# Bosch, panasonic or hilti



## EricBrancard (Jun 8, 2012)

If it wasn't so convenient to have a bunch of tools running the same pack (Makita) I would pick Panasonic. I've used the drill and driver quite a bit and they are both excellent.


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## CanningCustom (Nov 4, 2007)

I switched from Panasonic to makitas and never looked back.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

Lately I ain't been impressed with pannys. The more I looked into them the less impressed I was. The biggest factor was lack of tool selection. If you only need a couple of cordless tools they might be ok but tool range, power, ergonomics and price were all bad compared to other brands. Won't be long before the majority of brands are using 4ah packs so they will be laggin behind on that front too soon.


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## CanningCustom (Nov 4, 2007)

BCConstruction said:


> Lately I ain't been impressed with pannys. The more I looked into them the less impressed I was. The biggest factor was lack of tool selection. If you only need a couple of cordless tools they might be ok but tool range, power, ergonomics and price were all bad compared to other brands. Won't be long before the majority of brands are using 4ah packs so they will be laggin behind on that front too soon.


Yeah I agree, you just can't beat the selection of brands like Makita, Milwaukee.


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## FramingPro (Jan 31, 2010)

i have bosch drill and impact (18v) very good 
i have a roto hammer by hilti, and have no complaints!


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## MF Custom (May 3, 2009)

BCConstruction said:


> Lately I ain't been impressed with pannys. The more I looked into them the less impressed I was. The biggest factor was lack of tool selection. If you only need a couple of cordless tools they might be ok but tool range, power, ergonomics and price were all bad compared to other brands. Won't be long before the majority of brands are using 4ah packs so they will be laggin behind on that front too soon.


That's why I stated cordless drill or impact drivers. I don't think Panasonic will ever be left behind in battery technology.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

MF Custom said:


> That's why I stated cordless drill or impact drivers. I don't think Panasonic will ever be left behind in battery technology.


Not in cell tech no prob not as they one of the top players in this department. but putting it into the tools could take them years. They have a cell i want for my flashlight thats a 4000mah which will prob be the same cells used in many of the 4ah tools. Im not sure what brand of cell metabo are using but hey have had 4ah for nearly a year now.


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## mikecocozza (Aug 18, 2011)

I own makitas, hitachis and Hilti cordless tools. Hilti, hands down, outperforms them all. Never was a believer until Home Depot discontinued their kiosks. Bought all my hiltis for 1/2 price. Would pay full price now if I ever have to replace them.


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

mikecocozza said:


> I own makitas, hitachis and Hilti cordless tools. Hilti, hands down, outperforms them all. Never was a believer until Home Depot discontinued their kiosks. Bought all my hiltis for 1/2 price. Would pay full price now if I ever have to replace them.


What models?	Cause mine didn't...


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## john27 (Sep 18, 2011)

i have the 22v range of Hilti tools, combi drill, sds, impact driver, circular saw and the recip saw..All excellent :thumbsup:

John...


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## john27 (Sep 18, 2011)

BCConstruction said:


> Lately I ain't been impressed with pannys. The more I looked into them the less impressed I was. The biggest factor was lack of tool selection. If you only need a couple of cordless tools they might be ok but tool range, power, ergonomics and price were all bad compared to other brands. Won't be long before the majority of brands are using 4ah packs so they will be laggin behind on that front too soon.


Panasonic have just brought out a 4.2 Ah battery :thumbsup: looks like everyone else is lagging behind....

John...


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

john27 said:


> Panasonic have just brought out a 4.2 Ah battery :thumbsup: looks like everyone else is lagging behind....
> 
> John...


Got a link to that? I'm interested in what brand of cells they are using in their battery's as I use 18650 cells in my flashlights. Biggest I seen them have out is a 4ah.


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## john27 (Sep 18, 2011)

http://www.dm-tools.co.uk/browse.php/section/1674/level/3 
bottom of the page..

john...


