Cordless impact

[STOVE]

Looking at cordless impacts, has anyone here had long term use of the Hercules 20v from harbour freight? Wondering what kind of battery life I can expect (out of the batteries themselves).

I don’t have any other 20v lithium stuff now so I’m not tied to any brand. My current impact is a giant corded 1/2 drive

 

[Czed]

Looking at cordless impacts, has anyone here had long term use of the Hercules 20v from harbour freight? Wondering what kind of battery life I can expect (out of the batteries themselves).

I don’t have any other 20v lithium stuff now so I’m not tied to any brand. My current impact is a giant corded 1/2 drive

I run Makita cordless but my nephew
Is a 12 year vocational school plumbing teacher and a 30 year master plumber
He used to outfit his class with Milwaukee, DeWalt, Makita,metabo etc.
But the high school students and adult students
Kept stealing them so he started buying Hercules about 8 year's ago and brags on their durability and performance
I can't tell you anything about battery life.

 

[lehman live edge slab]

Dewalt and Milwaukee both seem to be good, I bought dewalt because I have that brand in other stuff already. If you have no other battery tools then you can start with whatever but if i remember right the harbor freight tool batteries don’t switch between lines but all dewalt 20v and the 20/60 flex volt batteries fit all the 20 volt tools. While the flex bolt battery is expensive and heavy they last for a long time on a 20 volt tool. Flex volt batteries are 3 20 volt cells that run in 20 volts off one pin set and 60 volts on another pin set so you get long life on a 20 volt tool.

 

[EFSM]

We use M12 Milwaukee tools in our shop. We don't require huge battery life, and the compact nature of the M12 is awesome. But there are many good tools out there.

 

[Bill G]

I have a DeWalt 1/2 and a Milwaukee 3/4. I have not stepped up to 1 inch yet. I used to love DeWalt but now Milwaukee is kicking their asrse. As for HF .....never ran one.

 

[lehman live edge slab]

I have a DeWalt 1/2 and a Milwaukee 3/4. I have not stepped up to 1 inch yet. I used to love DeWalt but now Milwaukee is kicking their asrse. As for HF .....never ran one.

Wouldn’t say Milwaukee is kicking dewalts but in any way they’re definitely pretty equal one company may make a particular tool better than the other and vice versa. Lot of the tradesmen I know like both and run both, some of them say Milwaukee has actually gotten worse after the buyout. My 1/2 mid torque dewalt is made in the USA, the high torque dewalt is made in china or some other countries though. I bought the mid torque because of it being the size of a regular impact the high torque dewalt is large like an old plug in impact but very strong at 1800 ft lbs reverse.

 

[jblnut]

I’ll be the possible outlier and suggest Ryobi. I have been using their tools since they were blue and have only had a few sawzalls quit working. When you run a tool under water and in the mud while tiling in 35f weather I don’t expect it to last long though lol.

I have a few impacts from Ryobi and the newest one will break the lug bolts loose on the duals on every tractor we take them on and off of. I really have no need to go farther than that with a battery tool. When I need more ugga-duggas I break out the diesel IR compressor and the 1” air impact and let it do its thing.

 

[dangerousatom]

You get what you pay for "RELATIVELY" Most if not all 20V or higher tools will do the job for the average home owner. The batteries and the power management circuitry along with a smart charter is what makes many good tools a higher price.

-Cheap tools come with the cheapest lithium cells that have a short life and short charge cycle along with no on board temp./over power/underpower protection circuitry.
-Cheap tools have terrible chargers, often they are just a dressed up Ac power adaptor that pushes a volt or two above the battery's labeled rating. Besides protection the circuitry charges and monitors individual cells or banks of cells not just one big push of power to charge. Fast chargers are a life killer for lithium batteries, if you can slow charge you'll get a lot more charging cycles. Keeping above 50% and below 80% for long term storage helps with maximum capacity when going for 100% charge.
-Most drills/die grinders ect. have plastic/nylon drive and planetary gears, There are a few exceptions like Dewalt-Milwaukee-Bosh but even those have been fazing out metal inner bits in lower end models.
-All cordless impacts are a steel rotating hammer assembly and most have steel planetary sets.
-Many higher quality cordless tools have a 1year or better warranty
-True power ratings like TQ, Speed, RPMs, and run time ect are all over the place. This is were higher priced companies can afford to test and rate for the buyer.....The batteries are the cause of 90% of the good or bad rating.

Harbor Freight stuff is IMO middle of the road in quality. That does not mean they are crap, their stuff fits 3/4 of what the Average-Joe needs at a stellar price. Their chargers are smart but not monitoring type. The cells they use are on the cheap side. Their warranty is pretty good. If your not going to be using it everyday for a living or running it into the ground on some big one time job under a short schedule they are in my top 5 power tools that are not pricy high end.

Hilti IMO is the best, they run circles around most other power tools, but they are stupid expensive. Best bet is used on eBay or a local pawn shop as they get stolen all the time.

 

[Bill G]

Wouldn’t say Milwaukee is kicking dewalts but in any way they’re definitely pretty equal one company may make a particular tool better than the other and vice versa. Lot of the tradesmen I know like both and run both, some of them say Milwaukee has actually gotten worse after the buyout. My 1/2 mid torque dewalt is made in the USA, the high torque dewalt is made in china or some other countries though. I bought the mid torque because of it being the size of a regular impact the high torque dewalt is large like an old plug in impact but very strong at 1800 ft lbs reverse.

