Experience with Festool drills? Or recommend me a cordless drill

[RGUN]

Planning to buy a cordless drill in the next week or so. Mainly light duty household tasks, small projects. In general I'm actively trying to not support companies who've outsourced to china. So, anyone have any experience with Festool stuff? Is it worth the ~8x cost premium?

I'd probably be looking at their C or T12 if I convince myself I want a seperate compact or a T18 if I just want one.

Alternate suggestions welcome!

 

[phucheneh]

Get over it and buy a Makita.

Your 'made in USA' drill will probably just be an amalgamation of Chinese parts. You're not supporting anything except inefficiency for the sake an American flag on the box.

 

[LTC8K6]

Light duty? No need to spend a lot for light duty stuff.

 

[RGUN]

Get over it and buy a Makita.

Your 'made in USA' drill will probably just be an amalgamation of Chinese parts. You're not supporting anything except inefficiency for the sake an American flag on the box.

Nothing made in America about it. I can't bring myself to buy throw away shit.

 

[jlee]

My $33 Black and Decker refurb lithium drill seems to work fine. I love my Porter Cable lithium impact driver...great for screws too.

 

[LTC8K6]

Been using two DeWalt 18V cordless drills hard at work for a long time now. No complaints. They get hell on a daily basis, too. Bought them at Lowe's. They are the ones with the metal gearbox, not the plastic gearbox.

 

[phucheneh]

http://www.amazon.com/Makita-LCT200W...rds=makita+kit

That's half what I'm seeing Festool drills for. And they're not exactly light duty. No, you shouldn't run them over with your truck. But I've had a drill/impact driver combo for over five years and still have not even needed batteries (talking about the old green 14.4's here. NiMH batts). They're largely retired now because, well, fuck tools that are larger than they need to be. I now generally use one of these and the accompanying driver. It's quick disconnect (mostly used for trim screws and stuff), but they also make one with a drill chuck.

 

[RGUN]

Light duty? No need to spend a lot for light duty stuff.

That's pretty much my last hurdle. I'd be buying an assembly line grade piece and rarely using it. Anyone aware of any other similar quality products that are tailored to light use?

 

[phucheneh]

Nothing made in America about it. I can't bring myself to buy throw away shit.

You misunderstood me: Makita stuff is all marked 'made in China.' Because it's made in China. Stuff marked 'made in USA'...is also largely made in China.

They are not throwaway. If they are, you're doing it wrong.

 

[WackyDan]

Nothing made in America about it. I can't bring myself to buy throw away shit.

I have a dewalt that I used professionally for 3 years starting back in 1994... It still works just fine and only had to replace the brushes twice. I was still using it as my main cordless around the house up until a year ago when I bought a new set of Dewalts for the impact driver and more power.

You can't really go wrong with the name brands... Just don't buy the truly asian shit from Harbor Freight.

Also... Dewalt and so forth have service centers locally. Festool probably doesn't. Don't get me wrong. Festool is some awesome equipment and even more so for wood working, but even though I am quite handy and always using one of my drills, I can't justify the cost of a Festool. They are headquartered in Germany, but Dewalt, et el are at least headquartered here.

 

[jlee]

Ridgid stuff has a lifetime warranty if you register, btw - batteries included.

 

[vi edit]

Ridgid stuff has a lifetime warranty if you register, btw - batteries included.

I've got a garage full of Ridgid stuff. I really like it. The only tool out of about 15 different things I have that was a dud was an orbital sander that must have had a bad batch. Two of them died within minutes of use. Finally got a good one that has been working for years.

But my drills, drivers, saws, ect have been excellent for almost 8 years now. And I use the crap out of the drill and impact driver.

 

[phucheneh]

You can't really go wrong with the name brands... Just don't buy the truly asian shit from Harbor Freight.

QTF. Although HF power tools are sometimes decent (for the money), anything without a cord is guaranteed crap.

I was impressed with the quality of their current angle grinders. The one I got for like 20 bucks is as good as the Craftsman one I've had ten years or so that was probably like $80. Maybe better. They're both noisy as all hell, though.

Their drills are bad and their batteries are surely astoundingly terrible. Improvements in even cheap composite materials (read: plastic crap) have made stuff feel a lot better, but the guts have gotta be stupid-simple, brute-force kinda stuff. Another example of something worth the money would be their 3/4" air impacts. They're not GOOD, but they're stronger than any widely-available half-inch wrench, so they're good for, you know...breaking shit (seriously- crossthreaded lug nut removal tool).

Major brands built in China will STILL vary widely in quality, but it's usually pretty easy to group the contenders appropriately. Craftsman (lower end non-'professional'...though I think they write that on everything nowadays), Ryobi, ect standard consumer brands...well, usually work fine for consumer use. Dewalt, Makita, Milwaukee, ect usually work fine for professional use. And the lower end is close to the 'consumer' price range and IMO usually a worthwhile upgrade if you want it to last (also usually better triggers, chucks, and whatnot).

Preference among the better (but not crazy expensive) brands, to me, usually seems divided among mechanics preferring Makita and contractors preferring Dewalt. But those two seem to dominate in general.

 

[SyndromeOCZ]

I use Dewalt. In my family I've got Makita, Milwaukee, Hilti, Rockwell, and Hitatchi.

