How good are cordless tools?

duffman · 03-07-2009, 04:51 PM

I think most people will agree that a decent cordless drill is an awesome bit of kit to have, for its performance,convenience etc.

Without getting into specific brands, how good are the other cordless tools? eg rotary hammer drills, jigsaws, circular saws, angle grinders etc
Are they powerful enough to do the job properly, or do they take twice aslong as a corded counterpart?
Do they discharge the batteries in 2 minutes?
Is the quality there?

Im in the market for a jigsaw and circular saw, and figure since Ive already got a Hitachi cordless drill and batteries which I'm really happy with, I would look at spending the extra dollars and go cordless.

Cheers

Aphex · 03-07-2009, 04:54 PM

Cordless has come a long way. With decent gear and a spare battery, there's no need to have mains on site.

WIGARUS · 03-07-2009, 04:59 PM

I've got the Makita circular and jigsaw, cordless drill and collated screwgun with the lithium ion batteries and they are great.

I only use the jigsaw and circular saw every now and then though, so don't really know how the batteries go...

I've used the ryobi plus 1 range of cordless tools (grinder and circular saw) and wouldn't waste the money on them.

Hartfield · 03-07-2009, 05:04 PM

Aphex are you serious? Mate I would like to see you build a roof with just cordless gear on site. I have a few cordless tools, but you cant beat the real tools. In my opinion alot of the cordless tools are just toys, but dont get me wrong they are very handy to have, but dont have the power to be efficiant on site.

Aphex · 03-07-2009, 05:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hartfield

Aphex are you serious? Mate I would like to see you build a roof with just cordless gear on site. I have a few cordless tools, but you cant beat the real tools. In my opinion alot of the cordless tools are just toys, but dont get me wrong they are very handy to have, but dont have the power to be efficiant on site.

Yes. yes I am serious. My guys use a combination of Hilti & Dewalt cordless on site with no issues. They've used the Hilti TE5 24v drilling 25mm holes through concrete all day. Far from a toy and far from lacking in power and efficiency. Saves time piss farting about with stupid lengths of extension cords and having other inconsiderate fuckers on site pulling your cord out. Even worse on union sites, having to muck around with cable stands everywhere. God send when working with EWPs. Works for us mate.

Desmogod · 03-07-2009, 05:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Aphex

Cordless has come a long way. With decent gear and a spare battery, there's no need to have mains on site.

Bingo.
Buy yourself a few spare batteries though, they do last a while just not all day.
Things like a circular saw and jigsaw will drain them faster than a drill.
They have comparable power to mains tools.
I wouldn't hesitate to go all cordless, and if it's only for home stuff, it'll last forever.

Hartfield · 03-07-2009, 05:19 PM

Fair enough . They do have the power to match cord tools, it was more the things like circular saws ect I was refering to. And yes I do agree its a big hassel with leads, but with our work the cordless gear wouldnt cut it.

Sentry · 03-07-2009, 05:24 PM

Not a fan of dewalt. Had one of their drills for a while and the chuck kept buggering up. I have a Makita now and it just wont die. If you're going to get a cordless, don't get anything less than 18V.

Hartfield · 03-07-2009, 05:25 PM

Duffman, what do you plan to use it for? Home DIY work Trade type work and how much do you plan to use it?

simo19 · 03-07-2009, 05:44 PM

If you are intending on using a cordless saw for all day you will go through the batteries pretty quickly they are mainly for light stuff anyway. So if you need it for heavy duty work go for a corded saw. But if you want a powerful cordless saw go for a DeWalt 36v cordless saw they mean business.

WIGARUS · 03-07-2009, 05:50 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sentry

Not a fan of dewalt. Had one of their drills for a while and the chuck kept buggering up. I have a Makita now and it just wont die. If you're going to get a cordless, don't get anything less than 18V.

All my Makita gear is 14.4V I can use my collated gun with drill point screws into 2-3mm steel for about 4-5 hours.

I'm not saying 18v isn't better, but I reckon the 12 or 14 stuff is good enough for what I do and its heaps lighter

WIGARUS · 03-07-2009, 05:52 PM

Also don't think anyones mentioned it, but my batteries are fully charged in an hour, If you had 2 or 3 tools with the same battery you could get away with only needing 1 charger.

Dr. Venkman · 04-07-2009, 11:56 AM

My father in law places apprentices with workshops etc and he reckons that the Hitachi's are the way to go.

Johnno · 04-07-2009, 12:57 PM

I normally buy $$$ battery drills but they never seem to last two years so this time I bought a cheap Ozito kit that is 18 volt with drill, saw, recipro saw and light for $400 and it has lithium batterys with 15min charge and 3 year replacement warranty for trade use.

I've had it about 2 months now and it hasn't missed a beat so far but if anything does happen then they just give me a brand new tool instead of losing it for a month+ for warranty to fix it, I had a $700 24 volt bosch drill that spent 7 months of the first year at warranty so the replacement idea I think is great.

Rich · 04-07-2009, 01:09 PM

Have used cordless angle grinder...

Wouldn't say it was great but it worked...

The biggest plus is the convenience...

If you just need to cut a bolt or something out in the yard it takes less time and hassle than running out huge lengths of extension cord or setting up a generator...

duffman · 04-07-2009, 09:32 PM

Thanks for all the input.
Its only for home use so it wont see much action.
In saying that I do tackle the odd bigger job, so need to know that the tools will be up to the challenge.

Ive locked myself into the Hitachi 18V gear, since its what I already have, and its worked really well for me so far.

Cheers

chrisso · 04-07-2009, 09:50 PM

just remember, you get what you pay for... buy cheap shit, you may aswell give it to ur kids for their birthday, but buy decent 12-18v tools and you'll find yourself looking for excuses to use them...

oh and the makita cordless drill comes with a spare battery and a torch (really handy if you live in fucked up armadale and get a powercut every 5 minutes)

Brougham · 04-07-2009, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hartfield

Aphex are you serious? Mate I would like to see you build a roof with just cordless gear on site. I have a few cordless tools, but you cant beat the real tools. In my opinion alot of the cordless tools are just toys, but dont get me wrong they are very handy to have, but dont have the power to be efficiant on site.

you obviously dont go on building sites then. all our guys ONLY use cordless now. hilti / dewalt /panasonic. awesome.

nowadays with the OHS safety crap, corded tools are too much hassle with cords, trip hazards, JSA's, etc. our guys drill into concrete all day long with hilti TE5's, drill holes into 2mm steel, cut rod/5mm angle, etc all day, every day with cordless tools.

and they last longer too.

btw. all the roof carpenters i know only use cordless tools - cordless saws, cordless (gas) nailguns, cordless TEK drills, etc

Flash Harry · 04-07-2009, 10:40 PM

Bought my 14.4volt Makita when it was the most powerful you could buy back in the '90's. It's still running today although it could do with a couple of new batteries. It's not like I haven't used it either. It's been worked hard over the years but the best job it did was when I had to get on the roof in the middle of a cyclone and Tec-screw the sheets back down.

Ah, good memories...

chief wiggum · 04-07-2009, 11:55 PM

love my cordless drill.

best thing i tried was my mates dewalt cordless vaccuum....fukn brilliant when you've gotta drill a hole in a wall/ceiling without dropping shit all over the place. batteries dont last too long though