Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire cordless drills

Milwaukie drill and hammer drill set. AWESOME! Also got the reciprocating saw for cutting pipe. Amazing amazing tools, use mine daily.

True. But, a cared for Ni-Cad has to be cycled almost daily.

I went with the Ryobi line. I have a drill, drill driver, spotlight, work light, LED lantern, sawsall, jig saw, blue tooth radio, and circular saw. Home Depot had a deal on two high capacity Li-ion batteries for $99, so now I have about 5 batteries and they seem to be lasting very well.

I'd say every 2-3wks or so. Like I said, they loose about 1%/day so a 20% discharge with a recharge should give a decent service life without the cells sulfating.

Actually it's better to run the batteries down all the way--they are only good for a finite number of cycles.

BS, that is what destroys them. Been using nicads for 30yrs and learned the hard way. When a drill motor bogs, it's past time to recharge, AFTER the battery cools off.

I'll pile on - this ^^^^^

I recently went through this same thing. Settled on Milwaukee for both drill and circular saw. Thinking I need the cordless jigsaw as well.........

Started with a Fuel 1/4" impact and that flat created a new disease, almost no use for a compressor now.


Edit: I have 19.2v Craftsman that seems close to ten years old but there are a dead cell or two in the pack. I watched a bunch of videos on rebuilding the battery packs and have Tenergy sub-c's bookmarked to order, may be worth some research.

You're doing it wrong. But don't take my word for it.
https://www.batterystuff.com/kb/articles/battery-articles/what-the-heck-is-a-nicd-battery.html

Get a Makita Li-ion

All my tools are 18v De Walt and I don't want to replace them. Am I stuck with De Walt Ni Cads or is there an upgrade that runs in them?

i have used nothing but panosonic cordless drills for over 10 years now. in 10 years the batteries are finally getting weak.best tools i've ever had. the local tool man that does service on ever brand you can think of talked me into buying them. being a remodeling contractor i use them everyday. he said that back then they had way better batteries then anything else.i hate dewalt cordless drills for 2 reasons. the variable speed trigger in them takes off about twice as fast as my panasonic drills do andd you can easily run a screw bit thru your hand when tryin to start screws in anything hard.plus dewalt batteries suck they won't last half as long as panasonics do on one charge.

yup ! ...i use mine /m12/m18 tools every day ...u can press the button on the battery and check the power left …BEFore u climb the ladder ....u can get the tools on ebay one at a time ..cheap to !!

u do ....its great!! I use to be in retail for near on 20 years,been to all the trade shows...Milwaukee rep had the best take away line ever! ....sorry ,wee don't make home owner tools-industail only

The warranty process gets mixed reviews from what I've read. Plenty on google about it.

Lots of votes for lithium ion batteries. I find them useless in cold weather as they won't charge and their tendency of simply quitting without warning is a real bonus when you've just scaled a ladder and are holding a dozen screws in your mouth, a vent termination in your left hand and a drill in your right. Half a screw installed later and it's time to climb back down and get a different battery - if it hasn't been too cold for it to take a charge.

There are options-

link

I am at that point. My old DeWalt 18V niCad set up has given good service, but to buy two new batteries is more than I want to spend on old tech.
Looking at the 20 volt lithium outfit

Home Depot has a promo going till end of the month. Buy certain Milwaukee, dewalt or makita sets and get up to $150 in free accessories or bare tools.

if anyone has milwaukee 18volt drills and would like a port-a-band that uses the same battery i have a like new one with the hardcase that i'd sell for 125.00 plus shipping. thats half price.