toughest cordless tools ?

I need to buy some heavy duty tough cordless toolkits for my construction class.(Drills ,impact drivers saws, grinders)

 I had hitachi for a few years but my students drop them from roofs and benches and work them hard so most have  either broken casings or worn out motors

Bosch seem to have the toughest outer casing ? as I was very impressed with some of the clips on you tube tests. Also their cut out system seems good, however it seems not all their tools are the robust model along with brushless ?  their website is very confusing with all their models. Also run time and features not as good as Milwaukee ? ( my other choice at this stage )

My choices so far

1. Bosch ( tough outer casing)

2. Milwaukee (outer casing ?)

3. Hilti  (cant find much info out there on this brand)

4. the rest Mak, Dewalt, Hitachi, ect all much of a muchness IMO unless some one can prove how tough the casing is.  

Thanks

Most hard core contractors I know use Dewalt or hilti. Dewalt on the carpenter side and hilti on the construction side in the US and Canada. That’s how I judge a tool, on how and what the pro’s are using. Now with that said, everyone has there brand favorites. I think you see a lot of Dewalt, because every retailer carries them, they are cheaper then most. Bosch may have a tough outer case, but how well will the motor and gears as well as the electronics hold up to abuse? And they cost a little more. I left Milwaukee out, because I think they are more for light and occasional use, not that you wouldn’t see them in construction. Be interesting to see what the other forum guys think of this question.

John, Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

First off welcome to the forum!

If you’re looking to stock tools for a class, I’d look at cheaper tools rather than tougher.  I always find the tools in school shops take the sort of abuse that even the toughest tool won’t hold up to, and the ones that don’t seem to grow legs and walk off.  Ryobi makes some dirt cheap tools that are actually pretty decent quality so you can have effective tools and just replace what breaks or disappears.

If you’re looking for tough tools, you should also pay attention to the warranties.  Hilti I know has a good history of servicing tools.

If you are spending the schools money go metabo they have some great tools and cover everything even the batteries for 3 years

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I have a decent amount of dewalt 20v tools and for the most part I like them and they have fallen off roofs and ladders and keep on going

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I would try contacting your local reps an see if they can do any deal or promo or whatever. Maybe even your local tool store can help.

When I went to a construction trades vocational program in high school they got tools all the time from manufactures an the local tool store. We literally got new cordless stuff almost every quarter. Millwakee an makita were big ones but we had a little of every brand.The instructor let us take home what we wanted, if they were throwing stuff away. I got some good stuff some of witch I still have. Its my opionon it was sort of wasteful but whatever.

I would argue Ryobi 😉 Cheaper tools are sometimes used by pro’s because they are semi-disposable and cheaper to replace. They get no respect and are abused like rental cars 😛

Yea hilti your going to pay out the behind for, ryobi is a good option you can pick up bare tools cheaper, batteries for a good price. At the point of class you need to learn the job and not focus on having the most powerful impact. Try talking to some companies and see if they cut you some deals.

Jimbo

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Thanks for all your replies

I realise there’s probably not an unbreakable cordless tool out there but this bosch cops a beating. It would be great to see a comparison test with the other brands but could turn into an expensive exercise I suppose.       https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pI8NMrB87Hs

I was under the impression that Milwaukee was an industry leader in the cordless range ? and

 their tools would be as tough as any of the others ?

from what I can tell bosch  only has one of the cordless drills in their range that has the tough dura cell casing ?

I will look into metabo good suggestion rcarnes and I agree dewalt has served me well in the past to

If you get the Bosch tough drills the new ones also have active response which will prevent our students from breaking a wrist while overdriving!

I can understand the point about Ryobi . But…..

1. money not really an issue

2. what about run time ? ergonomics and all the features that you get from the more expensive brands ?

The Bosch brute model has the Dura Cell casing.  It’s halfway between flexible and ridgid. You’ll not feel it bend in anyway but it is very good at absorbing impacts. I would argue this is most likely the strongest case in a drill around. Unfortunatly in power, runtime, ergonomics, rpm’s , etc.. the Bosch is falling behind next to other brands.

That being said…..

Every drill will break at the first drop if it hits the ground at just the bad angle.  And every drill can survive numerous times dropping off a roof if it doesnt hit the ground at a bad angle.

I’ve been selling powertools for 7 years now. And i know that some circular saws / drill drivers / impact drivers of my customers have survived ALOT of drops from a roof without any problems.  And sometimes there’s the unlucky guy who drops his drill driver for the first time. It lands smack on the chuck and the casing breaks.

