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[Shop-talk] Milwaukee vs Dewalt cordless Hex Impact Driver

Subject: [Shop-talk] Milwaukee vs Dewalt cordless Hex Impact Driver
From: scott.hall.personal at gmail.com (Scott Hall)
Date: Thu, 24 Nov 2011 16:03:32 -0500
References: <4ECE7DB0.9060300@earthlink.net>
I have 18v Milwaukee: drill, circular saw, 'Hatchet', flashlight, and 
impact wrench.

All of them work very well at their intended purpose.

I have eight batteries.  All of them are dead, and I cannot use any of 
the tools because I refused to buy more battery packs and haven't gotten 
around to finding someone to replace the cells, or find someplace to 
source the cells so that I can do it.

Two of the packs lasted two charges each.  I wonder if maybe my usage 
was an issue--I figure no way could they die that fast unless I treated 
them wrong.  I discharge them on the tool, then fully charge them on the 
charger, then store them inside.  It may be months before an individual 
pack might get used again.  I wonder if that's bad for it.

I like the tools, but I won't buy any more Milwaukee tools until someone 
convinces me I killed the packs (and how to stop killing them) or that 
Milwaukee has improved radically with their batteries.

On 11/24/2011 12:24 PM, Brian Kemp wrote:
> I'm getting a cordless impact driver for myself tomorrow.  The big 
> orange box has good deals on a Dewalt combo (DCK236C for $149).  But I 
> also noticed they have special pricing on Milwaukee with the driver 
> for $149 or a combo with a hammer drill for $199.
>
> Question for the list - How does Milwaukee compare to Dewalt?  Both 
> these tools are 18V.  The Milwaukee uses Lithium batteries, which I 
> understand to be better that NiCad, hence a price difference.  I've 
> used 12V Dewalt drills for about 15 years and am happy with my Dewalt 
> power tools, though I occasionally exceed the capabilities of my 12V 
> drill.  Milwaukee is a brand I've heard of, but don't know how they 
> compare to Dewalt.
>
> A plus for Dewalt is their battery design stays the same, so if I need 
> new batteries, next black Friday I can just pick up on of the $99 
> drills with two batteries.  I read some reviews on Milwaukee changing 
> their battery design to not be backward compatible, which is a concern.
>
> This is for advanced home use, so battery life in terms of lasting for 
> years of proper use is also important.

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