I would.

 

[OnlyStihl]

I have mostly skipped the cordless movement. Other then a cordless drill, it is mostly air tools for me. Different brands of air tools all share the same air chuck. Whereas with a battery, all manufactures have proprietary batteries and their connections. And if I remember right even within a manufactures line of battery tools the batteries are not the same. The cross compatibility is ZERO outside the brand and model(s). Pick the wrong brand, the wrong model and you could be SOL in a couple of years.

My 350 foot lbs Craftsman 1/2 Air Impact Wrench that came free with my air compressor >35 years ago still works great.

 

[Wilhelm]

My supermarket brand 1/2" impact is kicking my Makita 1/2" impact drives a$$ - without breaking a sweat.

Yes, the supermarket impact has a higher torque rating but it was 1/2 the price including a 4Ah battery and a charger vs the bare Makita.

 

[Micah]

We have all Hercules power tools no problems yet and they've been to hell and back. The 1/2in Ultra Torq impact is awesome, with heavy use running non stop I got maybe 30 minutes on a 5ah battery. That was cylinder heads on our case it was probably running 90% of the time.

 

[STOVE]

Thank you for all the replies. Sounds like I will be shopping many brands for deals

 

[Micah]

Harbor Freight has the best deals.
If I was starting out again I would get mostly 8ah batteries, we just cut 120ft of 1/2in osb on 1 8ah battery using the 7 1/4 cordless saw. Pretty good for "cheap Chinese junk"

 

[lehman live edge slab]

Harbor Freight has the best deals.
If I was starting out again I would get mostly 8ah batteries, we just cut 120ft of 1/2in osb on 1 8ah battery using the 7 1/4 cordless saw. Pretty good for "cheap Chinese junk"

Let’s be honest it’s ok for what they are but they also have many different lines of tools some are the price of Milwaukee, dewalt, makitia or Bosch. Last I checked they have exclusive batteries for each line so can’t mix and match so just as locked in to one brand as any other company. They are decent tools but i wouldn’t put them in the same category as dewalt, Milwaukee ect more like the porter cable/craftsman lines of Stanley/black & decker /mtd which also owns black and decker and dewalt.

 

[Micah]

The Hercules are just as good as DeWalt/Milwaukee in my opinion and I've used all 3 a decent amount. BTW I've killed tools from all 3.

 

[Micah]

Now if I was doing something full time that HF did not make the tool for I would go Milwaukee just to only have one set of batteries.

 

[lehman live edge slab]

The Hercules are just as good as DeWalt/Milwaukee in my opinion and I've used all 3 a decent amount. BTW I've killed tools from all 3.

I know and have worked with contractors and the harbor freight tools are just fine for homeowner but are not on par with Milwaukee or dewalt or the contractors would be using them. They too will save money when possible and I’m sure some have tried them and found out they didn’t hold up and or too much of a pain to replace ect. Dewalt and Milwaukee are pretty much available somewhere no matter what part of the us you’re in. Not everyone has a harbor freight close to deal with. One last point that will matter to some but not all but the point of final assembly makes difference to some people including myself. If I can buy a dewalt that’s assembled in the USA or a tool 100% China with all China parts I’m willing to pay more. Yes there is Chinese parts in my USA made dewalt impact and 20v brushless 7-1/4” circular saw but the final work was done in that states and I’m helping to keep someone in my country working. Yes dewalt has some tools 100% China made also along with Mexico so you need to watch what one of a specific product your buying and some things don’t have a USA option but is what it is.

 

[Micah]

I know and have worked with contractors and the harbor freight tools are just fine for homeowner but are not on par with Milwaukee or dewalt or the contractors would be using them. They too will save money when possible and I’m sure some have tried them and found out they didn’t hold up and or too much of a pain to replace ect. Dewalt and Milwaukee are pretty much available somewhere no matter what part of the us you’re in. Not everyone has a harbor freight close to deal with. One last point that will matter to some but not all but the point of final assembly makes difference to some people including myself. If I can buy a dewalt that’s assembled in the USA or a tool 100% China with all China parts I’m willing to pay more. Yes there is Chinese parts in my USA made dewalt impact and 20v brushless 7-1/4” circular saw but the final work was done in that states and I’m helping to keep someone in my country working. Yes dewalt has some tools 100% China made also along with Mexico so you need to watch what one of a specific product your buying and some things don’t have a USA option but is what it is.

And I totally get that, I by local at small business when I can even if they aren't always the cheapest. But with the exception of a few DeWalt tools most everything is China or Mexico and while I would rather not support them sometimes you have to. I am also NOT NICE TO MY TOOLS. They get beat to death I've got a 1/4in impact driver that has a ton of hours on it (our 40x60 pole barn, a rather large deck, multiple other projects, and a huge amount of hours in the shop tearing apart everything from a tiny little saw to a full rebuild on a case 1070) it's probably had 200 hours put on on it. Still just as good as the brand new one my brother just bought. To each their own and they may not be the best at everything but they are good.