18v tool brand choice

[Phil Pascoe]

I wonder whether there are regional influences - virtually everyone I know who uses power tools has ditched Makita. Usually the preferred brands are DeWalt and Milwaukee, I know no one totally committed to Bosch.

 

[Jameshow]

I wonder whether there are regional influences - virtually everyone I know who uses power tools has ditched Makita. Usually the preferred brands are DeWalt and Milwaukee, I know no one totally committed to Bosch.

Probably depends on which side of the Tamar your on...!

 

[dgs2001]

Makita 18v 5ah. for on site if there's a possibility of it going walkies and Festool for me or workshop use because I'm a TART.

Same here

I would also look at the range of tools available for a brand.

Eg Makita have a huge range of over 250 tools which all use their 18v batteries.

You may not want that cordless chainsaw right now but hey wouldn't it be great if next year when you do it was available with out having to buy different batteries.

 

[Superduner]

To be fair, I think that a few years ago Makita was the leading brand in France because not much else was here. It's only fairly recently that Milwaukee has made an appearance in some shops along with Ryobi.
I get my Worx stuff from the big river in Germany - it's not on the shelves here yet.

 

[Jones]

I think there are regional differences between the favoured brands based on what's available in the merchants, basically how good each companies regional sales manager does. Round here it's DeWalt or Makita, both seem to make some good tools and the occasional duff one. The cells inside the batteries are made by a small number of companies ( Panasonic,Sony,and sanyo)and then put in a branded plastic case so there's very little difference between a 4ah from DeWalt, Milwaukee,Bosch etc. With drills and drivers particularly, ease of use and performance relies more on the drill bits and driver bits you use than the tool, quality is worth searching out.

 

[Doug71]

I wonder whether there are regional influences - virtually everyone I know who uses power tools has ditched Makita. Usually the preferred brands are DeWalt and Milwaukee, I know no one totally committed to Bosch.

I find Joiners tend to use Makita, mainly because they have used Makita tools for years, long before cordless was a thing (the more discerning use Festool ).

Builders seem to like the bright yellow, loud DeWalt stuff.

Plumbers and electricians often use Milwaukee.

Never really see Bosch.

 

[Etaf]

all the trades we have had here , builders, plumbers , electricians, windows etc all seemed to use dewalt , except 1 builder who was all Milwaukee, strange as he was in a family business 4 brothers all buliders and dad an electrician , rest all had dewalt.

i may have said , my son-in-law (who does have a tool issue, far to many for just a diyer) has a large range of Dewalt both in 12v and in 18v and then for working on car he has a large range of Milwaukee tools.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

The cells inside the batteries are made by a small number of companies ( Panasonic,Sony,and sanyo)and then put in a branded plastic case so there's very little difference between a 4ah from DeWalt, Milwaukee,Bosch etc. With drills and drivers particularly, ease of use and performance relies more on the drill bits and driver bits you use than the tool, quality is worth searching out.

Some 25 years I was in NZ with my sister and b.i.l. and he told me he got his batteries re celled rather than buying new batteries. (I hadn't heard of its being done here at that time). The firm he used told him that 95% of the batteries they opened up had either Sony or Panasonics in them.
Apparently the batteries are checked for output at manufacture and balanced sets used for Panasonic, Festool etc. the high end manufacturers, and the lower quality one for tools further down the scale. The balanced output affects the life expectancy from what I've read.
Someone made a valid point some while ago - a battery fails when the weakest cell fail, so it makes sense to buy the the tool with the voltage you need - if 12v suits your needs there are fewer cells to go wrong.

I spoke to a chap who works for an independent builder's merchant - he said you wouldn't believe the number of people who criticise the performance of power tools while using the cheapest bits and blades they can get their hands on.

 

[Sideways]

Apparently the batteries are checked for output at manufacture and balanced sets used for Panasonic, Festool etc. the high end manufacturers, and the lower quality one for tools further down the scale. The balanced output affects the life expectancy from what I've read.

Using a matched set of cells in a battery pack certainly makes a difference to the life of the pack.
Obviously it costs more to match them, but then you may be able to save on the electronics by not needing to include sophisticated, or even any, balancing circuitry to cope with poorly matched cells.

Some discussion here, with the good stuff coming a few posts in:
https://www.eevblog.com/forum/renewable-energy/balance-lithium-cells-or-not/

 

[Adam W.]

Same here

I would also look at the range of tools available for a brand.

Eg Makita have a huge range of over 250 tools which all use their 18v batteries.

