Time to retire the Dewalt 12V. I had the battery packs rebuilt by
Primecell. They hold a charge now, but have come apart in use more times
than I can count. They are both laying on the counter right now with the
cases separated. The drill still works, but I never liked it that much
anyway. After reading a number of reviews, the Panasonic 15.6 V has great
reviews in general, but several reported that the motor smoked and died.
With a year waranty, this doesn't seem to be too much risk, but I'd like to
hear from others. The Makita 14.4 V NIMH MForce looks good and Makita has a
good rep for most things. It doesn't have alot of track record yet that I
can find. Any comments? I don't want or need an 18V drill. And yes, I
have a corded drill.

--
Ross
www.myoldtools.com

I have the panasonic, I love it but have not had it that long or used it
that much. Never seen the makita.

For work I use a Rigid because its cheaper so if it gets trashed or
lost/stolen on a job I could live with it.

Now I would like to get one of those new high torque impact drivers, I've
used them and seem to work very well.

Rich



"My Old Tools" wrote in message
...
Time to retire the Dewalt 12V. I had the battery packs rebuilt by
Primecell. They hold a charge now, but have come apart in use more times
than I can count. They are both laying on the counter right now with the
cases separated. The drill still works, but I never liked it that much
anyway. After reading a number of reviews, the Panasonic 15.6 V has great
reviews in general, but several reported that the motor smoked and died.
With a year waranty, this doesn't seem to be too much risk, but I'd like
to
hear from others. The Makita 14.4 V NIMH MForce looks good and Makita has
a
good rep for most things. It doesn't have alot of track record yet that I
can find. Any comments? I don't want or need an 18V drill. And yes, I
have a corded drill.

--
Ross
www.myoldtools.com

I'd probably go for the Panasonic. I have held off replacing my Ryobi
cordless drill. If Panasonic put two bubble levels and bit storage on
the drill, I'd buy it. Makita, Panasonic, Porter Cable, and Milwaukee
cordless drills are all high quality. It is amazing how quickly
cordless drills have changed, compared to other tools.

On Sun, 1 Aug 2004 16:25:05 -0500, "My Old Tools"
wrote:

Time to retire the Dewalt 12V. I had the battery packs rebuilt by
Primecell. They hold a charge now, but have come apart in use more times
than I can count. They are both laying on the counter right now with the
cases separated. The drill still works, but I never liked it that much
anyway. After reading a number of reviews, the Panasonic 15.6 V has great
reviews in general, but several reported that the motor smoked and died.
With a year waranty, this doesn't seem to be too much risk, but I'd like to
hear from others. The Makita 14.4 V NIMH MForce looks good and Makita has a
good rep for most things. It doesn't have alot of track record yet that I
can find. Any comments? I don't want or need an 18V drill. And yes, I
have a corded drill.

I have an older Panasonic...got it in 1994. I have a Makita, and 2 DeWalts,
all 9.6 volt.

I wish they were all Panasonics. IMHO the Mercedes of the bunch. Their
batteries are very high quality.

Phisherman wrote:
I'd probably go for the Panasonic. I have held off replacing my Ryobi
cordless drill. If Panasonic put two bubble levels and bit storage on
the drill, I'd buy it. Makita, Panasonic, Porter Cable, and Milwaukee
cordless drills are all high quality. It is amazing how quickly
cordless drills have changed, compared to other tools.


I just bought a Milwaukee 18V hammer drill to replace my Dewalt 14V
drill/driver. Both of the batteries started getting weak on the Dewalt and I
initially looked at replacing them... until I priced new ones. Then I thought
this would be the perfect time and excuse to upgrade.

The 18V Milwaukee isn't that much heavier than the 14V Dewalt, but I think it'd
snap my wrist before it ran out of torque. This should be worth considering...



--
Mortimer Schnerd, RN


http://www.mortimerschnerd.com

Hello there,

I have two of the new Makita NiMH 12v Evolution cordless drill/drivers. I
considered Metabo or Fein but neither have a right angle drill. I bought the
Makita 12v's because Makita has a 12v right angle NiMH drill as well. The
way I bought them was I ended up with two chargers, 5 batteries and three
cordless drills, just what I wanted.

Makita has a switch to change from drill to drive, disengages the clutch
without have to spin the nose all the way from the current torque setting to
drill. It also has a racheting chuck that I have never had slip.

I must say that the RA drill has been totally indispensable in building my
parents kitchen. The Makita 12v has more torque than a DW 18v. I wanted the
lighter weight, and again, the RA drill to have the same batteries and
charger as my main cordless drills. If it drives a #10 screw clean through a
2x4, how much more torque do you really need?

I am very happy with my Makita's.

David.

