Rechargeable tool system recommendations?

[brent185]

My opinion- unless you’re in the trades, what’s most important is the variety of tools that can share a battery (clearly that’s the system concept). Dewalt has the most 20-60v tools hands down, and again unless you use them all day, every day, Dewalt should be more than fine.

I use the Dewalt drivers/drills and leaf blowers almost daily it seems - never a problem. I also have the compound miter saw and table saw on the 60v battery and those kick ass. For the average handy homeowner I dont see a better system than dewalt.

also worth noting that most of the trades guys I see (we have built a couple houses recently) are decked out with Dewalt. I see some Milwaukee too, but not as much.

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[Heimkehr]

I use Milwaukee at home and at work, great stuff. M12 line is amazing power/size ratio.

I used the excuse of installing new rear struts on Offspring's Honda to purchase the M12 1/2" impact wrench. It made a doddle of the lower bolts. Granted, it needs the 6.0 Ah battery for full grunt, particularly with/for the Jeep's lug nuts.

An Honorable Mention for Aerokroil, too.

The M12 pump is good for airbags and the M18 is my tire fill pump.

Airbags?
(I ask because the M12 inflator is on my To Buy list.)

 

[Chris D]

I went with Ridgid from HD due to the lifetime battery/LSA. Any issues, they replace and new battery has a lifetime warranty also. Compatibility is critical, when the only Milwaukee tool is the pex expander and the battery dies, your are SOL until charged. This of course only happens when you are at the very back of a contorsionist exercise and the last fitting to get done. I do drive the daylights out of my Ridgid tools when they get used, mostly weekend work.
Try to stay within whatever ecosystem you get will help keep the batteries interchangeable so you can work longer when needed.

 

[LARSONEM]

I’m in the Ryobi camp. I had a kit (several tools) back in about 2012 when I went to replace Black and Decker batteries and found it to be cheaper to just start over. In 2015 someone lifted my entire bag of Ryobi tools out of the garage along with my golf clubs and my homeowners insurance bought me another set of Ryobi tools. The circular saw never had enough power plus I hated the blade being on the left side of the saw. I looked at updating to Dewalt, but a real upgrade meant shelling out the bigger money to go to the Dewalt XR series tools. Enter the Ryobi One+ HP tools. In 2021 bought a new circular saw; Ryobi One+ HP and that thing is a beast with as much power or more than my old corded Black and Decker 1 HP saw. My original 1/2 inch Ryobi impact only produced 300 ft-lb of torque and struggled to break pickup lugnuts free. Ryobi has a One+ HP that put out 1170 ft-lb; another beast in the Ryobi line. I ended up replacing the rest of my Ryobi tools; recip saw, hammer drill, jigsaw, 1/4 inch driver with the One+ HP tools. They are outstanding tools and each are more compact and more powerful than the tools they replaced. Home Depot has specials frequently like buy batteries and get a free tool or simply has tools on sale. Granted I don’t use my tools everyday, but I personally think Ryobi is a great value for the money and certainly something to consider.

 

[morph860]

I had a 18v DeWalt kit for years. The hammer drill was replaced under warranty. Besides that, no problems with the tools. Started buying Ryobi 18v for some one-off projects and my collection grew from there. The "Tool Only" option is nice when you already have batteries and chargers. I eventually gave the DeWalt set to a friend who was buying a house. It's been 10-15 years and I think he still uses it. I don't remember DeWalt having different sized batteries back then and the 18v ones were like bricks.

If I had to use my tools for work, I'm sure I'd need to look at other brands. But they have been reliable when I need them. I have some that I've only used once or twice. I probably get the most use out of the lawn tools - mower, trimmer, edger, blower. Their line definitely seems geared more towards a homeowner vs. a commercial user. I did upgrade a few tools to newer models, but I haven't had to repair or replace any because of failures.

 

[Jtphoto]

I have DeWalt 20v Flex impacts, drivers, carpentry and yard tools. My son has a Milwaukee set. If I were to do it again I would still buy DeWalt. Check all the YouTube reviews you will see that DeWalt and Milwaukee are neck and neck in the power race. I have a small impact, a large impact and a power ratchet and they have all been stellar.
I do however prefer the Milwaukee Packout system to the DeWalt storage system.

