I am in the process of getting a (hopefully) good cordless drill. In the process of comparison I am not aware of the meaning of the term amp-hr. I’d appreciate the wisdom of the more informed and any additional advice. thanks russ
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Amp-hours is the measure of battery capacity. A 1AH battery will supply one Amp of current for 1 hour, or 2 Amps for 30 minutes, or 1/2 Amp for 2 hours, etc. It's not linear at the extremes though. A 1AH battery probably won't supply 3600 Amps for 1 second.
Don't buy until you see the current issue of FHB! We've got a review of 18v drills in it.
Go ahead and buy a 15.6 volt Panisonic now and be happy. You don't need to wait for some review of overly cumbersome 18 volt drills.
Funny, that was the drill that most impressed us, too. Andy Engel, The Former Accidental Moderator
I've been using a Panasonic 15.6v for about a month now, and have nothing but good things to say about it...torque, run time, balance, feel. It's very nice. I went into the store convinced I was going to buy a Metabo and walked out with the Panasonic after just picking the two up. The Panasonic is perfectly balanced, and the grip is just right for me.
My only concern is the NiMh batteries, which are supposedly not as good in the cold as NiCads and I'm told they will take fewer total charges in their life. But at 3.5 AH, they will need about 1/3 fewer charges in their life compared to a 2.6 Ah NiCad.
Anyone have any hard data about how NiMh stacks up vs NiCad?
Steve
Glad to hear it Andy. The reason I mentioned the Panisonic is that your post said the review was of 18 volt, and I didn't want him to miss out on this drill, just because it was not 18. Seems everyone is talking volts these days and the more is better mentality prevails more often than not. I, for one, believe the Panisonic is an excellent balance of comfort, power, and weight. If all you want is power and run time they make very powerfull drills that you never have to change batteries on - they have cords that come out of them and plug into an electrical outlet.
I want to inject my rant into this thread, apologies in advance.
Why can't the various mfr get together in some industry group and standardize batteries of the same voltage. I've got DeWalt, 12, 14.4 & 18V, Makita 9.6 (2 different) & 12, PC 15.6 and cheapie Black and Decker 14.4. At one time the DW and B&D batteries would fit each other but B&D changed that.
I've been thinking of a belt battery pack like for my video camera, with taps for different voltages and adapters to the various drills, saws and lights.
I'm not trying to rain on your review parade, but...I've gotten two tools because of your reader's reviews that totally sucked (I know, edit that sentence). One was the 10" Delta Sidekick (I'll never buy a portable Delta tool again, I have another piece o poop to back that up), and the latest was the Nebo expandable level. I am so glad I jumped on that one...not. My advice, take all the FHB reviews with a truck full of salt, and buy any expensive tool with a good return policy, and then work the h e l l out of it as quickly as you can.
Personally, I don't think FHB should recommend anything that hasn't been work tested for a year, 360 days, 12 months...it's a rough business, I need tools that can take it. EliphIno!
The Delta Sidekick review must have been, what, ten years ago? Sorry about that. What's the Nebo expanding level though? I don't remember reading that review.
Billy, most of our reviews are written by guys not much different from you, carpenters who take the tools into the field, share them with their crews, and use them for usually a month or better. We usually also devise some testing procedure, for example, sinking screws until the battery dies. We can't test long-term reliability, though. That's just not possible. Got any interest in trying out some tools? Drop me an e-mail.
AndyAndy Engel, The Former Accidental Moderator
Mighta been 9 years ago on that Sidekick, but when I drop 500 beans on a toy tool, I hold a grudge for a long time<I'm kinda grinning>. And now that I look, the FHB review was on a ComPac 4'(FHB 149 pg. 120), Boy they look the same. So how bout I doo a review on the Nebo!
As far the year thing, while I do like to know about the newest of what's out there, two months of jobsite testing might just break a tool in, three months might break it, and that's what I want to know. I won't hype a tool to any of my buddies unless I've put it through it's paces. A year on the job seems to do that.
I will email you, I finally found some electical 4 way splitters, and I have been using them for more than a year. All the outlets still work!!! Now, that's something to share...
EliphIno!
Got any interest in trying out some tools? Drop me an e-mail.>>>
me! me!...pick me!!!!!
Who are you Benny? What do you do? Drop an e-mail to [email protected]. Chris edits the Tools and Materials department.
Billy, as to putting tools in the field for a year, yeah, I'd love to do that too. Trouble is, after a year, half of them would change and the model we tested wouldn't be available anymore. And on one level at least, most of us can form an opinion on a new tool in 10 minutes. Very rarely does a new tool take more than that for its annoying features to become obvious. And a month is long enough for a great tool to work its way into my heart.
Andy Engel, The Former Accidental Moderator