I've had good luck out of several HF models. I got about four years use before the batteries were useless. I currently have two of this model, and three spare batteries:
It is a 19.2 volt version of my first HF drill that was identical except it used a 9.6 volt battery pack. That drill still holds a little charge, and is about eight years old.
I started buying two identical drills so I can switch jobs without changing a bit every time. Like a drill bit on one and a screwdriver of socket driver in the other.
These are $29.99 and spare batteries are Item 92603 @$16.99 each. I bought three spare batteries on sale recently, for $10.99 each. I use them for work around the house, like building cabinets & shelving, and to work on computers.
I used my HF Mod. 40116 pin/stapler for the first time last week. It worked every time. No jams. Put the pins where I wanted them. For the fifteen bucks it cost, it owes me nothing.
On Tue, 23 Feb 2010 07:37:42 -0800, the infamous "Steve B" scrawled the following:
I always have at least two battery drills (Impactor and drill), sometimes 3, and my corded B&D dog with the 1/2" chuck, with me in the truck.
I've never seen a good deal on a tool in a pawn shop in my life.
Yes, extra batteries, charger onboard, and a power strip in case you only have one outlet to use and have more than one corded tool to go into it.
-- "Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it whether it exists or not, diagnosing it incorrectly, and applying the wrong remedy." -- Ernest Benn
Let me put it a different way. If you have $30 in your pocket and a job to do today you can either not do it and still have $20 (lunch) in your pocket tomorrow or you can buy a cheap drill, do the job, and tomorrow you have $200 dollars in your pocket and a cheap drill which you can keep or throw away.
Long term the better quality tool is always the best thing to get. Short term it isn't always, and you have to get through the short term first. Sometimes the best compromise is to buy both. One now and one later. The problem with most folks is they go, "Ooooh! I have $200 in my pocket now. I think I'll take the Ol' Lady and the Kids out to dinner instead of buying the better drill."
Sure, if they had the $200 up front they would be better off to buy the better drill upfront in the long run. But if they don't they will still be better off to get the job done than to not get the job done.
I've been a contractor since I sold my first job in 1993. I didn't even have a truck. I hired a buddy to help me out because he needed some work and he had a truck. I didn't need his help to do the job, but I needed a truck. If I had not needed the truck I could have done it myself and pocketed more money, but I would not have been able to do the job without the truck. If I had held out to buy a truck first I would not have gotten that job and probably would not be a contractor today.
P.S. That first customer is still a client today.
P.P.S. I can't count the number of drills I have had in the last 20 years. Some cheap ones, and some very good ones. My good rotary hammer was about $800, but I have a $29.95 drill sitting on my work bench in the shop that always has a 1/4" drill bit in it because its small, fits lots of places, and it seems like I always need to punch a 1/4" hole in something. Right now I've probably got more than a dozen drill motors of one type or another (some I should probably throw away) and I know the difference between a quality drill motor and a cheap one. I've had Ryobi, Skill, B&D, DeWalt, Milwaukee, Makita, Porter Cable, Rigid, Crapsman, and generic ones. Hands down I think Milwaukee are the best with Rigid and Makita coming up second, and in a few years my 1/2" Rigid may move up to number one if it holds up like my table saw and my band saw have.
What about DeWalt? I had 3 or 4 of those in cordless, and they were fine. I was happy with how thy performed, but the chuck was proprietary, and one of my guys managed to break a chuck. I couldn't just throw a chuck off a burned up drill on it like I could with a Makita or a Milwaukee, so I replaced them with Makitas and Milwaukees.
I buy a lot of stuff second-hand and agree, they may not be the best deals relative to remaining wear life but they compete well with Harbor Freight for backup tools, the ones you have two of in case one is dropped or stolen or you don't want to keep swapping the drill, countersink and screwdriver bits.
There are good deals to be had at second hand stores.
I bought a set of new Craftsman ratcheting combination wrenches for $10, just as one example. These guys, it seems, knew only one thing, which is how to haggle for scrap gold jewelry, and knew nothing about tools.
The key is to just not agree to a price that is not advantageous.
I bought an electric string trimmer at a yard sale for $2. It worked for about 15 minutes then went up in smoke. I bought another at a thrift store for $4, and it is still chugging along. Still a lot cheaper than the $50 or $60 they want for a new one. I've tossed stuff before that I got really cheap, and figured I got more than my money's worth on it. But for reliable stuff that can make me money or shut me down, I prefer to buy good tools.
Those specialists may take in a tool that other dealers refused because they saw that it needs expensive repairs. If I can't try out the tool I won't risk paying much unless the dealer will take it back, which is unusual.
OTOH the way tools are distributed and packaged now, the second-hand store is the ONLY place I can buy a single Torx or Allen screwdriver, a 1-1/2 - 8 tap and some Anderson power connectors in one trip.
Yesterday they had a Ryobi router for $60. New at HD was $70. If you know your stuff, you can get deals. Some shops sell wrenches larger than 1" throat for a couple of bucks. And they are brand names. They seem not to be aware of some tools values. Other things are priced at new retail or above.
The thing is to know your prices, and when they don't, you are in control.
Yes, they do. Enough so that they give you morphine when you are in the hospital. In the old days when people used nitroglycerine to blast with, it was just a job hazard. You can also get them in skin patches. That is what I was up against when I went and got these last tests.
There are a couple of pawn shops that have been good to me . Somewhere in this thread someone said they never found a good deal in a pawn shop . Follows is a list of stuff that I CURRENTLY own that came from a pawn shop : lathe (Logan) drill press (chinese , cheap) sawzall(Milwaukee) chainsaw (Poulan) 'lectric drill (DeWalt) miter saw (Delta , low end)
Most of this stuff I paid less than a third of new cost . All items do what they were made to do ...
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