You gets what you pays for. A low end Harb*r Freight drill may not last until the end of the year. If you want to find a battery or parts several years down the road, I recommend DeWalt, Milwaukee, Makita, or similarly priced tools. The tools commonly carried by Waldomart are cheaper but when the batteries die it's best to chunk them and buy a new one. Higher voltages generally mean more torque, but not in all cases. At your local book store there are magazines that rate various tools for price and performance. Look there before buying.

Regards

Hey there Tom, good to hear from you as always!

I definitely agree with bravey here. I am kind of partial to Makita myself. I bought one of their 9.6v drill-drivers a looooonnnng time ago (back before they had any competition) and I got hooked on their products. Their batteries don't go obsolete; I can still get batteries for all, and the newer chargers still charge the old batteries. Not that I buy batteries often; they seem to last forever.

I use a 9.6v tile saw on occasion, also an 18v circular saw. The circular saw is really handy--even though it won't match a 120v for stamina. On my projects I'll have different blades for different things--e.g. I'll use the 18v for crosscuts, and have something else in the 120v (such as a masonry cutting blade).

Actually my wife bought me the 18v kit (drill-driver and circular saw) several years ago (DO I HAVE HER TRAINED OR WHAT :) But really I prefer the 14.4v drill over the 18v for most uses--especially for overhead work the 18v gets too heavy for me. And the trusty old 9.6v still gets plenty of use.

As much use as I get out of these, pro-quality tools are worth the price difference--which, surprisingly, isn't even all that much. Like bravey says, you won't be tossing them after a year. At a DIY-level of usage, you could get 10 years out of these. And you'll be cursing them a lot less in the meantime!

Regards,

-k2 in CO

Moderator, Miscellaneous Forum

http://www.bobvila.com/BBS/Miscellaneous

Buy a good brand that can be serviced near you. The difference between the high end tools is marginal as long as you can get them repaired.

Since Dewalt is close by, I buy Dewalt.

after some looking around, i did buy some. i bought a RYOBI set of cordless tools. the set is called 'the works', it came with the following....5 1/2" circular saw, 'saws-all', drill [with levels built in, and a 24 position clutch], jig saw, chain saw, 'drop light', vacuum [sp?], stud finder, a small case of blades/driver bits/drill bits, 2 batteries a charger and a duffle bag with wheels and a 'hard bottom' to keep it all in, and it's 18v. it came with a 2 year warranty, and i bought an additional 3 year warranty for $30. the 'kit' was $219 @ HD. so far i have used the heck out of the circular saw and jig saw [wife won't let me rest untill 'things' are done, haha], but so far so good. i figure 5 years worth of warranty should get me my moneies worth. i think i made a good choice, and so far i realy like the way they work and feel. now i just gotta find a place to keep them....

t