OT: family of cordless tools

[chismog]

Electric mower for sure. I guess it depends on how big your yard is, but for my 1000ft of grass an electric mower is a delight to use. It's like vacuuming the lawn!

[buddybikes]

I need a decent belt sander to refinish kitchen countertop (all butcher block) appears Makita is the best, but for something we will use seldom...250+ bit much. Any cheaper options?

[zmudshark]

FWIW, Home Depot’s deal of the day is Ryobi and Rigid tools.

[veloduffer]

Originally Posted by redir

How do you like the lawn mower? I was seriously considering an electric mower last year but we went with gas thinking that in a few years electric tech will even be better.

I don't know about Ryobi (other than a mini air compressor for the car tires) but for lawn equipment we've been using EGO (bought from Home Depot). We've got a blower, weed whacker/trimmer, and just bought the new lawnmower. A bit pricey but has two blades and has about 1 hr run time. So light and quiet that we sold our (very good) Honda lawnmower. For small yards, they are ideal.

[reuben]

Originally Posted by steveandbarb1

I need a decent belt sander to refinish kitchen countertop (all butcher block) appears Makita is the best, but for something we will use seldom...250+ bit much. Any cheaper options?

Rent. Home Depot and places like that rent power tools, pressure washers, nail guns, generators, tillers, trucks, etc. If you're not in the U.S. check your local big box hardware stores.

Check craigslist. Buy it, use it, and then either sell it or keep it.

Or buy it and then sell it on ebay. I did that once for a large project.

[unterhausen]

If it's only for one job, Harbor Freight is an option. I wouldn't go with cordless tools for one time use. I decided I needed a grinder to clean up a floor. The HF grinder lasted through that job and a number of other jobs before the magic smoke came out.

I do like the rental idea, but you have to be prepared to get the job done quickly. Rental places will take unused sandpaper back, so you don't have to go to Home Depot if it's not convenient.

[jmoore]

+1 for the Ryobi lime green 18v stuff. It works fine for whatever I've thrown at it (a lot), aside from the angle grinder chewing up battery life WAY too fast. It's the only thing I've been disappointed in.

I've also used a bunch of Ridgid tools and they were definitely a step up in quality and power.

I do have a Harbor Freight corded sawsall. It has worked much better than the $40 I paid for it. I've gotten much more use from it than I thought I would.

[loxx0050]

I'm tempted to get some Milwaukee M12 tools as I have been trying to find the 10oz M12 Caulk Gun on sale (that one is tough to find on sale...I missed on out on a brand new one from an authorized seller by 1 day actually....still searching loosely). Also very interested in the Hackzall too as I find my reciprocating saw cumbersome to use at times. Plus I saw you can get heated jackets from Milwaukee and it uses their M12 or M18 as the power source. Thought it was interesting and if I ever had a field job outside in the cold I'd consider it. Probably would never actually buy one but that portable band saw and M12 copper pipe cutting tools they have interested me though. That and their M12 3/8" right angle ratchet looks like a great tool to have in tight spaces where it is hard to physically turn a manual ratchet.

For reference I've got Porter Cable cordless stuff in the older 18V line for nearly 9 years and they still all work fine. Have the flashlight/spotlight (regular bulb style), reciprocating saw, drill, small impact (40 ft-lbs max torque I think it was), 6" (or was it 7") circular saw. Also have a corded Porter Cable oscillating tool (that thing is handy). Had the original 18V batteries not hold a charge for very long anymore and bought some aftermarket 20V Li-Ion Porter Cable compatible batteries off of Amazon along with an 18V to 20V battery adapter too. Works fine actually and now I don't need to replace a bunch of tools due to lack of battery availability.

Also took those same 20V batteries that I bought had an adapter available for Black and Decker as I have a cordless 18V edge trimmer (that battery it came with is also shot as I can barely get 30 minutes of use out of a full charge). These Li-Ion are so much better as I got the 6aH ones and I can run it for the whole yard's worth of edging I'd need and still have power to spare to do the same work several times over again.

[572cv]

I've always admired the Makita stuff, just really good tools. But I wanted some small, powerful drill and driver, and checked out the Milwaukee M12 brushless (fuel) items. Really small impact driver. Decently small drill. They have been great tools, really the best feel and operation I've experienced. Now I have the hackzall and the little circular saw as well in the set, both brushless tools. This tech is just fine, and the ergonomics are nice. The batteries have held out just fine. Even after a half day of use, they are usually holding half power. You have to assess your needs, though, and we all have different ones.

There was some mention in the thread of lawnmower, blower, general outside equipment. For this, we've found that much more power is better, and have settled on the EGO line of stuff. 56V. The leaf blower is good enough to blow light snow, the chain saw is just bomber, the lawnmower is excellent, and the string trimmer is a very nice implementation of this tool. We started with the chain saw to try it out, and over a few years have gotten to having a lot less gas flowing around here. With some PV panels and powerwalls in place, it feels like we're starting to get somewhere on the carbon front.

[redir]

Originally Posted by chismog

Electric mower for sure. I guess it depends on how big your yard is, but for my 1000ft of grass an electric mower is a delight to use. It's like vacuuming the lawn!

We recently got a Dyson electric vacuum and I'll never plug the old one into a wall again. But I must say I don't care to be mowing the lawn or vacuuming when I could be riding my bike

[C40_guy]

I started with a Dewalt 20V drill, added circular saw and reciprocating saw.

Now I've got a string trimmer and hedge trimmer.

Amazing how much of a game changer cordless garden tools are. No more schlepping 100 foot extension cords...

The Dewalt tools are pretty good...no major problems with the ones I've got, and i like being able to swap batteries across them...

My property is small enough that I could use a cordless mower...but I'd want it to be self propelled, and those are expensive.

So when my 15 YO Honda crapped the bed last year, I bought a 3 YO Honda off Craigslist. I've now spent about $750 over almost 30 years purchasing three year old Hondas. If this latest one gives me any issues, I promise to convert, as I do get free juice from my roof...

[zmudshark]

Home Depot has M18 on sale right now. Some kits are 60% off.