Good pricing on quality cordless tools in the GTA?

FiReSTaRT

FiReSTaRT

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This tool acquisition spree is pretty nasty, but my last big purchase for a while will be a combo hammer drill/impact driver kit and wanted to check if anyone knew of a retailer with good pricing on those..

Milwaukee 2697-22
Makita LXT218

Not looking to get a DeWalt (a.k.a. Black&Decker) or Ridgid. Thanks in advance for any suggestions you guys might have.
 
FiReSTaRT said:
This tool acquisition spree is pretty nasty, but my last big purchase for a while will be a combo hammer drill/impact driver kit and wanted to check if anyone knew of a retailer with good pricing on those..

Milwaukee 2697-22
Makita LXT218

Not looking to get a DeWalt (a.k.a. Black&Decker) or Ridgid. Thanks in advance for any suggestions you guys might have.
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Skip the Milwaukee. They are owned by budget brand Ryobi, which also makes the garbage for Sears Craftsman and Home Depot Rigid brand. Quality has gone downhill.

And you were worried about DeWalt? IMHO, DeWalt is best bang for the buck.
 
actually home depot is selling the Makita combo on sale...i didnt look too closely as i already have a nice cordless drill.
 
SunnY S said:
Skip the Milwaukee. They are owned by budget brand Ryobi, which also makes the garbage for Sears Craftsman and Home Depot Rigid brand. Quality has gone downhill.

And you were worried about DeWalt? IMHO, DeWalt is best bang for the buck.
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Blah. The Dewalt stuff is just fancy over marketed Black and Decker goods. I spent years selling and repairing tools. Used to sell Milwaukee, Makita, Dewalt, and Hitachi as the big brands. If I had to pick the best tool with the best batteries, it would without a doubt in my mind be Hitachi. Also turned out that Hitachi's prices were better as well. I enjoyed selling the Hitachi product, I never got a commission, and it was nice to see customers get a good product that they would rarely come back with any problems.
 
SunnY S said:
Skip the Milwaukee. They are owned by budget brand Ryobi, which also makes the garbage for Sears Craftsman and Home Depot Rigid brand. Quality has gone downhill.

And you were worried about DeWalt? IMHO, DeWalt is best bang for the buck.
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Personally ive had some bad luck with dewalt stuff so tend to stay away from it. If your using the tools everyday or so Id go with Makita or if you want top line Metabo. if you just want the tool as a convenience around the house id say maybe go with the ridgid just because of their tool replacement warranty.
 
casacrow said:
Blah. The Dewalt stuff is just fancy over marketed Black and Decker goods. I spent years selling and repairing tools. Used to sell Milwaukee, Makita, Dewalt, and Hitachi as the big brands. If I had to pick the best tool with the best batteries, it would without a doubt in my mind be Hitachi. Also turned out that Hitachi's prices were better as well. I enjoyed selling the Hitachi product, I never got a commission, and it was nice to see customers get a good product that they would rarely come back with any problems.
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Hitachi is good. Im partial to Panasonic myself. However for chuckable, beat em up everyday cordless, I turn to my dewalt stuff. They've worked well for me for years.

The Panny impact drivers are best on earth. I could write a book on the crap this thing has gone through and still keeps going and going. Batteries last super long.

Last time I checked, Panasonic is the only cordless maker that makes and designs their own batteries and engineer this to work best with their cordless tools. Everybody else outsources.
 
casacrow said:
Blah. The Dewalt stuff is just fancy over marketed Black and Decker goods. I spent years selling and repairing tools. Used to sell Milwaukee, Makita, Dewalt, and Hitachi as the big brands. If I had to pick the best tool with the best batteries, it would without a doubt in my mind be Hitachi. Also turned out that Hitachi's prices were better as well. I enjoyed selling the Hitachi product, I never got a commission, and it was nice to see customers get a good product that they would rarely come back with any problems.
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We have several Dewalt power tools for several years now (home use only) and love how reliable they are (hammer drill, angle grinder and miter saw). I tend to stick to Dewalt and Makita; sometimes Bosch when the price is right.
Firestart, keep checking the sales at the major stores. Btw, Amazon.com of them all has the power tools sale now.
 
