Power Tool Brands - Accessibility

[KingRichard]

Originally Posted by NorthCoastJoe

I have had Ryobi tools since they were blue and nicad. They held up well but I am switching to Milwaukee. They have more power and I have a charger that runs on 12 volts for Milwaukee, charges both 18 and 12 volt batteries.

In Tahiti Makita dominated and I never saw any of the big other US brands.

A 12V charger would be a nice bonus, no sense in converting to AC just to convert it back.

[NorthCoastJoe]

I got mine here from Home Depot

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Milwauke...B&gclsrc=aw.ds

[Dogscout]

Big fan of the Bosch 12v cordless series. Small to fit in tight places, sold all over the world. I have bought them in Greece, Germany and US.

[hugosalt]

Bought 1st portable 18 volt Ryobi drill as a throw away for boat years ago. (Was green/blue then) Have added to it grinder, circ. saw, spotlight, radio, inflators, palm sander, 2 fans (great), multi tool and a 12 volt to 18 volt charger. really thought they would rust or self destruct within a year or two. To my surprise all still going strong.
Advise, as I do use hard I also don't use often. I have a variety of corded big boy tools used at home that get used for heavy use.

[Madehn]

Big fan of dewalt. I have worn out a couple of drills driving deck screws ( think over 200000 screws ) before it started to get tired. I can still get batteries for all the 18 volt tools and for a few bucks bought two adapters to use newer 20 volt batteries. Cordless oscillating saw and right angle drill are my two most ofen used tools. I like my corded dewalt oscillating saw better than the fein tool and it was less&. For a good value tool it is hard to beat corded RIGID tools. JMHO your mileage may vary but dewalt has done well for me.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by Searles

My old Makita drills now over 30 yrs 9 volt long battery in handle batteries last about 5 yrs recharged daily machines still going strong , bigger stuff 20 volt Dewalt almost unbeatable .

Mine is approaching about 50 years old.

My first cordless [± 1980] battery [Ni-Cad] powered drill was a Makita 7.2V “6010DWK” [Green], which came with [both] a 120VAC ‘fast’ [1 Hr] charger, and a 12VDC ‘automotive’ charger.
They were revolutionary, but mere "toys" compared to today's tools.

[slugsgomoo]

I noticed a callout to Festool in here, and I have to say they're wonderful, but unless you're earning a living with them or have a 7-8 figure bank account, I don't think the math makes sense

I've gone to mostly Milwaukee, though all my corded tools (and a handful of cordless) are Ridgid, and I have to say their warranty (especially on batteries) can't be beaten.

Dewalt & Makita spent so many years as the king of the sector, but IMO they've both suffered in recent years and sit a peg below Milwaukee along with Ridgid and Hitachi.

I'm honestly surprised to see so much love for Ryobi on here. I've used quite a few, and my experience is that the "Ryobi ONE" is indicative of how many jobs you'll get out of the tool Even corded things like tile saws have been a disappointment, but maybe it's just me.

I will say, going back to Milwaukee for a moment, that I absolutely love the M12 stuff, and things like the interchangeable chuck drill/driver while expensive for an occasional use tool, has paid for itself dozens of times over. I also love that the M12 Fuel drill/driver set is good enough that I rarely ever reach for my 18v tools unless I do something ridiculous. Lighter tools are less exhausting.

I will say, whatever tools you get into, try to end up adding chargers & batteries over time- it's so nice to have enough charged batteries to run all your tools for an entire day without recharging, though they charge fast enough that if you have that many you can have 1-2 people working with you and never run out of juice. There are things that are better running off a/c (like sanders, grinders, etc), but if you don't have to deal with cords, it's so much nicer.

[Jammer]

Many of these "brands" just product line differentiation and are owned by the same company. Doesn't mean they are identical or even of identical quality or made in the same factories, just something to consider. Another fact to consider is that several prominent brands have exclusive marketing partnerships with a single major retailer, limiting availability.

TTI owns Milwaukee, Ryobi, and manufactures power tools under the Rigid brand pursuant to a licensing agreement. Ryobi and Rigid are currently sold solely through Home Depot.

DeWalt, Black & Decker, and Porter Cable are now all owned by Stanley. At least some of these tools are identical except for branding -- I've had them apart.

Bosch also makes tools under the Freud brand.

Makita is a standalone brand.

Metabo is also a stand-alone brand.

[Chotu]

No one has mentioned Hitachi.

One of the highest quality tools I have ever owned is the Hitachi variable speed buffer/grinder.

I love this thing. You can create a work of art with it. This is another example of a tool that I and others working on my boat would just lock into place all day long and use. Just lock the trigger on.

In fact, there are so many hours on a pair of these that I own that I have replaced the brushes two or three times.



I also have the equivalent matching Hitachi router to go with it. Green and looks exactly the same. Same high quality.

