Best Cordless 18V Drills?

PrecisionFloors

Imo, Festool has the best cordless drill on the market. Only brush-less motor on the market afaik. The right angle and eccentric chucks are phenomenal for cabinetry type work. They just are not cheap...but then again none of their gear is, and everyone that uses it swears by it, myself included. I've never felt like I overpaid.

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BCConstruction

Makita has made BL versions of drills for quite some time but only problem is most of them are only avalible in japan. Just like most of their tools. Wont be long before all drills with be BL though. I been using BL motors in RC cars for years and they increase performance buy about 10-20%.

jiffy

Makita is the first to have 18v Lithium Brushless tools with the BTD144 that just released.

It is on the website:

http://makitausa.com/en-us/Modules/T...aspx?ID=316370

Has 3 speed settings and battery needs charging indicator.

BCConstruction

About time they started to get them in the US. Im still waiting for the Makita cordless framer that come out years ago. Dont understand why they are so big in japan but so small over here. They are normally the first with any new tech but take ages to get them into the US.

MikeNeufeld

The Panasonic cordless impact driver has a brushless motor as wellm sure is a nice tool, great all around in power, size, runtime and over all feel

joshua1

Ok, here goes, but I now only buy ryobi cordless tools. Reason being, we cant break them, they are dirt cheap, and with the new Li-ion batteries, they do everything I want. I will qualify that a bit by saying that we use their impactors, not their drills to drive fasteners. Them Ryobi impactors will stun you with the sheer volume of abuse they can endure.
And before somebody jumps down my throat, I have had many Makitas-good drills, Milwaukees-not bad but batteries are poor, Hiltis(too dear to give out to workers/subs)and also not as tough as you would think(though their corded tools are all we own, including saws,breakers and masonry drills and are superb), I dont like dewalt's(no real reason, just think they are dear and heavy), Panasonics are just too damn dear for slim benefits, and AEGs are again, pricey for what benefit? Ryobis are cheap as chips, we have yet to break one, and the li-ion batteries are just excellent.
3 ryobi impactors drove 19000 tec-screws for us on a recent job, no breakages, no issues, and they were red hot at the end of each shift, just plugged on.Brilliant, when you consider the price, and I throw bad tools in a skip, you gotta have the gear.

BCConstruction

There tools aint too bad. Not the best but what i do like is they have high capacity batterys. I think they are as high as 4000mah and it's good to see companys using the new tech on these tools. Be better to have 5000+mah batterys in every tool i think.

WarnerConstInc.

It's been taken one step farther in Festools new lithium drills.

They have a 12+3 and a 15+3. the 15+3 is equivilant to everyone's 18v.
They also have an electronic clutch, and a computer chip in the battery packs that monitors each individual battery cell. The battery talks to the computer chip in the drill.

They will not let the battery's reach reach high temperatures.
They also provide a 3 year waranty on the battery's.

The 15+3 weighs only 3lbs. 4.9oz.

Brushed drills are only 50% efficient, brushless are at least 80%.

Thats a lot of technology packed into a cordless drill.

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joshua1

If I was buying a drill just for me, I think i'd carry a festool - we have worked at their Irish distributors depot and they are a class act from top to bottom, with superb product, but would i want a worker throwing one around on site? Nah, I'll stick to cheap and robust for that. If a guy drops a ryobi down 4m and it dies, no biggie, for a festool, I'd have to pay for a full funeral - for the guy who dropped it.

WarnerConstInc.

I've dropped my C12 off a few ladders, had it go sliding down a few roof's and get stopped by the gutter.

They are not only just expensive, high quality tools, they are made to stand up to day in and day out use and abuse.

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joshua1

Your probably right Warner, you get what you pay for, but a temp guy on a job for just a few days has special powers when it comes to breaking tools, and can do so just with the power of their tiny mind. J.

BCConstruction

If i had a shop i think Festool would be the way to go. But for site work they aint got what others offer. I read a lot of reviews for some of their tools before i bought mine and they have some flaws. Their chargers are slow, Their Batts are low mah, they aint that powerful and they dont hold up as well as others. Festool could def do with higher voltage setup for the guys who need the extra TQ and a faster charger. The Batterys are not to bad but i would have expected better from Festool. But the interchangle chuck is a added bonus but you sure pay the price for it.

