Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Milwaukee). This thread is read-only.
Well, I am considering making the move to Milwaukee, can you guys give me some general history on Milwaukee and some opinions you have about them.
Help is greatly appreciated!
Here is a company history from their website:
http://www.milwaukeetool.com/company/milwaukee-story/history-of-milwaukee
I grew up with Dewalt and when I went out on my own I started buying Dewalt as well. About 3 years ago I was looking to upgrade my cordless kit and I looked at Dewalt first. They had the XRP Nano base stuff out which was pretty much a new battery for the old tools, but they also had the 20V Max line coming out which used a slide on battery and solved the issue created by the stem pack which didn’t leave any room for on board electronics and such. I wasn’t in a huge hurry, so I figured I’d wait and give Dewalt time to release some more 20V stuff. After a few months the 20V line still consisted of 1 or 2 tools and the time to buy was at hand. I wasn’t going to sink any money into the XRP line because I knew 20V Max was the future, but for nearly a year the Max line had consisted nothing more than a drill. Milwaukee on the other hand, had recently released their Red Lithium stuff and it was getting great reviews. Milwaukee had a big line and was releasing new stuff pretty regularly. Additionally, the Red Lithium packs had seemingly eliminated most of the issues that lithium packs typically had in cold weather. I went with Milwaukee and I’ve never regretted it. There are tools Dewalt does better and vice versa, but Milwaukee has a huge line and they’ve really led the way in terms of innovation over the past couple of years. Now for 12V tools, it isn’t even close.
Yeah have you ever had to use the warranty and if so how was it?
I only ever had to Warranty a battery, but it came from a refurb kit I bought anyhow one of the plastic clips broke on one of the M12 packs. It was easy I walked in with the old battery and out with a new one. Also I believe they offer the ability to have your tool sent in to be fixed also it can be easier to deal with the company than a repair shop sometimes. Yea Dewalt just seems so slow at releasing new tools, or even filling in holes in the line up of tools. I still can’t believe they don’t have a multi tool out yet, and the radio was just released 3 months ago. Dewalt 20v are not bad tools I liked mine, but Milwaukee is just way faster at getting products on the market faster. The only thing the Milwaukee lineup is missing is a trim nailer
Im sure they will have one out by the end of summer haha! But I am going to sell some of my dewalt stuff but what is a good first tool I should get!
Well right now is a really good time to buy with the free battery deal going on, but I know money is allways an issue for a lot of people a free battery is a nice extra though. Well if you wait for a little while I bet they will have a Fuel combo kit soon with the Drill, Sawzall, Circular saw, and impact soon.
If you aren’t going to wait on a fuel combo, I’d start with the hammer drill and impact driver. By the time you recoup from that purchase, the circ saw and Sawzall should be on the market. I’ll be interested to see what light the combo comes with.
Yeah, I am definitely going to wait a month or so, back on the trim nailer subject, who knows when the us will see a 20v version haha….
I am trying to figure out things, I really like DeWalt, How long do you guys think before we see brushless saws from them??
It more than likely it won’t be till the next Dewalt media event during the spring of next year to see any reveals from Dewalt, but you never know you can see the quiet launch of a tool also like the M12 fuel sds drill they just announced it on facebook. But if you do get a 4.0 ah drill impact kit you can get the bare tool or single battery version of the Saws. It’s nice having 2-3 4.0 and 4 2.0 ah batteries. It prevents the need of swapping packs all the time while using tools and give you the ability to have a tool charging all the time.
I’m with DR99. I can’t see it being before next year, but with Dewalt’s history of lagging on their releases, who knows. Dewalt has always had a loyal user base among Contractors and such, and at one time it was damn near all you seen around construction sites, but over the past couple of years I’ve seen a lot more Milwaukee, Ridgid, and even Hitachi. Maybe everyone is as tired of all that yellow as I am.
It’s crazy how much market share Dewalt had at one time it really was a sea of yellow at one time. I guess the didn’t innovate when other companies were improving their products. Milwaukee wasn’t in very good shape till the TTI buyout in 2005 a few years later and they are just putting out really innovative tools now for a bunch of different trades. I think that merger between Stanley and Black and Decker messed a lot of things up. When corporate restructuring goes on things can go sideways quick you can lose talent, and product release dates can slip. I think the move to the 20v/slide packs should have happened a few years sooner than they did doing it in 2011 was a little late it should have been more around say 2008.
Dewalt was kinda in a “spot”. By the time they figured out the stem packs were hindering their ability to innovate, there were 19 bazillion of them floating around. Rather than run the risk of falling on their face like Milwaukee did with the V series, they took the safe course and kept on keeping on. For whatever reason, they took forever to make the switch.
Conductor, DR99 do either of you have the fuel hammer drill driver or impact?
I have both the Fuel Hammer drill and Impact.
It also seems like there really wasn’t a whole lot of innovation going on with cordless tools like their is now. It’s gotten to be like the Iphone where your is now upgraded someway every year with some new feature. A In the 2000’s if you bought a cordless tool and it might be 4 years or more before anything changed.
