I am not a fan of renting tools so when it came to building my shop or remodeling the home I purchased the various corded, cordless, and air tools to complete the various projects.

The M12 batteries arrived yesterday, it took a while for me to grasp the squeeze, pinch, and pull technique in removing the battery. Repeating myself, very impressed with the quality.

I thank U all for the help and input!

 

I am old school and have a Dewalt 18v 4 set + the 4.5" grinder AWESOME IMO. Side note: Do NOT waste you hard earned money on the Dewalt 18v to 20v battery adapter. Junk, almost impossible to get the adapter off the drill without getting mad. Batteries do not last. https://www.northerntool.com/shop/to...1497_200661497 Returned and bought the 2 pack of newer 18V and double charger, back in business.

I also have an older Milwaukee 18v awesome drill, the batteries finally gave up the ghost. I have not checked into rebuild or replacement options for them. But in its day a drilling machine.

 

I'm changing over to Porter Cable from all Craftsman 19.2V.

Makes sense for me as my kids bought me a 20v PC nailer so I have the battery and charger.

I like the way that PC packages their power tools. You can buy them individually, as a set or as a combo depending on needs and budget. I particularly like the 20v drill packed with the 20v drill driver, great combo.

PC likely isn't considered commercial grade and it's not commercial grade priced.

 

I have a few PC tools---I've always known them more as woodworking tools than anything else---great routers and brad nailers.

Once I've committed to any brand cordless tool and have the necessary batteries and chargers (both home and vehicle) I'll buy the bare tools as needed. They tend to be quite inexpensive without the chargers and batteries---I've bought brand new Milwaukee M12 screw guns for less than $50 shipped---thank you eBay.

Doing it this way saves money and we don't end up with too many unused tools that were part of a package.

Good conversation here----interesting!

 

My son in law is a HVAC tech and all he uses is PC. We have talked about how they are and he is really satisfied with them. To the point he gave me his only Dewalt 18v drill he had.

 

As JWA mentioned, I also have 2-3 PC and primarily use them for carpentry and recently purchased their portable air compressor and they work great. I have been using the M12, takes about 20 min's to charge, for the past couple of days removing counter tread trim screws, what a major pain in the backside, so far very pleased. I am done purchasing corded tools, may find them a home and replace them with cordless?

Agree, good discussion!!

 

I have all Milwaukee drill, grinders, leaf blower, weed trimmer,3/8 ratchet impact and 3/8 impact. I am happy with all. We have a store in Springfield that sells all brands and does work on them. Mine are 18 and 12 fuel. Good luck on which ever one you purchase.

 

As I mentioned hard decision but settled on the Milwaukee M12 3/8 cordless to include 2 batteries and the M12/M18 charger and very pleased! A majority of my yard tools are of the gasoline engine variety and as a resident of Ca. where the gasoline is soo toxic with additives find I am replacing the carb and related fuel components approx. every 2-3 years. Looking forward to checking out the Milwaukee hedge trimmer my 50 ft cord power is now in 2 plus sections. I am also looking at the leaf blower, starting my Stihl blower can be a major pain in the backside.

Perhaps member's with the Milwaukee yard tools can address an issue a Milwaukee customer brought up when it comes to charging the batteries who mentioned the run time of the M18 battery yard tools is longer if one using the M18 5.0 charger?

I do appreciate the info! thanks

 

Good tools indeed, the Li-Ion batteries pretty amazing too.

I've never heard of a 5.0 Milwaukee M18 battery charger---I would think any charger that accepts the M18 batteries would charge much the same way. Naturally the 5.0 and higher rated batteries will run longer than their lower capacity kin---those 9.0 amp/hr batteries might last a whole month of use?

If there's any follow up about the run time and/or different chargers I'd also be interested knowing that info.

 

Milwaukee for me as well...…………...

 

Smart man!

 

Slow in responding, I was somewhat embarrassed I now realize the M12 and M18 batteries vary in power capacity and I should take that into consideration in purchasing Milwaukee cordless tools, especially yard tools.

 

No worries----we all benefit from someone else's learning new things.

If not already said the run time capacity doesn't affect their "power" or the tool's performance---the higher rated batteries simply run longer. I've been driving the Head Lok type 2 7/8" timber screws and 3" deck screws with an M12 screwdriver and impact gun. I wasn't pre-drilling holes so the tools were doing a lot of work, used just one each of the smallest M12 1.5 amp hour batteries without recharging them.

I've also found some of the M18 tools have notches or keys built into the battery mounting base, the purpose to not allow batteries below a certain amp'hour rating to be run on that tool. If a 5.0 or higher amp/hour battery is recommended only those and higher can be fitted to the tool. You can't run a 5.0 a/h tool on a 2.0 a/h battery.

Good stuff!

 

I got a brushless M18 1/2 hammer drill with 1/4 impact set here a while back. It came with a 2ah and a 4ah.

After using a neighbors Ryobi cordless circular saw, I did a little searching and found a reconditioned Milwaukee for $79. I sure hope my batteries fit....

I was surprised how well that Ryobi worked, so I just couldn't help myself at $79, shipping paid......

My Makita 12v is working like a champ, after my multiple battery fiasco. It's good to have 6 batteries. Even punched a hole in my thumbnail when the phillips bit slipped out of a screw.

 

Double check the battery and tool compatibility---I have the 6" M18 Cordless circular saw and it will NOT accept the 2 ah battery I have laying around doing nothing. I'm sure Milwaukee does that to prevent early death of the smaller batteries from being worked too hard with a higher demand tool.

Looking at the tool base battery shoe you'll see notches or other small tabs that must align with the battery mount. I've misplaced my 2 ah battery so can't post a photo of how its different from the 5 ah version.