Yet another surprising tool in my collection is my tablesaw. I bought a disposable tablesaw at Lowe’s I believe, in order to cut the foam core for my boat.

Well, here we are like 10 years later and it has been used so much it’s unbelievable. It has sat outside this entire time. And it still works perfectly! it’s a “Skil” branded saw

[Jammer]

I did this analysis several years ago when it was time to ditch my 20 year old collection of corded and air tools and ended up on the Milwaukee system. The two main disadvantages then were that there wasn't an air compressor or a belt sander, which have both finally come on the market in the last year or so.

Milwaukee is available worldwide. There are chargers for their batteries that run on 12, 24, 120, and 220 volts. They offer a 5 year tool warranty and in my experience will replace tools quickly and with no hassle when they fail under warranty.

Their approach of using two battery pack standards in their lineup is a huge benefit. The M12 batteries (they're really around 10 volts) are compact and allow the tools built around them to be compact. Typically these are 30 watt hour batteries with a bulkier 60 watt hour pack also available. This is what you use in a drill, driver, impact wrench, die grinder, or other small tool. The M18 packs are used in larger tools: full sized buffers, circular saws, sanders, up through outdoor power equipment and stationary tools like the table saw.


Most of the chargers will charge either M12 or M18 batteries.


They also have an MX battery pack system that is chiefly a replacement for gasoline-powered construction tools that is probably not of interest for boat maintenance.

Anyway, I think the M12/M18 line is a great system at this point. I think it will be many years before Milwaukee discontinues these tools and even then packs are still likely to be available. I have a Milwaukee cordless screwdriver that I bought as a birthday present for my late father about 35 years ago. Milwaukee has recently discontinued the battery packs for it but they are still available from aftermarket sources.

The product quality has been evenly high across the line with a couple of notable failures. Their soldering iron had a badly designed tip assembly that would melt. They replaced quite a few of them under warranty and at some point changed the design. New ones are supposed to be good. For a while some of their impact drivers were self destructing after a design change (apparently to reduce cost) and those were ultimately recalled and replaced. Otherwise it's a solid lineup.


I have the M18 inverter aboard. I am told it will run a travel CPAP overnight with enough power left over to run a curling iron the next morning. Also runs the hand blender in the galley. I don't have an inverter as part of the boat's electrical system, and am not in a rush to get one because the portable Milwaukee one is good enough.

[capt jgw]

Originally Posted by KingRichard

A 12V charger would be a nice bonus, no sense in converting to AC just to convert it back.

Does anybody make those? I haven't seen one. On my trawler I run a 3000w inverter 24/7 so it's not an issue. On the old sailboats it would have been handy.

[capt jgw]

I think all the higher quality makes now have "battery systems" where all the tools use the same battery. Harbor Freight I don't think so. It is handy. But I consider anything I bring aboard the boat to be disposable. I'm not going to spend $300 or more for a tool I'm going to use occasionally and maybe get wet and destroy when a $65 dollar one will do the job. For professional use, certainly get the pro models. I'm not a pro. Actually the only cordless tool I own is a drill motor. I prefer corded for heavier duty jobs, I hate running out of battery in the middle of a task even if I have another one handy. I've got quite an assortment on the boat, even a small table saw. All corded except the one drill motor and I have two corded ones too.

[jcapo]

Originally Posted by capt jgw

Does anybody make those? I haven't seen one. On my trawler I run a 3000w inverter 24/7 so it's not an issue. On the old sailboats it would have been handy.

Makita and Milwaukee make a charger for 12V and probably others too. I have the Makita but not the Milwaukee.

[NSboatman]

I’m a Milwaukee fan too, but have had good tools from Bosch and Makita over the years.

Something that hasn’t come up in this discussion is Li-ion battery safety. I remember reading a thread a couple years back about a ~35’ sailboat being lost on a boisterous Gulf of Mexico crossing due to drill motor batteries lighting off under the Vee berth (presumably due to mechanical abrasion or impact).

It sounded quite harrowing and with a very bad end.

There’s a lot of stored energy in a few drill batteries - and I do remember the poster declining to identify the brand in question, saying only that it was a well known and respected brand.

Anyone have any experience or research to relate on this aspect of small-boat borne tools?

[Tin Tin]

Have had most brands from expensive to budget. None of them have failed. If you use a particular power tool every day for hours, say dry dry sanding the bottom paint off or cut and polishing then you may need a high quality machine with ball bearings and no plastic bushes/gears etc - for this I use a cord powered heavy duty commercial type machine. For everything that is unlikely to be used continuously I now have a pretty full set of Ryobi skins (driver, hammer drill, grinder, light, saw, jigsaw, sander, mini multi tool, fan) with two Li batteries and one charger - this has been very convenient and economical and none have failed so far (now 3yrs on) On our 3rd cruising boat now and the tool sets went with the boats when we sold them.