Power Tools

today i was doing some work on one of our houses, adding a light to the badk yard of the house to be specific. to do so i needed to drill through the outside wall of the house, about 2' of cinder blocks. i was using a dewalt 1/2'' hammer drill and started drilling from the inside. i was planning drilling the hole to pass electrical conduit through it from the inside and then again from the outside. about halfway through drilling from the inside the damn drill stopped spinning on me. i took it apart and found that the gears just snapped. now, i wasn't going excessively fast or pressing excessively hard but the damn POS just broke. mind you, this is the same model drill i used to bore out larger holes in the shackle that joined the leaf springs and axle in my truck's suspension. it broke then to, and we got a replacement (new) drill from dewalt.

this is the drill in question: http://www.dewalt.com/us/products/to...roductID=16238

so on my way to school i stopped off at home depot by the bulova center to return the POS drill and get my money back. in doing so i got to talking to the HILTI rep that was at the store. he was standing by the returns counter and overheard my convo with the clerk. he talked me into letting him show me the HILTI tools he had on display, and they did feel like they were of a much more solid construction. i chatted with him for a while, he was trying to sell me a $700 kit that included a 24V hammer drill, 24V reciprocating saw, 24V circular saw, 24V flashlight and 15V screw gun; all CORDLESS!

this is the kit he was trying to sell me, sans the 15V screw gun.http://www.us.hilti.com/holus/module...ATE_OID=-20989

so now i pose my question; does anyone here own or use HILTI tools? anyone use them in the past? i'm not bothering with dewalt/ makita/ ryobi/ milwakee ever again. i don't want to spend money on tools that will fall apart, i need stuff that works and will continue to work. cinder block isn't that hard to drill through...

I got the sears el Cheapo at $45.00 many many years ago. I have had 4 cordless drills since then and always use el cheapo because the batteries are not charged because you did not know the previous day you would needed it.... I like power tools to have POWER and like a plug so I know....IT WORKS/OR ITS BROKE, there is never an inbetween. I love Dewalt tools but am still scraching my head about what happened to you. That sucks!


OH, and I made the family PROMISE not to get any screw guns for Christmas ever again!
The only day to use the dam thing and they give it to you uncharged, the scream if you do not use it...EVEN THO IT IS DEAD AND NEEDS TO CHARGE FOR 10 HOURS!

I'm not home pro, but I worked at Home Depot years ago and we actually got to test out a lot of the tools sold there. I really did feel that Hilti was among the best in terms of ease to use and the feel of quality. They felt very balanced in terms of weight, and it made it easier to handle. It felt very strong and durable as well.

fred, i know a few people who will swear by anything dewalt makes. but they also use it for carpentry and finishing work. me, i use them for repairs on old houses with stone foundations. back when i was in high school i worked summers in construction and renovation. every year those guys had new tools and i never really understood that until now, the el Cheapos wear out after a while...

phil, i think that's because of the design. the resip saws and even the hammer drills are built with a lot of the weight down low, which makes it a little easier to handle. the milwakee i've got now is one of the cliche sawzalls, has all of the weight in a straight line. that makes for a long tool, though you get used to it after a while.

Gee and I thought this topic was going to be about something totally different. I mean, you are actually talking about real tools! :wink: :wink:

I have Milwakee's, dam things are tuff as hell and take a beating.

I use Milwaukee's and built a shed out of them this summer. Not to mention our huge sets for our school productions including 40' bridges, 25' long 7' high platforms. Dropped the tools a good amount of times and they keep on chuggin.