Most of them are 18V the Hilti is the 14.4V. I work construction and use my impact drill every day. I would say when it comes to impacts the Hilti is the best, but its also insanely expensive. The Dewalt is the closest to the Hilti in IPM and RPM(aka how well it can put a screw in). I have dropped my Dewalt multiple times from 16 feet and it still works perfectly. Once it even landed directly on the bit holder and bent it over 1/4". Replaced it and it works great.

Milwaukee's build quality isn't up to par IMO, out of the 6 batteries we have half of them are falling apart(literally). I haven't tried the Fuel line up yet, its next on my list.

Makita's hold up very well. But they do wear out, after a while the impact loses the clutch that 'stops' the drill when you release the trigger. The older batteries didn't have a voltage cut off, which is completely retarded with a lithium ion battery. If the battery has a star in the bottom right corner then it has the voltage cut off(sold with the new brushless kit).

Hitatchi well they just suck, couldn't stand to use them long enough to wear them out.

The Rockwell isn't an industrial drill, its more of a DIY drill. It has all of the features of an impact, as well as a normal drill with the clutch. So far it has been a very nice tool.

 

[DaTT]

Ridgid.

You wanna spend upwards of $400 or $500 on a cordless drill you'll use once a year?

 

[RGUN]

Ridgid.

You wanna spend upwards of $400 or $500 on a cordless drill you'll use once a year?

Yup. Plus I'm supposed to build the misses stuff and my only excuse is lack of tools.

 

[phucheneh]

Yup. Plus I'm supposed to build the misses stuff and my only excuse is lack of tools.

Buy more tools that cost less.

Were you married yesterday or sumthin'?

 

[DaTT]

You can buy a whole kit of Ridgid (or something equally as good) tools for that price...not one piece.

 

[phucheneh]

Here, this utilizes his budget properly.

http://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DCK655X...walt+combo+kit

edit: wait, WTFNICAD.

Well, you get the point. Get something like the above with NiMH or Li-Ion batteries. I used to recommend the former based on cost and capacity, but the latter have come down, and their practically nonexistant self-discharge is great for intermittent use.

 

[Greenman]

I like Dewalt, I've always had good luck with them. Though the cordless drills from the top brands are all pretty. If you drive a lot of screws, get an impact driver. After using it once you will never even consider using a drill to drive screws.

 

[DaTT]

Here, this utilizes his budget properly.

http://www.amazon.com/DEWALT-DCK655X...walt+combo+kit

But it's DeWalt...the drills are unnecessarily heavy, and uncomfortable to hold.

 

[phucheneh]

But it's DeWalt...the drills are unnecessarily heavy, and uncomfortable to hold.

WELL I LIKE MAKITA BUT I THOUGHT YOU GUYS LIKED DEWALT'S HEAVY SHIT GEEZ.

Honestly, If I was buying something for homeowner use (read: wood), I'd just get the 12v Makitas with the fully-contained-in-handle batteries. They're so much better than the 7.2v Snap-ons I used to use (I think they were the first with tiny impacts) but still so much easier on my arms than even a relatively-lightweight full-size Makita.

Dewalt definitely doesn't have a lot in the 'lightweight' category.

edit: oh shit I want this tiny saw, it's so cute.

http://www.factoryauthorizedoutlet.com/makita/makita-12v-compact-lithium-ion-cordless-4-pc-combo-kit

[/not Tim Allen]

 

[NutBucket]

I bought a Festool T15 at the office. While its an awesome drill there's no way I would buy it for home use. Its simply not worth it. The brushless motor and electronic clutch are very impressive. And Festool isn't American, its German. Both the Festool drill and vacuum we have are labeled "Made in Germany".

For home use I would go with a Makita li-ion set and call it a day. Or, if you want something smaller check out the Milwaukee M12 series of tools. Powerful and compact. As you said, its for light duty use. The whole point of buying professional grade is that it can be used and abused everyday without skipping a beat. "Lesser" tools will easily last you lifetime given that you take good care of them.

And yes, I've used all of these at work. We've tried almost every cordless drill out there. The Panasonic we have is quite nice too. And get li-ion. Its a definite must. You know, the Craftsman li-ion drill I bought my dad was under $100, fairly well made and works great for household needs....

 

[DaTT]

WELL I LIKE MAKITA BUT I THOUGHT YOU GUYS LIKED DEWALT'S HEAVY SHIT GEEZ.

Honestly, If I was buying something for homeowner use (read: wood), I'd just get the 12v Makitas with the fully-contained-in-handle batteries. They're so much better than the 7.2v Snap-ons I used to use (I think they were the first with tiny impacts) but still so much easier on my arms than even a relatively-lightweight full-size Makita.

Dewalt definitely doesn't have a lot in the 'lightweight' category.

edit: oh shit I want this tiny saw, it's so cute.

http://www.factoryauthorizedoutlet.com/makita/makita-12v-compact-lithium-ion-cordless-4-pc-combo-kit

[/not Tim Allen]

12V? Come on, he's not that much of a sissy...

 

[Doppel]

For light duty, go cheap. I've been brutal to a $30 corded black and decker drill over the years and it's still going.

I liked it enough that I paid $25 or so for a 12V cordless one when I want that and it's fine as well. I didn't spend much on these but have used them quite a bit. Building furniture, to construction, including (for the corded one) drilling with a 1/2" bit into soaking wet pressure treated wood.