How does the new Li-Ion cordless drill fare?

Have anyone got either the Milwaukee V28™ or the Makita LXT400 for Xmas?

I want to know how they compare vs the old NiCd work horse like Dewalt 12V/18V XRP. I got to help my bro-in-law build a 1/2 house right after the rain season stops.

Home Depot had a nice pre-xmas sales on the Milwaukee for 20% off, but I missed that already!

Thanx,
Jonathan

Hi Jonathan...

I`m not the best person to rely upon for an endorsement, for I only use power tools on an infrequent basis (around the house for minor repairs, and all), BUT, having said that....

IMHO, these new V28 Miwaukee Electric tools are truly spectacular!

I bought the 4-piece combo kit through the internet, an it was one of the best puchases I`ve ever made. The tools are well made, and have exceptional power. (There`s so much power in the drill, for instance, that you need to hang on tightly so that the torque doesn`t screw up your efforts when using it.)

My prior cordless drill was a Miwaukee Electric 12V. For years I thought that the Milwaukee Electric 12V was one of the best drills made for my purposes. WELL, now having tried the V28 system, the difference is like night and day. The V28 is a quantum leap in what I`m used to using...and a huge improvement. (I will never again have "too little" power for the job at hand.)

Anyway...one big vote here for Milwaukee Electric.

Best wishes to you!

Just remember you will have to replace the batteries more often and they will be more $ to replace as well.

Why is that?

Thanx guys for the input. I might go with the Makita LXT400 since it's alot lighter.

DBrier: Batteries are Li-Ion. They are not as common as the NiCd counter part right now.

Eugene said:

Just remember you will have to replace the batteries more often and they will be more $ to replace as well.

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Li-ion has about a 2 - 3 year lifespan, even if unused. They have about 500 complete charge/discharge cycles. Use up the battery once a day and it lasts 500 days. Use 1/2 and it lasts 600 to 1000 days.

New Li-ion cells are being introduced by Toshiba this year that will not have these limitations. (Hooray!)

You beat me to it but yes, Lithium Ion batteries have a limited lifespan, and the average MTBF is 300 cycles, its the really high end Lithium Ion that go to 500 cycles and those are rare and way $, probably more than what your drill cost.
I got 8 years out of the 9.6v NiCads that my drill uses, 1995 to 2003 and then bought three new batteries, one in 03, one in 04 and one in 05 so I still have many more years of use. I stayed with the 9.6v because of its light weight compared to all the big heavy drills they have now.

DeWalt claims to be releasing a new line of 36V tools this year based on new technology from a company called A123 Systems (www.a123systems.com) that, according to their (A123 systems) PR, will deliver 10x longer cycle life, 5x power gains and 5-minute charge time. You may want to do some additional researching before buying anything right now.

GalvanickLucifer said:

DeWalt claims to be releasing a new line of 36V tools this year based on new technology from a company called A123 Systems (www.a123systems.com) that, according to their (A123 systems) PR, will deliver 10x longer cycle life, 5x power gains and 5-minute charge time. You may want to do some additional researching before buying anything right now.

Click to expand...

Wow! Is this something we could see in flashlights soon?