Hoping Santa will bring me a new cordless hammerdrill/driver what brand should I tell him I would like??? What voltage should I get ? Haven't seen the new Ridgid line yet but I know the quality of their tools is excellent.I hate Craftsman powertools.

 

If you look at some of the Rigid tools they are the same thing as Craftsman. The Rigid power tool line is not nearly the same as the plumbing tool line. Their plumbing tools are second to none, most of the power tools I've seen are not as nice as Makita or Milwaukee.
I am not a big fan of DeWalt, yet alot of contractors around here use them. Some of their tools are good quality I just don't like them. All their stuff is available in the Depot so they have good exposure to that demographic.
I don't go into the big stores much so I don't care what they are trying to sell me.

My choice would be Makita. I have had Makita, Milwaukee, Ryobi(junk) and now own two Panasonics and two Makitas. The Panasonic is rated as one of the best drills in the industry with the best batteries. NiMh with very high amp/hours. No memory and quick charge.
I do feel the Makitas are slightly heavier duty though and most now have the NiMh batteries. They also have more choices than Panasonic and are more readily available. I got the Panasonics at Woodworkers Wharehouse. I'm lucky to have a retail store near me.

 

Ditto on the opinion of Dewalt. I used Makita drills in the past and don't care for them too much either. I do like the tools I have from Porter Cable & Milwaukee. I am leaning towards one of these. Price is an issue right now {I'm currently on layoff}.I just realized my O.P. should have been on the tool page,not here,sorry.

 

Its not a bad question here as they are widely used in electrical work, more than ever. I have owned several brands and am now running Milaukees, have 2 14.4 's and like them real well, great power, very little less then the 18's. I am not overly impressed in the batteries although maybe a year or so of heavy use is all that can be expected. I wish they had a spare bit holder like the DeWalts. Had Makita first, then DeWalt and actually had good luck with them all. Mil makes the best electric drill motor and I totally agree about staying away from the Craftsman power tools.

 

I believe these are the only 2 brands that you can replace the brushes on. FWIW.

I have the De-Walt 12 volt with the 3 speeds; I seem to like it, although the clutch only works on the 2nd and 3rd speed.

Got it at HD,for $100.00 when they were making room for the new rigids.




Thanks, Tony D.

 

I have had excellent luck with Milwaukee tools. They are very well made, have a great service network, and most are made in USA. In fact, I have seen many other brands comparint themselves with Milwaukee, so they must be doing something right. I'd pick Milwaukee for sure.

 

These guys have given excellent advise! Just make sure it has "TWO" batteries.
Changeling

 

This came up on another thread recently, copying over some spec comparisons for Ryobi, Milwaukee, and DeWalt...for some reason Makita wasn't included. No torque specs were available at any site for the Ryobi....I'm sure they're just embarassed to post it.

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Specs are all heavy duty 18v Hammerdrill/drill/drivers. Porter cable was excluded because well it's 19.2v, and it's not available with a hammerdrill function. Why spend that kind of green on a drill you can't set masonry anchors with? Fuggit..

Torque (So you say you wanna run a ship auger..)

Ryobi - N/A
DeWalt - 450 foot pounds. That's a lotta turn juice.
Milwaukee - 495 foot pounds. Great googly moogly....take your arm out with this thing, I haven't used a red drill in a few years, may have to give one a spin.

Torque winner - Milwaukee

Speed (The world don't hang on beam clamps, sometimes you gotta drill steel)

Ryobi - 2 speed, 0-400/0-1400 err...
Milwaukee - 2 speed, 0-500/0-1700 That's more like it
DeWalt - 3 speed, 0-450/0-1450/0-2,000. Two thousand RPM? Son, fetch me my holesaw kit.

RPM winner - DeWalt

Blows per Minute (wanted: one surly guy with a big drill and a box of 3/8" redheads)

Ryobi - Max 18,200 These guys can't win for losin..
Milwaukee - Max 25,500 you could make a hole with that.
DeWalt - Max 34,000. Doc, I can't seem to feel mah shoulder...

BPM winner - DeWalt

Conclusion. Well, if you wanna do anything more than turn screws in the garage, take that Blue Drill out in the street, and run the truck over it. Twice. The Milwaukee has the edge on the DeWalt in torque, seems like it would be the way to go for punching a lot of studs, while the Dewalt is well ahead in speed and in masonry work. Personally, the Yeller Drill is my weapon of choice, I run a hell of a lot of zip screws, steel bits, holesaws, and masonry sets. I could see spending an afternoon on a wood-frame site with the Milwaukee tho.

Did I mention you should go out and run over that Ryobi?


Twice?
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Personally I use the DeWalt set for the reasons cited above, namely speed when working in metal, altho it does pack enough torque to run a 6 foot flex-bit effectively. I've used the new Rigid gun twice now, and am not impressed.

-Noxx