DeWalt, Milwaukee, Makita, Ryobi?

But lifetime warranty! What better way to spend your life!

 

I use Dewalt for most of my cordless tools because I got started on the battery system and saw now reason to deviate. Cordless Ryobi lawn care tools (string trimmer, edger, and blower) have served me well.

Regarding the finishing nailer, I have the ryobi nailer and I’m happy with it. I mainly bought it because it was part of a great sale. However, I don’t think it would hold up to a bunch of abuse. It’s probably fine for the weekend house project but not much more.

 

Milwaukee all the way here

 

I have current DeWalt, Bosch, and Makita cordless tools.

Going forward I will buy more of the Makita 40 volt brushless stuff. I have their 40v XGT 1/2 mid torque impact and love it, it seems to be better made than the Milwaukee I compared it to. Downside is the Makita XGT line is pricey. Well made but pricey.

 

Makita fan, that's what we used in the trades. The Ryobi stuff I've used felt okay for the occasional homeowner use, but Makita is more robust. Their impacts tend to do a good job of surviving drops from ladders...

 

Makita and Milwaukee are my preferred for new purchases (and confirmed with Project Farm testing). I ended up with a ton of Dewalt and stuck with them for battery compatibility. I would agree to prior sentiment Dewalt is a small step down from Makita/Milwaukee, but generally has a pricing edge over them. Ryobi (Kobalt/etc.) is another step down but fine for most weekend usage and the price is inline with that.

 

Milwaukee For The Win!

Their battery technology (including the tool-side electronics for the battery management system) has been far superior for several years. Others are catching up, but M18 still rocks the house. It's robust enough to power a 10" (and now 12") miter saw, 8" job site table saw, 16" chainsaw, and 2 gallon compressor (which is uber quiet with the exception of the pressure relief valve at shutoff) on a SINGLE battery - all of which I own, use often, and sometimes abuse. I still have the original 1.5AH M18 batteries that came with my first kit; they have some 400+ charge cycles on them and still work. Makita makes good stuff, too, but the M18 platform de-throned them handily; I think Makita only offers a 5AH battery still whereas Milwaukee has stepped up to 6AH, 8AH, and even 12AH bricks that make crazy amounts of power.

Milwaukee's tool innovation and willingness to build trade-specific tools is also pretty stellar. Sometimes they flub it up, but the majority of the time they get it done. There are a few little quirks with some of the tools (nailers mostly). From the framing nailer to the 23 gauge pin nailer - I've used all of the nailers (and own most of them). I only had to beg them for 3 years to make the pin nailer.

One of my favorite tools that they make is the Surge driver; they make it in both m12 and m18. It's much quieter than standard impact drivers with loads of power (on paper it's appears to make significantly less power than the impacts, but in real life it lacks nothing). I still use a dedicated 3/8 or 1/2" impact on my vehicles. I'm also a huge fan of the Fuel line if you can swing the monies. They are smoother, better ergo's (usually), more features, and get longer battery life.

The M12 platform is also pretty darn good. I use it mostly for their tripod lights, multi-tool, and pin nailer. The drill and drivers are no slouches, though; it's usually what I recommend to friends looking for a good homeowner set. You could get an M12 drill/driver/two battery set for $100, but I recommend the fuel kit for ~$230 or so instead. Or get the m12 surge kit and add an M12 drill.

Home Depottt usually has good promotions on Milwaukee tools where you buy two M12 batteries and get a free tool, or buy a kit and get a free tool or battery, or even just getting a free battery with a bare tool. Just search 'Milwaukee Free' or 'Milwaukee promo'.

 

I’m not really a big fan of batteries on cordless tools that are much larger than a 5.0AH, they just get to be unwieldy to me.

For those that like Makita their newer XGT line of 40v and 80v tools and batteries are very nice. They charge fast too, although the charger is pretty large. It has a built in fan to keep itself cool which was a bit odd to me the first time I used it. The XGT tools that are 80v simply take 2 of the 40v batteries in series so you don’t have to have two different types…. Looking at you DeWalt…..

 

I have owned and do own DeWalt and Milwaukee. Both are excellent. DeWalt has won me over because they do a lot of tool assembly in the US. Been there, seen it

 

I have both Milwaukee (m18 and m12) and have been a longtime DeWalt user

For me I honestly like Milwaukee better.

 

I assembled most of my collection of DeWalt tools when their 18V line was king. IMO their batteries have gotten worse and worse. I bought an adapter a couple of years ago so I can run Milwaukee batteries in my DeWalt 18V tools. Works just fine and the old tools keep on kickin'.

 

like several others here, I used (and used up) lots over my career. I started when skilsaws still had metal handles.
Here’s a sort of equivalence chart.

Ryobi ………………Winchester
DeWalt…………….Ruger
Boche ……………..Colt
Makita……………..Browning
Milwaukee………..Kimber

as also mentioned, it won’t matter much except for heavy users in the trades.

 

Milwaukee have more electricians tools, Ridgid have more plumbers tools, carpenter usually buy Dewalt or Makita, Labor use whatever…
Bosch tools are too heavy, it should only be use in a garage/shop.

 

Except Kimber is like Nike and mostly for show and is for people with more money than sense.

