May be looking for a new Reciprocating Saw

[satchmodog]

Hey kids. I have a Porter Cable 738 Tiger Saw and aside from the very first Milwaukee Sawzall I bought over 25 years ago(some jag stole it off a job) this is the finest recip saw I've owned. No one, and I mean no one makes or made a saw like those old Sawzalls, but the Tiger saw of about 15 years or so ago was damn close. Heavy AF, rock solid and would cut a locomotive in half. Last month when I opened the case down in Floriduh where we'd been remodeling our parent's house I noticed there was an oily mess in the case, the foam baffle in the case was basically eaten away and was stuck in crumb form all over the case. I'm going to see if I can repair the saw or get it repaired if that fails. In the likely even the saw has shat the bed, what's out there with old school power and ruggedness? I've tried the Rigid 6 amp on a job and it was junk and my brother had the new Makita 18 volt. While it was a nice solid tool, it just wasn't powerful enough. The 9.6 amp tigersaw gave me all the nastiness I desired, always. So what's out there? I don't mind cords, btw. I actually prefer them for tools that serve a real heavy duty purpose.

So school me on recip saws

[Moore,C.]

I've been very satisfied with the flexvolt receipt, though I knock it solely for lack of DeWalts usual 4 position blade lock. I've been equally impressed with the one key, and while I own some Makita I don't own but also hear good things about the 18x2. Starting completely fresh today, I'm intensely curious about the new Bosch ergonomic receipt, and the rigid gen5x recip-because they're the only two cordless I know offering orbital action on demand. Corded, again don't own/haven't tried, but some of my old crews have told me the newest DeWalt and skil are actually pretty sweet. All things aside and in quick need, I believe Milwaukee has the best track record in my eyes (not dud free, but least in my eyes). My 2 cents

[satchmodog]

2 minutes ago, Moore,C. said:

I've been very satisfied with the flexvolt receipt, though I knock it solely for lack of DeWalts usual 4 position blade lock. I've been equally impressed with the one key, and while I own some Makita I don't own but also hear good things about the 18x2. Starting completely fresh today, I'm intensely curious about the new Bosch ergonomic receipt, and the rigid gen5x recip-because they're the only two cordless I know offering orbital action on demand. Corded, again don't own/haven't tried, but some of my old crews have told me the newest DeWalt and skil are actually pretty sweet. All things aside and in quick need, I believe Milwaukee has the best track record in my eyes (not dud free, but least in my eyes). My 2 cents

I used to be a big Milwaukee guy. I still have my deck screw gun which I would put up against any screw gun ever created on this planet and my Milwaukee circular saw that has to be from 1996. It still runs like new, they both do. Had some turd not lifted my sawzall, I'm sure she'd still be running fine. I walked away from Milwaukee about 10 years ago when their products started circling the bowl, but they have really redeemed themselves the past few years. I actually bought one of their new impact drivers solely because there was a metal nose housing on the thing. I am very impressed by this tool so far. I'd love to hear some reviews of the new sawzalls. I am also a Dewalt user and this flexvolt thing has me intrigued. Seeing I just bought a 780 to retire my old Makita DBMS I wouldn't be averse to getting the Flex volt saw for work and keeping the 780 at home.

[SetBuilder]

The Milwaukee 18v Fuel sawzall is a beast as far as I'm concerned.  I have 2 older milwaukee corded sawzalls that require an allen key to change the blade. The 18v blows them both away.

[Moore,C.]

I used to be a big Milwaukee guy. I still have my deck screw gun which I would put up against any screw gun ever created on this planet and my Milwaukee circular saw that has to be from 1996. It still runs like new, they both do. Had some turd not lifted my sawzall, I'm sure she'd still be running fine. I walked away from Milwaukee about 10 years ago when their products started circling the bowl, but they have really redeemed themselves the past few years. I actually bought one of their new impact drivers solely because there was a metal nose housing on the thing. I am very impressed by this tool so far. I'd love to hear some reviews of the new sawzalls. I am also a Dewalt user and this flexvolt thing has me intrigued. Seeing I just bought a 780 to retire my old Makita DBMS I wouldn't be averse to getting the Flex volt saw for work and keeping the 780 at home.

