Cordless tools are more popular than ever, with lithium batteries and modern plastics making them more powerful and longer-lasting than ever. We’re seeing more and more mechanics—us included—ditch their air tools and switch to batteries instead.
There are dozens of brands offering their take on the cordless tool universe. But which is best? As with Ford versus Chevy or Canon versus Nikon, we’d say …
I wanted to like Bosch but the ecosystem and availability sold me on Ryobi. They have a reputation of being cheap tools but they've been reliable for me thought a couple of remodels.
I went with the DeWalt 20V lineup 10 years ago or so and thankfully they have not changed the form factor on the battery/charger/tool interface. The tools are very tough- I'm happy. A couple things I've noticed- Most of the replacement batteries on Amazon are counterfeit and quickly become useless, and the knock off ones are useless from the get go but at least they don't say DeWalt on them. On the other hand I have found individual 'refurbished' DeWalt 20V tools on Amazon that are actually factory blems for something like 50% off the big box kit prices that surround a tool. So I can buy exactly the tool I'm looking for and don't end up with duplicate needless chargers and bags and other landfill 'value adds'. I've also seen evidence that some of the 'refurbished' tool sellers are selling counterfeit tools. Choosing a reputable established seller with hundreds of reviews and reading the latest and worst reviews help when shopping the gargantuan stolen IP clearinghouse Amazon has become.
Ridgid octane in the garage and at home, though I envy a lot of the Milwaukee 12v stuff, but for some gruntier things I definitely need 18v
On the road and at the junkyard, Parkside (lidl house brand that uses samsung lithium ion batteries). If my $80 cordless impact with $17 replacement batteries walks away, it stings a heck of a lot less than my $280 impact disappearing. Unless I'm dropping a subframe at the yard, the ridgid stays home.
I've been eyeing 3/8 12v cordless "stick" wrenches, Milwaukee will likely win. Some of the house brand stuff (kobalt) is tempting, but if I venture into a 3rd battery family, I want something that will be solid and have a good number of platform uses. The only reason I even have the Parkside impact and drill/driver because my cordless yard stuff (hedge trimmer, leave blower, weed wacker) is all their stuff as well.
I'm a big fan of the Milwaukee M12 line, and of course the M18 as well. My absolute favorite tool has to be the M12 stubby 3/8 impact. The thing is so small and can go anywhere and has tons of power. I have the M18 1/2in mid torque which covers up to 550 ft lb install/650 ft lb removal which is about all I'll regularly need.
The M12 hammer drill and 1/4 hex impact are great as well. The small impact almost exclusively gets used with a 1/4 square bit with a 10mm magnetic socket for 95% of the small interior stuff I need to do. The drill is small but will twist your arm off.
Eventually I will probably get a 1/4 ratchet and the high torque 1/2-in drive impact just because I already have the batteries for both and they might come in handy.
I will actually probably pick up an M12 1/2-in drive stubby just for track use because it's so darn convenient and lightweight.
As a homeowner, I primarily bought in because they have tons of useful stuff for around the house as well which will come eventually as well.
Ryobi 18v user here. But I have been for many years. The family business was HVAC Contracting and over the years we used Milwaukee, Makita, DeWalt, Bosch, etc.. But inevitably, an employee (or me) would leave the work van unlocked or leave a drill or saw on a job site someplace. After awhile, you get tired of replacing expensive cordless tools. So, we started using the cheaper Ryobis. We found they were close enough in durability to not matter and if they disappeared from a truck or got lost, they were cheaper to replace than a set of Milwaukees or Bosch, etc. Plus, if something got stolen/lost, we could simply walk into the nearest Home Depot for a replacement.
So, I'm all Ryobi these days. Though, I have still have a compressor and some pneumatic tools...It's just a tiny 1-gallon, Ryobi 18v compressor so it has enough gumption to blast dust out of the garage or loosen a stubborn bolt or two that the 3/8" Impact can't. But sometimes there is no replacement for (air) displacement. I probably should get one of those 5-gallon portable air-tanks to increase my overall capacity.
Speaking of cordless tools, Martina Navratilova just tweeted this photo. (Looks like she's in the DeWalt camp.)
Dewalt 20V user here. Slickdeals has FREQUENT deals on these tools/batteries that make life more convenient (loving the yard tools lately).
