fm2176

I've been loving mine so far, after finding a display for this price at Home Depot in January. I took it to the trainees' field training exercise last week and amused my coworkers by plugging in a TV and watching The Joy of Painting on Georgia Public Broadcasting. I had the 19" LCD TV at near-max volume for about 2-1/2 hours without draining a bar off of the 6Ah batteries (three FlexVolt and one XR).

I grabbed two Milwaukee 2701-21P brushless drill kits yesterday. The last thing I needed is another drill, but at $54 each, it was worth it for the batteries (especially as I had no compact M18 batteries); this also gives me my first Milwaukee drills, so along with the One Key impact driver I don't have to bring along Yellow or Orange tools if I'm primarily using the Sawzall or circular saw.

Chicken leg

A month or so ago the only brushless impact driver I owned was the DCF886 that started my DeWalt spree. Today I finally added the DCF887 I've wanted for a couple of years. Found a return at Lowe's that has a lot of markings on it but seems to have very little wear. Got it and a few other things for $103 and change. With the Fuel One Key and Ridgid Special Edition, this is the third impact driver I picked up in the past month. I also picked up a fourth DWX725B heavy duty work stand with miter saw brackets. After I move, my plan is to stay occupied creating stuff (or just randomly using tools) instead of drinking quite so much. Anyway, I'm sitting in the HD parking lot instead of working on my final exam that's due today, so it's time to put away the phone... I graduate college in two weeks and am looking at seeking a certificate in Construction Management from LSU next.

table saw

All I can say, is "wow!" I'm not a heavy tool user normally (at least at the moment), but I'm surprised at how quickly battery capacity has first doubled and now quadrupled in the past few years. When I bought I DeWalt OPE in 2016, it came with the then-high capacity 5Ah batteries. At the time, 3Ah was still fading out as the larger battery found in kits (I found a Toolguyd post about the release of the 4Ah battery in April 2013). To think that only five years later a battery with 3x the capacity would be released is unfathomable, considering how many years most 18v lines stuck with batteries with almost 10% of the capacity (1.3Ah). I rarely exhaust my three 6Ah FlexVolt and single 6Ah XR batteries, but if I can find them for a decent price, I'll be picking up a couple of these for the miter saw.

I should have posted this sooner, but Lowe's has had steel handled Vaughan, Stanley and Fatmax, and Kobalt hammers on clearance for a few weeks. I finally found out why this past weekend--Estwing is now being favored for such hammers, though Vaughan's and Kobalt's wooden handled tools are still present. The prices were decent depending on the hammer, with most prices being around 25-60% off.

I have a similar mentality, though I am not a tradesman and do not use my tools professionally. As a mechanic, I knew that Snap-On, Mac, and Matco were THE brands to go to, but since I couldn't afford them new, I made due with Craftsman as I gradually bought trade-ins and other used tools. Maybe it's rubbed off on me, but with a much higher income these days, I find myself going for professional quality--or at least proven USA made--brands whenever possible. Klein, Channellock, and other brands come to mind for sheer quality versus cost. To answer the OP's question, though, I think about the only hand tool I wouldn't replace with a modern version is my True Temper 4 lb. engineer hammer. Thinking about it, it is hard to imagine using the tools I've owned for over twenty years if given the option of using something less demanding. Hand tools in general are usually replaced where possible with a power tool: my impact driver is used instead of a ratchet, for example, and my 8v or 12v Max screwdriver replaces standard drivers for most tasks. When I turned wrenches for a living, racheting box ends were not that common; if I were to go back to such a job, I'd readily choose one of my GearWrench tools over my tried-and-true (but slow as hell) Snap-On combination wrenches. I still have some perfectly serviceable Craftsman tape measures (yellow ones, from when they still warrantied the blades), but don't dig one out when I have a plethora of other brands at hand. So, yeah, hammers... I could see getting a titanium hammer, or one of the newer designs, but I couldn't fathom replacing my old 4 lb sledge with an extra long handle. It can destroy things with ease and shows the wear from decades of hard use (long before I bought it). If and when the handle breaks, I'll add another; my fiberglass handled 4-pounders will stay in the tool box for most jobs.

Well, I built an Adirondack chair semi-recently based on slightly modified plans I've used before. Finished it and realized I'd installed the arms wrong (the attached part is on the outside of the arm instead of the inside). It doesn't really affect the use (okay, a wider person may feel a little more cramped), but it looks funny sitting next to my older one.

There are a lot of GREAT deals to be had for the lucky right now. I picked up Milwaukee's 18" rolling bag for $40 and there were still stickers for the ToughSystem DS150 and DS400 for about $9 and $13 respectively (but sadly no boxes). The Ridgid Brushless Special Edition black 4 pc. kit is now $200 and the OneKey bare impact wrench is $134. I bought both but consider the impact more an impulse buy/way to try out the OneKey app than a too-good-to-pass-up deal. The Ridgid kit, though, is an excellent buy if you need the tools or even just the batteries. It includes two-4Ah batteries that retail for $99 each, the 7-1/4" circular saw ($139 bare tool), compact hammer drill, impact driver, and grinder (each of which costs $119 as a bare tool), and a charger. Plus it comes in a decent Halloween-esque color scheme. Coupled with an additional discount it's almost a steal!

Air fare.

