khariV

Beat up tools that are being sold without a charger make me think that they walked out of someone's shop when that someone wasn't looking. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Yes and No. While it's true you can get a 4.0 AH battery on Amazon or eBay for that much, you won't be buying from an authorized Milwaukee dealer. Gray market items are just that. You won't get a full warranty on gray market tools and batteries and of course you always run the risk that you'll end up with a clever knock off, a used item or worst of all a 3rd party refurb. I've seen people get batteries that were real Milwaukee shells from failed packs that had been opened up and stuffed with new cells and sold as new from kits. Anyway, long story short, there's no free lunch. If someone is selling something for significantly cheaper than official channels, there's a reason. Have I bought batteries and such from eBay? Yes, but only from reputable sellers, only factory sealed and only when I'm fairly certain it hasn't fallen off the back of a truck. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The Halloween free shipping offer did me in so when I got home today, there was a package from CPO waiting for me on the porch. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

CPO Milwaukee has a promo going where you can get a free Fuel Sawzall or two 5.0 batteries when you buy the Fuel 2.0 kit (2897-22). http://www.cpomilwaukee.com/milwaukee-2897-22-m18-fuel-18v-cordless-lithium-ion-1-2-in--hammer-drill-and-1-4-in--hex-impact-driver-kit/miln2897-22,default,pd.html So that's either a free sawzall or a total of 4 5.0 batteries.

I've been kicking around the idea of upgrading my M12 2408 and looking at both the 2404 and 2403. The 2408 is a nice drill, but the run-time can't quite keep up with the M12 Fuel driver and impact that live with it and I've found the power a bit weak on more than one occasion. I was honestly going to wait until the buy one get a free 4AH battery deal came around again, but for $99, it'll be hard to say no to this deal. I really don't need a hammer drill in my carry around kit - the M18 comes out for any actual masonry drilling duties.

The black dirt / plastic from rubbing against the case - I've got plenty of that too and I'm not really all that worried about it. It's more the scratches and dents and dings in places that shouldn't have them. The battery isn't sealed, but it is in a plastic bag. Here are pics with the relevant stuff circled. Again, it's all cosmetic, but it is more to do with what it might mean - i.e. returned used / abused. So, what do you think? Worth complaining about or fire off a few hundred nails and see how it runs?

Mine showed up today - unannounced! I do have a question for the rest of the crew that got theirs as part of this sale. Mine looks like it's been roughly handled. I don't want to say that it looks abused, but... well, it looks used. There was sawdust in the nose, scratches all along the rail and scuffs and slight dings in the housing (metal and plastic parts). I doubt very much that any of this will affect its performance, but I haven't had a chance to go out to buy a strip of nails to test it out myself. Is this normal? Was it just tested at the factory and perhaps bumped around a bit or are they trying to pull a fast one? I've never had a "new" tool come out of the box looking quite so rough, even if it really is still mostly pristine looking.

Wow, I haven't even gotten a shipping notification yet. I might have to have a chat with CPO tomorrow to see what's going on. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

The deal actually lasted for a couple of days. I was really hoping that it was just a 24 hour desk and could ignore it on the first day, but then I came back the next day and it was still live so I took that as a sign that I needed to pull the trigger. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

By "in the heat," I meant the heated part of the house as opposed to in the garage or in the back of the jeep, both of which routinely get below freezing in the winter. I've heard that freezing isn't really a good condition for battery storage, but of course that's just anecdotal. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I keep mine in the heat for charging and storage but I've taken them out to build a shed and a fence when it was around 20 outside and they did just fine all day long.

Damn it - I had to have one too. At least it's not COMPLETELY a new battery platform for me. My Dewalt OMT will now have some company.

