Biggie

I feel like milwakee has read my mind with the release of the mid torque impact, the die grinder, and now this metal saw. Does anyone have any experience with the m18 brushed metal circ. saw. We use the crap out of their 8" corded metal saw cutting 14ga to 3/16 steel. Back in the dewalt 18v days we bought one of these cordless metal circ. saws but it just didn't have the power and runtime. I've always been interested in the current m18 metal circ saw and said if it ever came out in the fuel I'd have to give it another try. I actually thought it would be best in a flexvolt package but who knows when or if that'll ever happen.

Just curious if I'm the only one that thinks impact drivers have gotten a bit carried away? Don't get me wrong the more compact the better but it's like they got in a war to see who can take the biggest lug nut off. To me that's what a impact wrench is for. I think my 2753 has to much torque in setting 3 for a lot of things I do but setting 2 is too slow. The 2653 is almost a better combination of torque and speed to me. One question that I have and don't really know the answer to, is having more speed with less torque more controllable with smaller construction screws? It just seems like that is kind of the approach makita takes and they're king of impact drivers.

Don't worry you can just buy a flexvolt saw and be good to go. People are always saying how they are the same battery platform. Hope you can read in sarcasm. haha

I can only speak for milwaukee, dewalt, and bosch but they all seem to have some tolerance issues. Most recently I bought a dcf887 that the battery seems super wobbly on. I have multiple of tools where one is tight and the other is loose. But as has been said this is really a none issue with how the tools perform and is more a perception of the tools build quality.

He must have a pretty good following. I saw it when it had been up for 3 hours and it already had 400 some comment.

One of these times when I click on one of these post there is going to be a new tool from dewalt I'm excited about. But it's not today haha.

I didn't realize acme carried metabo the only places I had heard of was lowes and cpo in the US. Which is why I was surprise at how spotty their line up has become. Sorry to raise any alarm. I'll have to get my fix at acme.

So being the power tool enthusiast I am I like to research tools and tool prices. I dont own any metabo but I like to think someday i might. Last night I went to cpo metabo just to see what was new and much to my surprise they seemed to not have a lot of tools. I know I've been on there in the last 6 months and they had more tools. It's almost like they are selling out the line. From what Dan and Eric say in their videos I thought metabo was trying to expand in the USA. First the Lowe's thing didnt work and now I'm starting to wonder about cpo. Is there any other place in the US you can buy metabo?

Like I said it's not a market I'm in but how cool would something like this be with two 60v slapped on it and painted yellow.

Sounds like you're right you'll want a rotary hammer. I don't have any experience drilling into rock or with either bosch or makita rotary. I do have a m18 2712 and have used a dewalt dch253 both are 1"(25mm) rotary hammers. In concrete I usually get about 50 inches of drilling with a 5/8" (16mm) bit and a 5.0 battery, but it depends if the concrete is new or old or if you hit rebar. With a 3/8" (9.5mm) bit that number probably doubles or triples as it just doesn't work the drill nearly as hard. I would think the offerings from bosch and makita would give similar results.

The brushless stuff is probably worth the extra $400, but I really can't imagine a situation where bosch brushed tools wouldn't be more than capable for a home owner. What are you using the rotary hammer? If you're just drilling a few 1/2" and under holes a year, a standard hammer drill would probably do the job just fine. I would say anything a home owner is going to drill a 18v rotary from any of the big names will be more than adequate.

Yea there are a lot of interesting blacked out tools. Without knowing more details a lot of them don't hardly make sense as a 54v/60v. Maybe they aren't even flexvolt tools and just random blacked out tools to fill up space.

Although I'm sure there is that market, it's not a market I'm interested in even if it would be really cool.

It could be more of a mid torque size like the new milwaukee or IR but I wouldn't think you would want a flexvolt battery on it.

Yea the rotary hammer was needed for one of the work trucks but the fuel drill was bit of a splurge. I've been wanting a second fuel drill on my truck for a while and they had $100 off with a old tool trade in plus a free battery. So a drill and three batteries for $180 and I caved.

Looks like possibly a new impact wrench between the grinder and table saw? Not sure what to think of a flexvolt impact wrench, they already have the 20v 899. Which has gobs of power but is already so heavy that I wouldn't use it unless I had too. But I guess we'll have to wait and see.

Sometimes I think I have a problem.

I know all about being frugal, I got my fuel Sawzall for free only had to buy a $300 drill/impact combo haha. I know there are deals to be had it was just an example and the main reason I don't get why people say it's the same battery platform. I get what you're saying if you want a more powerful tool you need a bigger more powerful battery. Which is why I bit the bullet and bought a flexvolt grinder and batteries (I got one free). But the only way to buy that grinder was to buy a new battery platform to go with it.

Yea that 9.0 starter kit with a 2731 saw for $250 sure is tempting. I want the saw but we just don't use a circ. saw that often and I have other wants that are higher on my list.

Hey now don't tell me things like that. I don't know if my wallet can take that kind of abuse haha. I'm sure they make a difference on some tools. I know a lot of people on here love 2.0 but on the tools I use I don't like them and I notice a drop in power from a 5.0.

A lot of its personal preference. I don't own a m18 9.0 and after buying a flexvolt grinder I'm in no big hurry to. I don't really like the extra weight and prefer my fuel grinder with a 5.0 when I don't need the extra power. But like anonymous joe the day I do buy a 9.0 I like the idea that I can use it anywhere even if I dont.

I don't think most people have a problem buying bigger batteries for the big high demand tools and there are definately advantages to them. I can also see the arguement that the m18 9.0 is essential another battery platform because you're not really going to use them on your small tools. Where it becomes a problem is when a person has a bunch of 20v tools and batteries and wants to upgrade to a brushless reciep. saw, grinder or circ. saw. They currently don't have the option of buying a bare tool and you're forced to buy new batteries. Example: I want to buy a new recip. saw. With milwaukee I go out and buy a $200 saw and use batteries I already have. With flexvolt I have to buy a $380 kit and even then I feel like 2 batteries isn't enough for a jobsite. I would spend another $150 for a third battery or $200 for two more. So although you're getting batteries, to add a saw with flexvolt it cost $530-580 and with Milwaukee I can do it for $200.

I thought they were always 22v and just called them 18v because that was the market they were competing with. Sounds like a lot of marketing bs to me. They've probably improved their batteries but I don't think they've changed the voltage which is why they're backwards compatible.

I personally have never used Makita, and others can chime in but I thought that I've read that the current cordless rotary hammer drills aren't real impressive. I would assume for a home owner its still a fine drill and would still work better than a standard hammer drill. Just thought it might be a point of discussion based on you're initial post.

Kind of funny at the end of the milwaukee video it says up to 2" shorter and up to 1.5 lbs lighter. Then says up to 4" shorter and up to 2 lbs lighter. I assume they're comparing it to two different impacts but doesn't up to 4" and up to 2lbs cover 2" and 1.5". It's a little redundant, kind of like weather man talk up to 4-6" inches of snow when they could just say up to 6" of snow.