Craftsman 20V cordless

Have used Dewalt for the last 7-8 years. But impact and drill are both giving out on me, and the dewalt batteries are stupid expensive and both of mine are dying. Craftsman is way, way cheaper and this is mostly homeowner use (both dewalt and craftsman are made in china). Has anyone used these newer craftsman cordless tools and has a strong opinion compared to the mainstays (milwaukee, rigid, dewalt, etc.)

not so fast.

the USA
DEWALT was founded in America and is still based in America. Each of our 7 US manufacturing facilities produces some of our most popular tools, including grinders, drills, impact drivers, and reciprocating saws.

https://www.dewalt.com/why-dewalt/made-in-the-usa-with-global-materials/power-tools


I hauled from the pennsylvania place a few times, tool geek heaven in that warehouse.

if you want good homeowner bang for the buck, home depot rigid have probably the best warranty and they are good tools.

craftsman sold out as part of sears bankruptcy, have not bought a power tool with that name since.
they used to be made by porter cable, no idea now.

Go Team Red, Milwaukee. 5 year warranty on the tools and M12/M18 come with 3 year warrany on batteries

Although I'm a Milwaukee guy, I've used most of the major brands. Never been or seen why, people like DeWalt tools. They make excellent bits, but they are owned by Black & Decker and seem to equate to that kind of quality to me. Not bashing any brand really, they all have good and bad qualities. Like you said, most of it is made in China now days. I only use Milwaukee because I am heavily invested in that brand and batteries. I probably use them more that just homeowner-ish duties also. I have many a Craftsman tool, just none that are battery powered. Most of the tools in my tool box (wrench's, sockets, ratchets etc, etc) are Craftsman. If I were to start over, I would be looking into Ridgid tools. Of the power tools I've used from them, I really like how they're set up. Would be interested to know what you get.

I like the Ridgid stuff. Look at all of them and decide which brand has the lineup you like best. They are all a little different. DeWalt has a ton of options. I feel like Ridgid is better bang for buck.

Ryobi ftw.

I just looked on both of my impact and drill and both are made in china, so that's what I was going off of. I do think they make the dewalt higher end stuff in america, but that's largely out of my budget.

I'm with you that I haven't bought a craftsman tool in a long time, since they moved manufacturing to china and didn't drop price to match quality

Project Farm always has good, non biased videos. Here's his "best of power tools" lineup.



Project Farm tools.

^^^^^100%
Ridgid has adjusted their warranty. It now sucks.

PARTS, SERVICE & BATTERIES FREE FOR LIFE
https://www.homedepot.com/c/SF_TH_PR_RIDGID_Power_Tools_Warranty

Did a little googling. Very interesting stuff.

"Who is DeWalt owned by?
Stanley Black & Decker
One, a whole bunch of the top power tool brands — including DeWalt, Black & Decker, Craftsman, Porter-Cable and more — are all owned by the same company, Stanley Black & Decker."

"Who owns Craftsman tools now?

Craftsman makes tools and equipment for everyone from DIYers to farmers and industrial manufacturers. They were the tool brand for Sears since the 1920’s before getting bought by Stanley Black & Decker at the beginning of 2017."

I've gone with Makita.

Many of their former LSA tools now classify as 3 yr. Warranty. They still offer LSA on some but not all power tools. https://register.ridgidpower.com/about_lsa

I have a set of the 20 volt brushless craftsman. They work fine for my use. Mostly light duty around the house and small construction projects. No problems and batteries hold up very good. If I was looking for a heavy duty daily type use, I would go with the 24 volt flex tools from lowes. Those things are a beast.

I’ve done Dewalt and Ridgid. Went to Milwaukee a few years back. Milwaukee is superior in my opinion. I’m just a do it yourselfer but use my tools a lot. Check out the deal of the day on Home Depot today.

I use porter cable, had the 18v brushless for over 5 yrs and used the heck out of them, still work perfect.

switched from dewalt due to cost, had one of the first 14.4 kits when they hit colorado, just not the bang for the buck any more.

This is a damn good deal right here. M12 Fuel Hammer drill, Impact and ratchet. (get extra and cheaper batteries elsewhere.)
Milwaukee M12 drill, impact and ratchet

Do not buy the Craftsman. I bought one fron Lowes earlier this year, and the first time I used it, the darn thing ran dead in a matter of minutes and seemed to lack power. Took it back to Lowes the next day for a refund and told them it was junk

For a homeowner this is what I’d use. Anyone that uses tools for a living the Milwaukee is a no brainer.

I have some V20 Craftsman stuff. Drill, Polesaw, 1/2” impact. Moderate use. Zero complaints.

If you want a cheaper brand go with the Ryobi.

