away from mains power, but my expected use-case of cutting lots of awkwardly-shaped holes in sheet metal was likely to be a bit more demanding power-wise than the bolt-cutting, polishing or engraving the designers would have anticipated.

[perpetual dan]

Probably not what anyone’s looking for but I got a Bosch cordless screwdriver last year. Battery is USB charged, and the driver itself isn’t designed for burly builder bloke hands wearing work gloves. Which is unusual.

[Diver300]

(Is there even such a thing as a mains-powered electric screwdriver?)

Yes, but they are designed for production lines, where even factories are getting fed up with supplying compressed air everywhere.

e.g. https://pdf.indiamart.com/impdf/2875866991/MY-1206280/torque-controlled-electrical-screwdriver.pdf

If you want accurate torque settings that the operator can't fiddle with, and you have the screwdriver on a bungee cord, dangling from above, there's no advantage in having it cordless.

I've never seen an electric power screwdriver for the DIY or construction market.

[quixoticgeek]

I have some Makita 18V (one of the lighter-weight drills, oscillating tool, circular saw, and the surprisingly skookum $25 knock-off impact driver).  My main complaints are that the otherwise excellent oscillating tool is designed for someone with enormous hands, and that the battery on-board circuitry will brick itself "for safety" after three failed attempts to charge (which can apparently happen after you leave it to self-discharge completely - I've not experienced that myself, but I recharge them after use and they haven't gone more than a couple of months without being used).

I've used some of the 18V DeWalt (and the 12V NiCad stuff, back in my theatre days), and it seems similar in quality.

Probably makes economic sense to buy as many tools as possible as a kit, rather than piecemeal.

I second Makita.

J

[Kim]

(Is there even such a thing as a mains-powered electric screwdriver?)

Yes, but they are designed for production lines, where even factories are getting fed up with supplying compressed air everywhere.

e.g. https://pdf.indiamart.com/impdf/2875866991/MY-1206280/torque-controlled-electrical-screwdriver.pdf

If you want accurate torque settings that the operator can't fiddle with, and you have the screwdriver on a bungee cord, dangling from above, there's no advantage in having it cordless.

Yeah that makes sense.  As do electric impact drivers in broadly similar circumstances.

I've never seen an electric power screwdriver for the DIY or construction market.

Just found these: https://www.makitauk.com/products/electric-drywall-screwdrivers

I suppose if you're building cardboard houses installing plasterboard all day it might be less hassle than batteries, though I suspect the main real-world advantage is reduced weight.

[Gattopardo]

You are all wrong.

Aldi/lidl/clas ohlsen tools are the best.  After the 3/5 year guarantee is over throw in to recycling and start again.

[quixoticgeek]

You are all wrong.

Aldi/lidl/clas ohlsen tools are the best.  After the 3/5 year guarantee is over throw in to recycling and start again.

I couldn't disagree more.

J

[Cudzoziemiec]

Not battery powered, but the drill I bought a year or two ago came from Argos, specifically because it was the cheapest drill I could find. £15 IIRC. It probably hasn't even had 5 minutes total use so far – certainly less than 10 – and likely won't get used for another couple of years, so there really wasn't any point getting anything better.

That said, I disagree with Gatto's tool philosophy, which seems to be "buy cheap, buy often." For my use, the Argos drill is a lifetime purchase!

[Gattopardo]

You are all wrong.

Aldi/lidl/clas ohlsen tools are the best.  After the 3/5 year guarantee is over throw in to recycling and start again.

I couldn't disagree more.

J

Why?  Are you a professional using the tool everyday to earn a living?

[Gattopardo]

Not battery powered, but the drill I bought a year or two ago came from Argos, specifically because it was the cheapest drill I could find. £15 IIRC. It probably hasn't even had 5 minutes total use so far – certainly less than 10 – and likely won't get used for another couple of years, so there really wasn't any point getting anything better.

That said, I disagree with Gatto's tool philosophy, which seems to be "buy cheap, buy often." For my use, the Argos drill is a lifetime purchase!

It is not buy cheap, as there are many cheaper brands.  It is buy the guarantee that it will last three years for occasional use. Anything longer than that is a bonus. Are there any current battery types (connectors) that were are popular from 3 years ago?Corded stuff I have 110v and 240v stuff that is over 40 years old, wolf brand, and still going today.   

[aidan.f]

Spare parts for Brands such as Makita, from experience, and deWalt  as mentioned up thread s
are readily available. I have just replaced a Makita strimmer
Motor plus a pingfuckit that I lost on disassembly for a few tens of ££'s

[Polar Bear]

(Is there even such a thing as a mains-powered electric screwdriver?)

I have a Makita mains powered imoact driver.  Only bought it about a year back so probably still available.

[Chris N]

I wanted a drill/driver that was small and easy to handle - to work alongside a large corded SDS drill - so I bought into the Makita 10.8V system.  The 2.0 Ah batteries charge pretty quickly in the Makita charger and are light and compact.  I've since bought an impact driver and jigsaw in the same range and they're both very good.  It's a shame they don't make a full-size circular saw in the same range, just a laminate/trimming saw.