On the cordless wratchet, went with the blue 69 dollar ACDelco to save 50 bucks after reading a hundred reviews. My best battery powered tool purchase of all time and I use it every time the car is in the air.....
I'm torn on air compressors. On my bathroom remodel, I've been using a combination of a big 7.4lb impact Rotary Hammer from Bauer/Harbor Freight, but it's a bit too heavy for wall scraping, and when I'm working around hydronic lines I've discovered my little pneumatic air hammer is a really nice alternative. Thing is, it uses insane amount of air for how small it is, meaning that to property drive it I've gotta have a big 4cfm 10gallon air compressor and I just don't want something that big for a single project.
In the biking world, having a tank is nice too, especially for setting up tubeless tires.
I'm thinking of borrowing both my neighbors 2CFM 4gal compressors and hooking them to my supply line via a tee for this project and some others. Then just keeping a little pancake around for the bikes.
In reply to Tom Suddard :
I went with Bauer 20V because they are cheap and meet my needs and Harbor Freight is close by. Undoubtedly the internet will decide that I picked the wrong tools.
In reply to nderwater :
For years my truck toolbox had a HF cordless drill in it (the super cheap NIMH version) and it held up great for infrequent use. When the battery finally died, though, I just bought more Bosch stuff to keep everything the same. For any tool I won't be using a ton (stuff like right-angle drills or tools for the track), I've been buying bare tools used on eBay. The prices are dirt cheap, and I already have plenty of extra batteries laying around.
Makita LXT for the past ten years, and fantastic- I beat up on them and drop them daily. Down side is, they don't go on sale regularly like the milwaukee and dewalt do. I keep thinking they should die soon (I currently only have the drill and impact driver) and I would look around, but I cant kill them.
Bauer seems to have a pretty large selection, and definitely inexpensive.
I've been on the Milwaukee M18 system since 2013. This photo is from when I first moved into my old house, my current collection of red tools and batteries is roughly double. They are expensive but worth the extra coin and they haven't changed the battery interface every couple years like some of the competitors.
I have Dewalt 18v tools. I'm at a weird point where 2 of the 4 batteries I have finally died. Replacing the batteries costs almost as much as upgrading to 20v. I am not a fan of throwing out tools & chargers that otherwise work fine though. I've looked into to off-brand battery packs and they have reviews that are absolute garabge :(
I've had Dewalt 18V for going on 20 years. I've got one 20V tool that came with a battery and charger, and now have a 20V to 18V battery adapter, and some Amazon Chinesium knock off 20V batteries, as attrition is taking its toll on my old 18V batteries.
While I have a lot of the old Dewalt 18V stuff, I wanted a cordless 3/8 ratchet, and Milwaukee M12 seemed to be the ticket for that. SWMBO got me one for Christmas '19, not realizing she bought me the bare tool and I couldn't use it, she felt bad, and kind of went ham buying a charger and 4x batteries. Having a glut of batteries and only the one tool and charger, I took advantage of a Labor Day sale at Home Depot, picking up a M12 1/4" impact, hammer drill, and right angle drill, with another charger and a pair of batteries. Then for Christmas '20, my parents got me a M12 Fuel 3/8" Stubby impact, with battery and charger, and a M12 rotary tool. Now I've got 3x M12 chargers, a bunch of batteries, and have pretty much abandoned my old Dewalt 18V stuff.
Also...
MAC and DeWalt are both owned by Stanley, so you can do this:
In reply to ProDarwin :
I bought Tim some knockoff 18v Dewalt batteries, and every one was a dud. Complete waste of money.
Then I bought a few knockoff Milwaukee M12 batteries, and they've been awesome for a few months now. No idea why, but I'm about to order even more of them they work so well. I'm not sure they hold quite as much energy as they claim, but at $8/each I don't care.
ProDarwin said:I have Dewalt 18v tools. I'm at a weird point where 2 of the 4 batteries I have finally died. Replacing the batteries costs almost as much as upgrading to 20v. I am not a fan of throwing out tools & chargers that otherwise work fine though. I've looked into to off-brand battery packs and they have reviews that are absolute garabge :(
In reply to RevolverRob :
I have had my eye on the 18v compressor for a while now. Is it wort it?
