Cordless drills suck...

[XavierMace]

this $25 Ryobi tool is in my car at all times - so useful. The new 6a Ryobi batteries are also amazing.

Yep, that would be the tool I was referring to. Worked far better than I was expecting.

 

[Hayabusa Rider]

I'm a milwaukee guy myself but my new helper has a 20 volt dewalt impact. That thing is so powerful it drives me crazy. It strips screws in sheet metal faster than you can let go of the trigger. If your screwing through multiple layer of sheet metal it has so much torque it breaks the heads off the screw. He doesn't have the drill but my trusty 5 year old 18 volt milwaukee would have no trouble doing any of the things you described. I prefer my 18 volt rotary hammer for concrete though.

I drilled holes in pressure treated 6x6 lumber for bolts, and a lot of them. The Milwaukee is a keeper.

 

[13Gigatons]

Rotatory hammer = SUCCESS

Hammer Drill = FAIL

 

[rchunter]

This Makita lithium-ion drill has lasted me for a few years and still going good but I think I might buy a Milwaukee combo set, drill & impact drill.

 

[Humpy]

It's a huge relief that this stuff doesn't matter to me anymore.

Even when it did it was outweighed by the early mornings spent dragging tools through the mud into some freezing cold half finished building that was indistinguishable from any of the other freezing cold half finished buildings where we spent the day cutting big pieces into little pieces before assembling them back into big pieces that hopefully the painter would make pretty enough for us all to get paid.

Didn't matter much if I had to plug a battery charger into an extension cord or plug the tool into an extension cord. There were cords everywhere for compressors and saws and lights anyways.

 

[IntelUser2000]

It's not the battery that sucks as much as the chargers used for it. Basically the chargers bundled with any battery powered parts are equal in quality to buying the AA cell + charger bundle packs - crap. Spending money on the charger means either your product bundle need to cost more, and/or you have to sacrifice quality on the main feature.

 

[Red Squirrel]

One thing I have to say after not having any cordless tools for a long time, the batteries are MUCH better now. I bought the Ryobi drill since I like the idea that I can later buy other Ryobi tools and the battery will work and I was decently impressed at how long the battery lasts. Back when it was Ni-cad and especially NI-MH they just didn't last as long. I found when I was doing the plywood for my shed, and even the siding, I never really ran into charge issues. I got a second battery so I would swap but by the time the 2nd died, the 1st was fully charged.

It's still good to have corded tools though as they'll always have more power and you don't have to worry about running out of charge for a big steady job, like say drilling a bunch of large holes for electrical or running a 5" hole saw for ducting.

It's my dream to eventually buy an off grid property and build a cabin so I'll probably want to invest in lots of batteries and cordless tools for that since I will not have any power on site until I build the power building and get a big inverter for it. I'd be able to charge the batteries on a small temporary inverter (with solar setup)

 

[mindless1]

It's not the battery that sucks as much as the chargers used for it. Basically the chargers bundled with any battery powered parts are equal in quality to buying the AA cell + charger bundle packs - crap. Spending money on the charger means either your product bundle need to cost more, and/or you have to sacrifice quality on the main feature.

I agree if you're talking about low end from Harbor Freight, or the last of the cheap NiCd sets from homeowner grades like Craftsman or B&D, which came with dumb trickle chargers, but as far as the Li-Ion generations go, all the chargers I've seen bundled with major brand sets have been pretty good, and the only thing gained by upgrading was more charge bays or faster charging.

 

[skull]

It's a huge relief that this stuff doesn't matter to me anymore.

Even when it did it was outweighed by the early mornings spent dragging tools through the mud into some freezing cold half finished building that was indistinguishable from any of the other freezing cold half finished buildings where we spent the day cutting big pieces into little pieces before assembling them back into big pieces that hopefully the painter would make pretty enough for us all to get paid.

Didn't matter much if I had to plug a battery charger into an extension cord or plug the tool into an extension cord. There were cords everywhere for compressors and saws and lights anyways.

Those of us that don't work one area at a time, thank our lucky stars cordless tools have improved so much. It means every time I have to climb up in the attic and drill a hole down from all the way across the attic, run downstairs and drill a hole up or walk all the way around the house to drill a hole in I don't have to drag no stupid ass cord with me.

 

[jlee]

One thing I have to say after not having any cordless tools for a long time, the batteries are MUCH better now. I bought the Ryobi drill since I like the idea that I can later buy other Ryobi tools and the battery will work and I was decently impressed at how long the battery lasts. Back when it was Ni-cad and especially NI-MH they just didn't last as long. I found when I was doing the plywood for my shed, and even the siding, I never really ran into charge issues. I got a second battery so I would swap but by the time the 2nd died, the 1st was fully charged.

It's still good to have corded tools though as they'll always have more power and you don't have to worry about running out of charge for a big steady job, like say drilling a bunch of large holes for electrical or running a 5" hole saw for ducting.

It's my dream to eventually buy an off grid property and build a cabin so I'll probably want to invest in lots of batteries and cordless tools for that since I will not have any power on site until I build the power building and get a big inverter for it. I'd be able to charge the batteries on a small temporary inverter (with solar setup)

Not necessarily.

Corded tools do have their place, but that place is shrinking dramatically.

 

[thecoolnessrune]

I agree if you're talking about low end from Harbor Freight, or the last of the cheap NiCd sets from homeowner grades like Craftsman or B&D, which came with dumb trickle chargers, but as far as the Li-Ion generations go, all the chargers I've seen bundled with major brand sets have been pretty good, and the only thing gained by upgrading was more charge bays or faster charging.

