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Old 12-21-2012, 03:15 PM
 
Location: Bellmore
247 posts, read 481,374 times
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For those of you that are tradesmen, what seems to be the overall, prevailing preference when it comes to cordless drills/drivers between DeWalt and Makita?
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Old 12-21-2012, 03:19 PM
 
Location: On the Chesapeake
44,905 posts, read 59,894,528 times
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My oldest son is 100% DeWalt. The youngest one is just starting out so his are usually the Dad's brand.
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Old 12-21-2012, 03:28 PM
 
Location: Bellmore
247 posts, read 481,374 times
Reputation: 86
Thanks for the quick response. I'm asking because I just purchased my first home and am starting to realize how much work is associated with owning a home. I'm very particular and picky about everything I purchase and would like to start acquiring power tools that I can use to perform odd jobs here and there. Jobs that I would have, in the past, passed on and paid someone else to have done.

First thing is cordless drill. And I've narrowed it down to DeWalt and Makita and would like to start the collection exclusively with one of these.

I'm partial to DeWalt so I'm glad that someone else is happy with it.
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Old 12-21-2012, 04:09 PM
 
Location: Cold Springs, NV
4,614 posts, read 12,216,133 times
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I started in the Carpenters union when we used yankee screwdrivers. Makita is the standard in cordless drills period. I use the impact gun, and half inch chuck combination set. Two drills, batteries, and one charger.

DeWalt is popular because of Home Depot. Pro's don't use Home Depot though.












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Old 12-21-2012, 04:22 PM
 
Location: Johns Creek, GA
17,404 posts, read 65,560,365 times
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Almost all of my sub's use Dewalt- very rarely do I see any other brand. Of those, Makita is probably the one I see.

Dewalt had a huge marketing blanket going on here in the ATL during the housing boom. So, even those that may have gone in a different direction couldn't beat the price or durability of Dewalt. Now many years later the hand only fits Dewalt.

As for myself- Dewalt.
But all my circular saws are Porter-Cable.
Miter saw is Hitachi sliding compound miter (not your typical H/O type saw)
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Old 12-21-2012, 05:28 PM
 
Location: Knoxville
4,705 posts, read 25,189,709 times
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Ditto DeWalt. There was a comparison in Fine Homebuilding a while back where they tested a bunch of different driver/drills. While there was one that won, they were all very close in performance. I don't remember which brand was listed as the winner.

That said. Earlier this year I had a project where I was going to drive a bunch of flat head screws that needed pre-drilling, and some hex head screws. I didn't want to keep changing bits, and I only have two "good" drivers, so I went to Harbor Freight and bought a 18V driver drill for less than $20. I figured I would just use it to drill the pilot holes for the screws for this project, then it would burn up, etc.

I was surprised at the performance of the cheap Harbor Freight driver drill. It held a charge as long or longer than my DeWalt. Granted, it wasn't under the same load as the DeWalt that was driving 2" screws in hardwood, but it worked great.

While my tool collection consists of many brands, I have always bought high quality tools. All of my Milwaukee tools are over 30 years old. My Skill 77 saw is over 30. I have a Stanley router that is over 30. However in my main router table I have a Porter Cable. My table saw is a 25 year old Delta Unisaw that still has no vibration.

Buy what fits your budget, and feels good in your hand, and not so much by the label. Determine how much you are going to use the tool, and buy accordingly. I have always bought the best tool I could afford.

While I own a Little Giant ladder (and use it every day), I would probably buy a knock off if I only planned on using it once a year to put up Christmas lights. I paid almost $400 for it 20 years ago. Consider that I do between 400 to 500 inspections per year, and I use the ladder at least once per inspection, sometimes several times per house. That is a lot of use, with absolutely no problems EVER. I have inspector friends that have gone thru 3 or 4 clone ladders in the same amount of time.
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Old 12-21-2012, 05:54 PM
 
Location: Texas
5,717 posts, read 18,774,654 times
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In 1960, Black and Decker purchased DeWalt. In 1992 they made DeWalt the premium line of B&D tools. Prior to this DeWalt ONLY made radial arm saws. In 2010, they consolidated the tools and DeWalt is now about as good a quality as Harbor Freight, only DeWalt costs a lot more. DeWalt tools are assembled in Mexico and packaged in New Haven, Conn. Most of the cordless drills of any quality at all will use the same motor which is made by Johnson and Towers. Even Harbor Freight, Sears, Ridgid, etc, use the same motor as DeWalt so there's little in the way of difference in the motor quality. What you need to look at is the replacement batteries. Take a Ridgid battery. It's an even hundred bucks here for an 18V. Harbor freight it's 15 bucks for an 18V. Sears is 35 bucks and keep in mind, these are all for the same motor, just wired a little different. Don't buy into the batteries that are warranted for life or free replacement (Ridgid has this) as it requires a certificate from the factory that you'll never get. While most of the subs here at one time had nothing but DeWalt, they've learned that Harbor Freight may be cheap but when the tool dies, they aren't out a lot and a replacement to get a nice new one is not a lot of money. They've also found that the HF tools will last almost as long as the high dollar tools. That's what's on the jobsites here- Harbor Freight.
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Old 12-21-2012, 06:07 PM
 
Location: Pittsburgh area
9,912 posts, read 24,536,533 times
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I agonized over this for a while and bought Bosch for my new drill/driver (bought in a kit with impact driver because it makes the impact driver cost about 40 bucks), but not before almost buying Makita. They all have pretty good reps though. It's down to what feels good in hand, various extra features, etc. It's nice if the battery has its own gauge on it, and lighter is always better. Sometimes there's a significant price difference with a special but in my case it wasn't. I got a deal that was equal or better on the Bosch ultimately, buying it from Amazon. But I went out to the big box stores and handled them all, one thing those stores are good for at least. I spent probably a couple hours all told in there before making a decision. Note I was comparing 18v lithium ion battery drills. My conclusion might have been different with the smaller 12v ones.

I'm not in the trades or around them myself but my dad spent many years both selling to them in various non-chain lumber/etc stores as well as dabbling a bit working himself. He tends to look at DeWalt and Makita as good stuff based on what the guys always chose and that has held true over a number of years. He owns tools from both brands although his main kit right now I think is DeWalt. A couple of the guys he knows best really liked their Makita drivers, but if you favor the DeWalt then go for it. (I can't remember what he said when I bought the Bosch stuff. I don't think any of the guys he knows well have chosen that. Once you choose a brand you tend to stick with it at least for a few pieces that can share the same batteries, and I think Bosch is newer to the US market perhaps.) The real differences only come out if you are a heavy user and hard on the tools. For most jobs around the house, there won't be a significant performance difference if the main specs are equal (battery, etc.) nor should there be a significant reliability difference, so you can choose based on whatever other factors matter to you. Indeed many say for home use it's perfectly reasonable to step down to a brand like Hitachi for a drill, but the cheaper ones are all heavier which is what I didn't like.
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Old 12-21-2012, 06:30 PM
 
155 posts, read 561,899 times
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Next month at the International Builders Show in Vegas Dewalt will have a large booth, Makita hardly ever sets up their own booth..

Many years ago Makita had a warranty problem and many Box Store dropped them almost 20 years ago.

Pros use the 20v Dewalt and Milwaukee

Porter Cable is the number 1 circular saw..
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Old 12-21-2012, 06:47 PM
 
Location: On the Chesapeake
44,905 posts, read 59,894,528 times
Reputation: 60444
A note: my 35 year old corded B&D drill is still chugging along, as are the equally as old Skil circular and j i g saws.
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