While I have a Makita M-Force, I have heard great things about the
Panasonics. Hilti makes really nice ones too, and they've even started
carrying them at my local BORG

"My Old Tools" wrote in message
...
Time to retire the Dewalt 12V. I had the battery packs rebuilt by
Primecell. They hold a charge now, but have come apart in use more times
than I can count. They are both laying on the counter right now with the
cases separated. The drill still works, but I never liked it that much
anyway. After reading a number of reviews, the Panasonic 15.6 V has great
reviews in general, but several reported that the motor smoked and died.
With a year waranty, this doesn't seem to be too much risk, but I'd like
to
hear from others. The Makita 14.4 V NIMH MForce looks good and Makita has
a
good rep for most things. It doesn't have alot of track record yet that I
can find. Any comments? I don't want or need an 18V drill. And yes, I
have a corded drill.

--
Ross
www.myoldtools.com

Milwaukee. They are the best. IMHO
Dave


"My Old Tools" wrote in message
...
Time to retire the Dewalt 12V. I had the battery packs rebuilt by
Primecell. They hold a charge now, but have come apart in use more times
than I can count. They are both laying on the counter right now with the
cases separated. The drill still works, but I never liked it that much
anyway. After reading a number of reviews, the Panasonic 15.6 V has great
reviews in general, but several reported that the motor smoked and died.
With a year waranty, this doesn't seem to be too much risk, but I'd like
to
hear from others. The Makita 14.4 V NIMH MForce looks good and Makita has
a
good rep for most things. It doesn't have alot of track record yet that I
can find. Any comments? I don't want or need an 18V drill. And yes, I
have a corded drill.

--
Ross
www.myoldtools.com

I'm surprised that Bosch was not mentioned as a replacement to the Dewalt.

Daniel

On Sun, 1 Aug 2004 16:25:05 -0500, "My Old Tools"
wrote:

Time to retire the Dewalt 12V. I had the battery packs rebuilt by
Primecell. They hold a charge now, but have come apart in use more times
than I can count. They are both laying on the counter right now with the
cases separated. The drill still works, but I never liked it that much
anyway. After reading a number of reviews, the Panasonic 15.6 V has great
reviews in general, but several reported that the motor smoked and died.
With a year waranty, this doesn't seem to be too much risk, but I'd like to
hear from others. The Makita 14.4 V NIMH MForce looks good and Makita has a
good rep for most things. It doesn't have alot of track record yet that I
can find. Any comments? I don't want or need an 18V drill. And yes, I
have a corded drill.


I know you said you don't want an 18V drill, but noone else has
responded regarding their personal experience with a Makita MForce, so
here goes nothing!

I bought a Makita MForce 18V drill about 9 months ago, and couldn't
be happier. When I bought the drill, I knew that I was going to have
to drill several holes in a concrete floor to install 3/8" redheads
(building a wall in my three-car garage) and wasn't sure how well a
non-impact drill would work. As it turns out, the Makita drilled
those holes effortlessly ( eight of them if I remember correctly) and
had plenty of charge left over. I'm sure their 14V drill would
perform accordingly (might require a full battery's charge).

I also believe that the state of cordless drill technology (at least
the non-impact driver types) has reached the point where user features
outweigh battery considerations when choosing a new drill. For my
purposes, I chose the Makita over the other guys for two primary
reasons:

1) The Makita fit my hands better than any other brand. I have
medium-size hands, and my drill-fondling trips to Lowes (and others)
led me to feel that the Makita fit me better than the others.

2) I already owned a 9V Makita drill with the stick-type battery, and
the charger that comes with the MForce drills will handle that battery
as well as the battery for the MForce drill. So, I now have two
decent cordless drills.

I too, thought that I didn't want an 18V drill, but after handling
both the 14V and the 18V MForce drills, I realized that the small
weight difference (5.3 lbs vs. 4.6 lbs) probably wouldn't matter for
my usage. To date I have not regretted choosing the 18V model over
the 14V model.

Still, I think the most important factor is "How does it feel in your
hands"? After all, that's where the drill will be doing its work!

Rob

I believe the Panasonic drills are currently the drills on the market
with the shortest distance between the tip of the chuck to the back;
this will allow you to get into smaller places than with other, longer
drills.

The Makita is shorter than most, and I am happy with my 14.4v MForce. I
especially like the shift-lock switch.

- Daniel

My Old Tools wrote:
Time to retire the Dewalt 12V. I had the battery packs rebuilt by
Primecell. They hold a charge now, but have come apart in use more times
than I can count. They are both laying on the counter right now with the
cases separated. The drill still works, but I never liked it that much
anyway. After reading a number of reviews, the Panasonic 15.6 V has great
reviews in general, but several reported that the motor smoked and died.
With a year waranty, this doesn't seem to be too much risk, but I'd like to
hear from others. The Makita 14.4 V NIMH MForce looks good and Makita has a
good rep for most things. It doesn't have alot of track record yet that I
can find. Any comments? I don't want or need an 18V drill. And yes, I
have a corded drill.

Bosch drills tend to not be favored over many other brands. I have had bad
luck with Bosch drills in the last 18 years.


