18 Volt Lithium Ion Cordless Drill/Driver Question

JLTrim

Artist's rendition of the problem area. (I think I missed my true calling)

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Leo G

I really enjoy my Makita (white and black) for several reasons. It is light weight but has enough power for what I need it for. The batteries that come with the gun are 1.5 AH batteries and the charge life is shorter than I am use to. But it really doesn't matter that much because the batteries charge in 15 minutes and I have 2 drills and 4 batteries. The charger is a "take care" charger. It has a fan in it that cools the battery, the battery has a sensor in it that the charger monitors. If it is to hot to charge it will operate the fan until it is cool enough and then start the charging process. My wht and blk drill can take the 3 AH batteries, all I would have to do is buy them. It would make the drill heavier though. All in all, the change over from the DeWalt to the Makita has been a great thing. I am glad I did it and have no complaints.

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Custom Cabinets in Hartford County Connecticut

WarnerConstInc.

Makita makes a nice charger for their new batteries.

Those are nice and light with the compact battery.

Leo G

And that stupid little light is so handy its not even stupid. LOL

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Sawdust Follows Me Everywhere

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Custom Cabinets in Hartford County Connecticut

jfranklin

building screen enclosures i have driven as many as 2000 self drilling screws in a day with one ridgid 18v drill and use about 4 batteries in a day. from my experience with the ridgid they are good for the money you pay for them, but the batteries and chargers are not as good as the makita's.

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Screen Room, Pool Enclosure specialist

plastersurgeon

Thanks for the tip. I've already filed off that ridge on the bottom of the gun. It helped some but not enough, as the battery is still tight. Maybe if I continue filing material off the base of the material, it may solve the problem but am concerned about going too far because I don't want to void my warranty.

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Get 'er done!

JLTrim

I hear you, the lifetime warranty was the main reason I bought the Ridgid set. AFAIK the batteries are covered too, a few years from now when they won't hold a charge they will be replaced for free. It's been a good set other than the battery latch issue, and the sawzall doesn't like blades over 8-9" long, they keep coming loose.

Joining_heads

I agree about lithium batts. I had a hard time switching from my NiMH pannys... However, I just bought the 14.4 lithium set. The drill is great and the impact is excellent. So far they has been worth the dough.

Your statement about the battery charger is dead on.

Javelin350

i have the hitachi hxp 4 piece kit 18volt lithium ion been going strong for 4 years now. even droped one of the battries 2 stories up and it still works. only thing sawzall is a little slow compared to a dewalt one. If i buy another kit it would be rigid because of the warranty

Phillip Marsh

Problem with Bosch and DeWalt is that they have been slow to release lithium-ion powered models with their lack of memory problems and shorter recharge times than the NiCads. DeWalt finally came out with a 18v hammer drill (DCD970) that has a 3-speed gearbox and having 3 speed ranges makes it a more versatile drill and the power it delivers to the drill is much better thanks to being able to select the best range than the specs alone would indicate.

With Makita and DeWalt you get 15 minute recharge times and with the Milwaukee it is 30-45 minutes which means needing more spares on the job. For tough jobs like installing ipe decking or making large holes in subflooring the DeWalt is my first choice. The blue Makitas have been durable and relatively trouble free but the chucks are not quite as good as the Milwaukee and DeWalt overall.

jiffy

None of the Dewalts charge anywhere near 15 minutes more like 45min. The Rohm chuck failures are the one of the biggest complaints that my tool repair guy receives and that is a Dewalt selling feature.

Inner10

We always refered to our newer dewalt as the "bit dropper".

My electrician was drilling out pot light holes and had his Milwaukee chuck spin right off! Made a nice gouge in the hardwood floor.

BCConstruction

The Dewalt charger wont charge the cells as quick as the Makita. They have to wait to cool a bit longer than the Makita if they are hot also. The Cells would over heat far to quick. I smoked my Makita LXT the other day though. Had it in first gear and was drilling a 3" hole and the hole saw bit and the drill had far to much TQ for me to hold and then jammed it's self between a stud and was stuck on full power. Couldnt shut the dam thing down and flames started flying from the air intakes and had the magic smoke. Had to kick the drill free before it fried my cell. Drill still works though but makes funny noise. It def has been through the wars.

Inner10

Thats why DeWalt and Hilti use overload protection. I did the same thing with an auger bit and my old ni-cad dewalt. Only some magic smoke came out cause it still worked!

BCConstruction

Def would have helped but it was my own fault. Using gear 1 for doing that kind of stuff is asking for troule lol First time it's happend to me in over 15 years. I normally use my mains powered drill to do stuff like that and that has a built in clucth. Wont do that again in a hurry. Lucky my hand or figures were not between the drill and stud.

Phillip Marsh

We just bought a couple DeWalt DCD970 lithium-ion powered 18v drills and have used them on two big decking jobs. Recharge time has been under 15 minutes for all the battery packs. If you are comparing recharge times for DeWalt drills with NiCad battery packs that is another matter and only a concern if you want to continue to use NiCads for some reason.

The Milwaukee M18 lithium-ion are another matter altogether and are supposed to charge for 45 minutes the first time before used and do tend to take 35-45 minutes to recharge, even after drilling a single hole in MDF if we make the mistake of using one of the old Lenox hole saws.

Winchester

I think you mean a few months...

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Ryan

jiffy

Sorry, I should have been clear in my response. The Dewalt website states very clearly that the DCD970 has a 1hr charger. A dead battery should take 1hr...this is according to Dewalt themselves. Maybe a half dead battery takes less.

http://www.dewalt.com/us/products/to...roductID=20735

TempestV

I like the Makita LXT tools, but then you have to use those batteries.... Incredibility fragile from what I've seen. Even a small drop and they will run great until they run out of juice, and then they won't charge. Supposedly the charge circuit is delicate, and that makes sense from what I've seen.

I've worked with a few people that have the Bosch 18v NiMH, and they rock. Plus, that's the only 18v circular saw that I have ever used that was actually worth anything. I've never used the 18v li-ion batteries, but I've got the 10.8v batteries for my impactor and it rocks.

I've got Dewalt tools, and I'm happy with them, although some of them are worn out at this point. My impact driver is held together with zipties after surviving a 30' drop with some injuries, but still works fine. My drill has been smoked a few times, and really needs to be replaced, although to be fair, it is 7 years old. I just recently picked up the grinder, and it runs the batteries down fast if you are using it constantly, but it's got surprisingly good power.

I have no plans to move up to Nano batteries until they come out with the new radio that charges Nano batteries.