 

[roaniecowpony]

I've been wanting a 3/8" cordless ratchet for some time now. After a bit of research, I've decided to get a 12v Max Dewalt DCF503B. One reason was that it met or beat the big 20v DCF510 in tests. Another reason was the fact that the batteries interchange with my current 12v DeWalt drill and light duty impact combo. And finally, the cost was only $108 for the tool and $49 for the battery on amazon.

 

[rcadden]

I've been wanting a 3/8" cordless ratchet for some time now. After a bit of research, I've decided to get a 12v Max Dewalt DCF503B. One reason was that it met or beat the big 20v DCF510 in tests. Another reason was the fact that the batteries interchange with my current 12v DeWalt drill and light duty impact combo. And finally, the cost was only $108 for the tool and $49 for the battery on amazon.

Out of all the tools in my garage, I probably use my 3/8" cordless ratchet the most. It's just insanely useful, especially paired with the hex socket kit that I bought to go with it. Makes most Jeep stuff an absolute breeze - removing hard top, switching out Freedom Tops with Sunrider, removing the wings on the steel bumper, etc. I even use it on the sway bar disconnects.

NOTE: I *always* hand thread things first, to ensure no cross-threading, but it's awful nice to be able to finish off with a bit of power. I like that it's not too much torque, either.

 

[Slate]

Lots of consistency here in the comments. I went looking to replace my Craftsman line that I had for years. Watched a ton of video reviews, "Project Farm" is always a fun watch.

Milwaukee seemed to be the hands-down favorite, BUT for me, I went with Hercules (blue) at Harbor Freight. The cost of the Milwaukee was just more than I wanted to pay to end up replacing as many power tools, cordless, as I had in mind.

As others have said, look for coupons and discounts, etc. I signed up for the Inside Track Club at Harbor Freight and everything I bought was either on sale, or I used a coupon, it was worth the money.

I am not a tradesman and have been very happy with the line, especially for the cost/performance ration.

One final comment, and I think others have mentioned it as well, but there has certainly been some consolidation across the industry, and to a certain extent the brands that were top tier, even just 5 years ago, have been watered down and rely a lot on their name brand. This isn't anything new (look into who makes car batteries now), but something to think about. That Milwaukee tool bought 6-8 years ago and working well, might not be the same level of class and quality as the version on the shelf today.

 

[phageghost]

BTW, for tool reviews on Youtube, I can't recommend AvE highly enough:



Starts tool reviews with a complete teardown, showing how it's put together, what plastics are used (by burning smell), how it operates and where the bean counters screwed you over with cheap parts. Only after it's put back together does he actually test the thing. His voiceover is also . . . unique (and entertaining).

 

[jeepingib]

https://www.milwaukeetool.com/Innovations/M18

https://www.dewalt.com/systems/cordless-platforms/20v

Both of the big guns in the industry have a massive amount of different tools and batteries. The Forge battery from Milwaukee, and the Power Stack from Dewalt are both driving technologies further using new batteries that can pack an incredible amount of energy into a smaller package.

 

[vetygud]

I used the excuse of installing new rear struts on Offspring's Honda to purchase the M12 1/2" impact wrench. It made a doddle of the lower bolts. Granted, it needs the 6.0 Ah battery for full grunt, particularly with/for the Jeep's lug nuts.

An Honorable Mention for Aerokroil, too.

Airbags?
(I ask because the M12 inflator is on my To Buy list.)

I use the M12 air pump on my rear AirLift bags. The M18 is too powerful for the air bags but will air up tires fairly well.

 

[GATORB8]

Milwaukee Fuel. Although the standard M12 ratchet is my most used tool in my garage.

 

[The Last Cowboy]

Everyone has their favorites. I have Milwaukee battery tools. My favorite by far is a 1/4” impact driver with a set of drive bites and a set of drill bits that lock into the chuck. While not useful on the suspension, I have used it for more jobs than I would ever imagine. The only time the drill that came with it gets used is when I need them both on the same project.

 

[roaniecowpony]

Everyone has their favorites. I have Milwaukee battery tools. My favorite by far is a 1/4” impact driver with a set of drive bites and a set of drill bits that lock into the chuck. While not useful on the suspension, I have used it for more jobs than I would ever imagine. The only time the drill that came with it gets used is when I need them both on the same project.

Many years ago, i bought a Dewalt drill/impact combo 12v. Ive used the little 1/4" drive impact for tons of things. I have 2 sizes of Milwaukee 1/2" drive M18 impacts. The smaller one bridges the gap and seems to constantly wear a 3/8" drive reducer.

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