In reply to ChrisTropea :
Depends on what you need it for. It's pretty quick for filling tires and it works fine for blowing dust out of the garage. I can use it to run an impact gun, but it isn't fast work. I'm not going to win any pit stop time trials trying to run the impact off of it. I could probably loosen the nuts on one wheel, before I had to stop and wait for the compressor to catch up.
A 4AH battery will fill an empty tank and refill it about 10-15 times depending on how much air you use in the beginning. It takes about 2-minutes to fill the tank from empty with a fresh battery. It'll give a full 120psi to the tool for about...10-15 seconds. And it'll give you a more or less continuous 40psi until the battery runs flat. I haven't tried, deliberately, to do this, but I'd guess on my 4AH batteries I can get ~15-20min of continuous use out of it at around 40psi.
Ryobi says "Inflate 9 tires from a single 4ah battery." I'd say that's right in-line with what I'm getting. No problem putting 10-15psi in 8 tires on a single battery and having ~half a charge left (per the LEDs on the battery). Not filling them from flat that seems to be about the right usage.
To be honest, it's a little light duty for a garage. But is probably about perfect for track work. Can fill tires, run an impact or air ratchet for a minute. If you have a couple of the 9ah batteries you could probably do a whole weekend without much trouble and not need to bring a charger with you. If you had an air jack/quick jack this thing can probably lift it. If I wanted a portable compressor for an Overland rig this would probably work well in that realm, too.
What it cannot do, for sure, is run one of these abrasive blaster guns from Harbor Freight - https://www.harborfreight.com/1-liter-abrasive-blast-gun-92857.html - At least not with coarse walnut shell. I had hoped since it can produce a fairly continuous PSI of ~40 I could get it to work in short bursts at 60-80. But I think the HF gun here is too chintzy and actually needs more air than this thing can supply.
My next attempt will be to try a Eastwood HotCoat gun with it. Probably not for a few months though.
I went with the Milwaukee M12/M18 ecosystem when I decided to buy power tools in 2016. I saw a lot of techs use them at the dealers and shops I worked at, so I figured they had to be durable. It also helped that the Fuel line generally has the most powerful tools, so breaking loose a fastener is not a worry.
I started with an M12 Fuel impact driver. Then I bought the M18 Fuel hammer drill, impact driver and hi-torque impact wrench when Home Depot had a promo on it. I just recently got the M12 Fuel stubby impact wrench as a gift.
I went into my shop last spring and looked at all if the various injection molded cases under the workbench. Each one of the housed some old worn out battery tool. Nothing matched, no shared batteries.
Since I just got home from a rather lucrative trip for work I was flush with extra cash.
I left the shop and ordered a bunch of the Milwaukee M18 FUEL stuff. 1/4", 3/8", 1/2" impacts, hammer drill, grinder. Some in kits so I ended up with 4 batteries and 2 chargers. I will add more to the M18 sets for sure.
I also am ready to start buying the M12 stuff for harder to get into places.
Been using the M18 stuff at work and fell in love with them.
I also have had great luck with the 40v Ryobi stuff for household stuff. I have the backpack blower, weed beater, and the chainsaw. I am a huge fan.
I love the Milwaukee M18 and M12 tools. I’ve found the M12 tools more useful more of the time. Compact and lightweight, plenty for most jobs. I break out the M18 tools for bigger jobs. One of my favorite tools is their Hackzall...
I didn’t get what the big deal was with the funny looking Sawzall, until I used - perfectly balanced for one handed use. I use this for all kinds of stuff, and it’s my favorite tool for pruning.
Woody (Forum Supportum) said:
This is what I have been leaning toward, but its cheaper to buy a new tool + batteries, than the batteries alone. So I need to think of a tool that I want and try and snag that on sale...
I will admit that my favorite is Milwaukee, but I work on a more Ramen-noodle budget. I went with Ridgid. Lifetime warranty. I think they are 90% as good as Milwaukee for 60% the price and a better warranty.
The Ridgid stuff I have at the theater gets absolutely abused for 8 hours a day everyday. I'm either building a set or tearing down a set, so they get used HARD. Eight drivers in the hands of me and a bunch of volunteers for hours at a time. I can't say the Dewalt stuff it replaced was as beefy, but in its defense, that was "old" Dewalt. Dewalt has really begun to impress me again.
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