Quote Originally Posted by marksbug View Post
HMT??hit and miss technology?..... we too had that old polished drill....worked awesome and lasted long tyme. nowdays if you buy a corded drill it might lasy 7 months before the bushings are dead or the motor burns up. Imho the best to buy is a good batter operated drill like ryobie or ridged, they seem to work pretty good. but the issue is the batterys in most cases. a lot of sellout companys(B&D& many more) change the battery shapes so you will need to buy a new drill when the crap battery dies,ebay has a great selection of different batterys. I have a 2002 ryobie drill,saw,sawzall,flashlight vacume cleaner set ( neibor threw it all away, it looks like new)that had 5 batterys 2 still hold charge,and 2 battery chargers. well I got on flebay and did some research and found that they still use that battery!!! but even better is it is now avalible in lithium!!!! at 3x the power range!!! for about $30 vs $50 for a **** battery that wont last. but the lithum batterys take a different charger... well apparently when the battery started dieing the neibor bought a new charger.... he got the universal charger!!! it charges all the ryobi batterys!!!! ryobi is possiably the best out there now days.Ive never seen a wore out ryobi. B&D & dewalt are the same company and pure ****. I do have a few D&D 18 volt drills I got on 75% off clearance from after christmass 3 years ago. they are possiably the best B&D I have ever had and they have the lithium batterys. other than that get the cheepest harbor fright stuff and throw it away when it dies.it will usulay last as long as the name brand corded stuff does at 1/2 the price.... speaking of dewalt....I have a real nice 12 or 14"compound miter saw that has a bad bushing for the last 10 years it's been in the shed.( it's about 12 years old) I decided to take it appart and make a bush for it( the bush has been obseleite for over 8 years and size shape was changed due to it was ****) I grabed it up and... the plastic main housing just crumbled in my hands....... way to go dewalt!!!!! well atleast I have a real nice degreed rotating thingys to mount somethen else on...hmm I could make a sun dial!!!!! on another note... the may tag repair man just left the house....he did not work on squat... he just told us that the $700 washer has 1 seeting that washes.and about 12 that dont. and 1 that might...... well at least he seems to be honest. as for maytag.... they need to stop makeing tv adds and make something that works...atleast half way works. yall have a great day!!!
Unlike washers, I think that tools are still "get what you pay for". OK around '90 I bought a Metabo 9.6v drill/driver($600) to assist my Hitachi D10D(japan)($500) as the hitachi took hours to charge. When the metabo (lasted longer than the hitachi) went flat, i'd throw on charger & make a coffee from my flask & before finished coffee the batt was charged =10 min charge. It did me for over 20 years building fences, retaining walls, renos, etc. All that was wrong was the batt so bought an aftermarket one for about $60 = did not charge properly. bought a genuine metabo & presto the $100 was worth it. Chuck went so bought a new one but couldn't remove old one (metabo used to epoxy them in). cut off most of chuck to get access but couldn't budge the oldie. Gave it to mens shed who used oxy & now still use it.
Needing a newie & couldn't afford a Makita with Li Ion so bought a Rockwell. Heap of junk ($100 wasted). If not use for a few days it was like a Ni Cad that hadn't been used for months. Next step looked at Panasonic but way too dear for chinese made so bought Milwaukee Fuel brushless set(chinese made also) of drill/driver + impact driver + grinder & 2 by 4amp batts which cost me about 600 (about the same price as the Panasonic drill/driver). after 4 years had to replace one batt ($115) & since sold my stihl back blower & bought a Milwaukee ($300)blower.They do take a couple of hrs to charge but I can now buy 5, 6, 8, 12 & 18 amp batts if I fall short but the 2 by 4amp is sufficiant for me now but a bigger one is tempting as the blower chews power but I only use it once a week. The 5 amp is coming down in price & now about $135.

Most Li Ion batts, I've read, have a life span of around 3 years whether using or not but I got 4 years from first one & other is still strong.