18v tool brand choice

[Tal]

Hi all,

I'd like an impact driver and combi drill.
I currently have a Bosch professional 18v combi drill. Bought about 6 or 7 years ago with 2x2Ah batteries. However I've noticed how expensive additional bare bones tools cost compared to say Dewalt branded tools.

I guess the main question is, should I buy a Bosch impact driver, a couple extra larger capacity (4 or 5Ah) batteries and stick with Bosch. Or take the opportunity to change brands and start over with a cheaper eco system going forward?

If I did change brands what would you all recommend?

For some context, I'm a diyer, but have been renovating a house and have plenty more to do.

Cheers!

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I swapped from DeWalt to Milwaukee and the only "fault" I can find with Milwaukee stuff is that it's generally heavier - If you're hold a drill for hours on end it might matter. I've found it superior.

 

[BucksDad]

My choice is to stick with one battery platform as much as possible and invest in key tools in that platform. Occasional tools, buy Ryobi and use an adapter from badaptor.com. They have an insane range of tools for both home & garden tasks, and work absolutely fine

 

[Bingy man]

I’ve had dewalt, and ryobi at the time I had dewalt the batteries failed and the replacement cost was just too much to pay , the ryobi was ok cheaper batteries but I found the tools themselves not strong enough for heavy duty use. Milwaukee however are work horses and although the batteries are similar cost to dewalt they seem to last longer. I buy the special offers that give you the charger and a tool + battery etc so I have 5 or 6 batteries 3/4 chargers and any further tools are purchased bare ..

 

[alan895]

I opted for the Dewalt platform a couple of years ago mainly because their stuff appeared to come up on offer more frequently than other brands, it has been fine for what I've needed to do.

Trying not to buy a lot of stuff in quick succession with the "well I'll surely need it one day" mentality has been difficult at times though..

 

[Essex Barn Workshop]

Personally I'm on Bosch pro, and like my selection. I now have spare batteries, having bought a drill on offer with 2 x 4AH batteries, so see no need to move platform.

 

[Sideways]

My view:
Bosch pro core (esp the 4Ah size) and Metabo have the best batteries.
Milwaukee and Makita have the widest ranges and decent quality
Mafell, Fein are niche but very nice. Festool too perhaps but are too dear / limited range / and their batteries don't share with anyone else.

Bosch suffer from being slow to innovate but are my main brand. The batteries are a big reason. I bought into them because I found the feel in the hand of their first brushless "freak" impact driver was especially good - it's relatively low torque hasn't mattered to me. I added the big impact drill driver and that has been a good tool. Added a brushless angle grinder and that's excellent. Added a bare cordless circ. saw and that's handy. Added a 12v driver....

If I wanted to start again and drill driver and impact were the reason, I'd buy Milwaukee 18v. Theirs are among the best.
But specific tools are what get you into a brand and after that, it's easy to add a few more. I bought Fein because I wanted their cordless multitool. Now Fein are collaborating with Bosch that might be a reason to stay on the Bosch platform.
I don't buy dewalt.

 

[clogs]

I'm gradually upgrading from Hitachi /Makita to Millwauke......
there's some good deals on bare bone units......
I started out with kits that had 2 batt's so didn't need another batt......
not sure, but if u register the tool quickly it gets a 5 year garan for what that's worth....
getting ready to buy a couple of more drills etc the old old stuff is nearly dead.....
have their 3/8 and 1/2 nut drivers......superb.....so much nicer than air tools......

 

[pe2dave]

I stuck with Makita, happy with battery life and tool quality.

 

[Jameshow]

Be careful with DeWalt as they have two levels. The DIY level is more a par with Ryobi whist the pro version is much more solid.

But like Bosch green and blue.

Not sure about Makita etc.

 

[niemeyjt]

I think there are two batteries that fit multiple vendors:

Cordless Alliance (Metabo and others) - CAS - The Cordless alliance for your brands

Ampshare (based on Bosch) - AMPShare: Power for pros | Bosch Professional

I might look at those platforms first.