As an example

Festool - Max Torque 354 in-lbs
Full Charge 70 minutes
Capacity 2.4ah

Makita - Max Torque 560 in-lbs
Full Charge 30 minutes
Capacity 3.0ah


Dewalt - Max Torque 500 in-lbs
Full charge 60 Minutes
Capacity 2.4ah

WarnerConstInc.

Except for the fact that Festool's battery charger is way better than anyone else's.
With thier drills you dont need to worry about length of charge time, you will not drain a battery before one is charged.
The time of the charge lets the battery slow charge, which is easier on the battery than a quick charge.

There are a lot of 10 year old Festool drills still being used that have the orginal battery's.

Their new lithium has a 3 year warranty on the battery's, who else does that.

As far as power? I have never had another drill that would twist itself out of my hand.
Brushless is more effcient, like 30-40% more than brushed drills. That means better power and increased run time.

I've used all the rest, now I can't seem to find them anymore.

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BCConstruction

I'm sure they are great tools for a shop like i said but and charger slowness ain't really an issue if you have 4 or more battery's but I'm surprised they ain't using state of the art chargers like Makita with built in cell cooling and cell statistics. Each battery can record runtime, length of charge, charge rates, Temps, Discharge rates, Charge curves and so on. This way the charger can choose the best charge method for the cells so that they don't get damaged. Thats the reason they can charge a 3ah battery in under 20mins "most charges" 30 mins after cooling. Also the Makita BL model has over twice the TQ of the Festool which for me is needed as i drill 5" holes and drill 2" augers. I only qouted the Standard 4 pole Drill TQ.

I'm surprised they offer a 3 year warranty on cells though. I don't even get that on my RC cells and they are the best on the market. Makita do 3 years on the LXT range but that don't include battery's. Good on Festool for doing that though. Cells are lucky to last a year with heavy use.

BCConstruction

Thought it sounded too good to be true! Hidden right at the end of the Exclusions.

Excluded from the coverage under this warranty are: normal wear and tear, damages caused by misuse, abuse, or neglect; damage caused by anything other than defects in material and workmanship. This warranty does not apply to accessory items such as circular saw blades, drill bits, router bits, jigsaw blades, sanding belts, and grinding wheels. Also excluded are "wearing parts," such as carbon brushes, lamellas of air tools, rubber collars and seals, sanding discs and pads, batteries, and Festool gear

WarnerConstInc.

I know it says that but, that does not include thier new lithium battery's.

Their lithium's have a computer chip in the battery itself that monitors each cell and wont let them reach a critical temperature. This chip talks to another chip in the actuall drill.

The lithium battery's do have a full 3 year warannty as well, that came straight from the horse's mouth, both the technical director and the ceo confirmed that. As far as they know, they are the only company that does that.

their tools are made to hold up in the field and still be precise.

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BCConstruction

There's really no reason why they shouldnt offer 3 year warrenty on cells these days. The new LI-ION cells should easy see 2000 charges. Thats good for 2.5 charges a day for 3 years. If you have 2 batterys then thats 5 charges a day work of battery power. Even i dont use that many charges a day. Perhaps they offer it because they only run them in drills. My drill dont even heat up my batterys but when i used my recip or Angle grinder the cell will get hot and it cant be good for it.

jiffy

Makita has had computer chips in the charger since lithium came out about 5 years ago. The battery and charger communicate so that charging is more efficient and the battery only gets the exact charge it needs to be full. You can leave a Makita Lithium battery on the charger forever and it wont harm the battery. The charger trickle charges for a few months and after that it cuts itself off completely.

3 year warranty on the battery is probably pro-rated just like Milwaukee. There is always a catch. A battery is the weak link in any cordless tool and always will be...it's like gas in a car.

WarnerConstInc.

not pro rated, they know they wont have issues, those battery's have been in development and testing for the last 3 years.

They wont put out a turd tool, they dont want to dirty up their name.

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BCConstruction

They come out in japan just before 2005 and entered the US market at summer 2006 as thats when i purchased my first kit. They come out in the UK the year after that. So far i have 3 of my 4 original cells and they have been abused and still work like they did from new. They should have a few more years in them as long as i stop dropping them on hard surfaces. The charger is good though as it can rapid charge them batts. Still crazy that 99% of other companys are still using lower ah batts than makita bought out over 5 years ago. But they have proved the LI-ION in tools can work.

The nice thing is Sony have just bought a new cell that we should see in tools the next few years and we could be looking at 5+ah batterys.