 

Won't deny that there are better tools than Ryobi but that's what I have because I'm your average joe'r. Just like the saying, I feel like Ryobi is a Jack of all trades, Master of none. For me, the batteries get use across my craft tools (glue gun, soldering iron, dremel, etc.), gardening (trimmer, edger, blower, etc.), hand tools (impact, reciprocating, drill etc.), my garage door opener that houses a battery for blackouts and other modular items (fan, air compressor, cord extension, park assist, etc.), and minor camping gear (inverter, misting fan, lights, etc.).

It's nice to be able to use one battery line up for all those everyday needs, but I admit, if I want something for a specific purpose that will get the job done, I would suggest different higher tier brands (as mentioned and some not mentioned yet) that will get the job done for that specialized job.

 

I like my DeWalt tools. One of the grandchildren (who is also a coal mine electrician) uses Milwaukee tools.

 

Do you have a Kimber?

 

Can’t speak for him but I have two of them.

An old Super Match II made in 2001 before Kimber of NY went to shit.

I also own a real Kimber, from the old days when all they made were rifles and they were based in Oregon.

Do you own a real Kimber? Because the new ones are steaming puddles of dog vomit compared to the old Oregon made rifles.

 

I agree about battery size becoming unwieldy in some instances which is why I don't typically run anything larger than 5.0Ah on drills and drivers. Most tools that size can't take advantage of the higher capacity batteries anyways, though some can.. However, it's not just about runtime; Milwaukee's new 3.0CP (along with the 6.0, 8.0, and 12.0 batteries) use 21700 cells instead of the standard 18650 cells that they use in their XC battery line and everybody else uses, too. The 21700 cells can deliver more current AND maintain runtime capacity - which some of those smaller tools can take advantage of, like the Fuel 1/2" drills. They can deliver enough juice to push an extended 3/4 Auger bit through 16" timbers or turn 3" holesaws at speed 2 without bogging down. They can also run the chop saw and table saw. I don't do the latter often but in a pinch they work just fine and will rip 6/4 oak and maple. Heck, I've even run them on the smallest 1.5Ah batteries that I have just to see if it would work - which it did, just with a little less power. The 1/2 impact guns are another tool that can take advantage of the newer battery cells' increased output.

As for higher voltage batteries, you sacrifice runtime for current, even with a bigger battery. Watts are watts so 20v x 5Ah = 100 watts. 40V x 2.5 Ah also = 100 watts. So you can run higher demand tools but for a much shorter time. Or you stack a second row of cells to get back to 5Ah, or stack three additional rows (four rows total) to get 80V and 5Ah. But since your 20v 5.0 battery was already a double stack battery, you now have EIGHT rows of cells which can't just be stacked tight because the cells need to be passively cooled (or have a fan stubbed on reducing available runtime and increasing bulk). Talk about an unwieldy battery.. The point is really moot, though, except that now you have to invest in two or three different battery platforms and tools. Which is another reason I've been so happy with Milwaukee's M18 lineup. With very few recent exceptions (lawn mower, 9 gal and 12 gal vacuum, dual battery blower) ALL of the M18 tools are compatible with ALL of the M18 batteries and run on a single battery.

 

I don't own any Kimbers but got the impression that the new ones were Gucci-fied show pieces rather than quality crafted pieces one could take pride not only seeing, but using. Would love to get my hands on a clean, older model..

 

use big battery on floor, 5ah on walls, 2.5ah on ceiling, just thinking of holding a 12ah battery doing ceiling work gives me tendinitis…lol

 

I have Milwaukee and Ryobi. I'm a home DIYer and do my own auto repair/maintenance. Both brands have served me well, no complaints. Ryobi has improved over the years and has a bigger selection of lawn care equipment and other home stuff. I use Milwaukee more for auto repairs. But I will say that my Ryobi 1/2" impact has been very impressive also.

 

I use brushless Dewalt 20V stuff.
I only bought the little impact driver a few years ago, I can't believe how much I use it.
The only thing I don't have is an angle grinder.

Both my Porter Cable 16 and 18 ga air nailers petered out after a couple of years with very little use.
I replaced them with Dewalt oilless air nailers..

 

I’m still using mostly corded tools, because I like not running out of power at all.

Not the cool kid solution, but damned if electricity coming right out of a wall that doesn’t run out sure does work.

 

My corded Metabo angle grinders get the most use by miles and miles. Not even close to anything with a battery.

 

Where I run a lot of my tools, the walls have run dry… so battery power is the only way to go for me.

 

I had never owned a Kimber. I was a full time professional firearms instructor for 11 years and a friend bought a new Kimber that would not feed and run. I called Kimber for her and they said that they would not work on it unless there were 400 rounds through it for break-in. They should work out of the box and not need that many rounds to work. The short compact sized Kimbers seem to be the worst and I would not trust my life to one and they are range / safe queens at best. I own a Dan Wesson, Rock River and a CMP. I will not own anything smaller than a commander size.

 

A Kimber 1911 .45 was my first concealed carry gun. The first time I disassembled and assembled a modern polymer 9 mil I traded in that 1911 the next day.

 

Milwaukee.