If you told a carpenter that you relied on nothing but a battery drill to do all your screwing and drilling jobs 15 years ago, they would have laughed at you. These days, cordless drills, nailguns and other such cordless tools are their most used devices. Battery technology has improved vastly over the past decade, and in some cases, the tools that they power can perform just as well as a corded tool.
One of the main problems with batteries in the past was their ability to last the distance. There is nothing more annoying than having your battery run out of juice halfway through a job. Modern-day Li-Ion batteries can provide power for extended periods of time, and also recharge quite quickly — making them a worthwhile investment.
The cordless tool industry has grown exponentially since the release of the Li-ion battery, mainly because of the vast improvement over the other older battery types. Yes, it is true that some of the other battery types listed in this article are outdated, but they do still have their uses and they are still sold with some cordless tools such as cordless lawn mowers.
The super quick answer: If you want the quick answer as to which battery type is best, then you will probably want to go with a Li-ion battery.
Of course, there are many other things to consider, if you want to learn a bit more then please keep reading. When you are shopping for a cordless tool, you will notice that you are bombarded with different battery specifications. The most common specifications that are all over the packaging and marketing materials are:. Well, surely it is easy right? While this seems like the obvious answer, it does depend on numerous factors… which we will look at.
What does Ah mean? What does it mean when the Ah or a battery is X. These are some of the most common questions we get. Ah, or ampere-hour is the total amount of charge your battery can deliver in one hour. Under ideal conditions, a cordless lawn mower that continuously draws 2.
So by that logic, a 4. This is all assuming of course that the mower draws a constant 2. There is another thing to consider here, and that is the fact that a 4. In some circumstances, it may actually last more than twice as long. It all depends on the type of battery, how it is wired up and the control circuitry in the battery itself.
But you can still use the basic reasoning mentioned here to roughly judge how long a battery might last. So what does Ah mean on a battery? To put it simply, Ah is a measure of how much charge the battery can provide. A simple analogy would be the size of the fuel tank in a car. To put this in very simple terms, the higher the voltage, the more powerful the battery.
Some cordless devices require more power to run, so a cordless drill that is designed to drill through tough timber is going to need more power than a drill that is only designed to do light work. Yes, higher voltage generally means the tool is more powerful — but it also means more weight in the tool and these higher voltage tools also generally cost a lot more.
It all comes down to choosing the right tool for the job, remember that bigger is not always better. The memory effect occurs when a battery is constantly partly drained, then charged without being allowed to fully discharge. The name comes from the fact that the battery remembers how much of its charge was drained before being charged and then uses the shorter charge period as its new capacity. Cycle life is a measurement of how many times a battery can be charged before losing the ability to retain energy.
For example, Li-Ion batteries in cordless tools generally have a cycle life of So theoretically you could charge a Li-Ion battery at least times before it would need to be replaced.
After a cordless tool battery has been charged, if the battery is not used immediately it starts to slowly lose its charge. Some battery technologies have a much faster self-discharge rate than others. A deep discharge is allowing the battery to completely drain of energy through use.
This can be problematic for some battery types not all and can severely reduce the batteries cycle life and capacity. On the flip side, there are some battery types that should periodically be allowed to deep discharge in order to maintain a healthy battery. Most guides that you read about cordless tools batteries will be focused mainly on Lithium Ion Li-Ion and that is with good reason. Li-Ion have become the go-to battery of choice for most cordless tool manufacturers.
This is for a few reasons:. Well, we have tried to make it simple to compare the different battery types with this handy image below. Maybe — but it does give us a few important insights into the battery types. From this info, we can take the following away:. So the long and the short of it is : A Li-Ion battery is smaller and can provide a lower current for a much longer period than a NiMH battery.
But a NiMH battery can deliver high bursts of current when needed. The Nickel Cadmium battery has a long history, in fact, it was first invented in ! Of course, it only started being mass produced in and it grew in popularity from there. Bosch is a name that signifies the high quality cordless power tools and people who have used its products; they really know the worth of this brand. Bosch has introduced high quality and professional products so their tools are the first preference of the skilled people.
Its tools are powered by the Lithium Ion technology so you can even handle the toughest jobs of your site. Another success secret of this brand is the variety.
Bosch has introduced plenty of products that cater the needs of people belonging to different fields in a perfect way. On the other hand, its 36V cordless power tools have been designed and dedicated to the industrial skilled men and the tradesmen.
Prices of Bosch products are generally high but they offer high quality and durable products that last longer and you can get most out of them. Bosch is offering a huge range of cordless tools like cordless drills , drivers, cordless hammer drills, cordless radios, screwdrivers, angle grinders, cordless circular saws, impact wrenches, cordless jigsaws, work lights ,band saws, dust extractors, rotary multiple tools , orbital sanders palm routers , planers and list is going on. These entire products are equally efficient and make your whole work a breeze for you.
