opcruzer

I have 3 heated hoodies from Milwaukee (over the years have accumulated them) and one of them is the one that comes with the 3in1 jacket and its by far the best of all of them. How and where do I find just the hoodie from this kit as I have looked far and wide and only find the normal one. For all of the nay-sayers the hoodie in the kit has the tougher lining on the front pockets and the bottom of the arms.

I know a lot of you are going to say pelican, but are there any others in the medium size box that still has wheels and a retractable handle to roll thru airports? I plan to have an m18 fuel 1/4" impact and a battery or two and a couple small cases of bits and such and maybe a charger and then assorted small hand tools. I will be traveling to Canada a couple times and to a couple job-sites in KY and TN. I forsee more and more air travel in my future so I want to invest in good equipment.

I am also looking at the new Fuel rotary hammer compared to the Makita x2, the specs are very close and I have yet to find a review or tool battle between. I also checked Javier's site to make sure he didn't slide one in there as well. I have the Makita brushless 18v rotary hammer and it does alright but the new ones do a lot more.

The hypertherm is by far the best in the business.

I have seen some of Javier's videos and must have missed that one. The Milwaukee event that Eric and Dan covered has some literature saying that their fuel saw cut way more than the X2 saw which is obviously not the case. I have been very impressed with all of my other fuel tools but I don't think they can compare with the 2 batteries on the Makita.

I have not seen anyone compare these two head to head and given any remarks as to which one feels more powerful. I have both battery platforms and could get either one and when we are cutting wet or frozen green treat 2x material my current fuel 6 1/2" saw or my older Makita saws just don't cut it. (pun intended) I am also looking for specs to compare the horsepower or "felt power" of the new 7 1/4" fuel circ to the current 6 1/2" fuel circ saw to see if its really that much better. I have seen the claims that the fuel saw will cut a lot longer on a charge because of the brushless motor and that really doesn't matter much in this case as we don't make enough cuts in one day for that to really matter and we have plenty of batteries for it to matter. We also cut up old concrete form lumber and eventually ruin blades because of it and I try to do that with old saws and old blades but anymore blades are pretty cheap its more about getting the work done. We have noticed that changing out old blades helps a lot even on the old Makita circ saws that are known to be underpowered.

I have been patiently waiting for the new Makita 148 impact to get here for months now and have even looked at the cost to get it from Japan and I finally couldn't take it anymore and after having to pay $190 for a bare with shipping I finally got one and its a pretty nice and tiny impact. It definitely tops all of the other ones they have done to date.

Just know that the eastwood machine is a hobbyist or DIY'er machine and not something you would find in a professional shop. I just got a miller plasma and it was $1300 and it uses a lot of hypertherm's parts. Just make sure to also plumb a filter in the air line to keep good air coming to the machine and you will love what today's plasma technology has over anything from even ten years ago. We have an old plasma that is 20-25 years old at my old mans place and its bigger than the old Lincoln red tombstone's (old stick welder everyone has or has used) and its heavy and large and bulky and compared to my new miller which is tiny and cuts better there is no comparison.

As others have said, its not a surprise that other markets get to test it first before we get it. I would like to also think our US market is soo much larger than other markets, they want to have it correct before bringing it to us but we can test stuff too. I just bought the dewalt nailer to replace the to paslode guns I have that I don't like. I need to get them up in the Swap Meet section with pics here shortly as well.

I have the m12, m18 and just ordered the new fuel M18 deep cut band saw, also the corded deep cut bandsaw so I would have to say Milwaukee. The Makita cordless version just didn't come down enough in price otherwise I would have one of those.

Fuel one in the works, I will believe it when I see it. I have the fuel saw and the non-fuel saw at a another place we own and they are both fine but the Fuel one is better in all respects. I will have to saw that I have also had the Makita one for 8 years now as well and its my go to most of the time because of what others have said, it fits your hand the best. Now only if I needed yet another cordless circ saw I could justify the new x2 version from Makita.

I am with Krane here, Makita has been an innovator for a long time and the battery thing gets a worse rep than it maybe deserves. I had some of the first M18 batteries at a feedlot we own and those batteries died left and right compared to the one here or there in my rather large Makita lineup. Soo maybe you are not a landscaper so the new line of landscaping tools isn't for you. They had the first brushless impact way before anyone else and it has a fuel gauge on the tool which is what the whole M12 line uses and it doesn't get this bad of run down. Also of the big three, I will always pick up the Makita impact to drive screws of any kind in wood, its only when we have to drive large self tapping screws into metal that I have to reach for my m18 fuel impacts (but the newest Makita impact should change that also). I also want to point out that Makita has been innovating in more directions with their cordless lineup than their competitors combined (ok maybe close, but you get the point). I have the cordless nibbler for sheet steel (they also have the shear), the concrete vibrator, the first brushless sds hammer drill, the first drywall screw gun, and I believe the first of the big three to come out with a 3/8" drive ratchet. All of these I would have to buy new and different battery platforms to get each one. Then you can come to the x2 lineup which is being expanded everytime I turn around, more innovation that doesn't get the credit it deserves. I continue to buy new Fuel tools and love them but I still can not get away from Makita as they have soo many specialty tools that we use daily and they are always great tools at that. One last rant, I had bought into the 3.0/40 and 1.5/2.0 battery sales pitch for both dewalt for the short time I had 20v tools and with my Milwaukee lineup and in the end its more of a sales ploy than anything. My impacts run for hours 3-4 sometimes and honestly taking a break to switch batteries (because I grabbed an extra one to bring with anyways) is not that time consuming. If only Makita would release their stuff in the US faster it may have been able to keep up better (their 5.0 battery is out in Japan currently and I almost bought one the other day) but I digress. Either way Makita still has a faithful following and they may market in different ways than the others but they will continue to stay an innovator and I will continue to buy their tools for it.

Don't tell them but I have bought a couple Makita batteries over the years just so I could return a bad one that didn't last very long and still looking almost new, so in that respect you get them both at 50%. I just couldn't handle that some batteries last 5-6 years and some only 5-6 months it seemed. Also Makita's battery warranty was pretty light at only a year compared the red and yellow stuff.

United makes a nice HD series line that is tailored for contractor use that I am looking at. Basically the floor is thicker that cross members are heavier and closer together as well. They sometimes already have a nice ladder rack on top as well. The one I have now I have weighed a few times and hovers around 6,000lbs most of the time. I have cleaned out some stuff that doesn't get used as much to keep it from being overloaded (7,000 lbs) but I have had numerous problems with this one like the axles not being square and one tire rubbing on the frame to loosing screws on the outside skin for no reason to wiring underneath already breaking because its cheap to fenders not lasting a year because they are thin and cheap. The list could go on and on.

I am glad Makita finally made a more cost friendly band saw. I have the M12, M18 band saws and the corded deep cut bandsaw so I cant justify another one.