In all honesty all brands will suit you. I do not think there is a ‘better’ brand in that regard because it al depends on how and where it falls unfortunatly.

As said before: Ryobi is a cheaper but competitve option. Students will brake anything. They dont care of it’s a  € 150 Ryobi or a  € 500 Hilti drill. It will get abused and dropped anyway.

Hilti is the only brand to warranty Wear and Tear on a drill. Not sure of this included breaking the casing ( because that is 99 out of 100 a user mistake and not a manufacture problem ) but you could check with hilti if they will warranty this.

Money may not be an issue now, but it can quickly become one as soon as the students get their hands on the tools.  One bad batch of students and tools are disappearing left and right and anything left is broken.  I actually find a big advantage of Ryobi is that nothing is ever stolen.  You can go ahead and try a good brand of tools first and keep ryobi as a fallback plan if there are problems.

Around here this might be sacrilege, but a drill’s a drill.  Your students shouldn’t be trying to punch pole augers with a cordless.  Let them learn to deal with corded if they need something more powerful.

The durability improvements you’re looking at in Bosch are really meant to make a heavy use drill last five years instead of three or something like that.  Damage from heavy use is really different from damage from abuse.  Like kornomaniac said, it’s so much a matter of luck that when tools get abused they all take about the same amount of damage.

Maybe it’s just from my experience growing up, but I feel like you’re going to spoil them with hilti or bosch or any of those brands

there are as many different type of students as there are tools out there, some students will respect and enjoy working with good quality tools were as others will care less…..so in saying that if your only concern is how tough a tool is maybe teach them first and foremost to use the tool properly. I was taught long ago how to use many tools by treating them like your friends not your enemies. 

Ridgid is nice because of the LSA on batteries and tools as long as you register them. The most durable tool I don’t know they all can fail in various ways from electronics, to mechanical failures. They nice thing about Ryobi is the new tools are decent quality and batteries are dirt cheap you can get 2 packs of 4.0ah batteries around the tool holidays.

Kymbo wrote:

Thanks for all your replies

 

I realise there’s probably not an unbreakable cordless tool out there but this bosch cops a beating. It would be great to see a comparison test with the other brands but could turn into an expensive exercise I suppose.      

Video (YouTube)

 

 

I was under the impression that Milwaukee was an industry leader in the cordless range ? and

 their tools would be as tough as any of the others ?

 

from what I can tell bosch  only has one of the cordless drills in their range that has the tough dura cell casing ?

 

I will look into metabo good suggestion rcarnes and I agree dewalt has served me well in the past to

Milwaukee’s fuel line seems to offer lots of top notch tools you are in need of. Fuel grinders, circular saws, reciprocating saws, impact drivers and drills are all pretty much near the head of the class and great runtime and Milwaukee does have a 5 year warranty which might be handy.

Hi TS, if u are more comfortable with Bosch, just go for it. Eveytime my phone rings, i will head out for my projects (HomeTheatre) installations. Dewalt and Milwaukee i had tried previously as my Bosch was too tired to go on, plus it doesn’t have a battery status display.

For long run, Bosch might not be able to follow you around the whole day .

Due to mishandling and if u drop it, the chances of damaging it of course will be there. its every owner’s fault not taking care of “weapon” . The performance n durability based on my previous n existing sets.

– minor to mid jobs u can count on Bosch.

– if u needa drill especially hammering, a better model out there isnt hard to find.

– high chance on the internal parts falling apart. u have to spend a few minutes to assemble it back.

– those jaws biting tightly…. …… INITIALLY. not now anymore.

the only reason i am still using Bosch and most likely again in the future is because I’m used to the hand grips of Bosch already and i never like changing items unless its a total failure product.

and 1 more reason is i need not worry about getting an ad-hoc drill as there are alot of people selling off their Bosch in SG. haha.

sorry if there’s any typo mistakes as my English is limited edition.

Cheers.

Cheers.

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If you need really tough tool buy Hilti, but I think Dewalt is very good. And if you need big line for 18 V tools just buy Makita 🙂  

Get the Hilti fleet plan. $7 a month per tool (average)and you will never have to worry about a tool again. Lifetime warranty to boot.

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Just from experience I would either get Makita dewalt hilti or Milwaukee. In that order for the Milwaukee guys out there. Lol. Jk

Millerz

Bosch can take the abuse if needed,but really most tools can. if you really want them to stay good,dont beatup your tools.

It’s all about how you treat your tools. If you’re good to your tools then they’ll be good to you.

