Tool advice.. switch brands..corded or cordless? Off grid cabin
Hello there. I have lots of tools. Basically I have mostly everything a diy homeowner guy might need do do just about anything.
tools were acquired over the years, mostly on an “as needed” basis, and are a mish/mash of various brands. (Basically whatever was “on sale” when needed”.
a few years ago I bought a rigid cordless “kit” that has all my tools in a cordless version. Rigid was chosen simply for the LSA. I love cordless (drill and driver are essential to have cordless). Circular saw, Sawzall, routers, etc are used so infrequently that I can make do with plugging in.
fast forward to the present and I’m no the owner of a family cabin to which my tools will now be permanent residents. This cabin is remote. By remote I mean drag I g stuff down a hill onto a boat remote. No water, no hydro. Electricity is supplied by generator.
again, drill and driver is cordless and Sawzall, Skilsaw are corded. I’m still ok with running a generator for the one or two times a year I’ll actually use the tools.
however due to my own stupidity my trusty old skill saw took a tumble off a roof and had an early death. A cabin neighbor graciously loaned me his Milwaukee cordless “worm drive” saw. It was this loaner that is responsible for this post.
first off, corded or not I’ve never used a worm drive before. I’m hooked. It just makes sense with the blade on the left side. So I’m replacing my dead saw with a worm drive.
so, please and thank you in advance but I’d like some input, advice, dos and don’ts, shoulda, coulda, would ask, and “I’ll never do that again”.
corded or non corded that is the question? It seems the cordless stuff now a days is really good. Almost as good as the corded. Running the generator is not a big,deal but man is cordless so much quicker. I’ll add though that even if the tools are cordless I’d be running the generator for the nail gun (unless I buy cordless).
so I’m torn between using what I got and replacing as needed, or going all in and replacing everything (I’d like to stick with rigid but in Canada Home Depot doesn’t seem to have any rigid tools).
I can just replace my Skilsaw for now and all the rest as needed or I can jump ship to Milwaukee as they seem to have a huge variety of tools.
im not loaded, but at the same time money isn’t tight and I’m at the stage in my life that I like to buy nice stuff. Buy once cry once. I’d like to buy the stuff that I should have bought 20 years ago.
also keep in mind with a cabin comes new expenses, and a new boat or floating barge.
I realize tools are personal and I’m gonna get tons of opinions, but I’d like to hear some opinions. Feel free to ask questions if there’s something I didn’t mention that may be of help.
in a nutshell: cordless or corded? Stick with rigid and replace with whatever as needed? Or just replace everything?
i will admit having one platform and one battery system would be nice but I’m all about quality and function.
I splurged and bought a veto pro pack tool bag that was in my opinion way over priced, but it was the only product I could find that made sense to me to organize my tools.
I don’t want junk, but the products have to make sense
Replies
Home Depot in Canada has tons of Ridgid tools. Maybe you are searching Rigid instead of Ridgid?
Autocorrect on my iPad. I live 5 minutes from Home Depot, and I’m always on their app.
Home Depot (at least in my city ) never has anything in stock. Even some of the online Ridgid (corded worm drive for example) is out of stock.
It almost seems like HD is dropping the Ridgid line or possibly trying to push other brands?? They have tons and tons of the ryobi stuff. Most likely more than I’ll need but I hate the green color and ryobi does t have a worm.......
Ryobi is homeowner quality, I have it and use it and they make a good product for the price point and I will be sticking with it, but if I were able to start over I would go with Milwaukee.
People like Ridgid because of the lifetime warranty but the Milwaukee is a better product.
All that said if I were in your position I wouldn't replace what I had just because I needed a worm drive circular saw. Go out and buy the saw and keep what you have.
Spend your money on the boat or a fishing pole.
So do I replace the saw with a corded or cordless?
That's your choice. Asking the internet is like saying "what color should I paint my house...?"