Happy Friday TIA crew! I've just had an afternoon project explode into something quite a bit larger and I'd really love some advice from the TIA braintrust. A bit of background first... A few years ago, a deck/patio over my garage was falling apart. It had a lot of rotted wood, the incline didn't allow for proper drainage and the whole thing was basically a hazard and wobbled if you jumped on it. To top it off, it formed the roof over part of the garage. I had a contractor come in and replace / rebuild it. As part of the job, they laid tile and really did quite a nice job. The only outstanding part that they left undone was the seam between the sunroom and the deck. Now, when the sunroom was built (1990's aluminum deal), they put flashing down underneath the sunroom structure that bridged and covered the gap between the structure below and the deck, which was now a patio. Well the contractor said that they couldn't replace the flashing because it was underneath the sunroom and they didn't want to break the structure so they did not seal the crack at all. They said to call a roofer to see if it could be done. I called a roofer who told me that the job would cost $1000 and that they wouldn't guarantee that it wouldn't leak. I thought, forget it, I'll do it myself for less than that. $1000 for a 15' section of flashing is absurd. Fast forward two years. I finally get tired of the leak in garage whenever it rains and resolve to caulk the seam. My plan was to bend up the flashing, caulk the seam, cut the flashing, fold the edge under and rivet a new piece of flashing on to replace the bent / ugly edge left over from the construction of the porch. Pretty straight forward and I even got to buy some new tools for the job! So I bend up the flashing and while I'm brushing out the dirt to clean it for caulking, the brush goes right through the plywood that forms the sub-floor of the sunroom. I've attached a couple of pictures for reference. This little job just got a whole lot more complicated. The area has obviously been leaking for a lot longer than I thought and there are whole sections of the sub-floor that are completely rotted out. This would explain why some of the tiles in that part of the sunroom have cracked. The best I can figure is that I'll need to cut out the tiles inside of the sunroom, replace the plywood subfloor and re-install the tile. The whole process is made more complicated by the fact that the sunroom is aluminum and sits on the tile/ subfloor. I'm not sure if I'll break it if I do this and I can't just disassemble the sunroom wall to do the repair. It'd never go back together again and the manufacturer is long out of business. So the question for the crew is - am I about right in what I need to do? I'm a bit over the edge of my comfort zone but I'm sincerely afraid of what kind of cost estimate a contractor would come back with to do this for me - remember the $1000 to replace 15' of flashing and run a bead of caulk. I've attached a couple of pictures for reference if that helps (sorry for the toe- my foot always manages to creep into my TIA pics...). Thanks in advance for reading my epic and for any and all feedback and advice you can throw my way.

Does anyone know the difference between the 690 and the 692? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Not really, but of course it's more complicated than that. All Milwaukee power tools have a manufacture date code in the serial number. The warranty period starts from the date of purchase if you bought from an authorized Milwaukee dealer. If you did not or if you can't find your receipt, the warranty period is calculated from the manufacture date. It's best to keep your receipts so you don't lose out on warranty time for a tool that was sitting on the shelf for a while. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Well... Yes, but then again when I see a Milwaukee tool for half off, I also ask myself if there's a newer model coming out soon that I'll want! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I was kind of wondering the same thing. What's the real difference between this and a $20 model that had the same temp range and distance ratio? Specs being equal, are you just paying for durability? Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Is the new stand light dual powered? I see from the specs that the flood light can plug into an extension cord, but I don't see anything on that front as far as the stand light goes. I'll be bummed if the stand model is battery only. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

So I was looking for which local HD had the 18+ inflator in stock when I ran across this... It's not in stock anywhere yet so I assume that it's another case of an overzealous web department spoiling the surprise for marketing. Looks like it'll be an interesting option if you only ever need to inflate tires and balls. Cheaper to! Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Who knows - You'd think that if they had an M18 miter saw in the wings and ready to ship any time before Fall 2016, they'd be shouting about it from the highest tower, if for no other reason than to keep the red faithful from jumping on the Dewalt. My guess is that they might have one that will showcase in next years event along with the fabled cordless nailers. If you need one now, go for the Dewalt.

If you're looking for pliers to work on conduit lock nuts, you need to pick up a pair of these. The PVC / oil filter pliers are probably going to be too large to fit inside a standard metal box. You can find these pliers at Lowes or Amazon. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

I like the Bosch tech better specifically because it doesn't ruin your blade. The only problem is that Bosch has only announced a contractor's saw so far. There's no big, cabinet makers saw on the horizon.

When I was growing up, I had so many uncles and cousins that were missing fingers that it wasn't even that unusual. Kickback can happen even to experienced woodworkers - all it takes is a second of lost concentration, taking a shortcut, a stupid decision or even bad luck and your fleshy parts can get pulled into the blade, even if you're using a push stick. Even if one of your acquaintances hasn't been injured by a table saw, it does happen and when it happens, it's bad. Current generation saws with riving knives and blade guards notwithstanding, I won't use a table saw until I can afford a sawstop or a bosch; I'm just too fond of my fingers.

Checked my HD - the price on the display was a yellow $89, but there was another yellow sticker hidden around the corner on the shelf that had the $75 price. I think I'll hold off to see if it drops any more before I pull the trigger. Thanks for the heads up.

I've been told by HD employees that the way to tell is by the cents in the price. Specifically the cents value for true clearance items it's a number of weeks. If an item is $xx.03, then there's three weeks to go before it disappears. If the cent price is more than 0, that's how many more price cuts it has left on the shelf. So an item with a price of $xx.24 will get a price cut in 4 weeks and it has two more price cuts left before it gets to the mythical $.01 price. Of course the guy could have been making all of this up, but that's what his story was. Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk