Cordless Circular Saws and the Battery Systems That Go With Them

[caleb]

I'm looking at cordless circular saws, and I'm a bit lost.

I realize I'm buying into a new battery system, and I'll likely end up with a variety of tools from that system. Right now, the only battery tool I own is a Black and Decker drill that's slowly dying, so I'm pretty much starting from scratch.

Looks to me like the options are Bosch, Makita, Milwaukee, and DeWalt (but I'm not buying DeWalt).

I just spent two hours reading reviews and watching YouTube videos, which got me nowhere.

Before I just go to Trade Tools and buy whatever they say, does anyone here have opinions?

[wsteve464]

Makita for the win. I bought a 1/4 inch impact and drill combo 10+ years ago and they are still going strong. Last spring I bought the battery weed eater with the 2 5 amp batteries works great and does my yard on one charge. based on the weed eater I just bought the 12 inch chain saw and the small blower. The biggest I have cut so far is about a 5inch dia dry branch, no problem.

They seem more expensive than others but the selection of tools and the quality make it worth it IMO. Plus once you have the batteries and charger you can buy just the tool. Haven't tried them yet but you can get knock off batteries.

[Matthew Strongin]

All my Makita stuff is awesome. I can’t speak to the circular saw, but I’ve been very happy with my drills etc.

[rec head]

It depends on how much use the saw and batteries will get. My personal philosophy these days is that for all my cordless tools Ryobi is good enough. I have zero complaints with any of my Ryobis. I don't use them enough to buy into an expensive battery system again. For corded power tools its a different story.

[Too Tall]

Not mine. I recently used a borrowed Milwaukee M18 Fuel circular saw. That thing was pretty darn perfect.

[thollandpe]

+1 on Milwaukee.

[ides1056]

These are top of my list:

MAKITA Brushless X2 Tools | Maximum Performance. No Cords Needed

Just don't buy them at Home Depot- not the same tool you will get elsewhere.

[j44ke]

Seemed like the finish carpenters all used battery stuff except for the table saw and that was actually a huge shop-sized saw with a cast metal table. Also their miter saw was corded.

The framers definitely used corded saws. Circular, table and miter saws. Generator powered too because no electric when they first got there. And no heat. Winter. Bad for batteries also. Framers must be tough.

Does anyone use a corded drill or screw driver any more? I guess anyone doing stuff with concrete. Hammer drill or concrete saw. Or one of the big drills mixing plaster or concrete.

Battery saws do make corded saws seem a good deal. $150 does get you a very nice lightweight magnesium 7 1/4” saw with (in the case of Makita) a zippy blade.

I really don’t want to spend any more money in all honesty, but I want even less to spend money twice.

[Mabouya]

Does anyone use a corded drill or screw driver any more? I guess anyone doing stuff with concrete. Hammer drill or concrete saw. Or one of the big drills mixing plaster or concrete.

There are some specialty applications where corded still makes sense. I have a fairly beefy, low RPM Milwaukee that I use almost exclusively on the scissor car jack I use to lift my '73 Alfa GTV. When I bought the lift about 5 years ago the guy who made and sold them said that cordless drills could not do the job, but given that the technology's been improving quite a bit lately, that may no longer be right.

It takes quite a bit of work to lift a few thousand pounds ~20" (that's about the max range of the lift - enough to allow you to get under there, but you still have to use a crawler to move around) so I'd truly be impressed if today's cordless batteries could do the job.

I also have a few other cordless drills that are holdovers from the pre-cordless age that I use every now and then, but as you said, they typically just stay on the shelf.

[j44ke]

+1 on corded. More power for denser wood, 12” blade for larger lumber & trim molding dimensions and eventually you will want to set up a table with in- and out-feed surfaces so you can manage larger board lengths and set up stops for repeated same length cuts. That’s what miter saws do really well. The battery is best in a circular saw where - as mentioned above - you can take the saw to the sheet material.

The carpenters who framed our house used a battery miter saw until there was power to the site. Then they brought their corded saw and put the battery saw away.

[Bobonli]

Thanks, that's what I thought.