Is brushless tecnology worth it

[BigLou80]

I was looking for a new impact driver on Amazon.com. I can get the drill/driver kit for $290ish or I can get just the brusless driver for $290ish. Their add boasts 20% longer run times which hardly seems worth the premium for me. When it's twice the cost I can just buy 2 regular ones and have double the run time.

Am I missing any thing else ?

[tjbnwi]

I have the Festool T-15 drill. It is brushless and the best drill I've ever owned.

Tom

[J.Buesking]

To me there is only one option in the impact/drill market. It's makita. The rest are toys.

When I used to do a lot of commercial work I tried them all. Spent 1000.00 on ridgid. Batteries died in 2 months. Bought Dewalt and batteries lasted longer but still failed way to soon and they would get stuck on the drill or something like that.

Bought me some Makita drills just for my personal use. Ran 1000's of screws into 18g steel all day. Took drops from 40' in the air to pavement. Still kept chugging.

4 years later they first kit I bought still works as good as the day I bought. Same batteries and all.

I recently bought the 9pc makita kit. All of it is rock solid except the grinder. Damn thing is useless. Drains the battery in 3 mins. :)

I'm not a tool geek. I just buy what works and abuse the hell out of them. This is the kit I bought 4 years ago.

http://www.toolking.com/makita-lct20...FSdgMgodxA8AEQ

[tom dickey]

I got the Milwaukee brushless drill about 2 months ago, it has great power and speed.After using it for this time I would not buy another for the up charge except this one came with 3 yes three of their best high capacity batteries. So all in all the batteries cost more than I spent on the whole kit how can you go wrong, and they fit my other tools too.

[Kent Brobeck]

I believe the advantage to BL motors are that the charge does last longer so you will end up charging the batteries less which should make them last longer.

[rustbucket]

The brushless kit with both is $329. On Amazon the difference is only $30, so I would say it's worth it. http://www.amazon.com/Makita-LXT239-...kita+brushless

Brushless is more efficient, giving a little more power and a little more run time. They also feel smoother to me. Plus, no brushes to wear out.

[Mbeezo]

rust, by the time the brushes have worn out on most of my tools it is time for an upgrade anyway. Have a sawsall that is at least 10 years old, gets pretty decent use and brushes are still good. With the cordless I would think by the time you wear them out it would time to buy the new and improved anyway.

My other question is how many of us actually are all that concerned about runtime? I mean I have enough batteries to go all day long without ever charging one of them unless I was cutting 6x6 pieces of oak into 2x2 chunks. Can get annoying to have to change batteries but another 20% does not excite me a whole lot. Now if it was 50% that would be something. Reason I am asking is I work with a guy who always complains about his batteries but he also has some of the worst sets of drills to use, uses his sawsall blades until they would not cut butter, runs 6 inch hole saws to cut out can lights and says his batteries are no good. 20% more for him will be wasted technology.

[Hickorywind]

I like the Makita 239 kit. "Assembled in U.S.A." If you can wait, maybe
they will add "afterglow" led. Right now the led on those two tools turns off
when the trigger is released. Since so many interior jobs have minimal
lighting (especially noticeable in winter), it is nice to have the light that stays
on for a few seconds, to see fastening results. Makita LXT is a fine workman system. The jigsaw is surprisingly powerful and the planer is nice
for scribing, though i don't know if any cordless planer would handle face
planing of solid hardwoods without more frequent battery changing. I suspect that brushless motors is the way
things will go. The LXDT01 has 3 speeds, is brushless, and has the afterglow led.

[joseph]

have makita 18v lithium impact .And panasonic brushless 14v lithium impact.Have had panasonic longer and it gets used more .Panasonic batterys are still in better shape .tool is nicer to use [smoother] ,battery life is clearly more and it has more power .
My figuring is if you use the tools alot [for a living] the brushless will be nicer to use ,save time hasseling with battery changes and Sure seems like if it saves on battery replacements and it Based on that it is worth the initial expense for brushless .

[BillWil]

I went through this thought process when I was replacing my cordless hammer drill and my sawsall. Both of these tools use lots of battery power. I decided that the sawsall should be brushless because I seem to be able to use them for up to 8 years before replacement. The hammer drills go quicker, at least for me. I bought the Makita with the Li batteries and will purchase brushless in 3 years if the price comes down. Just my 0.02.

[Hoover]

With the makita talk, I thought I would post this if people were not aware of it. Makita has another deal going on now where you get a bare tool with the purchase of one of the following.

http://www.makita.com/en-us/Modules/...BareTools2012/

[chuckwoodchuck]

[QUOTE=J. All of it is rock solid except the grinder. Damn thing is useless. Drains the battery in 3 mins. :)[/QUOTE]

The grinder is great for the right application. It won't be used for planing concrete, but for a awesome cut-off tool it can't be beat. Cutting metal studs, all thread, etc.


I highly recommend the LXDT01 3-speed brushless impact. It is worth the extra dough. The power and battery life are even better than the normal impacts by a long shot.

[JAlvis]

I have the Festool C12 which has a Brushless motor. Haven't found a problem with it at all. I did my research and got the NiCad battery set rather than Lithium. I'm convinced lithium is NOT the way to go for long battery life. I use the C12 daily for over a year and have found the battery life to be the same as new. I would by another one without hesitation.

[ericbuggeln]

I really like the c12 with Nicd also. The CXS is awesome for installs and nice on the wrist too. Eric

[tjbnwi]

The CSX is a very nice drill, but it is not a brushless motor.

Tom