Power Supplies Reviews

After being a loyal Milwaukee customer for many years, things at this company have changed. Approximatley 15 months ago I purchased the 14.4 drill. It came with a nice case and two batteries, along with a charger. The first 6 months everything was fine, however I started to notice that the batteries would wear down after 40 minutes of intermittment use. I only used the drill a couple of times per month. Now, after 15 months, the batteries are completley dead and will not accept a charge. Milwaukee told me batteries are out of warranty and offered no help, even after I explained that the drill is only 15 months old. I paid 179.00 for the whole kit and the new batteries are 65.00 per battery. The drill is now useless. Milwaukee has no idea as to the loyal and steady customer they have lost, all over some batteries. I would have accepted only one battery from them, but they didnt even offer that. I am done with Milwaukee. No wonder the Japense companies are doing so well. We Americans who try and buy American products are tired of companies who dont appreciate our business or loyalty. Next time I will try Panosonic.

Overall, I am very pleased with the Milwaukee 14.4V 1/2" drill/driver. The construction is very sturdy. I accidentally dropped mine from an 8-foot ladder last year onto my concrete garage floor. At the time, I had a magnetic screw bit in the chuck which served to increase the bending force on the tool when it hit the concrete. The battery pack popped off. I re-inserted the battery and the tool has continued to operate normally.

The handle is comfortable and well balanced. I've had good luck with the battery packs. I use a pack until the drill begins to slow down and then pop it into the standard charger. No battery problems whatsoever over the two years that I have owned the tool.

On torque - I have had mixed results. I've used the tool to put hundreds of screws through Hardibacker down to subfloor with excellent results. However, I recently experienced what feels like a slipping clutch when trying to put 2-1/2" coarse-thread drywall screws into studs in a difficult position where I could not bear down on the drill with my full weight.

I like the tool, though when I eventually buy a new drill, it will be a beefier 18/19V or 28V tool.

drill works great with a lot of torque. i like that it has 1/2"
chuck and power to go with it. had the drill less then a year and one of the batteries wouldn't take a charge. i thought it was dead. what i did was take an old phone charger the kind where it plugs directly into wall. i cut off the end jack and split and stripped the double wire. after using a meter to determine which one was (+) and (-), the single contact on battery is (+). i hooked it up to battery for a few minutes. battery is now taking charge in milwaukee charger. they do say don't let the batteries completely discharge so it seems it just needed a little charge for the milwaukee charger to accept it. hope this helps.

Poor blade quality means frequent jams. Limited run-time. Uncomfortable to operate with small to medium size hand. Save your money. This item deserves 0 stars.

I had a cordless grass shear about 20 years ago. I decided I was not happy with anything I found on the market today and thought to give this old product a try. It did the trick, I am very pleased. I only wish the charge could last longer.

I've had the cordless shears for several years, and I love them.I bought this pair for my daughter lest she steals mine.They are perfect for trimming around and under things I want to protect from string trimmers. (Trees and fences).

The small size and long hose make it convenient, but its poor performance renders it useless. It is very loud, clogs often and the tools fall off the hose too easy. I mounted it on the wall in the garage and thought it would be great for quick cleanups of the car and floor. It does neither well. The small hose diameter and poor suction stop it from picking up any large items. (It will not pick up leaves off the garage floor). To make maters worse the hose size is identical to the disposable clear plastic caps on top of water bottles. If you happen to vacuum one up, it gets stuck in the hose and takes quite a bit of time and effort to get out. I rarely use it anymore. A cordless dust buster has more power and is much quieter.

I got this vacuum for free as a throw in for buying a saw. I'm real disappointed. This vacuum in meant to be hung on a wall, if you don't it tips very easily. Operation wise it is reasonably powerful, but very loud. The most frustrating thing about this vacuum is the small diameter of the hose, which caused it to clog very easily. Definitely not a 'shop' vac. Best use that I can find is to vacuum the sawdust off my tools, everything else use a full size shopvac.

Update: can't stand it anymore...gave it away. Don't waste your money.

Very handy and powerful. Would have liked an exhaust port for air blowing of tools, etc.

reasonable purchase price-
lighter than 18v - which is nice with an already heavy tool belt
plenty of torque for most jobs-
Satisfied remodeling contractor

Although I've only had the Drill/Driver for less than a month, it's performed very well.

I bought it because of the tool review in Wood Magazine and so far they haven't steered me wrong.

I have had this drill for over 10 years and it is excellent, the first two batteries lasted me for 5 years. I love this drill it has outperformed anything else I have used, it survived working on industrial construction projects. It never lags unles the battery gets low and lasts for dozens and dozens of 1/2 inch holes in 3/4 plywood. Maybe the people that experinced battery problems might be sure they are reading the battery charging recommendations and following them.

