the beginning of the end (of my pocket book)

[kulkaholic]

First off love the forums. So much into...maybe to much in my case. I currently have a craftsman set I got just because I needed a cordless drill for when I bought my house. It is getting underpowered for my needs as my project list is expanding. Which means I uncover more poorly made crap in my house (upon moving in I discovered the original builders put drywall up backwards) or my wife decides I need to expand my woodworking skills to build her something else.

What I am asking for is help if my thinking is wrong and for suggestions.

First off I want accuracy, toughness and reliability.

I want is to go as cordless as possible. So I was thinking I should buy into a line and run with that. I would prefer to not have to own three different tools like a drill/driver/hammer drill.

Currently I have it down to makita and Milwaukee. Nothing against dewalt but it seems in all tests it scores well but is not necesarily too dog.

I am going to start with a hammer drill/driver. Most of my projects will be drilling less than 3/4 inch holes and mostly driving nails with the occasional 1+ inch holes needed. Drilling into concrete will also be a rarity.

So with that said I am looking into brushless hammer drills. I was looking at the Milwaukee 2604-20 and makita xph07m. I could go with the slightly less priced (and torqued) lxph03 but for an extra $10 I get an addional 250+lbs of torque.

Is the zph07m too much for such mundane tasks? Will I see more problems with me breaking the heads off of screws and such?

I did briefly look at the rigid gen 5x tools briefly but I heard so many problems with registering their I product it kind of scares me away.

Any suggestions or thoughts on my line of thinking and product suggestions is greeatly welcomed!

[Poisonfangs85]

First off, WELCOME!!! We keep getting new people this is awesome to see the growth here.

As far as your choice of hammer drills you cannot go wrong with either. For what you are doing they will more than handle the tasks. At the same time as your skills and projects progress you will grow into them not out of them.

You do not have to worry about the power breaking or stripping screws. Just use your clutch settings and you will be fine. And if you are driving screws check into a combo kit with an impact driver, you will love how easy it is to sink screws with little to no effort.

Backwards drywall? YIKES! Can't say I've ever seen that one.

[Eric - TIA]

I agree with poisonfangs, both systems are great and both system offer you room to grow into new tools.

[ChrisK]

Welcome to the forum kulkoholic! Both lines are great. Dewalt actually is a good line too. Have you considered Bosch? Of the lines listed Makita has the greatest range of 18v tools. I own several lines of tools as every manufacturer has limitations on what is offered. I have Milwaukee M12 Fuel tools, a couple of Makita 18v tools (brushless barrel grip jigsaw - AWESOME). I've got the Bosch 18v brushless multi tool and wireless impact driver (thanks Eric and Dan!) and a Dewalt 20v USA made hammer drill and circular saw. As far as registering tools with Ridgid, those are ticked off customers that didn't register the tools properly. You need the UPC on the box and your HD receipt. Done. I've owned several Ridgid tools in the past and they were decent tools. Problem I've had is limited range of tools. Never NEVER had issues with warranty though. I've gotten new batteries through them before, no problem. If you want the ability to expand your tool line, Bosch, Makita, Dewalt and Milwaukee are all great, well made, super packed with options, durable lines of tools and Ryobi ain't so bad either of you want a large tool line of basic power tools without all of the bells and whistles.They have a very large 18v line for homeowners and tradesman. I've got one Ryobi, an 18v Brad nailer and it is an awesome tool for furniture projects.

[DR99]

On thing about Milwaukee is if you buy at the right time they have a bare tool or free battery promotion going on. The new Ridgid x5 stuff is pretty nice and they have the kit marked down to $399 and Ridgid has added more 18v volt tools. I actually bought the Ridgid X4 then the Dewalt 20v kit but ditched both because at that time they had very little in expanded bare tools back then. Chrisk is right people are mad about Ridgid because they didn't follow the rules they assumed its a warranty when its a service agreement with rules.

[WeldfabNeil]

For your needs I would just consider getting older model millwakee impact an hammer drill combo kit with three batteries(homedepot special buy). Its cheaper then getting just the new millwakee fuel hammer drill an two batteries. Yeh the batteries on the older version aren't as good as the ones with the newer combo kit but they are Still pretty good. If you were buying tools to make your living with I would go with the fuel but it's just around the house in this case.

The millwakee hammer drill 2602-20 an impact driver 2650-20 don't have brushless motors but plenty of power for around the house stuff.

the new fuel hammer drill version 2604-20 with two 4ah xc batteries is 299 regular price. The kit in like above is currently on so called special buy until 06/30 an currently just cost 279

http://t.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-M18-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Hammer-Drill-Impact-XC-Combo-Kit-2-Tool-with-Free-M18-3-0-Ah-XC-Battery-2697-22-48-11-1828/204624530/

For reference the new fuel hammer drill version with two 4ah xc batteries is 299 regular price. The kit in like above is currently on so called special buy until 06/30 an currently just cost 279.

http://t.homedepot.com/p/Milwaukee-M18-Fuel-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Brushless-1-2-in-Hammer-Drill-Driver-XC-Battery-Kit-2604-22/203205419/

[Conductor562]

Here's Conductor's take on it.

Milwaukee is still riding high at the moment. Their line is huge and there's still a lot of momentum in the platform. You can count on having parts and battery availability for years to come. In the 12V category they're still light years ahead of the competition.

Don't discount Dewalt. They don't have quite the depth that Milwaukee does, but they can trade punches all day in the quality and performance categories.

Makita Cordless has been on my avoid list for at least 2 years. They had a serious battery issue that they tried to pretend didn't exist and were slow to bring new tools to market. That said, 2014 saw some signs of life with the introduction of some serious contenders, the battery issue appears to be behind them, and the build quality is still good. They have a patent on a battery fuel gauge that we haven't seen yet, but I'm confident any updated battery will be compatible and the LXT format is here to stay. Makita is finally off my shit list, but they're kinda on probation.

Bosch is under appreciated IMO. They aren't quite as good at generating buzz with new releases, but the line is robust and probably offers the best build quality among the big 4. Bosch is also privately held by a charitable foundation and invest billions into research.

As far as budget tools go, Ridgid is it. The quality is good and the selection is fair. If you don't look to expand beyond the basics, they're worth considering

[kulkaholic]

posionfangs, eric, chrisK, DR99, Fletcher94 and conductor. Thanks for all of your input!

 

I have not really looked at bosch but I will. I didn't look at dewalt initially because I know a couple of dewalt only users who poo poo everything else for everything and anyone who doesn't use dewalt.

 

The best part is now I can actually rest my mind on the whole quality part. My tools will be a huge investment and I didn't want to throw money away.

 

Next step is head to the ol HD and see how they feel!!!

 

P.S. Yes in my ktichen and bathroom's which were decorated in a hideous wall paper they put the dry wall up backwards. So when removing the wall paper it was tearing chunks out of my walls. I Guess it's a good thing I was planning on redoing those rooms in the 10 year plan.