My Wishlist for Battery Powered Tools

[R Clark]

My son-in-law, his cousin, and his uncle operate a deck and remodeling business.  They run DeWalt only, and 90% of the tools are 20V.  When they're cranking on a job, they don't want cords in the way and don't want to slow down waiting for sometimes-scarce outlets.  The vast majority of construction guys I see are using DeWalt hand-held power tools, and most are running batteries.  There's more "brand diversity" when it comes to the jobsite tools like miter saws and table saws. 

I use Milwaukee 12V drills and drivers around the shop and acreage.  I also have an old 18V Hitachi drill that comes out when I really want added power for a task.  My corded drills only come out when I'm standing at one spot doing one operation many times over.

I like the 12V tools because they are powerful enough for most of the tasks I do, and they are lighter weight, so when I'm out there for hours, I'm not beating up my 63 year old arms and shoulders.

I've been considering adding 18V tools for certain tasks.  Not making my living on these tools as the pros do, I haven't been able to justify going wild at the DeWalt tool counter.  Oddly enough, I've been looking at the Ryobi One+ 18V line.  I bought an 18V convertible garden shears/hedge clipper for LOML at her request.  Then I added the 18V Inflator.  LOML travels with that inflator in her car.  I also found compatible batteries on eBay for much less than the Ryobi OEM batteries.  Those off-brand batteries seem to be holding up fine so far.

[TGW]

On my wishlist for battery powered tools is an electric cord that fits a standard outlet. I am sick and tired of battery tools not doing their job in cold weather. Already at -10 celsius the batteries run empty in an instant and at -20 celsious they are utterly useless.

My 18 volt battery drill and my flashlight and my much hated mobile phone run on batteries. The rest is corded. It isn't worth the cost to keep a separate set of summer machines. I tend to run my machines hard and even in summer I find battery machines lack power.

[meackerman]

  So for me, tools like routers, sanders, recip saws, circular saws, etc. remain corded.  I can see situations where if you are in the trades that having the cordless flexibility would save time (and money),

My FIL was a custom home builder up until he retired about 6 years ago.  He did 90% of his work with the Dewalt 18v tools....which was before the lithium batteries.  He only broke out his corded skilsaw when he was cutting a bunch of lumber all at once.


at my place I've built a 1200 sq ft shop, a 240 sq ft accessory building, torn my barn roof off down to the walls and rebuilt it and a ton of other work all with my 18v ridgid tools.  I can remember one time during my shop build where the corded skilsaw came out ....when we had to cut a pressure treated 4x4 down to a 4x3 for the mudsill.


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