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Post by Tom Gensmer on Feb 21, 2015 14:44:52 GMT -5
I've gone back and forth on this issue many times since I started remodeling in 2001. On the one hand, there is certainly an allure to consolidating all of your cordless products into a single manufacturer so you only have to have a charger or two, and a ton of batteries that support your tools. On the other hand, I worry about getting locked into a battery platform and missing out on some great products.
What got me thinking about this are the Mafell-branded Metabo drills that are soon to be released. Right now, I have a Festool C15 drill which sees a fair amount of use, a Makita digital impact driver that sees a lot of use when I'm framing and driving longer screws, a Makita cordless 1/2" impact wrench (the BIG one) that sees use when I'm driving concrete anchors and lags, and a pile of other Makita cordless tools that seemed like a great idea at the time, but now are just taking up room in my warehouse (right angle drill, right angle impact driver, regular drill, drywall screwdriver, jig saw, etc...).
I REALLY like the look of the Metabo/Mafell drill for general use drilling, but that got me thinking about consolidating into that battery platform with a Metabo impact driver, couple flashlights, etc.., but then paused to reevaluate. Does this method really make sense?
As I think more about it, it occurs to me that I might have the most flexibility to spread out amongst a few platforms and take the best products from each? Granted, you spend a little more up front to get a charger for each tool and a few batteries, but then you have enough chargers for your batteries, and again you aren't locked in to a particular format.
For instance, information about the Metabo impact driver is difficult to find, and the last version was not reviewed well. My Makita works fine, but I used to have the Hilti brushless impact and loved it (stolen ~1 year ago). Would I be better off spread across Metabo/Mafell, Festool and Hilti? I could go on and on about this, but I wonder what you gentlemen think?
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Post by thedude306 on Feb 21, 2015 15:12:46 GMT -5
I said to heck with multiple platforms this year. I had makita 18V, milwaukee (18V + 12V), mastercraft and bosch (18V + 12V).
I consolidated to all bosch 18V and 12V.
Some days I love it. Some days I miss certain tools that are not available from Bosch. I miss my makita impact. I am not sold on the older 12V bosch drivers that I have. (triggers are glitchy) but the new brushless are supposed to be really nice. and I really miss not having LED lights that stay on.
But I can tell you I LOVE only having two battery platforms. The 12V never leaves the shop/house so that's easy and I am really impressed with the 18V items I do have. And I always have batteries ready to go and have chargers in the shop, truck and at the farm. Makes it nice.
But I do think that the convenience is a compromise in the best tools available.
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Post by lincoln on Feb 21, 2015 15:38:05 GMT -5
While I can see the advantage of staying on the one platform, I also think it's a bit overrated. I'm with Festool for a coulple of drills, and Hilti for impacter, saw, rotary hammer and grinder. I need a decent drill for holesaws, and really I should get a Hilti - but I don't really like their drills, so I'm considering a Metabo. Don't want to spread myself too thin, but getting the right tool for the job, and for me, is more important.
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Post by wrightwoodwork on Feb 21, 2015 17:17:53 GMT -5
Personally I've never being too fussed about the single battery platform. I can see the advantage of it the problem is a single manufacturer doesn't provide the ideal platform across all there cordless tools. At the moment I have the Hilti 14v still driver and the 36v te6a. They are ready for changing especially the the te6. I do have the kss36 which in some ways would make sense to get the bosch Hanmer drill. The problem is I have tried and I personally didn't like it. It worked ok, it just didn't feel as refined or as efficient as the hilti I've being used to. The drill driver I will properly move away from the hilti. I feel that hilti in some ways are losing their way in some tools. They have got a new 12v compact range of cordless drills. The problem is they don't offer the interchangeable chucks. Which is something I really fancy having on my next drill as there is often times when I could do with a more compact drill or drill with a right angle chuck to help get into that awkward spot and hilti doesn't offer that option. That leads me to look at the likes of fien,metabe/ mafell or bosch.
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Post by GhostFist on Feb 22, 2015 8:23:14 GMT -5
Ya I'm now into compromising tool quality just to use all the same batteries. That being said, it's often cheaper if a "naked" version of a tool is available that's compatible with tools you own.
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Post by Knight Woodworks on Feb 22, 2015 15:51:52 GMT -5
Yes, I've decided to consolidate, the connivence is worth it to me. The only exception I can think of is if I REALLY needed a tool that my brand of choice didn't offer. Hasn't happened, but it might.
John
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Post by 7 on Feb 22, 2015 20:58:33 GMT -5
I have both the makita 18v lithium 3.0 AH and Milwaukee fuel 18v 4.0 AH. I leave the makita stuff (a few impact drivers, couple drills, sawzall, circ saw, light) in the large enclosed work trailer. The Milwaukee fuel (one drill, one impact, hackzall, 4 batteries) stay in with a set of tools that I only use for decks and just load all those tools in the back of a small 2wd truck that get good gas mileage. The Milwaukee's are quite a bit faster & more powerful than the makitas but don't quite feel as balanced.
Even though the makita stuff was starting to feel dated compared to the newer offerings from other brands I would have likely stayed with them exclusively if it weren't for their abnoxious battery problem where randomly the two charger lights would blink intermittently indicating that the battery was broken and it would no longer charge. I hate being thin on batteries and they are expensive to buy separately. I even though of going with Dewalt again because two packs of their LI 20V are $99 at Home Depot always- makitas are $99 each and Milwaukees are $129 each.