You may not want that cordless chainsaw right now but hey wouldn't it be great if next year when you do it was available with out having to buy different batteries.

True, my good lady got a Makita lawnmower and hedge trimmer for her birthday.

 

[Doug71]

I thought this was quite an interesting video testing a genuine Milwaukee battery against some knock offs, the knock offs are even worse than I expected!

 

[OrangeFive]

The reason a lot of joiners use Makita is because they brought out the lithium ion batteries long before Dewalt. Once you go down a route with the batteries it’s hard to change. I personally use Makita but have used Dewalt and I don’t think there is anything in it. As mentioned above I didnt buy Makita coz I wanted a battery mower but due to the fact I have batteries it has enabled me to have a Makita mower and strimmer etc. I have previously managed about 80 trade ops of various trades and it was pretty much a 50/50 split Makita and Dewalt. Both are good.

 

[Doug71]

Sorry for slight thread drift but this used to be a reason for some people to buy Makita.

Does anyone else remember back in the day when you bought a Makita power tool there was always a free cap in the box (talking probably 40+ years ago), they were kind of like a cycling cap, I hated the things and they went straight in the bin.

Wish I'd saved them now

https://www.etsy.com/uk/listing/854...3rI2ebc-ZKcB9zRTp7h41TPCqrhBSk4xoCyDgQAvD_BwE

 

[naughtymoose]

I spoke to a chap who works for an independent builder's merchant - he said you wouldn't believe the number of people who criticise the performance of power tools while using the cheapest bits and blades they can get their hands on.

THIS!
In whatever trade/profession you are in, it's what is at first contact that is the most important. You can have the most expensive supa-dupa drill/driver and then use bits made of cheese, and not turn any screws!

 

[naughtymoose]

Does anyone else remember back in the day when you bought a Makita power tool there was always a free cap in the box (talking probably 40+ years ago), they were kind of like a cycling cap, I hated the things and they went straight in the bin.

I remember these! My grandfather used to have Makita stuff in the Seventies/early Eighties, and I always had the caps. When I started out, I naturally got Makita tools. No caps though (bummer!)

 

[Spectric]

I believe Makita were one of the first into the cordless drill market, I recall about forty years ago my old 12volt AEG drill which was good but the battery died and I saw a deal on some new "Makita" drill that I thought I would give it a go and have stuck with Makita drills ever since but will say they are not as good as previous models. My older Makita drill is a three speed gearbox which often comes in useful but the latest one I have is just a two speed box and I find low is to low and high is not high enough.

 

[Phil Pascoe]

I still have a (mains) Makita half sheet sander from nearly 30 years ago. A good tool, basically, but there was a design fault : the slot the bag hooked into was L shaped and should have been j shaped. The bag didn't actually lock on and if you ran the thing e.g. up a door lining the angle at which you were holding it changed and if your wrist touched the bag it came off and launched like a flour bomb. I wrote to Makita on three occasions without their deigning to reply and never bought Makita again.

 

[Sideways]

Just out of interest, I received a Bosch procore 5.5Ah battery this morning. I already have a couple of fours and one eight Ah pack for the angle grinder and circ saw that pull hard on a pack, but the relatively new introduced 5.5Ah is actually rated for higher drain / more peak power than the 8Ah. I was curious to try, wanted one more big pack and the price was right...

The two are exactly the same size, same format and number of cells, but the 5.5Ah is 30g heavier than the 8Ah. It just points out that cell design and chemistry can be tweaked for different characteristics and all lithium cells are not the same.

 

[rob1693]

This is a current offer from Screwfix that seems to be a good deal for what you want - £230, which is better than the other usual suspects and includes 2x 5Ah batteries.
Milwaukee M18 CBLPP2A-502C 18V 2 x 5.0Ah Li-Ion RedLithium Brushless Cordless Combi Drill & Impact Driver Twin Pack Product code: 229HV

Thanks for pointing that deal out bought a set yesterday
Retired my makitas to workshop

 

[TheUnicorn]

this deal on screwfix caught my eye, 90nm drill, 3 of the new 1.7ah powerstack batteries (if you get the extra promotional one) , charger, mclaren limited edition (bit so what, but some may like it) £230 DeWalt McLaren F1 Team DCD85ME2GT-GB 18V 2 x 1.7Ah Li-Ion PowerStack Brushless Cordless XR Hammer Drill Driver - Screwfix

the non mclaren comparable model is £270 with no additional promotion of the free battery