barn, trees and home stuff.......we also rough neck the tools, in trucks and on the road builds. DEWALT with metal gears. yes, 18 volt is minimum for what you want. pick a cool package, now it is up to you! MERRY CHRISTMAS BACK AT YA! God Bless you and yourstoo!


Heidi in NY making retired hubby buiild everything now...I just serve the food and drink. good wench.

 

I got a 24v lithium ion multi tool kit from Rigid, 1/2" hammerdrill, sawzall, circular saw, light, 2 batteries and a charger. It was a limited edition at the time and on sale for $399.00. I am not in the construction business, but I do use them aggressively at home. So far they have exceeded my expectations with everything I have asked them to do. The lifetime warranty with free batteries for life made the decision for me.


Good luck,

Tim

 

You want some advice from someone who sees these tools really getting abused?

My family owns a coulple rental stores so tools like this are our lively hood. We have run many different things and I can tell you from alot of experiance what to look at. If your looking at Japenese tools buy a Hitachi, enough said. They are great.

On your list the best and most durable tool will be the bosch, they take alot of abuse. If you use your tools everyday or to make a living buy the expenisve ones, if your just the average home owner then any of those tools will work out just fine.

Like people mentioned before me Milwawkee is about the best you can buy and you most likely had a very rare lemon of a tool. Also Hilti makes some very nice stuff, we have been running them more and more and Ive been very impressed.

DeWalt is over rated, I place them in this order
1. Milwawkee
2. Hilti
3. Bosch - Hitachi (About the same I think)
4. And DeWalt

Good luck, I am sure any of them will work out great for you. If you happen to have any questions PM me.

 

What happen to Milwaukie? DeWalt was a top notch company but since Black & Decker acquired them they are just not up to snuff. I would rate Milwaukie #1. I do have some older 9.6 VDC Makita tools which have held up very well through some definite abuse.

L8r,........dogger

 

Dewalt all the way, outstanding product, I have had my 18V drill for about 3yrs now and it has done everything asked. You might also look at Porter Cable, they make some great tools also.

 

I love my dewalt 18v drill. I have had mine for about 4 yrs. I had to borrow my dads ryobi to install my fs-2500 because the dewalt wouldn't except the 5/8 drill bit.

 

I have used both Milwaukee and DeWalt at different fire departments and the Milwaukee is by far the best their is. I personally own a 18v 1/2" hammer drill, circular saw i've never used, hatchet sawzall, flashlight, and 1/2" impact wrench. We mostly use sawzalls at the fire department but when they're used it's in the worst times on car wrecks usually...in the rain, snow, sleet, mud, etc. There is nothing that even comes close to a milwaukee. I'd rather have an 18V milwaukee than a 24V dewalt.

 

I have 15 employees that i furnish cordless tools for. Without saying it, they probably don't get the tender loving care they would get if the employees were buying their own.
Anyhow, that said , i have been thru about all of the brands and for durability and for warranty work that is honored i have found Milwaukee to be the best.

 

Would this be your opinion about corded jigsaws as well? I need one bad.

 

Absolutely, i have Milwaukee jig saws , angle grinders and drills

 

I use to sell them at industrial supply company and had to warrenty them for contractors that were very hard on them daily. There is def a diffrence in the lines of tools so you have to look at them carefully when comparing on price. I would say bosch brute line are about the toughest battery tools and least warranty problems we had for heavy use customers. dewalt was second. I found for corded equipment milw. was the way to go and was highly regarded in industry for corded tools. I watched the bosch rep beat on the tools by throwing them across parking lot over and over also running over it with a 3/4 ton chevy truck that just happend to be driving by. Only thing happened was battery came off on a couple throws but he would just let customer put it back on and it would work perfectly fine. This made my mind up and alot of customers at open houses when dewalt and milw reps were there. They usually didnt like it when the bosch rep showed up, There might as well have been a dodge chevy ford war going on as far as the brand loyalty.

 

Go with the RIGID they have a lifetime warranty on the tools and batteries. The first time you need to replace a battery, the warranty it will pay for itself.

Also, Dewalt has always been owned by Black and decker.

And, Milwaukee had a bad rash of batteries that would die very quickly. They actually had a recall on them so you could get the updated ones.

I use all of them at work. It just depends on what the company supplies.
For my own personal tools I only buy Bosch.

 

My company has over 25 18 volt XRP's drills. I am very impressed with the reliabilty of these tools. Some of the drills have been in use for over 7 years. These drills are used 8 hours a day 7 days a week. I have seen them fall from 20 feet and land on concrete and still work. I personaly have left one in the bed of my truck over the weekend during a rain storm and still worked without a problem. I am a huge fan of DeWalt cordless tools!

 

I try to use only Milwaukee, most of there tools are Made in the USA Still!! Dewalt is a second choice.

 

Go Bosch barrel grip, (or top grip if you like) I would put the Bosch jig saws in a class all their own. (corded only)