This has got to be the worst invention by TORO ever made. I bought this to replace another battery powered weedeater a RYOBI, I should have just bought another one of them, which is What I will do after this one is returned. EVERYTHING that you read BAD about this in all the reviews is TRUE and then some. In the first 10 second of using this I realized I made a very very bad purchase. too HEAVY string BREAKS........... trigger is a hassle I could go on and on but won't Take my word for it DON'T BUY IT!!!!!!!!!

I'm in agreement with the others who are unhappy with this unit. It's heavy, the strap is inadequate, and the amount of hand power required to depress the trigger and safety is ridiculous. After 15 minutes of use, I can barely manage 30 seconds of on time (male, 36 years old, no degenerative skeletal or muscular problems.) The line does break frequently. It won't take down weeds with stems bigger than pencils. Since I own it already and my yard is small I'll probably disable the trigger safety and rewind the core with heavier line, warrantee be damned. Would not buy again, would not recommend.

Don't understand the reviews below. The "trigger" reqires very little force. It's a little heavy, but it's battery powered. My 5'0" tall 95lbs wife uses it and has no problems. I would highly recommend product.

It is absolutely useless as the edger because the string keeps snapping from the inside, so you have to disassemble it every time it happens (and it happens often). It does ok as a trimmer. The customer service if horrible and manual that comes with it is vague and useless. Do not buy this cheap piece of junk.

this trimmer is very light and gets very close to the weed you want to trim...much much better than the Craftmen stuff from Sears, which is head heavy and bulky...AND short lived! BUT...the bumper head wears down quickly, which makes string feeding unreliable. That means you have to manually remove the cap and adjust. Solution: Get a new bumper head reel when it worn.

The trimmer itself works well. I had trouble fitting the black safety guard onto the machine because holes did not align. I suspect the guard was for another model.

The item in itself is exactly as described but there was a problem with the shipping. It was shipped in original package provided by the manufacturer. It was not secured in the box and although the original package was inclosed in another box, because of the weight of the item and the carelessness of UPS. the nailer had punched through both boxes and there was a large hole when I received the package. The item in itself was not damaged but I feel that the shipper should have secured the item in the original box so that it could not move around.

I've run over 20,000 nail through my newest gun.
Runs great, no jams, ( sounds like some people with jams may not have a proper air supply)no problem getting nails, weight is no problem.
Shouldn't be building if it feels heavy.

can work it hard,it will take it.

the price is right.
I just ordered another

I have been in construction for 15 years. I have 3 of these guns and I'll tell you from a durability point of view you can't beat it. I see my guys beat the heck out of these guns and they don't fail. When i say, "Beat the heck out of them" I don't just mean the day in and day out firing, I mean turning it over and using the back or the tip to smack studs over to layout lines or to flush up just about anything. The coil bay is easily adjustable to fit any size nail. Reliability? I have seen reviews on here that there are mis-fires and jams. You are going to have a jam on this gun for one of 3 reasons.
1. Your little weenie air compressor doesn't have the PSI to push it.
2. You have droped the coil of nails and the tips are bent together. If this happens uncoil the nails, step on one end of the coil and stretch them out and re-coil them.
3. Sometimes during the first few shots you will see a problem such as above due to the extreme capacity of the coil of nails. Use the tool for an hour and you know what's wrong. A nail head is being wedged into one of the interior coils, flip the gun counter-clockwise in your hand and it's a simple process of pushing straightening the coil with your finger or another nail, takes like 2 seconds.
Anyone who has carried 15 pounds (exageration) of stick nails in their pouch knows how heavy they are and how fast they actually go, so you are constantly walking to the nail box and then, which is really fun when you are sheathing a roof. "Hey, throw me a coil of nails." Yea, you can throw these things up to guys on the roof, or on the 2nd floor because they are big enough and heavy enough to easily throw, try throwing like 300 stick nails up to someone.
As for the reviews about finding nails... I have never had a problem finding nails, they have them at Menards for one, but any nail supply house will have them. I think those reviews were written by more "home owner" types that think Home Depot is the only place you can get lumber and tools. You don't need 50 different nail lengths, basically you need 2) 8's and 16's. They have galvies and regular so my question is what are they trying to use the thing for?

I bought this drill at lowes for $75.00 with 2 batteries and case. At 4.2 lbs it feels like a feather compared to my monster 18v Bosch hammerdrill(6.7 lb). It seems to have all of the power I need,and it can handle the bigger bits.It is a real arm
saver.
Dewalts new compact series drill has more power than the 928,but also weighs several ounces more. The 928 is the most comfortable drill I have ever used.
I have found that the 928 has several limitations.
1. Limited runtime, while the 928 can use the big bits,it can't drill nearly as many holes as my 18v Bosch,this would probably apply to most 14.4v drills.
2. Two sleve chuck,Single sleeve is better.
3. Poor finish, The seam between the two body halves, are poorly finished,and are irratating in the handle area. I have noticed this on many of Dewalts Mexican made tools.My bosch on the on the other hand the body is perfectly finished.
All in all,it is a fine drill,if you can get one at a good price(like I did). Remember,The current drill goes for about $170.00 in most stores,I only paid $75.00. I have learned that when at home depot or lowes,always to check the return rack.