This would be for on the job use, so I'm not looking at budget stuff. I'll look into Hitachi and Pana. My choices aren't written in stone. I know about IHL and will check out JCC. Thanks for the heads up guys, keep'em coming.
 
Panasonic is top notch stuff. Only problem was that they didn't have any service centers. Meant that the tools had to be sent in for work and parts. Maybe that has changed.

Batteries are a HUGE factor in cordless tools. Biggest problem I had with any batteries were the Makitas. They didn't have a low voltage cut off and would allow the user to completey drain the battery. This lead to quite a few batteries being ruined very quickly. And by quite a few, I mean I saw hundreds!
 
I've got a Milwaukee screwgun that was handed down from my father. It's probably older than many on this board.
When the lighter Makita stuff came out many people switched. Both worked well, although I'd rather climb down a scaffold to pick up the Milwaukee as it was more likely to be in one piece. The Makita's tended to shatter.


If you can find a small tool repair shop, they might have some refurbished ones at good prices, as well as some current advice as to which are the better tools.
 
If on a really tight budget, you can buy used ones with shot batteries, open up the batteries and replace all the cells. If you have a few battery packs you can use the good ones from one cell to replace the bad in another (replace all if you are using new different cells).

This is really easy to do and very cheap.
 
I'm on job sites all the time. Dewalt seems to be the main choice. I use Dewalt cordless and love them. If you want to spend a few bucks check out the hilti stuff.
 
casacrow said:
If I had to pick the best tool with the best batteries, it would without a doubt in my mind be Hitachi. Also turned out that Hitachi's prices were better as well. I enjoyed selling the Hitachi product, I never got a commission, and it was nice to see customers get a good product that they would rarely come back with any problems.
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I've been using a Hitachi nailer lately..only one not made in China that I could find..I'll take Taiwan over China any day. It's been a good setup for me, no complaints. Like you say, good price too. Tools depress me these days..so much crap out there.
 
I buy a bit from Tegs in Hamilton and TJV in mississauga, they carry a lot of brands.

The reality is lots of brands are good, some make the reference point in tools. Bosch makes the smoothest jigsaw with the best balance, Hilti and Bosch make great hammer drills, Makita lithium-ion drills are a treat.

You cant compare a tool you got from Dad to anything made today, B&D made the sawcat, the best circular saw in the industry for 30yrs, not now. my Porter-Cable speedmatic routers were industry benchmarks, not now. Milwakee sawzall was all anybody wanted, not its a $99 promo tool.

Dont limit yourself to a brand, there are lots of good products, and some real crap. When powerhouse brands like Milwaukee went to market looking to sell sizzle not steak they dumbed it down. Electricians and plumbers , 100,000, homeowners and cottagers? 5,000,000,, follow the market........
 
crankcall said:
I buy a bit from Tegs in Hamilton and TJV in mississauga, they carry a lot of brands.

The reality is lots of brands are good, some make the reference point in tools. Bosch makes the smoothest jigsaw with the best balance, Hilti and Bosch make great hammer drills, Makita lithium-ion drills are a treat.

You cant compare a tool you got from Dad to anything made today, B&D made the sawcat, the best circular saw in the industry for 30yrs, not now. my Porter-Cable speedmatic routers were industry benchmarks, not now. Milwakee sawzall was all anybody wanted, not its a $99 promo tool.

Dont limit yourself to a brand, there are lots of good products, and some real crap. When powerhouse brands like Milwaukee went to market looking to sell sizzle not steak they dumbed it down. Electricians and plumbers , 100,000, homeowners and cottagers? 5,000,000,, follow the market........
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Great points. The issue with cordless tools though is that once you buy a certain brand your kinda stuck with them unless you want to carry 3-4 chargers and 10+ different batteries to every job site. For cordless I recommend sticking to one brand.
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