Millerz

Kymbo wrote:

I need to buy some heavy duty tough cordless toolkits for my construction class.(Drills ,impact drivers saws, grinders)

 I had hitachi for a few years but my students drop them from roofs and benches and work them hard so most have  either broken casings or worn out motors

 

Bosch seem to have the toughest outer casing ? as I was very impressed with some of the clips on you tube tests. Also their cut out system seems good, however it seems not all their tools are the robust model along with brushless ?  their website is very confusing with all their models. Also run time and features not as good as Milwaukee ? ( my other choice at this stage )

 

My choices so far

 

1. Bosch ( tough outer casing)

2. Milwaukee (outer casing ?)

3. Hilti  (cant find much info out there on this brand)

 

4. the rest Mak, Dewalt, Hitachi, ect all much of a muchness IMO unless some one can prove how tough the casing is.  

 

Thanks

Here is my thought, If I’m buying a power cordless tools here is my consideration:

1. Battery usage

2. Battery Life Cycle

3. Durability of a Cordless Tool

4. Usage of a tool

5. Of course warranty is the most important

There isn’t anything on the market from name brands that is a bad choice, even Roybi is good these days. We all have our favorites but there’s no clear answer as to what is best. Popularity wise, Dewalt would take a lead and is up to the challenge (my favorite), but if I were you I’d judge this contest PURELY on charge times. You’ll spend a fortune on batteries to keep up because the students will be playing around a lot and revving tools to make noise and using them inefficiently in general as they get comfortable which is going to take a toll on charge. You can probably get away with half as many batteries just by picking the right brand. 

That in mind, buy Makita. They charge stupid fast and are the only brand made in the US (other than maybe a handfull of Dewalt tools last I heard).  I don’t have Makita because I don’t like their ergonomics of their drills but they make good stuff. 

Makita is mostly made is the us/brazil/uk /germany .

High end stuff comes from Japan. Low end stuff from China !

I priced the following kit. keep in mind I live in Australia

1 hammer drill

1 impact driver

1 circular saw

1 charger

5 x batteries 5ah

Milwaukee $1350 AU  about $940 USD

Ryobi         $1000 AU  about $700 USD

All the Milwaukee tools were brushless next gen

only the Ryobi drill was brushless

Just thought it interesting at least in Aus not much dif in price between supposedly cheap Ryobi and Milwaukee. of course it may be very different in the US

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Ryobi-ONE-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Ultimate-Combo-Kit-6-Tool-P884/203466936 

$259 for this kit the only thing is you would have to add is a Hammer Drill and Ryobi does not currently offer a brushless drill here. Also no 5.0ah packs only 2 packs of 4.0ah for $84. A Hammer drill will cost you $99 for the sds or $69 for the old school percussion style. You guys get hosed on Ryobi tool prices in Australia!!

Bosch makes some nice tools but their customer service isint what it used to be. Had all 18v Bosch from like early 2008 till 2013 and went through a few impacts and 1 drill. The last few warranty claims was nothing but a disorginized mess on their part. On one warranty repair I told them the motor started smoking and died. Get the tool back 3 weeks later with the repair order and they replaced (1) half of the outside case, and the trigger switch. The motor still smelled like burnt circuits and the fucker didn’t work at all.

After that I was pissed and gave all my blue shit away and bought 18v Milwaukee

Everything is better overall

And how bought you figure out how much the school budget even is. I think your going to find it’ll be extremly limited.

FYI everyone I went with Metabo. it was a no brainer the same kit as

Milwaukee $1350 AU

Ryobi $1000 AU

Metabo $970 AU

Plus the Metabo kit included 1 new 6ah LIHD battery

for anyone who doesn’t know about LIHD metabo are leading the way not just 87% more run time but 67% more power. And they will fitthe current tools.

I was a bit sceptical but seems to be backed up here

Yea those new metabo packs are nice, congrats on the metabo.

Jimbo

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sweet deal….

nice deal! if metabo hits my local lowes I can see some in my future…  😉

Great deal, don’t let the kids tear them up too much

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Nice set.

I figured you were in the US when I mentioned Ryobi.  Definitely not such a good deal elsewhere.  Here it would be around $300 to put together that kit so it’s a no-brainer.

Where you live factors in to which tool you should buy also 🙂 It’s crazy how expensive Ryboi is in Australia

Jasonc wrote:

Where you live factors in to which tool you should buy also 🙂 It’s crazy how expensive Ryboi is in Australia

I’d say it’s crazier how cheap they are in the states.  6-tool kits for cheaper than some of the bare tools would go for from other manufacturers?