Yeah Im the kind of person in the tool world that has to have the nicest tools on the block, but overall, How do you like the fuels
I had both the compact and premium Dewalt 20v hammer drill at one point. I like the compact size of the fuel and the power it has it feels really good when you hold it. The one downside I will say on the fuel impact is it does not have the led’s on the head of the tool I’m not working in low light conditions that often but it seems to light up everything ok. I drilled a ton of 5/8’s holes for anchors and the drill worked great hammering through 50 year old cement my only complaint was the noise but that’s common for all hammer drills. To sum it up they are some of the best tools I ever used.
My pre-fuel tools are 2 1/2 years old and still in excellent shape. I plan to get 5 years out of them before I upgrade if I can. That gives me another 2 1/2 years of hoarding hand tools and by then I’ll have everything I could ever possibly need.
DR99 How does the premium 20v hammer drill driver( What I have now) do against the fuel
The 3 speed gearbox which is nice, but the downside is with a 3.0 ah pack it’s really heavy.
So overall you would say that the fuel drill and impact is much better than the 20v.
Yes I would say they are a step up from the current Dewalt 20v tools.
Alright well it sounds like a deal, The 3-ring led light is like you said great, but with Milwaukee’s new light line coming out, if your going to be screwing screws in the dark for long you can bring the flood light with you haha.
I would try to buy when they are offering a free extra battery though you know how much additional ones cost.
Yeah, I wish Milwaukee would release a tool storage option, soon, very soon…
Yea that’s one thing Dewalt and Bosch has over Milwaukee, but you can still buy the other brands storage options. I don’t know if they think the storage market is saturated, or they are just more concerned about designing more tools.
Maybe they will suprise us like with the realease of the 12v fuel sds on Facebook.
I’m still holding out for an M12 POP Rivert gun 🙁
Conductor do you think Milwaukee is more professional than Milwaukee?
I’m not conductor but I would say Milwaukee is more professional over Dewalt. Milwaukee is more trade oriented towards plumbers and electricians. Where as Dewalt is more set up for general carpentry they do have some diagnostic tools but not nearly as many as Milwaukee.
Alright thats good to know, I just bought the fuel hammer drill/ driver kit with 2 xc batteries from cpo.
At some point over the last 3 or 4 years the manufacturers have each began catering more to specific trades than others. Milwaukee has tended to lean toward Plumbing/HVAC, Electrical, and Maintenance trades, Dewalt has continued to focus more on Carpentry/Framing, Seemingly all Bosch’s new products have been more concrete/masonry related, and Makita….well Makita doesn’t seem to give a damn anymore.
ChaseRogers wrote:
Alright thats good to know, I just bought the fuel hammer drill/ driver kit with 2 xc batteries from cpo.
Bravo! You’ll never look back. Looking forward to the video as well!
Yes haha I cant wait, should be here thursday!
Waiting on the UPS man. Seems like the son of a bitch takes forever.
Haha yes, should have a review up tonight, along with a possible friday night tool fight with the compact 20v drill my friend has, I have pressure treated 4x, white size spade would be a good test?
Cool Chase! I’m also looking forward to the video. You are going to give Dan and Eric some competition.
You know I have been thinking about what you said Chase about Milwaukee coming out with their own tool storage system like DeWalt and Bosch. If someone was inventive, they could cut out the inside of Milwaukee’s plastic tool containers, then attach some type of fasteners to the outside sides so they can connect together. Volia, you got a tstak, tough box, or Lboxx equivalent. What do you guys think?
Yeah thats a good idea, An ocilating tool would work great for cutting the inside of the boxes out, then install some type of after market rubber seal to make it watertight and some foam for the inside, Milwaukees cases are already pretty structurally tough, a lot more than dewalts blow molded cases…
I cut out the inside of a blow molded Milwaukee case with a multi-tool once. My little boy uses it as his toolbox. Multi-tool worked well for the task.
Looks like you are starting him out right with the brand of choice 🙂
You have got that right! I am hard core milwaukee power tools! I havent had a problem with warranties and love everything about them! I am iffy about there electrician line of hand tools but there power tools rock my world! I wish they came out with a tough box type design that would be so awesome!
They are crazy if they dont because every Milwaukee owner would invest in one…
ChaseRogers wrote:
Looks like you are starting him out right with the brand of choice 🙂
You expected anything less? 😆
Hahahaha!
I did just realize that most of the most active posters on this forum are Milwaukee guys, not all but most.
(I used most three times in one sentence)
Joe are you a Milwaukee fan?
For sure. I have sold countless Milwaukee power tools to people who were originally looking at Dewalt. Personally I have the M12 Hammer Drill, Impact Driver, Hackzall, and Multi-Tool, and a couple of their hand tools. I think it is great stuff, and very infrequently have people bring the stuff back for warranty work or defects.
What brand do you warranty the most?
Ridgid, which we are the warranty center for, and then Dewalts. For some reason, we tend to get a lot of Dewalts back with sticky or defective triggers. Most Ridgid products it is the batteries, which if registered have a life-time swap if they show up as being defective.
Joe M wrote:
Ridgid, which we are the warranty center for, and then Dewalts. For some reason, we tend to get a lot of Dewalts back with sticky or defective triggers. Most Ridgid products it is the batteries, which if registered have a life-time swap if they show up as being defective.
Yea from reading online it’s getting consistent warranty service with Ridgid tools not all Home Depot stores deal with LSA related issues.