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

john27 said:


> http://www.dm-tools.co.uk/browse.php/section/1674/level/3
> bottom of the page..
> 
> john...



interesting. I didnt know pannasonic even made a 2100mah cell as i know they dont make a 4200mah cell. interested to see whats inside the packs. Sanyo make a 2100 and so do LG. If they have 5 single 4200mah cells in that thing then thats pretty dam advanced battery tech. They aint even using that kind of battery tech in Tesla vehicles yet. I doubt they would have used another brands battery's and im surprised they didnt use 5 4000mah cells and get the battery pack smaller. 

hopefully they aint playing the dewalt game with capacity figures.


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## Inner10 (Mar 12, 2009)

john27 said:


> i have the 22v range of Hilti tools, combi drill, sds, impact driver, circular saw and the recip saw..All excellent :thumbsup:
> 
> John...


Problem is there are in a class of their own so there is no way to make a good comparison.


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## Robs660 (Jan 15, 2012)

So if you had to pick ONE vendor for all your cordless tool. Who would you pick?


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## chewy (May 23, 2010)

Robs660 said:


> So if you had to pick ONE vendor for all your cordless tool. Who would you pick?


Ace Tool :laughing:


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## Crocop (Nov 29, 2011)

Hilti all the way in my line of work tools get beat up severely and the Hilti's always hold up for a long time


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## jiffy (Oct 21, 2007)

Without a doubt Makita for cordless. This has been discussed frequently here and elsewhere. The performance, weight, power, battery life, charge time, cost, and breadth of line. These are all things to consider and Makita fits well in these categories. Power is really a non-issue, if you look at the specs of all the new tools they have plenty of ft/lbs or in/lbs for the right applications.


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## MF Custom (May 3, 2009)

I would have to say the newer Makita 18 volt cordless tools are pretty dam good and offer a very complete line today.They are durable, feel good in the hand, lightweight, charge fast, good cases that fit the tools well with sturdy metal locks. They may not be the most powerful tools but I will always reach for my Makitas over my other cordless drills because of the ergos and control. Now again, if I were just out for a drill driver and impact kit Panasonic would be at the top of my list followed closely by the new Makita brushless.


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## mikecocozza (Aug 18, 2011)

NINZAN STUDIO said:


> I don't know about all those numbers but side by side on a framing job, the Hilti14v impact was way faster than a Makita 18v and a Bosch 18v impact. It drove those Simpson 2-1/2" SDS lags quicker than both. Works for me.


Honestly, numbers tell a certain story. However my Hilti 14v will smoke my 18v makitas all day long. I understand everyone has their opinion, quite frankly I couldn't care less who makes what tool or what battery. I'm in full agreement. My makitas stay in the trailer, my Hilti gets the job done faster and the battery lasts longer.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

mikecocozza said:


> Honestly, numbers tell a certain story. However my Hilti 14v will smoke my 18v makitas all day long. I understand everyone has their opinion, quite frankly I couldn't care less who makes what tool or what battery. I'm in full agreement. My makitas stay in the trailer, my Hilti gets the job done faster and the battery lasts longer.


Funny that because even the online reviews show the makitas in 18v beat out the hiltis in 18v. Let alone the 14v hilti models. I don't know why you wouldnt want a lighter, more powerful, longer runtime, more ergonomic, smaller, better warranty, cheaper tool. 

The hilti battery's are even 3.3ah yet they get less run time than many 3.0ah tools. 

Numbers do tell the whole story as you cant get more TQ and RPM from a tool with less voltage. That's like me saying my Makita impact is more powerful with the 14.4v battery than the 18v battery. It ain't gonna happen unless the 18v pack is bad or not charged.


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## john27 (Sep 18, 2011)

Where are these reviews? I have used hilti, dewalt and makita.. I will stick with Hilti..


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## Brian Peters (Feb 2, 2011)

Nice to see everyone is happy with the particular brand they have


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

john27 said:


> Where are these reviews? I have used hilti, dewalt and makita.. I will stick with Hilti..