The marketing strategy behind "20v Max" versus 18v has been known to most users of this forum for years, but it does not diminish the amount of anger it arouses in some. From what you posted above, I believe you are correct in your interpretation of the reviews on YouTube. One reason for the change in nomenclature (for some companies) was to indicate new battery systems, often with higher capacity batteries. DeWalt still sells 20v Max tools alongside 18v XRP tools here in the US, so it helps consumers to differentiate the two systems. Before Kobalt scrapped both systems in favor of 24v Max, they used 20v Max to signify newer battery and tool technology; while compatible with 18v tools and batteries, 20v Max offered 2Ah and 4Ah batteries as opposed to the 18v line's 1.3Ah and 3Ah(?) offerings. Porter Cable and Black and Decker each took yet another direction, updating their batteries and tools and maintaining the slide-on packs while eliminating the possibility of interchangeability. While I was initially upset over Porter Cable's abandonment of their 18v platform, I am now glad I was forced to upgrade. The DeWalt, Milwaukee, and Ridgid tools I now own make the old 1.3Ah batteries and unwieldy brushed tools seem archaic at best. In an hour I'll be back at the project house, which has been without power since we have owned it. Three years ago I'd arrive with my PC tools, complete with a whopping five 1.3Ah batteries (for a total of 6.5Ah), usually exhausting them before noon. Now I have well over 100Ah worth of batteries (30Ah in Ridgid, 43Ah in Milwaukee, and over 74Ah in DeWalt) and can work all weekend nonstop. Whether 20v Max, M18, or just plain 18v, today's tools and batteries work perfectly for me.

I gave in...$194 out the door for two more 4Ah batteries and the black tools was too tempting to pass up. The handles don't feel quite as nice as my DeWalt and Milwaukee tools, but I figure I can throw the router and both sanders in the bag and have a well-rounded tool kit (minus recip saw, but the orbital action on the Ridgid may be worth buying one).

Picked up a couple more Vaughan hammers for about 60% off at Lowes. Also found an 18" Milwaukee rolling bag marked down to $43 at HD. The last time I was at the project house I picked up a DS150 Tough System box for about $30; they had a sticker showing them marked down to $8 or so and the DS400 marked down to $13. None left, though there are two more Milwaukee bags in the overhead. I've been fighting the temptation to pick up the black Ridgid combo for $200. I don't need another drill (as I have at least seven DeWalts) and have a DeWalt grinder, Milwaukee circular saw, and just picked up the One Key impact driver last weekend to supplement my DCF886.

I picked up the One Key impact bare tool yesterday on clearance. My DCF886 was feeling lonely as my only semi-current 18v class impact driver. I haven't played with it yet, but it will see some use this weekend.

Star struck

I already have one, and local stores are still sitting at @$80, but if I find one for $60 or less I'll buy a second. I usually only use two different bits in my projects, so having two set up would save time and effort.

Please share stories of the power tool or tools that started you down the path to borderline fanaticism. These might be the first power tools you owned, your initial investment in a brand that a stranger would think sponsors you nowadays, and/or simply an impactful (no pun intended) tool that piqued your interest in power tools in general. The tool that started it all for me was a Black & Decker Ranger drill with UniVolt batteries and charger. I used it as a young 17-year-old prepping gutters and still own the drill today, though naturally the twenty-some-odd year old batteries no longer charge. This was my first foray into the world of cordless tools, though, a world which I am now immersed in. My second tool is actually a kit, which came with a Dewalt DCD795 drill and DCF886 impact driver. Until this purchase I relied on some aging Porter Cable tools, but this kit was the gateway for my rapid expansion into DeWalt 20v Max. At the time I felt like I had money to burn; living rent free and attending Drill Sergeant School, I added a grinder, vacuum, string trimmer, blower, and multiple batteries by the time I graduated six weeks later. An honorable mention would have to be the Milwaukee Fuel D-handle rotary hammer; despite passing up a number of other red tools previously, this had a price that screamed "just buy me". Since then I've added a couple more Fuel tools and some lights, with a few more purchases on the horizon.

Probably pretty decent for large commercial jobs, but as a former footer guy, I never had a problem tying by hand. I can imagine that tying rebar for a large warehouse pad would get tiring, though.

Welcome to the Crew!

The reciprocating saw really is quite versatile. While not as quick as, say, a cutoff wheel when it comes to most metal cutting tasks, it is safer and still works just fine. The same could be said for pruning tasks: a chainsaw is faster but also a lot more dangerous, requiring more attention than the pruning-blade equipped recip saw. Cordless models available today make using these a joy. From tearing down my shed in early 2013 with an old Porter Cable 18v saw (the 1.3Ah batteries I had then lasted very little time) to demo-ing my project house with a Sawzall and DeWalt recip, it's nice not having to rely on a power cord and the resulting trip hazard that is constantly in the way.

I'm just about tooled out now...with mostly DeWalt 20v max, some higher demand Milwaukee Fuel tools and a few of their lights, and a few Ridgid tools to boot. Bringing different batteries and chargers for everything isn't too horrible, especially since the Milwaukee Rocket light and DeWalt portable power station have chargers, and I'm glad I found what I've got for the prices I paid, but honestly Ryobi would have sufficed nicely for 95% of what I do.

Motorcycle trailer

Any 1-1/4" tool should work; I've used my regular vacuum's brush attachment with my DCV580 a few times, as well as the wand for a little bit more reach.

As a former mechanic, I was always wary of having anything, from jewelry to loose clothing, that might get caught in a belt, pulley, or other moving part. I guess it's a different generation now, but to me it's kind of foolish to have a long beard (or hair for that matter) if you are working around tools that can easily catch it. Tuck it in, wear a beard net (like a food service employee) or something. The ear buds wrapped up in the polisher just add icing to the cake.