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Decision Time M18 (reg. price) or Makita Deal???


Doof

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Ok guys, I have a dilemma. I have a few (ok, more than a few) tools that I need at the moment. I'm gonna go cordless on 'em. At the top of the list are a new grinder and a new sawzall.

 

I tend to bleed Red when it comes to tools, but, as you guys may already know, there is a brushless Makita grinder kit on sale at The HD. The single battery kit is a steal, and while I don't have any other tools on the Makita platform, they have some cordless woodworking tools (among others) I wouldn't mind having.

 

Now, as I said, I tend to bleed Red, thus I have a few batteries on the platform. I had hoped I could finagle a price match on the regular M18 Grinder for $30, as I saw another get it at the HD a few days ago. But to no avail. So, the either the Fuel Sawzall or Fuel (Paddle Switch) Grinder (both bare tools) are very tempting, yet the deal is not as sweet as the Makita kit.

 

I find this to be a serious conundrum. Thoughts???

 

Aside: I'm not going to wait for the new M18 Fuel Grinder with safety stop.)

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not sayin Makita is not good but being a huge milwaukee fan I don't have a milwaukee fuel product I'm not happy with again it depends on other tools in the future you might need or want and does the company offer them.....

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If your a wood worker I'd go Makita. But I love my M12 Fuel tools and Milwaukee is an AWESOME line. You can't go wrong either way but Milwaukee is crazy about releases in the new tool area but they are still pretty trade specific whereas you can go a long way with Makita. This is going to be a tough choice. I love both brands. Also, I got that brushless grinder. I'm going to do a review on it but suffice to say it is sweeeeeeeeeeet ;)

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If you don't mind running two battery platforms, than I would say go with the Makita. It would put you nicely into two of the best cordless tool brands in the market. If you don't like having multiple batteries and chargers, than I say stick with Milwaukee. I am biased however because I really like Milwaukee cordless tools.

 

It's a tough one though. Good Luck!

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I would say Milwaukee they keep adding tools to there M18 line up. It looks like they are slowly getting into woodworking with the introduction of the cordless planer. Also you know the quality in Milwaukee not to talk bad about Makita but you can beat a Milwaukee sawzall or hole shooter

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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yep, I've Bosch and Dewalt for a while, and have now switched the Dewalt to Milwaukee. A couple of platforms can be great (select the best / best priced tool from each). Some contractors find it annoying though, for site work.

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I haven't used any of the cordless grinders. I have a corded Dewalt.

The answer for the Reciprocating Saw is much easier. Milwaukee all the way. The Sawzall is the reason I switched over to the Milwaukee m18 line. I didn't want to have two brands of 18v batteries.

Come to think of it though I still have two lines of batteries. The M12 and the M18.

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And you made the smart move IMO! I am also like a lot of your guys's shops, you guys have a terrific work area, I like some of the things you guys have done with your setups. Now, if we can just keep the wifies away from our dam power tools, we'll be a lot happier. Raise your hand if your wife borrowed a power tool but didn't put it back where you had it? Raise your hand if your wife used a racheting screwdriver to unclog a drain, and left gunk all over it? When a wife disrespects out tools, they disrespect us. Plain and simple, so we need to start putting little ear piercing alarms on our cabinents and tool drawers. So if they get sticky fingers, they will get a scare to remember. ;)

My wife had a little tool bag with some crappy homeowner tools when I met her. I keep that setup with what she uses.

I hear you though that drives me nuts. My wife won't hardly touch my toolbox anymore.

I did buy her the M12 Vac recently. She loves it and that gives me a good reason to buy more M12 tools. More batteries for her vac. Lol!

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I love the m18 vac. It's probably the strongest cordless shop vac out there but you pay for it with battery life. I've never put it to a stopwatch but a 4.0 battery probably gets around 15 min run time. It doesn't sound like much but it's got such good suction that you'll be done using it more quickly than any other cordless vac which is the whole point of high performance tools IMHO. It's kinda like the race to idle modern SoC's, chips, in your cellphone or tablet use, when they run flat out they might actually use more power and battery than older chips but they do things so much more quickly they end up saving power because they get back to idle quick. I just am in the habit of using the vac and throwing the battery int he charger when I'm done. It would be cool if the 9.0 battery fits in there, it looks like there is room but I've not seen any conformation, and you'd probably get 45 min of runtime ;) In reality I wouldn't use the m18 vac to clean up more than one messy site at a time so if you want to clean 2000 ft^2 of dirt and sawdust no cordless will do you. Also it is LOUD so keep that in mind if you're sensitive to that.