Before I retired, I had tools at the house in Houston and tools here at the ranch. To keep costs down for two workshops, I bought a lot of Ryobi drill drivers, planning to upgrade when I retired. I expected the Ryobi gear to die quickly, but here we are a decade and a half later and nothing has died. And, I am fond of Milwaukee cordless tools also. It’s better than the Ryobi, but, like I said, the Ryobi won’t die. The workshop is a wood shop, and the drill drivers get mucho work.

I do have one warning about Ryobi. Buy nothing of theirs that has a spark plug.

I'm all ryobi. Never been disappointed.

Did not know that about Rigid. I have their corded circular saw and it's a beast but I never like to see companies going backwards on warranty.

My main issue is my batteries are dying and I also want a sawzall, but dewalt charges a fortune for their batteries. Turns out Dewalt is running a deal on their new power stack batteries - buy a 2 pack and get a bare tool free. So for now I'm going to go with that and if/when my drill or impact finally dies, I'll buy a bare tool at that time. There aren't any tools I use more than my drill and impact driver so it doesn't make sense to go cheap.

The name brand tool companies run a few sales a year. Never pay full price for stuff. The deal of the day thing at home depot is an example of it.

I got a circular saw and sawzall for Christmas 2020. So far I'm happy. In fact the sawzall will out cut my corded Milwaukee Sawzall. I just finished building a stick lumber 16x32 shed and used both.

Stop trolling

Me too! Their 18 volt system and tool assortment is pretty awesome. You can combine two to make a 36 volt tool like their chain saw or use only one battery for drills, impact wrenches weed eaters and lots more. All batteries are interchangeable within this tool line.

Black and yellow all day . You hippies have fun in your she shed !

Best deals on Milwaukee are the Bundle/Combo packs they sell on major holidays at Home Depot, you can usually get 8 to 12 tool and 3 batteries that are 5.0 for around $600, that comes out to about half price if you buy the cordless tool as a single unit price.

The new ryobi stuff is actually pretty good but I went with Makita. The batteries charge quickly and they have a huge amount of stuff for them. There isn’t a whole lot of price difference when you sit and figure it. I think my makita drill set was $230 and the ryobi was $180. Makita runs specials quite often where you get free batteries or a free tool of your choice.

I have this package. the only thing I find to be troublesome is the batteries.
they are kind of a pain to take off the tool.
on a side note: that bag is worth 50 bucks...…...

Go look at what serious mechanics use and it is all Milwaukee. They use theirs day in/day out all day long and they just keep going.

I have a pile of cordless tools, Porter Cable, Hitachi, Ryobi, Kobalt off the top of my head.

For home use Ryobi is hard to beat and batteries can be bought fairly cheap. I’m sure Craftsman would do fine for home use too.

The 24 volt Kobalt tools I have have held up really well and have been used for more then just normal weekend stuff. I let a contractor that was helping me with some re model work use my Kobalt sawsall and he was impressed, it’s stout, same for the cordless Kobalt drills I have.

Best bang for the buck on the market. I ditched my craftsman and never looked back. Now have the 40V weed wacker and blower. best investment yet.

I did say good things about Ryobi, which was true, but during the big freeze of 2021, I needed a battery powered sawzall. All I could find was a very expensive Milwaukee M18 Fuel, so I bought that reluctantly. My Lord, that thing is a beast. And now I have a corded Ryobi sawzall that is free to whoever wants it.

Offering up my .02. I'd stick with one of the commercial brands...Dewalt, Milwaukee, Makita. They're all pretty comparable. The rigid, craftsman, ryobi, black and decker, etc are really made for homeowners. As with sawzall above there is a NOTICABLE difference in power and torque between the commercial brands and the homeowner brands. I'm partial to dewalt but mostly because i'm heavily invested in their batteries and chargers, which are the biggest expense in power tools. There are some great dewalt package deals out there right now that include multiple batteries and a charger. All that said, if you really want the homeowner type tools i'd also consider Kobalt. Never owned one but they seem pretty decent when I've handled them in the store.

that's my 2 cents for what it's worth.

your 2 cents is only worth 1 cent these days...….

Milwaukee if you make a living using your tools. I don't know any other companies that has so many industry specific cordless tools. Milwaukee brings out new tools almost every few months. They by far have the biggest selection of cordless tools.

I had this Glock cerakoted team Red

Ok, you should win something for that!

For when you need the big boy toys....

Milwaukee, Makita, Bosch and for the big boy toys it would have to be Hilti and they have a whole new line of cordless tools Hilti Nuron. I know the Hilti line of corded tools are very good tools.

https://www.hilti.com/make-it-fit/tools?voltage=Nuron

Project Farm on Youtube is a good site for tool reviews:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JpjBJ8aQ3NE

I follow Project Farm. Good reviews with some apples to apples torture testing.