What I have noticed with many of the contractors I deal with is they start with the Dewalt but end up going to Milwaukee. I was the same way. Dewalt was cheaper to purchase but by the time you factored in the cost of new batteries every year or 2 Milwaukee was cheaper in the long run. So far I have only written off one Milwaukee battery in the 15 years I have used them.Agree with you all the way, but just a bit confused with the paragraph I quoted above. I was always under the impression that Milwaukee and DeWalt had a friendly rivalry among the Pros. That those were the two brands (although certainly not the only ones) that a lot of Pros selected for use on the job-site. Typically strongly preferring one over the other. But as years go by, things sometimes change for the worst; sometimes for the better. Do a lot of folks now associate DeWalt more closely with Ryobi instead of Milwaukee?
Not trying to stir up a hornets nest. Just genuinely curious.
It might also be a regional thing. The Dewalt service center here is a nightmare to deal with. It takes months to get parts. They practically refuse to give out parts diagrams. There is no warranty because they always say the tool was abused ( even if it never worked right out of the box). With the hourly rate they charged for repair you were better off buying a new tool ( just not from them). You have to call several times before they even answer the phone. I'm sure the only reason they are still open is because many large companies have a policy to only buy direct from the manufacturer.
To this day I have called the Milwaukee service center once about getting a replacement chuck. Actually it was more because there were several different part numbers listed and I wanted clarification on the correct one. They sent a rep to me who installed the new chuck the same day and didn't even charge me for it.