Agreed, one of the best things that happened to many mobile industries (laptops, cell phones, cordless tools, etc) was the move to Lithium. Not only because Lithium is inherently better in (most) properties, but because Lithium tech is very unforgiving compared to NiCd and Nimh technologies. You can build absolutely *crap* Nicd and Nimh chargers. They can over-volt, over-charge, under-charge dead cells, and over heat and the batteries will take it, until they don't anymore. You can't get away with any of that with Lithiums without risking turning your devices into IEDs. Because of that, responsible device manufacturers (pretty much anything you can buy in the Western World) have to use at least a basic minimum of engineering safety when designing a Lithium charging circuit. It may not charge fast, and you can still get lousy Lithium cells with poor runtime, but the pickiness of Lithium at least means your charger shouldn't be cooking your batteries into dust anymore

 

[mindless1]

Those of us that don't work one area at a time, thank our lucky stars cordless tools have improved so much. It means every time I have to climb up in the attic and drill a hole down from all the way across the attic, run downstairs and drill a hole up or walk all the way around the house to drill a hole in I don't have to drag no stupid ass cord with me.

 

[Muse]

How old is the cordless stuff some of you have used? I think sometimes people under-estimate how far battery tech has come which was a major limiting factor. Going from a NiCd with a 30a peak output to a Lithium with a 140a peak output makes a HUGE difference.

It's not just the power, the NiCd loses ~25% of its charge per month just sitting around. That's a big deal for guys like me who might not touch a particular cordless tool for 6 months or more. I home something like 10 of them, but only my Porter Cable drill/driver // hammer/drill has Lithium batteries. Came with two batteries, I'm never left in the lurch.

I resisted Lithium rechargables for years because it's said they deteriorate faster at full charge than when at ~40% charge. I suppose that's true, but the upside makes them fabulous, at least for power tools. My DSLR uses 4 AAs and I use Eneloops for that and that works out great. My new Panasonic cordless telephone system uses NiMH's in the handsets, which works out great too but for my power cordless tools? Lithium >> NiCd or NiMH. End of Story.

 

[kage69]

Cordless is good when you *need* cordless. Otherwise, it'll always come up second to hardlined devices.

This.

Even though I love the 7amp power of my DeWalt corded model (have used on concrete, also to drill pilot holes for electric fence grounding rods) sometimes you can't have a cord following you.

That kind of torque made me wash my hands of phillips and standard head screws though, now it's torque screws or bust.

 

[Humpy]

I assumed he's an electrician.

 

[mindless1]

It's not just the power, the NiCd loses ~25% of its charge per month just sitting around. That's a big deal for guys like me who might not touch a particular cordless tool for 6 months or more. I home something like 10 of them, but only my Porter Cable drill/driver // hammer/drill has Lithium batteries. Came with two batteries, I'm never left in the lurch.

I resisted Lithium rechargables for years because it's said they deteriorate faster at full charge than when at ~40% charge. I suppose that's true, but the upside makes them fabulous, at least for power tools. My DSLR uses 4 AAs and I use Eneloops for that and that works out great. My new Panasonic cordless telephone system uses NiMH's in the handsets, which works out great too but for my power cordless tools? Lithium >> NiCd or NiMH. End of Story.

My lithium packs don't self-discharge much at all, I've never tried to store them at 40% and they're always ready to use with plenty of juice left, though I do recharge them all at least once a year.

It can be a lot more than 25%/mo. loss for NiCd. I have an old 14.4V Dewalt drill set, was their higher-end set at the time, rebuilt the battery packs about 8 years ago. Used Tenergy 2400mAh sub-C NiCd cells, vs the original (can't recall something like 1400mAh) Sanyos in the packs. They work fine, but even newly rebuilt they lost about 25% capacity within the first couple days, then less and less with further weeks, which is okay since it's not my primary use cordless drill.

Did it anyway because I had cleaned up the drill inside and out, checked brushes and bearings to be sure it was fit for another tour of duty, but also because it came in a kit with a nice snakelight that takes the same batteries, which I modded to convert to LED. Wish more manufacturers made this type of light, LED from the factory. It's quite large for the light output (though ~4X the output after LED conversion) but with a couple 3W LEDs it runs a day on a charge and I have smaller lights when needed. Main downside to the light is I didn't line the base with EMI shielding material so when it's on, the driver I put in the base interferes with FM radio reception.

 

[Herr Kutz]

Is there any connection between your threads about anal probes and cordless drills?

 

[shortylickens]

Is there any connection between your threads about anal probes and cordless drills?

Asking the important questions.

 

[Greenman]

This.

Even though I love the 7amp power of my DeWalt corded model (have used on concrete, also to drill pilot holes for electric fence grounding rods) sometimes you can't have a cord following you.

That kind of torque made me wash my hands of phillips and standard head screws though, now it's torque screws or bust.

It all depends on what you're doing and where. My crew always picks up the cordless tools first. It's just to convenient to grab the tool you need and go to work. There is also something to be said for not having cords laying all over the job site.

 

[skull]

The old timers were beasts.

 

[skull]

I assumed he's an electrician.

HVAC and electric, those are for plumbers.

 

[BudAshes]

The problem is the big box stores nowadays. You go in for a drill and somehow you ended up with a vacuum cleaner. Happens to the best of is.

 

[Darwin333]

Is there any connection between your threads about anal probes and cordless drills?

Hmmm, I didn't even notice that it was the same OP. That is a very good question, I'm going to assume yes.

Maybe not safe for work but no real offending pics in the item

 

[Humpy]

HVAC and electric, those are for plumbers.

Nice to hear that plumbers have climbed high enough up the evolutionary ladder that their reliance on fire has been supplemented with the hatchet.

 

[Red Squirrel]

I would have figured they would just use a crow bar by now. Just remove all the studs and joists altogether, it will make running the pipes so much easier. The drywallers can figure it out from there.