I have always been a Makita person (1st 12v drill in 1992 and it still works strong after working for a boat dealer 10yrs and plenty of time run under water-nicad batteries not so great though with Li options these days) and now have their 18v system (2-1/4” Impacts, 3/8” impact, 2-1/2” impacts, circular saw, track saw, reciprocating saw, 5/8 drill at my main house. I ended up with DeWalt 20v at our lake house because of a combo kit on the clearance shelf at HD that was too good to pass up. I’m not unhappy with it and it works just as good as the Makita. I also have Bosch 12v small drill/driver/impact. I do wish I had gone with Milwaukee M12 system as Bosch hasn’t seemed to roll out the breadth of tools Milwaukee has. All manufacturers even all have good quick/light work outdoor tools-blowers, chainsaw, pole saw, etc. I’d go with whatever is available readily and locally in case you ever need/want to run to the store and add on a bare tool for a particular project. Also if you haven’t yet, get an oscillating tool. They are so handy. For the heavy impact work I have stopped using air tools, so I’d say cordless all the way. The one thing I do still have corded is a heavy duty drill. With a paddle mixer it will mix a 80lb bag of concrete. I couldn’t justify the cost of a large hole hog drill or cordless mixer.
One other thought. A bunch of years back I bought a Porter Cable drill and saw set it was 19.2V. The tools were good. But then they discontinued the 19.2V series...
Also the batteries dont last forever and a new battery costs almost as much as the combo kits.
Lesson learned: pick a platform you think will be around for a long time.
Cordless tools are super convenient, but if you're stuck with a generator, charging becomes the issue. Will you take batteries home with you? If they need charging on site, will running a generator for 30-60 minutes at a time get old?
We run the generator every night regardless of using tools. We have the ridged 18v fans. 4 batteries, so they always get charged.
Drills and drivers obviously need to be cordless. Skillsaw and table saws can be corded. I,really don’t,use,them much.
Maybe things have changed but I had a battery powered recip saw and went to use it demoing an old house roof. Went to cut strips running parallel to the rafters to pull the roof down and she lasted about 10 minutes before it was out of charge. Full battery to start etc. My point is those saws (Sawzall and Skilsaw worm drive) pull a lot of power. Way more than a drill/driver. I worry about both the power during the actual cutting as well as the run life per charge. Even with extra batteries, stopping in mid cut to change is a PITA.
I cant think of a homeowner scenario where you wouldnt have enough power or enough battery life with a cordless. It is so convenient. I only have a couple of corded tools and I just cant stand having to deal with cords anymore.
FYI, I invested in Milwaukee, i have both M12 and M18 tools. It is way overkill but i enjoy it.
Nirvana: A good set of cordless, and a quiet generator to ensure you had charging capability and flexibility to use corded when you need to.
I have this generator, and it really works well. https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-2-300-Watt-Recoil-Start-Bluetooth-Super-Quiet-Gasoline-Powered-Digital-Inverter-Generator-with-CO-Shutdown-Sensor-RYi2322VNM/313551452
I guess Milwaukee chainsaws are so good.
When I started building my house, there was no electricity on the property (just got some last week woo hoo!). It gave me an excuse to buy a bunch of M18 Milwaukee tools. I have built the floor and walls with my M18 worm drive saw and framing nailer. I just now got my miter saw running so all cuts were with the handheld saw. Power is great, the 5.0ah battery usually lasts me all day. Framing nailer again has tons of power, it is a bit heavy and the 5.0ah battery usually lasts me about 4 hours of continuous nailing like my walls. I'm in no rush to get an air compressor hooked up, ill continue on with the walls and roof with the cordless stuff and my corded miter saw.
Cordless can be great - until the next evolution changes the battery and you find you can no longer get replacement batteries for less than the cost of a new kit (if at all).
Perfect example of planned obsolescence and a pure waste of our planet's resources.
Rebuilding batteries can be done - best done by a shop that specializes in this. Did this for a pair of my DeWalt 12V batteries. Cost was less than new DeWalt batteries and performance seems about the same.
I'm a fan of cordless frequently used tools (drill, drivers, trim saws, etc.) but I still stick with 110VAC for those tools that get used infrequently and need substantial power.
I agree with the "Maybe, maybe not". I have a bunch of cordless tools. They're the ones I use all the time up on a roof, high in the air, out behind the shed or barn, or out back in the woods (hammer drill, driver, skilsaw). If there's power nearby and I'm not up on staging or on a ladder I use my corded tools. Cordless tools are expensive, and they weigh more than corded tools, sometimes a lot more. No need to go all-in on one or the other just for the sake of losing the cord. It's the same for me with air nailers. I still don't own an electric cordless because I own a bunch of pneumatic versions, and the cordless are heavy! Having said that, my next cordless tools will be an angle grinder and multi-tool, both tools I use in locations away from power all the time. Much nicer to bring the tool to the work rather than having to bring the work to the corded tool. I'll probably eventually get a cordless nailer, but not sure.