Jeffe

Hilti is a waste of money in my opinion. You're going to get great performance out of the Makita. Dewalt used to say their Li-Ion batteries will go 2,000 charges or more. Recently they changed to "up to 2,000 charges." I talked to a Dewalt rep a week ago, and they don't even mention number of charge cycles as a benefit of Li-Ion. Definitely get the Makita, especially if you're thinking of going the compact route. They've wone just about every comparison test they've been in over the last 3-4 years!

Festool is some good stuff. A buddy of mine sings their praises constantly. They're basically his dream tools. Of course, the price will scare many people away. A lot of times, you can get a good alternative for quite a bit less, though. I always recommend to read online reviews on specific types of tools. In fact, Makita had a "plunge cut" circular saw come out about a year ago. Beforfe this, Festool ruled this segment. I read a review that said with the Makita, you basically don't need to spend all the extra money on Festool. Of course this is just one review, but it brings up a good point. The biggest thing to look at is how much you need the tools. It's not worth spending crazy amounts of money if you don't need to.

Milwaukee has definitely dropped off in the last 5 years since becoming part of TTI. I work for a vendor at Home Depot, and the returns clerk is always backed up with their tools! They've taken to calling them "Ryobi Red" since they seem to be little more than Ryobi tools in red cases.