Preferred battery powered tools/hammer drill?

I am looking to get some battery powered tools; specifically a new drill. I might as well get a hammer drill so it Ill have the option to use either way. I don't want to break the bank but would like a pretty good brand. It will get occasional use, not every day nor week most likely. I would be open to the Harbor Freight versions as well, just don't know how good their batteries are.

I like Ryobi brand.... I've had Good luck with them

I have a good amount of Ryobi stuff and it is great for homeowner stuff for sure. I do not like the drills or the Sawzall, they are both pretty weak even the brushless model. I keep a 15 year old 18V Dewalt drill active for when I need a drill. The Ryobi 1/2 impact I got for $99 on black Friday a year or two ago is awesome, it crushes my older Dewalt 1/2 impact, so much so I gave my Dewalt one to my neighbor.

I have a Dewalt drill, old one at least 20 years old. The batteries are pretty much dead now, not bad for NiCads. When I climbed wind turbines we used these a lot, real heavy abuse really. They held up decent. We ran them so hard the batteries would get too hot to touch and on occasion the drill would start to smoke.

I use Milwaukee M12 for work and light stuff in the garage, about 7 years on those, Lithium Ion batteries, which are much better than the old school NiCads.

I also have a Ryobi 18V One+ caulking gun, it works great but not that old so I don't know what battery life is like.

No idea on HF stuff.

I have a DeWalt set. They're only used for light household chores, and are perfectly suited for that.
Also check out the reviews on Porter-Cable stuff. A buddy in the pool equipment repair business swears by them, and his stuff get used and abused.

My 18V Bosch drills and driver have been flawless for about 10 years. I also have a set of Dewalt 20V that I keep in the house, so far with limited use they've been good for 5 or so years.

Another vote for DeWalt

I find to 18v Ryobi to be as good or almost as good as anything, at a great price. I couldn't live without the 3/8 drive impact, I get cranky when I have to turn a wrench by hand anymore. In Ryobi, the regular drills are pretty crappy, but the 18v hammer drill is awesome.

I have used Ryobi. They don’t last me and the batteries don’t last long,either. Since I switched to Milwaukee 18v Fuel brushless. I have not bought a battery or worn out a tool. I use mine hard almost daily.

I have used DeWalt for the past 25 years for work.

I have owned Milwaukee, Dewalt and Ridgid. For sure, the ones I had the most issues with were the Milwaukee. Batteries were terrible. We have the newer Milwaukee tools and work and it seems batteries continue to be the biggest issue with them. I have had much better luck with Dewalt for sure.

Always watch around this time of year. There are some fantastic deals on packages. Usually Home Depot and Lowes battle it out. For me, its usually get 2-3 years out of a set and then just toss everything because it ends up being cheaper just to buy a whole new set rather than buying batteries.

Oh..and don't get sucked into the 'Lifetime' Battery warranty on the Ridgid. Been there, done that. When they fail....that IS the lifetime. They give you one new battery and then you are done....done.....and done. First you will have to provide proof of registration, name your first born child Ridgid, swear you will never buy any other tools from anyone ever again, then they will take their sweet time and ship you batteries from the factory that take like 3 months to get .....so, there is that issue.

Dewalt for me.

I have a dewalt normal drill at my shop and sawsall. A friend of mine has a dewalt battery hammer drill that's at least 10-12 years old. He just bought new batteries for it. Because the old ones were dieing pretty quickly.

I also have a cheap drill from Costco for home that I got before the dewalt. I originally bought it thinking when the battery pack dies I'll toss the whole thing out and buy a new one but it's still going.

Where I work we run the Ridgid 18v line. Drills, small impact drivers, sawzalls, 1/2" inch impact guns, small oscillating tools, angle grinder, sds drill, one guy even has a radio and a light that run off the 18v batteries..

We have dozens of the 2 and 4 amp hour batteries and a bunch of chargers.

Overall they are pretty good tools, powerful, stand up to abuse, and good battery life. I have actually grown to prefer them over my DeWalts I have at home. I definitely use them a lot more than my home tools.

As stated above, don't get scammed into the battery guarantee they sell--you have to have every I dotted and t crossed, and even then it is a PITA to get a replacement battery. It is easier just to buy a new one.

Other than that, I like them.

I have a mixture of DeWalt, Milwaukee and something Japanese I forget the name of...

The one I use the most is the DeWalt adjustable impact wrench, it came with two battery packs. Nice touch. Easy to loosen and zip lug nuts off, and back on again (tho I hand-torque the final tightening).

I haven't been disappointed by any of them. I'm not the most intense or abusive user either.
- Art

I have 7 of the M12 Milwaukees
and like their pocketable compactness yet good power.

On my two oldest small M12 batteries one of the two retaining tabs has both broken off on both battery cases.
This broken clip is an often reported flaw in both the official Milwaukee batteries and the many eBay knock-off unofficial batteries.

The official Milwaukee M12 high capacity batteries have
Samsung made INR18650 3.7 volt 3 amp-hr rated lithium cells inside.
These are the same size cell as many electronic vape devices use and these Samsung cells can be bought from local vape stores.
Chinese made versions of these Li cells have a bad reputation for exploding.

Samsung and Panasonic are regarded as the leading lithium ion battery manufacturers.
( I do remember when the lithium ion batteries inside Samsung Galaxy cell phones were exploding and burning)

My brother owns more than 20 of the M18 Milwaukee tools, uses them heavily on commercial jobs, and reports that the Milwaukee batteries hold up better than Dewalts.