Heres one of thousands of impact comparisons online

remember this is 18v comparison. the 14.4v tools are lower spec than these

this site is one of the more reputable sites for tools reviews. i ignore the sites that always put dewalt at top.

http://www.toolreviews.ca/tool_guide/brushless_ID/brushless_ID.html











Of course specs aint everything, ergonomics, charge time, battery tech, tool selection, quality, customer service ect ect all play as big of a part as power. To me its more important to have a good tool selection that runs of the one battery and that the company sticks with that one battery as im so invested in the tools. overall makita are very hard to beat. they are also priced good as well.

i still have my BHP451 i bought roughly 7 years years ago still with one original battery. that thing has been abused big time and even made it from the trip from the UK to here when i moved as it was such a nice tool.


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## john27 (Sep 18, 2011)

http://www.toolsofthetrade.net/industry-news.asp?sectionID=1490&articleID=1721612&artnum=1


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

john27 said:


> http://www.toolsofthetrade.net/industry-news.asp?sectionID=1490&articleID=1721612&artnum=1


See what I'm saying. Even though they didn't test the most powerful makita impact it still come out tops. Some people are more concerned with how quick a tool can put a fixing into something which is normally the last thing you should be concerned about when using a tool because they all all so close in this respect that other comparisons are more important. 

The most powerful hilti is about the same power as the most powerful makita yet I wouldnt buy the hilti even if it was avalible for the same price as the makita. 

They are manly all good tools yet some do that little bit more than others. That's where makita take the lead.


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## john27 (Sep 18, 2011)

So the Hilti drove in screws faster and had a longer run time but the Makita won???
A couple of local stores to me stopped selling Makita cordless tools because there was that many problems with the batteries...

John....


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

john27 said:


> So the Hilti drove in screws faster and had a longer run time but the Makita won???
> A couple of local stores to me stopped selling Makita cordless tools because there was that many problems with the batteries...
> 
> John....


Yes they said the makita was top choice. They reviewed it I didn't. Also you must be confusing makita with dewalt. I have never had one issue with my makita batteys. Keep a LI-ion pack topped up and it won't have any issues. This goes for all LI-ion packs. If they drop below a certain threshold they won't allow the charger to charge them. My supplier is one the the biggest makita dealers in this area and they never mentioned any issues with batteries either. What was this problem exactly?


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## john27 (Sep 18, 2011)

I have just looked at the new Makita impact driver  Far more expensive than the Hilti 
The Makita 170Nm the Hilti 165Nm but the Hilti has 3.3ah batteries the Makita 3.0ah 
http://www.dm-tools.co.uk/product.php/section/5837/sn/MAKBTD147RFE

John....


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## john27 (Sep 18, 2011)

BCConstruction said:


> Yes they said the makita was top choice. They reviewed it I didn't. Also you must be confusing makita with dewalt. I have never had one issue with my makita batteys. Keep a LI-ion pack topped up and it won't have any issues. This goes for all LI-ion packs. If they drop below a certain threshold they won't allow the charger to charge them. My supplier is one the the biggest makita dealers in this area and they never mentioned any issues with batteries either. What was this problem exactly?


 They are supposed to be able to be charged about 2000? times but were conking out after about 200.. The local shop had a Makita battery testing machine in there shop..They were getting a lot of problems with the batteries.

John...


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

john27 said:


> I have just looked at the new Makita impact driver  Far more expensive than the Hilti
> The Makita 170Nm the Hilti 165Nm but the Hilti has 3.3ah batteries the Makita 3.0ah
> http://www.dm-tools.co.uk/product.php/section/5837/sn/MAKBTD147RFE
> 
> John....


Depends how you buy them. My dealer does the majority or makita tools for under $99 body only. I already have 3 chargers and 6 batteries so no need to buy a set. I'm still on my same impact from almost 7 years ago so I ain't had to buy a new one but when I do there's no doubt it will again be a makita. I have been using the back end of it as a hammer to knock lumber in place for the last 3 years and it just won't die. Shouldn't be too long until the 4ah makita picks are out though. Not that it really matters as they charge in under 30 mins. I might get a couple of 4ah ones for my angle grinder and recipe saw though.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

john27 said:


> They are supposed to be able to be charged about 2000? times but were conking out after about 200.. The local shop had a Makita battery testing machine in there shop..They were getting a lot of problems with the batteries.
> 
> John...


Never heard that issue with them. They have been running the same Sony cells in the pack ever since they first come out. I have well over 2000 charges on my original pack. The one original pack that went bad got left in the radio for months and i forgot about it and it wouldnt charge when I tried to charge it. That was my fault though. I will ask my dealer how many packs they had returned but they never mentioned any issues and I have never read about any issues throughout numerous forums.


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## john27 (Sep 18, 2011)

http://www.recellyourbattery.com/makita-18v


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

john27 said:


> http://www.recellyourbattery.com/makita-18v


That issue they are talking about goes for all li-ion and li-po battery's. you should never leave them uncharged. They make it sound like its a battery problem with makita alone. If you don't charge your packs as often as once every 3-4 months then this could be an issue but its an issue on all battery packs with this chemistry. that's why the one in my radio went bad. I have always said to people on here after you use your battery up charge it. You wont ever have this issue with any brand of pack not charging because of it dropping below safe charge voltage. I have had 11 makita batterys in all and only one stopped working but i did get about 1000+ charges from that one so its not all bad. if i didnt leave it in my radio it would still prob be working.


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## jiffy (Oct 21, 2007)

john27 said:


> They are supposed to be able to be charged about 2000? times but were conking out after about 200.. The local shop had a Makita battery testing machine in there shop..They were getting a lot of problems with the batteries.
> 
> John...


The truth is the only company claiming 2000 charges is Milwaukee, and the word from most repair shops is they don't get anywhere close. So, marketing teams say a battery will last 2000 charges in a research environment. We don't work in science experiment garages. Heat, Cold, Weather, Rain, Dropping tools, etc. will affect a battery that has a chemical make up.




john27 said:


> http://www.recellyourbattery.com/makita-18v


A site that sells replacement parts for batteries wants to sell you a product...go figure.


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## TNTRenovate (Aug 19, 2010)

jiffy said:


> The truth is the only company claiming 2000 charges is Milwaukee, and the word from most repair shops is they don't get anywhere close. So, marketing teams say a battery will last 2000 charges in a research environment. We don't work in science experiment garages. Heat, Cold, Weather, Rain, Dropping tools, etc. will affect a battery that has a chemical make up.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


All that I am going to say is that Bosch rules and BCC knows more about batteries than all of us combined. :thumbsup:


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

jiffy said:


> The truth is the only company claiming 2000 charges is Milwaukee, and the word from most repair shops is they don't get anywhere close. So, marketing teams say a battery will last 2000 charges in a research environment. We don't work in science experiment garages. Heat, Cold, Weather, Rain, Dropping tools, etc. will affect a battery that has a chemical make up.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


What's funny about that site is they are selling batteries that from what I have heard come out of the same exact factory that makita gets them from. So they are selling a battery they are saying is a bad design :blink:

My makita packs have been vastly more reliable compared to when I had XRP dewalts. I think all of them failed in the end. I left them with my old boss when I moved here and he bought the LXT kit to replace the dewalts. I will ask him if he is still running the same packs and I bet he is.


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## The Coastal Craftsman (Jun 29, 2009)

TNTSERVICES said:


> All that I am going to say is that Bosch rules and BCC knows more about batteries than all of us combined. :thumbsup:


Bosch are HO brand tools :thumbup: and I know just enough to be dangerous with batteries lol I have a 4s and 2 6s LI-PO packs I'm trying to think of how I want to destroy them. The last one I "decommissioned" I shot with a gun and it looked like my house was on fire there was so much smoke. Not gonna try that again.


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## TNTRenovate (Aug 19, 2010)

BCConstruction said:


> Bosch are HO brand tools :thumbup: and I know just enough to be dangerous with batteries lol I have a 4s and 2 6s LI-PO packs I'm trying to think of how I want to destroy them. The last one I "decommissioned" I shot with a gun and it looked like my house was on fire there was so much smoke. Not gonna try that again.


Ouch HO brand, now that was just plain mean!


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