I have multiple battery platforms - Bosch Professional, Stihl, Festool (both) and Trend

 

[MikeJhn]

I have always bought DeWalt 18V for the last forty years, now on the Brushless LiIon drills, only with 2Ah batteries as the weight of anything else is too much for my old arms, the old Nimh powered drills now have an adaptor to use the Lilon, but the old brushed drills are way heavier than the new brushless, but do have a larger chuck capacity.

 

[Etaf]

impact drivers and combi drills with batteries often come up on offer , thats how i got into cordless drills and ended up with Dewalt and now have a lot of the range of there cordless tools - 5 batteries
2x2Ah , 2x3Ah - all came with tools on a deal and 1 5ah battery - which is quite heavy and I tend to use that on the circular saw, planer, and grinder , rather than the other hand held tools , like the combi drill, impact driver , jigsaw , multitool where the 2ah and 3ah batteries are fine

i would not buy 5ah batteries to use with the drill and impact driver , makes it all quite heavy

 

[RobNichols]

Pick one because you like the look of them. It doesn't matter - they all work fine. You just need to pick one to cut down on the number of batteries and chargers you need. They all go brumm-brumm whizzy-whizzy. All the top brands are well made and work well. And I also garantee that in a year or so you'll go - oh I wish I'd picked branch X. That's just human nature.

 

[Jameshow]

impact drivers and combi drills with batteries often come up on offer , thats how i got into cordless drills and ended up with Dewalt and now have a lot of the range of there cordless tools - 5 batteries
2x2Ah , 2x3Ah - all came with tools on a deal and 1 5ah battery - which is quite heavy and I tend to use that on the circular saw, planer, and grinder , rather than the other hand held tools , like the combi drill, impact driver , jigsaw , multitool where the 2ah and 3ah batteries are fine

i would not buy 5ah batteries to use with the drill and impact driver , makes it all quite heavy

Probably best for SDS and circular + mitre saws.

 

[Etaf]

Probably best for SDS and circular + mitre saws.

i went for a corded dewalt SDS with 2 chucks and a corded dewalt mitre saw - dont need the portability on those personally , every thing else is pretty much cordless, should have gone for a corded angle grinder , happy to use SDS on extension lead , as i did in the garden walls and posts - thought about cordless - BUT as a DIYer went for the more power cheaper price.
the Recip saw is great cordless as i use it over the garden.

 

[williams1185]

ive used dewalt 18 volt stuff for the last 12 years had one battery fail in that time. got a good range of add on bare tools , very often batteries come up on offer , it all depends how much use its going to get .

 

[Jesmona]

Another vote from DeWalt from me and the new Powerstack batteries offer more power at a lower weight. Have replaced a 5Ah unit with a 3Ah Powerstack on an SDS drill with no appreciable loss of oomph or run time

 

[Doug71]

You won't go far wrong with any of the major brands, Milwaukee do seem to be flavour of the month at the moment but not sure if this is also because of their Packout system that people seem to like. I've used Makita and Festool for years without any problems, Festool for the drills (they are nice) and Makita for most other stuff. I also use a Badaptor so my Makita batteries work with a Ryobi nailer, I was a bit unsure of this at first but nothing has blown up yet!

As said by others watch out for the cheaper model drills from the big brands as some have plastic gears and don't last long.

+1 for the low Ah batteries on drills

A joiner I know is all Lidl on the cordless front, think he has everything they have ever made! He does seem to get through a few grinders etc but treats it all as disposable as it's so cheap.

 

[Tal]

Thanks for all the replies, I had assumed it might come down to personal preference in the end.

The 5Ah comments are very good points I perhaps didn't consider. Weight wise etc. Sounds like 2 and 3Ah might be the sweet spots for the DIY guy like myself, where I don't need them to run all day.

Maybe I should stick with Bosch pro and see if I can pick up an impact driver with a slightly larger battery and go from there.

It's Screwfixes fault, £230 for Milwaukee twin pack, DeWalt £200 twin pack etc