So you can enjoy your task by facilitating it with any of the above mentioned Bosch products. Another well known name in tool industry is Dewalt that is famous for its high quality tools.
This is a premium brand that has a significant importance for industrial and construction professionals. This is a budget friendly brand that does not cost much on your pocket. And this budget friendly feature makes its products more popular among the users.
Dewalt is a brand that offers multi-rage of cordless power tools at very affordable or reasonable prices. Most of its cordless power tools belong to the 18V and the 20V systems. On the other hand, there is a small range of some specialized or high end tools that come with 60V or V batteries.
The most important thing of Dewalt cordless power tools is that they are the first preference of the amateur users because they are really easy to use and hold during work. Contractors also like to use these cordless tools.
Its cordless saws are very famous because they are available at more reasonable price in comparison to the other brands. Dewalt products generally have three advantages. First of all, they are light in weight so you can hold them without any trouble.
Second is the power. These cordless power tools are mighty enough to perform the different fastening tasks in less time. They save you from human exertion. Thirdly, they offer long lasting batteries. Long lasting battery means you can use these tools without any fear for longer time period.
So your investment will not go wrong and they will pay you in the long run. Dewalt offers a huge variety of cordless power tools like they offer drills, drivers, circular saws, wood working planter kit, hammer drills, right-angle drill and many more. These products are equally efficient and the most important thing is that they are pocket friendly.
This brand actually belongs to Japan and it aims to serve the construction workers and professional tradesmen. The most promising feature of this brand is that many of its products come with the double 18V batteries so they provide great strength to the cordless tool and it works very efficiently.
When we talk about the feature of reliability, we come to know that this brand has established its products on this basic quality. Its cordless power tools are famous because they are highly reliable. Whatever tool, you are using from this brand like impact driver or a circular saw, they are equally reliable and they will truly satisfy you with its amazing performance. Satisfaction of work is guaranteed. The best thing about Makita is that it is introducing innovations slowly and steadily but it is continuously trying to provide something new to its valuable users.
Its product line is getting broad with the passage of time and it has revamped its 12 V Max platform that is really worth mentioning here. On the whole Makita is a very good brand that has a very reliable as well as a competitive cordless power tool line. Makita is trying to introduce new tools with the new innovations to cater broader segment of users and it really aims to satisfy its users too. When we have a look on the cordless tool line, we realize that it has introduced cordless router that is providing amazing results to its users.
Its high end X2 products are really marking a higher place in industry. They are really appreciated by the users. Hitachi is a famous Japanese brand that started its journey in with the name of Hitachi Koki Co. Initially they started to produce electric power tools with the other mining machinery. There are many people who say that Hitachi is relatively new in comparison to Makita, Dewalt and Bosch but it does not make a great difference because Hitachi power tools whether cordless or other ones are equally competing in performance with the other big brands.
And that is why Hitachi is regarded as the best mid range tool brand of cordless products. Its cordless power tools are ideal one for handymen and DIYers. Some of its products are too good and they are suitable for contractors. Hitachi is a brand that offers valuable products with decent performance. Most of the cordless tools of Hitachi belong to 12 or 18V platforms. As far as the cordless tool line is concerned, we come to know that Hitachi is not offering a big tool line like the other brands but the tools that it is providing are worth using.
They are efficient and the feature of durability is high. Aside from the wide variety of tools available on the platform, Ryobi is constantly launching new products or revisions to existing products which speaks volumes about the brand. Additionally, Ryobi also tends to be an excellent value as Home Depot is constantly rotating sales for Ryobi power tools with either steep discounts or free tools with the purchase of a kit.
The company sells mid-tier tools designed for homeowners and DIYers. RIGID tools and Ryobi are generally in the same quality and price range, and if I were to choose a platform, Ryobi would be the way to go. Ryobi simply has a significantly wider range of tool options available and is much more active in development compared to RIGID. Kobalt Tools are Lowes in-house brand of power tools. These are designed to be value products, but Kobalt appears to be more targeting a higher end crowd with their new lineup of Volt brushless tools.
The volt brushless system seems like a decent contender with more power compared to 20V or 18V offerings, but the ecosystem appears to be severely lacking. This one is pretty important.
Not all brands and platforms offer a cordless flooring stapler just like not all platforms offer a cordless pole saw. Consider everything down to the battery and battery chargers. Will you have enough battery to last a whole day even if you have one or two extra people helping you?
If it makes sense, you may even have to jump into multiple tool brands. Determine what your use cases are before jumping into a tool brand. These costs can add up quickly. DeWALT has been my favorite premium tool brand for quite some time. Ryobi has recently become one of my favorite tool brands as my go to mid-tier, value tool. Aside from the great pricing, what really impresses me about Ryobi is their super wide selection of tools as well as many of their user-centric innovations. Stuff like Tri-LED lighting and auto-loading chucks really do make a big difference.
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