This is a replacement for my old 9.6V. Did not want to go up in voltage because of the balance and wieght of my 9.6V. Wrong answer.
The DW928 is well balanced and the weight is not noticable. The speed switch works easily. Which is a great improvement in the cordless line. Others i have looked at were hard to move. Many more clutch settings over my old one.
Battery life is unreal. Really gave it a workout. Good Job DeWalt
I would highly recommend this drill if 14 Volt is your game.

When I began looking around for a replacement for my 9.6v DeWalt cordless drill, I assumed I would be buying a 12v DeWalt. My 9.6v almost always had the power to do what I asked of it, so 12v seemed the next logical step. Then I found this 14.4v drill for an incredible price at a day-after-Thanksgiving sale (Lowes). In fact, the 99 bucks I paid for this drill is less that what I paid for my 9.6v 8+ years ago!

After using this drill on a couple of projects I can say two things with all honesty. First of all this drill is not overly heavy (I was worried about that), and second, it has power to spare. I suspect that the torque this drill provides is overkill for driving screws in most applications - afterall I was happy with the screw driving abilities of my 9.6v. However, it is very nice to have that torque when you are drilling through wood with big bits.

Basically, this drill is a very strong performer. The charger is well made, I have had no problems with it or the batteries, and the case is well made. If you have need for this kind of power or you find a good deal like I did, I highly recommend that you make this purchase!

This is one tool that really is just about useless. Can't cut plywood of any thickness, moldings, or just about anything else that's made of WOOD. Truly a waste of money. It has no torque and its miter adjustments are imprecise at best. I ***think*** this thing could cut paper, but I have better and cheaper tools (like a pair of scissors) for that job.

Take my word for it, don't throw your money away on this item. Porter Cable has a corded 4" that is a LOT better (though it costs more). This is probably the worst tool Makita makes.

At first glance the Makita 5090D looks like a good value. What they don't tell you that it is shipped without a battery or charger. If you don't already own a Makita 9.6 volt battery and charger, you must purchase a battery and charger separately in order to use it. The cost of of these items are about the same as the saw itself! I might give it more stars after the battery arrives and I can see how it works. Right now one star kind of describes my feelings.

For all of you out there looking for a great circular saw for small jobs, I highly recommend this saw. This particular model is no longer stocked in retail stores. Mikita also makes a 14.4V, 3 3/8 inch circular saw with a snap-in vs. slide-in battery (basically the same saw, but with a more powerful battery). I don't understand why some other reviewers posted such negative feedback in reards to it's ineffectiveness, because I have had the complete opposite experience. Perhaps it's not the saw, but the way they are using it.

For instance, the blade that is provided with the saw is only good to cut drywall with. If you are going to cut plywood of any sort, including 3/4 inch thickness, you need to buy a 3 3/8 carbine blade! It is a great investment. My carbide blade is going on 2 years without having had to replace it.

One cannot expect to get the performance of an electric circular saw out of a cordless tool. This Makita will make approximately six 4 foot long cuts through 3/4 inch plywood before draining the battery.

The saw is not meant for heavy duty work. It is meant for jobs such as siding work, remodeling floors, trimwork and hobbies.

I highly recommend. I STRESS that this saw cuts 3/4 inch plywood like butter.

There are 3 grits of narrow extender paper that I have found:
SDNR060, SDNR080 and SDNR120. Try www.toolsforless.com and
search on any of these 3 SKU numbers.

All the best.

this little unit is really a gem. The only down side was finding sanding pads ...found the b&d mouse pads fit it though...haha..so i have been using those for the triangle and then cutting the scap to make profile pads...they work great and HD sells them for about 4.50 a box.....enjoy...oh and no issues with unit that others had noted...I used it for stairs, a wood ceiling and a couple pieces of old funiture i wanted to prep for refinish and even using it for 6-7 hours no problems...though i will say i wish it had a dust bag...the hose option is a bit clumsy...

We are building a sailboat and had avoided buying a detail sander for three years, because the ones we'd seen had little power and were flimsy. When we needed to get into corners, we used a Dremel tool with a sanding drum. We burned out one Dremel tool, and then went through five of the (returnable) hardware-store brand. One day, a friend brought over her Bosch detail sander and we were astonished. We went out and bought one right away, and several months of hard use later we're still very happy with it. We've worn out the triangle sanding pad (esp. its corners) so we'll be replacing that, but we've been extremely happy with the tool itself. We should have bought one when we started the boat! It's as good as our Porter-Cable random-orbital, and that's saying something!