You can use Milwaukee M18 batteries in Ryobi units with this adapter

https://www.amazon.com/Ryobi-to-Milwaukee-Battery-Adapter/dp/B075SLPC6D

I’ve switched to dewalt in the last few years and they’ve been great. Used to have a hodge lodge of stuff before, based on what was easy to get. Hitachi was a great brand back when they were made in Japan.

The dewalt hammer drill just got it’s first use this fall for a new outside outlet install. Drilled right through the thick basement wall. The impact gun I have goes in stages up to 700 foot pounds. Has the variable trigger and I love it.

9 years ago my wife and I moved out our on own. We got a "fixer upper" house and didn't have a ton of money so I got a Ryobi basic set that included a circular saw, 3/8" drill and flashlight. At the time I could find new Ryobi tools on ebay alot cheaper than Home Depot sold them. I ended up buying a sawzall, impact driver, hammer drill and 1/2" drill. During the last 9 years we've redone the entire house, put on a living room and master bedroom addition, added a garage, 2 decks, built multiple deer box stands, chicken coop, along with multiple other projects. The house we bought was built in the early 1900's so some of the demo required cutting hard old logs/boards. I did end up "burning" up 2 circular saws, the hammer drill, 1/2" drill and the flash light quit working. Since I have so many tools I have a half dozen batteries so when the battery would die, I would just get another one. Turns out that the continuous use at full trigger speed on the saw and drill makes them overheat (I never said I was easy on my stuff). The last time I burned up the saw, I ended up just buying a replacement motor for it since it was 1/2 the cost of a saw. Surprisingly the impact driver is still going strong and it gets the most use of any of the tools. The lithium batteries do WAY better than the old NiCad batteries. The new all black batteries (They are lighter) but aren't as good as the grey ones IMO. I think there are some other brands out there that are nicer and lighter and would last longer, however for the money and the abuse I put Ryobi tools thru, I'll continue to use them, esp since I can find deals on ebay for them.

We use Milwaukee exclusively at work. They get the snot beat out of them and ask for more. The brushless tools are the ones to get, so if you find a good deal on a batt powered tool, I would try and avoid ones with brushes.

The 1/2" impact gun has amazed me countless times, I reach for that more than pneumatic stuff at the shop!

The batt powered hammer drill( ds, the big hammer drill) works very well, but we wound up buying a Milwaukee corded version just because of use and battery drainage.

PM me, I will send you contact info for a Milwaukee dealer who beats everyone's prices.

Fwiw........Milwaukee and Ryobi owned/made in same plant

Thanks for all the input. The wife got me the Harbor Freight Hercules hammer drill, price was real good and they had $25 off when tool, battery and charger all bought at same time. It was like $107 for it all. I have an older set of saws, and drill. I think I may try to get those old units to use the new battery. I saw some conversion videos on youtube. Luckily, I kept the old batteries so I just need take the top piece off the old battery and get a piece to connect to the new battery.

https://www.protoolreviews.com/news/power-tool-manufacturers-who-owns-them/43632/

it is surprising what power tool connections there are

What company makes Bauer tools sold by Harbor Freight?
The tools are made by various OEMs including
Stanley Black & Decker,
Western Forge and
Apex Tool Group.

This website says that
Ryobi +One 18V Lithium Ion battery packs 130501002
have Sanyo made Lithium 18650 size cells inside.

https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Cell+Re-balance+of+Ryobi+One++18V+Li-ion+Battery+(130501002)/13286

Can anyone confirm that Ryobi uses the Sanyo made Li cells?

Panasonic bought Sanyo a few years ago,
sold the Japanese Eneloop NiMH battery factories to Fujitsu,
and built new factories for battery production in China.

Milwaukee M12 uses the more expensive Samsung Korean made Li 18650 size cells,
and I assume the Milwaukee M18 uses Samsung too.

Since Techtronix owns
Ryobi, Milwaukee and Rigid (Orange body color)
I wonder what Li ion cells are inside Rigid battery packs?

Dewalt to Ryobi DIY adapter

https://hackaday.com/2018/02/20/cross-brand-adapter-makes-for-blended-battery-family/

video on correcting a Li Ryobi battery pack where a few cells dropped below the protection voltage

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p13iznXQNDg

Milwaukee M18 for me

I'm all in on Milwaukee M12 and M18 tools. My experience the batteries last a very long time.

December 2019 I spent a bunch for new Milwaukee tools. One is a 1/2 inch M18 drill driver. It is an utter POS! I have barely used it. Its in repair (dropped off today) again for the same issue - clutch does not work. Second time - its an intermittent problem this time, maybe 20% of the time. In their infinite wisdom, they went to electronic clutch. It is garbage. Repair shop said it was the third one this week for the same problem.

My newer Milwaukee M12 drill driver and my old Milwaukee 14.4 drill driver are great, but this M18 is not...............

I have a mix of Milwaukee M12 and M18, all Fuel tools. The impact impressed me so much I bought more tools. The grinder/die grinder go through batteries pretty fast. The 3/8 ratchet isn't super torquey. I have a Dewalt 1/2" impact and other assorted tools at work, and none of them seem to do as well as the Milwaukee tools at home. Possibly apples to oranges, but I like the red stuff better.