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Oh I am so glad that you brough that up! I need to hear personal experiences from people who own these battery operated vacuumes. Reason being, it requires a lot of suction power in order for a vacuume to be worth a dam, which is why I love shop vacs. Considering this fact, I simply do not see how you are going to get much runtime on 2AH or even 4AH battery packs. And this is where I think those new 9AH batteries will probably shine. What is your opinion on said vacuum, how is its runtime? Is it worth buying? Would you recommend the M12 vacuum or rather a M18 vacuum?

I bought her the DustBuster style M12 vac. Our house has hardwood and tile floors. We have a blue heeled that lives inside. We use Swifter and Bona mops to clean but we always end up with hair under furniture and behind doors etc. The M12 vac work great for picking up this. It seems like we can go through the whole house 4 or 5 times getting the hair balls on a 4ah battery. I think it helps that you have the trigger so you are only running it when needed. I have used it a couple times to clean up after I had drilled holes. It worked good but it's no shop vac. It also doesn't have a huge canister so if you were cleaning up much you would have to empty multiple times.

I haven't tried the M18 Vac and I'm also interested in it with the 9ah batteries. I still have my old Dewalt 18v shop vac. I was never able to use it on battery power. It seemed like it would suck those old nicd batteries flat in less than 5 min. I always just used the ac cord. I also have the Ridgid 14gal shop vac and it's awesome for clean up.

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I would go with the Makita. Me being a Makita fanboy aside.... Milwaukee and Makita both make the best tools in the industry at the moment. Milwaukee being very specific in their tools for certain trades. Makita having the absolute largest selection of all tools.

1 brand can't just give you everything :)

Having 1 battery platform is a cool thing but not having a tool you need in your platform sucks a lot.

For woodworking offerings makita can't be beat really.

And damn that brushless grinder promo is soooooo much tool for its price. Unbeatable really :)

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Protool I have the M18 vac as well, it looks like it does have enough room for a future 9.0 but we will see. It has great suction, but you need to keep the filter clean. It also isn't meant to replace a corded shop vac, it seems to be meant more for cleaning up quick messes, like after a quick saw and drilling session. I use it for quick clean ups and for getting dog hair out of our vehicles. As Jerry said, I would guess between 15-20 minute runtime. I'm looking into getting the M12 for the other half. She uses the M18 at least as much as I do.

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Thanks guys. You've backed me off of the Makita. Now I have to decide which to get, the grinder or the sawzall.

 

As for the wife and tools: for the most part she doesn't touch mine. She's got her own at work: bone saws and the like... muwaahahaha... but seriously, lucky for me, she treats them with respect because she deals with tools all the time.

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And you made the smart move IMO! I am also like a lot of your guys's shops, you guys have a terrific work area, I like some of the things you guys have done with your setups. Now, if we can just keep the wifies away from our dam power tools, we'll be a lot happier. Raise your hand if your wife borrowed a power tool but didn't put it back where you had it? Raise your hand if your wife used a racheting screwdriver to unclog a drain, and left gunk all over it? When a wife disrespects out tools, they disrespect us. Plain and simple, so we need to start putting little ear piercing alarms on our cabinents and tool drawers. So if they get sticky fingers, they will get a scare to remember. ;)

My house was the exact opposite when I was growing up. All of the tools belonged to my Mom because she was the one doing all the projects around our house. She hung drywall, cut stair stringers, knocked out walls, etc., while my Dad was the one who you needed to keep away from the tools. Mom also worked for Hilti for over a decade, so she could talk tools as well. I have it pretty good as well as my wife is pretty handy in her own right, so I find it funny when people complain about their wives and their tools.
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