DR99

Yea the only thing makita has is the number of different 18volt tools they make compared to any of the other mass market 18v powertools. Look at dewalt they really lost a lot of the cordless tool market share compared to when the xrp line was first released. They took way too long to adopt lithium battery tech. Bosch tools don't seem to be popular on this forum, but are well like by a lot of people. You also have the hilti metabo's and festool's also, but they are not really mass market tools at least in the usa.

TTI has the right to sell ryobi and rigid power tools in the usa.TTI did buy out Milwaukee tool and has full ownership of the name.

Yea my local HD has been trying to get rid of a display model of that model bulldog for over a year they are asking way too much for it though with all the wear it has.

You can get the bare tools on HD's webpage except the hammer drill

Yea they carried the fien multi tool last holiday season. I get some things are regional, but it seems like lowes carries more of the same items in each store than home depot.

It depends on which HD I go to the newer store has a whole area setup just for bosh with a spokesman there and tool demo's. The space used to be for Hilti tools who bailed after the construction bust in metro detroit. The older store has just the bulldog sds drills and that's about it. Both stores don't carry any pc cordless tools and just a small number of corded

I think lowes has given up on competing with Home Depot on tool sales at one home depot by me I have the choice of bosch, dewalt millwaukee, rigid, ryobi, black and decker, and makita, and corded and air porter cable tools. Lowes has porter cable, dewalt, kobalt, skill, bosch, rockwell black and decker and hitachi, Lowes carries more brands but they are diy oriented brands. And when you buy cordless tools its the battery platform that has the best tools and the best selection of tools to choose from

With impact drivers replacing drills drivers the speed settings are a compromise on not having a clutch.

With the kobalt line I think they are more concerned about price than features/tech its a diy/semi pro tool. I have one question why do the tool companies still offer non hammer drill models? An example is the new m12 fuel drill line the diffrence in price is 10 bucks between the 2 tools if you got rid of the extra design manufacturing and stocking of another model you could offer the hammer drill at the same price as the non hammer drill version. Is there a reason not to buy the hammer drill version that im missing? I just don't get it personaly as a way to save 10 bucks. I know some people don't deal with masonary that often, but it could come in handy at a later date.

Rigid has a 3 year warranty on the tools and battery packs, so if you have the proper documentation you should still be able to get the packs replaced. Sounds like you didn't register for the LSA agrement. The tools are cheap compared to the price of battery packs.

The I think the total mumber of M12 tools is 60 or more now. Although, they are probably counting older versions of the same tool. Rigid is a funny thing they are made by TTI so they have acess to the milwaukee tech, but home depot decides on what gets released so we end up not having much tool slection. The Makita Ltx line is the biggest 18 volt system out there at the moment. What probably stopped me from getting makita is the local HD's don't seem to stock much of the line here just a few of them a few cordless and corded tools Dewalt milwaukee rigid and ryobi have huge displays and endcaps. Poor lowes is stuck with the warmed over porter cable 20v tools that are just reskined dewalt 20v tools which the allready carry these exclusivity deals really suck.

I bet we will see TTI bring the european ryobi 12 volt tools which look like exact clones of the old m12 line. So even budget 12 volt tools are going to get better

Makita makes nice 12v tools, but they really are not expanding or updating the line of tools. I wonder if they are going to relaunch eventualy with the converion to brushless down the road.

The drills and impact's are decent for the price. I got a ton of use out of my 18 volt recpirocating saw its not the best, but it did alot of work for me. The circular saw is pretty hopless though.

Unless the Dewalt drill is an xrp 3 speed then it might be worth the hit going to nicad. I have used Ryobi lions for over 6 years., and my oldest battery finaly was showing some age. I moved up to the m18 line because I have been doing larger projects. In this day and age not going with a lion system seems like a bad idea to me atleast

Makita has a tool like that except the price is pretty insane at 500 bucks. You could get a whole power tool set for that kind of money http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?productId=202072852&storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&ci_sku=202072852&ci_kw={keyword}&kwd={keyword}&cm_mmc=shopping-_-googleads-_-pla-_-202072852&ci_gpa=pla#.ULBMnYawV3c

Yea it's really odd when corporate cousin porter cable has one.