"Daniel Martin" wrote in message
om...
I'm surprised that Bosch was not mentioned as a replacement to the Dewalt.

Daniel

"My Old Tools" wrote in message ...
Time to retire the Dewalt 12V. I had the battery packs rebuilt by
Primecell. They hold a charge now, but have come apart in use more times
than I can count. They are both laying on the counter right now with the
cases separated. The drill still works, but I never liked it that much
anyway. After reading a number of reviews, the Panasonic 15.6 V has great
reviews in general, but several reported that the motor smoked and died.
With a year waranty, this doesn't seem to be too much risk, but I'd like to
hear from others. The Makita 14.4 V NIMH MForce looks good and Makita has a
good rep for most things. It doesn't have alot of track record yet that I
can find. Any comments? I don't want or need an 18V drill. And yes, I
have a corded drill.

Don't think you can go wrong with either. I read someplace (believe
half of what you read....) that Panasonic makes almost all the motors
and batteries for drills to begin with. And as you can see from their
tools, they keep the newest and best batteries for themselves.

I'm a long standing Makita fan and have used their tools for years w/o
any complaints/problems. I don't own any Panasonic but would be happy
to try next time I kill one of my Dewalts!

Daniel wrote:

I believe the Panasonic drills are currently the drills on the market
with the shortest distance between the tip of the chuck to the back;
this will allow you to get into smaller places than with other, longer
drills.

The Makita is shorter than most, and I am happy with my 14.4v MForce. I
especially like the shift-lock switch.

On the other hand if getting into tight places is a real issue you should be
looking at a right-angle drill.

- Daniel

My Old Tools wrote:
Time to retire the Dewalt 12V. I had the battery packs rebuilt by
Primecell. They hold a charge now, but have come apart in use more times
than I can count. They are both laying on the counter right now with the
cases separated. The drill still works, but I never liked it that much
anyway. After reading a number of reviews, the Panasonic 15.6 V has
great reviews in general, but several reported that the motor smoked and
died. With a year waranty, this doesn't seem to be too much risk, but I'd
like to
hear from others. The Makita 14.4 V NIMH MForce looks good and Makita
has a
good rep for most things. It doesn't have alot of track record yet that
I
can find. Any comments? I don't want or need an 18V drill. And yes, I
have a corded drill.


--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

On Mon, 2 Aug 2004 08:54:50 -0700, "TeamCasa" wrote:

Milwaukee. They are the best. IMHO

metabo makes killer drills too. my 12v has more torque then dewalt 18v.

--
Knight-Toolworks & Custom Planes
Custom made wooden planes at reasonable prices
See http://www.knight-toolworks.com For prices and ordering instructions.

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" wrote in
:

snip

The 18V Milwaukee isn't that much heavier than the 14V Dewalt, but I
think it'd snap my wrist before it ran out of torque. This should be
worth considering...


Last week, I spent an hour and $100 at the chiropractor getting my shoulder
and back readjusted, after using my DeWalt 12 volt 1/2" drill driver to
drive 100+ pocket screws in a day. I decided I probably didn't need 300+
ft/lbs of torque trying to realign my spine, every time I wanted to drive a
screw. I bought a lighter weight, lower torque DeWalt model, which can use
the same charger as my first one.

The right tool for the right job is a simple concept, but I guess I'm not
as smart as I ought to be, some times. (And sometimes, that tool is a
brad/finish nailer...)

I feel a whole lot better this week.

Patriarch

patriarch wrote:

"Mortimer Schnerd, RN" wrote in
:

snip

The 18V Milwaukee isn't that much heavier than the 14V Dewalt, but I
think it'd snap my wrist before it ran out of torque. This should be
worth considering...


Last week, I spent an hour and $100 at the chiropractor getting my
shoulder and back readjusted, after using my DeWalt 12 volt 1/2" drill
driver to
drive 100+ pocket screws in a day. I decided I probably didn't need 300+
ft/lbs of torque trying to realign my spine, every time I wanted to drive
a
screw.

????? If it takes 300+ ft/lbs of torque to drive the screw then that's what
you're going to get in reaction. If you don't want to apply that much
torque then adjust the brake. You don't get 300+ ft/lbs of torque applied
to your body unless there's that much resistance from the screw.

I bought a lighter weight, lower torque DeWalt model, which can
use the same charger as my first one.

The right tool for the right job is a simple concept, but I guess I'm not
as smart as I ought to be, some times. (And sometimes, that tool is a
brad/finish nailer...)

I feel a whole lot better this week.

Patriarch

--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

I know you said you don't want an 18V drill, but noone else has
responded regarding their personal experience with a Makita MForce, so
here goes nothing!


Cast my vote for Makita. I have never used the Panasonic, though. I have
the 18V M-Force, and I will probably add a 12 or 14.4V to go with it at some
point. The metal half inch ratcheting chuck on the Makita is great. The
thing is really built like a tank. You will be satisfied with the Makita.

Charlie