Cordless Tool Update

The world of cordless tools continues to be a race to see who can come out with a bigger battery first and who can develop a tool with a more powerful motor.

Festool

festool 18 volt 4 mode drill

From Festool, the new 4 in 1 drill features a four-speed gearbox which provides loads of torque for hogging out material with large diameter drill bits and then quickly switches over to deliver 3,800 RPMs to blast through concrete with its hammer drill functionality. Of course this features a brushless motor, as their drills have for years, with a 5.2 li-ion battery. The Festool 4 in 1 ingeniously combines a drill, hammer drill and impact all in one tool. In addition they have a new cordless track saw that beats all.

cordless festool ts55c track saw

bosch wireless charging

Bosch

Bosch has a new wireless charging system as well as a socket ready impact that will handle 1/2″ sockets turning out 1650 in-lbs of torque as well as your traditional 1/4″ shank bit tips. 5 and 6 amp batteries are now available.

5 AMP BATTERIES FROM DEWALT

DeWALT

With the increase of battery power to 5 amp and the “coming soon” 6 amp batteries, you are seeing cordless tools that just a few years ago were not even feasible. Dewalt has a new cordless miter saw with a vertical capacity for
baseboard against the fence of 3-1/2″, crown molding vertically nested of 3-5/8″ or crown or base lying flat. It will cut 8″ @ 90 degrees. In addition you’ll get a tig welder that runs on 120 volt power or an internal li-ion cordless battery allowing you to run about 15 sticks on a single charge in the cordless mode at 140 amps in the tig mode and weighs about 25 pounds, making it very portable.

Milwaukee

milwaukee tool 48-11-1850 5 amp red lithium battery

• Milwaukee –With their latest Li-ion battery packs, Milwaukee doesn’t care about being first, they care about being the best.
• Milwaukee Tool has a very strong following in the brushless motor world and will soon release their 2nd generation Fuel Brushless with a 18 volt hammer drill with a wrist twisting 1200 in lbs or 100 ft pounds of torque  and a 5 amp battery standard, a 2 speed gearbox topping out at 2000 r.p.m’s.
• Next up will be a 6 amp battery and a 9 amp battery. Stay tuned. The 9 Amp should be a great upgrade for high draw tools, portaband-circular saw-hole hawg right angle drill-hand planer- mag drill-sds rotary hammer and the like but not really intended for a traditional drill or impact.
• While it might not make sense to upgrade from a 4 to 5 amp battery, but  if you have some of the older 3 amp batteries that are loosing their power and  umph it might be time to upgrade your battery packs to the 6 amp when they arrive which will double your run time.
• In addition Milwaukee Tool has come up with a way to get even more power from a brushless motor with increased efficiency of the magnets hence the 1200 in-pounds of torque in the generation 2 brushless tools.

 Be on the lookout for the 2897-22 due to start shipping in August 2015.

Check out our previous blog post on cordless