I retired a lot of inherited, corded Milwaukee and Makita stuff as I progressed in the contractor world after leaving the army, and the old Milwaukee stuff definitely earned a place in my heart lol I jumped on to DeWalt 18v xrp system on a budget for a Father's day sale and that began a love affair that lasts to this day lol I've beaten but never broken a few dozen of their tools from their first impact and about everything else you can imagine, and while I'm certain the nicads wound up in a pawn shop at some point, I'm told by my best friends that just about all my 20v stuff I sold to apprentices and the company for upgrades are still in use at the mines. I just picked up Makita for the subcompacts as I've been freelancing remodel and odd job electrical recently, and they're badass for sure, but I've had the og brushed stempack recip, 20v brushed recip, 20v brushed compact recip, 20v brushless compact recip, brushed portaband, brushless deep cut portaband, 20v miter, the brushed portaband again after it got knicked, lol and most recently the flexvolt. All amazing and I've used the shit out of them in any environment you can imagine-surface and underground mining, powerplants, commercial and residential from residential, timber to sched 80 black pipe and miles and miles of strut and conduit. Rain, mud, apprentices, never broke one and still own 3 to this day. While DeWalt doesn't have the illustrious history beyond the miter saw, like say Milwaukee, I'm a card carrying member of the black and yellow saw fan boy thanks to them being built from coffin nails in my experience tl:dr- DeWalt saws have been amazing for me and my paycheck for a very long time

[satchmodog]

50 minutes ago, SetBuilder said:

The Milwaukee 18v Fuel sawzall is a beast as far as I'm concerned.  I have 2 older milwaukee corded sawzalls that require an allen key to change the blade. The 18v blows them both away.

really? that's good to hear

[satchmodog]

18 minutes ago, Moore,C. said:

I retired a lot of inherited, corded Milwaukee and Makita stuff as I progressed in the contractor world after leaving the army, and the old Milwaukee stuff definitely earned a place in my heart lol I jumped on to DeWalt 18v xrp system on a budget for a Father's day sale and that began a love affair that lasts to this day lol I've beaten but never broken a few dozen of their tools from their first impact and about everything else you can imagine, and while I'm certain the nicads wound up in a pawn shop at some point, I'm told by my best friends that just about all my 20v stuff I sold to apprentices and the company for upgrades are still in use at the mines. I just picked up Makita for the subcompacts as I've been freelancing remodel and odd job electrical recently, and they're badass for sure, but I've had the og brushed stempack recip, 20v brushed recip, 20v brushed compact recip, 20v brushless compact recip, brushed portaband, brushless deep cut portaband, 20v miter, the brushed portaband again after it got knicked, lol and most recently the flexvolt. All amazing and I've used the shit out of them in any environment you can imagine-surface and underground mining, powerplants, commercial and residential from residential, timber to sched 80 black pipe and miles and miles of strut and conduit. Rain, mud, apprentices, never broke one and still own 3 to this day. While DeWalt doesn't have the illustrious history beyond the miter saw, like say Milwaukee, I'm a card carrying member of the black and yellow saw fan boy thanks to them being built from coffin nails in my experience tl:dr- DeWalt saws have been amazing for me and my paycheck for a very long time

I own Milwaukee, Porter Cable( the good stuff before they became a ghost brand) DeWalt, Bosch and makita and love them all. My first sander was a dewalt palm sander which is still running like new, my 14.4 volt 754 drill and my corded 3/8 inch drill. All freakin amazing tools. I also just pushed aside my Makita 10 inch miter for the Dewalt 780 and while the 780 isn't the fine Mercedes benz fit and finish of the big yeller, I can guarantee that hemi of a saw will do things the Makita only dreams of. I'll continue buying these tool brands as long as they keep performing at the highest levels. Even the once mighty PC still makes some killer nail guns and I just added two more. Man, you guys are going to make me blow all that money on that flexvolt saw

[ChrisK]

I’ve got the new Makita brushless recip which is great. I also have an USA made Milwaukee recip. It does great work, I’m not really a Milwaukee guy but they are known for the sawzalls and my old one is worth it’s weight.

[Jronman]

The Milwaukee gen 2 is outstanding beats almost everything. Then Makita came out with the x2 and that upped the Milwaukee in performance. The only downside is neither have orbital. They have corded power.