In short I guess I would have to answer the original question- I prefer to stick to one platform for simplicity but don't seem to do it in reality. In the end I chose to do the separate tool set for decks because I do a lot of them for a couple different production builders and didn't want to take tools from the different job sites and need to remember to load everything up and unload again.
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Post by Tom Gensmer on Feb 22, 2015 21:56:03 GMT -5
Great responses guys, thanks for sharing!!
I agree that in theory I really like the idea of consolidating, but in practice I feel like I frequently end up making compromises when I do so. Makita has a particularly wide offering in their 18v platform, with Milwaukee not far behind, and in theory I like the idea of Milwaukee's 12v platform regarding inspection cameras and so on. In practice though, I think I just need to evaluate every tool on its own merits. Besides, I'm actually trying to divest myself of cordless tools in general. If I need a really powerful drill, I'd prefer to get a corded drill that will long outlast any particular battery platform.
Also, my perception is that the top-in-class drills are often from different manufacturers than top-in-class impact drivers. For instance, the top drills (as measured by build quality, refinement, etc....) are often from Festool, Metabo, Hilti, etc...., whereas the top drills are often made by Makita, Panasonic, and more recently Hilti.
To that end, I think that I will get the Hilti SID-18 impact driver, and maybe their LED flashlight. For medium or light duty drilling, I'll probably hold on to my C15 for the time being, if it turns out I need a second cordless drill I'll look into getting either a CXS, the Metabo/Mafell, or one of the Hilti drills, of which there are three size classes available.
I like the idea of having a cordless drill with alternative chuck options, but I'm hesitant to build my cordless tool collection around it, for instance Festool or Metabo/Mafell.
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Post by 7 on Feb 22, 2015 22:06:50 GMT -5
Tom- You mentioned you loved your Hilti brushless impact before...hard not to go back to a tool that you had already and really liked. I considered that same Hilti. I am sure I will end up trying it at some point unless my others never die.
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Post by lincoln on Feb 22, 2015 22:58:10 GMT -5
I can also highly recommend the Hilti 22v impacter.
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Post by Tom Gensmer on Feb 22, 2015 23:30:46 GMT -5
Tom- You mentioned you loved your Hilti brushless impact before...hard not to go back to a tool that you had already and really liked. I considered that same Hilti. I am sure I will end up trying it at some point unless my others never die. Yup, the impact driver actually came as part of a promotion when I bought my TE-1000. When my Hilti impact driver was stolen it was tough to justify replacing it when I already had my Makita set up, but now that I'm looking to down size I'm inclined to go back to it. It also really helps that I have a Hilti service center roughly 20 minutes from my home, so it's very convenient to buy tools, accessories, and get repairs performed.  |
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Post by jm on Feb 23, 2015 19:37:36 GMT -5
I'm pretty deep into Metabo.
2x worklights
brushless impact wrench
brushless drill/driver
recip saw
circ saw
angle grinder
4x 5.2Ah batteries
I also have on my list to buy:
SDS (they have a new one KHA 18 LTX that seems pretty stout)
burnisher
band file
die grinder
impact driver
The burnisher and band file are Metabo exclusives, you won't find them anywhere else (in cordless).
The impact wrench, worklights, drill/driver, and angle grinder are all class leading, wouldn't trade them for anything else.
The Milwaukee recip saw is a little more powerful and easier to adjust the shoe, the Makita circ saw is in a class of it's own.
That said, the two saws are adequate, it really depends on your workflow. If you're near a miter/table/tracksaw a lot and rarely pickup a non-track circ saw, then you might not care. If you can't compromise on those tools, then get the best tools to fill that space.
Agreed about their impact driver, but they have more brushless tools coming out this year if you're to believe their Facebook page. The aesthetics of the impact driver don't really match the rest of the lineup, so hopefully that is one of the tools to be updated.
I have all Milwaukee 12v stuff (right angle drill, brushless screwdriver, brushless impact driver, flashlight, multi-tool, rotary dremel, jigsaw), but I might swap over to Bosch because I'm stupid and like re-buying tools...
For me, this setup works out well. The tools are very good, the tools that are mediocre aren't my everyday tools (well, I currently use the 12v impact driver primarily now, but wouldn't say no to a revamped Metabo 18v).
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Post by jm on Feb 23, 2015 20:23:18 GMT -5
Also, do we know if those 10.8v Mafell tools are making it stateside? I've been eyeing the BS Quick to take place of a CXS, but the charger doesn't seem to be available in a 110v. If Mafell plans on distributing them here, that might be the key to some 10.8v stuff.  |
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Post by GhostFist on Feb 23, 2015 20:30:54 GMT -5
Ya would be nice to know. As well as my cxs has served me. The increased amps and no centrotec might sway me to this guy. I will miss the cxs ergonomics though so it would be a hard parting
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Post by jalvis on Mar 12, 2015 10:26:01 GMT -5
Ya would be nice to know. As well as my cxs has served me. The increased amps and no centrotec might sway me to this guy. I will miss the cxs ergonomics though so it would be a hard parting Why not just stay with the CXS? Seems more cost affective to add to your existing line then replace. I'm considering the same ideas. My 2 festool C12s are near the end of there batteries and its either replace batteries or the entire tool. Batteries are $80 each and the platform I have got discontinued so I need to decide. Thinking new batteries will be the way to go but thats $320 for 4 new ones! |
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