I’ve got newer craftsman battery tools and very unimpressed with them. I may have to look into the Hart stuff. It always catches my eye when I’m in there
I have not and will not replace all corded tools with battery power. Corded has more power, but the portability of battery powered is necessary.
I have a Porter Cable router from Jr High, that gets regular use and outlasted 2 Craftsman routers.
Battery powered are DeWalt, Kobalt, Craftsman, Ryobi.
DeWalt are drill, driver drill, Sawzall, circular saw and multi-tool. 90% of my tool usage is with the DeWalts.
The batteries (internal) are Ni-Cad (older or cheap, off brand) or Lithium.
Lithium is stronger. When buying batteries, look at the power rating. mA rating is however much power it holds and long the charge will last. Instead of throwing away your worn out battery pack, go to a battery store, like BatteriesPlus, and get them rebuilt. Yes, even the sealed packs can be rebuilt. I have rebuilt EVERY size and brand known. The best part is, you can specify what size batteries you want. Every battery pack is nothing but AA or 2/3 C batteries, in series. They replacements are available in 600mA up to 4000mA. Going up in power increases cost, but 4000s LAST!
Those cheap, solar yard lights have something like a 340mA AA battery, lasts 3-4 hours, maybe. Replace it with a 1200mA rechargeable AA and it will be bright, all night long.
From my experience, quality, name brand tools are GOOD. Batteries vary. Cheap tools are exactly what you get.
I have heard good things about Hart, though. Time will tell.
I have a Porter Cable router from Jr High, that gets regular use and outlasted 2 Craftsman routers.
Battery powered are DeWalt, Kobalt, Craftsman, Ryobi.
DeWalt are drill, driver drill, Sawzall, circular saw and multi-tool. 90% of my tool usage is with the DeWalts.
The batteries (internal) are Ni-Cad (older or cheap, off brand) or Lithium.
Lithium is stronger. When buying batteries, look at the power rating. mA rating is however much power it holds and long the charge will last. Instead of throwing away your worn out battery pack, go to a battery store, like BatteriesPlus, and get them rebuilt. Yes, even the sealed packs can be rebuilt. I have rebuilt EVERY size and brand known. The best part is, you can specify what size batteries you want. Every battery pack is nothing but AA or 2/3 C batteries, in series. They replacements are available in 600mA up to 4000mA. Going up in power increases cost, but 4000s LAST!
Those cheap, solar yard lights have something like a 340mA AA battery, lasts 3-4 hours, maybe. Replace it with a 1200mA rechargeable AA and it will be bright, all night long.
From my experience, quality, name brand tools are GOOD. Batteries vary. Cheap tools are exactly what you get.
I have heard good things about Hart, though. Time will tell.
Back when I started with battery tools in the late 80's I had a Panasonic 12 volt drill. That thing was a beast and I could charge a battery on rapid charge in 15 minutes. I started out as a low voltage tech and the company provided DeWalt. Within a year, I had bought myself a set of Milwaukee 18 volt and I never looked back. I still use them about every day. One day a drill got too cold in my truck and I tried to use it frying the motor, I took it to the authorized dealer on Reno and he replaced the drill when I bought a complete drill and driver combo. He took the cost of the drill off the price.
Did you all know the chargers tattle on you? They tell the shop you short charged this battery 16 times. and this battery was charged after you overheated it.
Did you all know the chargers tattle on you? They tell the shop you short charged this battery 16 times. and this battery was charged after you overheated it.
how does the tattle tale work? is the info stored in the battery?
I have both Makita and Ryobi battery powered drills and a Ryobi chop saw and skill saw.
I use the Ryobi drill as the power feed on my lathe's compound slide. It is easy to control the speed which makes it ideal for that task.
The Makita drill (9 volt) is at least 30 years old and was used almost daily in my former business. I can't find Ni-cad batteries for it anymore, but there are nickel-metal hydride batteries available, Those batteries, however, don't hold a charge for more than a week or so even when not being used. Other than that, they have plenty of power when freshly charged and deliver more power and for a loner time than the old Ni-cad batteries. If i could find lithium batteries for it, that Makita would likely last another 30 years.
Woody
I use the Ryobi drill as the power feed on my lathe's compound slide. It is easy to control the speed which makes it ideal for that task.
The Makita drill (9 volt) is at least 30 years old and was used almost daily in my former business. I can't find Ni-cad batteries for it anymore, but there are nickel-metal hydride batteries available, Those batteries, however, don't hold a charge for more than a week or so even when not being used. Other than that, they have plenty of power when freshly charged and deliver more power and for a loner time than the old Ni-cad batteries. If i could find lithium batteries for it, that Makita would likely last another 30 years.
Woody
A little information when dealing with Hart and Walmart when needing any technical information, just lke you find at Home Depot and Lowe's the Associate's at Walmart will know nothing about the product to give you the smallest of help with a problem or how it should operate.
Now about what to expect at Hart with technical help, the 40 volt charger for my Hart leaf blower would show all timing lights then go blank, i thought something was wrong, wrong charger just knew battery did not need charging their big batteries and just 15 minuets of using the leaf blower did not use much of the battery.
I asked Hart technical about this item the guy wanted to just send me another charger and he did this, same thing with new charger.
Again i called Hart technical about this item again told him charger did not change lights going blank.
Guy wanted to send me a new battery and he did and same thing with new battery, i am now understanding how the charger works and now i just use leaf blower and try charging battery if it needs charging lights will start blinking if not battery does not require a recharging.
Now I do have two 40 volt chargers and two batteries my original battery was a 40 volt 4Ah the new one i was sent is a 40 volt 5Ah battery.
Thanks Hart technical.
Another thing i have found you get better information from just calling Hart and talking to the sales people, they seem to have better information on the Hart Products.
Now about what to expect at Hart with technical help, the 40 volt charger for my Hart leaf blower would show all timing lights then go blank, i thought something was wrong, wrong charger just knew battery did not need charging their big batteries and just 15 minuets of using the leaf blower did not use much of the battery.
I asked Hart technical about this item the guy wanted to just send me another charger and he did this, same thing with new charger.
Again i called Hart technical about this item again told him charger did not change lights going blank.
Guy wanted to send me a new battery and he did and same thing with new battery, i am now understanding how the charger works and now i just use leaf blower and try charging battery if it needs charging lights will start blinking if not battery does not require a recharging.
Now I do have two 40 volt chargers and two batteries my original battery was a 40 volt 4Ah the new one i was sent is a 40 volt 5Ah battery.
Thanks Hart technical.
Another thing i have found you get better information from just calling Hart and talking to the sales people, they seem to have better information on the Hart Products.
I go with Milwaukee. I still use my Craftsman corded 1/2 drill quite a bit.
I use the cordless dewalt 20v drill, drill driver, big cordless impact (which I love and works great) and the 60v leaf blower. Leaf blower does a fantastic job for most work but will break out my gas Stihl if a bigger or longer job is required. On my sawzalls, i have the good corded model as well as the smaller cordless, Keep both in a large heavy duty 20" nylon bag. I tend to use the cordless more than the other because most of my projects are quick and short. I've even used the cordless sawzall with the pruning blade on smaller branches it it works great. And whomever said it, thanks for the info on the off-brand replacement battery options. I'll look into those if needed in the future.
I do like a good ridgid tool.
Do not charge until they loose power. They will last longer.
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