Is it? Every corded power tool I buy comes with a standard power plug (region dependent of course). Plug it in, and it works. Buy another tool from a different brand (perhaps they are better at that type of tool), and now you have two tools which just work.
If you go all in on cordless, now battery management becomes an issue. There is no universal battery solution, so you either have to commit to a single brand, or deal with several charging stations and battery types. If one of these tools manages to survive for a decade or two, you now have to deal with old batteries with may or may not hold a charge for a decent while, and get into the hell that is after-market batteries. The corded tool meanwhile, will just work.
I have a cordless handheld drill, and a cordless impact driver. Those are two of the tools you really want to have cordless. I got them from the same brand with four batteries and two charging stations. The rest is all corded. Extension cords are cheap.
Just my personal experience. Had corded tools for years and I think from a power perspective they have battery beat. But I was gifted a cordless drill and impact driver and they last forever. Battery management hasn’t been an issue. I use them almost every weekend (hanging drywall for example, which involves a lot of screws) or in my pocket hole jig. I charge the batteries every few months over night.
This has been my experience as well. I resisted cordless for far longer than I could really justify, and have been very, very, very pleasantly surprised with how well the cordless stuff works.
I have all corded tools, but with all the hype and excitement around cordless, I thought I'd give cordless a try and got a 18V Bosch cordless drill. It chews through its battery in probably 2-3 hours of work, and so I ended up getting three batteries and two charging stations just to be able to sustain the damn thing through a day's worth of work. I'd expect much better.
Cordless battery powered is probably fine for light duty hobbyist work, but for constant use, it's annoying to have to keep juggling batteries among chargers.
And that's just one tool. I couldn't imagine having to juggle multiple incompatible batteries among multiple incompatible chargers. Good grief. I'll just keep my cords thank you.
It's for builders mainly. On a construction site you might not have a wall outlet near every place where you do work and running extension cords is dangerous both due to tripping and to the shock hazard when a cord gets damaged. Many crews used pneumatic tools, which eliminated shock hazard, but cordless is taking care of tripping too. They use multi-port fast chargers and whole bunch of batteries though.
Also in automotive, again, even though the workshop has the power (and they traditionally used pneumatic tools), running hoses everywhere is dangerous and annoying, I see a lot of mechanics using cordless impacts and grinders.
Interesting, I have a DeWalt 24v (I think) set. In the week I spent building a playhouse (soft wood) for my son, the drill and impact driver were in constant use for a week, and I'd charge every day or two. For my "normal" usage, it's weeks to months between charges. Seriously. The last time I charged a battery was September, and I use the drill for a few minutes every month, and it's still showing 3 out of 3 bars. That set, the set was very pricey!
Interesting, I have a DeWalt 24v (I think) set. In the week I spent building a playhouse for my son, the drill and impact driver were in constant use for a week, and I'd charge every day or two. For my "normal" usage, it's weeks to months between charges. Seriously. The last time I charged a battery was September, and I use the drill for a few minutes every month, and it's still showing 3 out of 3 bars. That set, the set was very pricey!
The title of the article is specific to -cordless- tools. Of course there are downsides around battery management and corded tools can have more torque but thats not what the article is about.
I think the point of the article is cordless is good and after some major advances away from nicad and brushed motors, things have pretty much plateaued.
The title specifically claims that we are in a golden age of cordless tools. Having to commit to a single manufacturer or submit to managing a herd of batteries of varying species is not my idea of a golden age just yet.
Team Yellow all the way, rhymes with default so you know it works.
But seriously find a brand that is generally good then you only have to worry about 1 type of charger and you can collect a small variety of batteries. I have 5 5amphr batteries that I use for everything, takes up minimal space. The only time I come to using them up is when I mow the lawn and deplete 2+.
Problem with the one brand wonder is that if you join the red army for M18, eventually you'll get an M12 for some reason, and suddenly you're on two battery systems without even noticing.
Big Yellow has the same thing, though those packs look even more similar. It can be useful to have different backs visually distinct.
Yeah, but still... I mean, a cordless screwdriver is nice, but e.g. a cordless drill only makes sense if you are regularly going to drill 10 holes in different places all around the house - otherwise the time spent plugging in your tool is negligible compared to the time you will spend drilling the holes. Not to mention you have to make sure your batteries are charged. So they make sense for professionals, but not for regular "DIY people" who only use a drill once every few months...
My cordless drill just is my cordless screwdriver; also my cordless IKEA assembler, etc. You just need one that has a clutch and a featherable trigger.
And even with one manufacturer: I have gardening tools 18V from Bosch and home tools with 18V from Bosch. Batteries don't fit each other. I was stunned.
"Golden Age" is a stretch for sure. More like "power parity with corded". That said, I upgraded a bunch of tools recently and went cordless for everything I could.
> Extension cords are cheap.
And cumbersome. I can't be the only one who's borked a cut with a circular saw because the extension cord got hung up on something. I want to focus on what's in front of the saw, not what's behind it.
In the past few years, I've gradually come to realize how much batteries (in anything) can actually cost me in things other than just upfront monetary price.
For example, even if a corded $THING costs as much as its cordless counterpart, with the cordless one, I have to think about things like:
- Charging schedule
- Whether the device is draining battery when I'm not using it
- How long before the battery needs replacing
- How much a replacement battery costs
- How to dispose of the battery when it needs replacing
- Whether I'm even able to replace the battery
- How well the device functions without a battery or with a dead/dying one
Without going down that particular rabbit hole, things like right to repair attempt to help with some of those things. However, the corded version avoids all of them categorically.
So it's not that I'll never buy a battery-powered $THING again. Just that I really try to consider all of those "hidden costs" before choosing instead of just rather-blindly going with the battery-powered version (like I did before). In other words, having a battery installed in a device really needs to provide a consistent and realistic value for my personal use case before I'd choose it over a corded version.
If we ever create a battery with effectively infinite recharge cycles, then my stance might change, but I'm not holding my breath on that ever happening. For several reasons.
If it moves with me (drill, impact wrench, etc) it should almost certainly be cordless. If it is stationary (table saw, vacuum, etc) it should almost certainly be corded. Some tools are both.
I've done well with a corded drill (we only use it occasionally in the house/garage near outlets). My 10yo cordless battery packs died and the new LiPo batteries (same vendor) have a different form factor.
Take a look at what the pros are using. Most of the tools they are using are going to be cordless these days.
As a DIYer, I have my cordless tools and rarely need to charge them. For the most part they go many months between charges as I don't use my tools very often. I do have multiple batteries so it isn't a problem for me when a battery dies, I just put it on the charger and grab another battery.
It depends on the tool. You can pry my corded Bosch drill hammer from my cold, dead hands.
When you need to drill holes in concrete with rebar, I don’t want to mess around with battery powered tools.
A point I haven’t seen brought up here is how much weight batteries add to the tool.
I can relatively easily drill an 18mm hole with my corded drill hammer using one hand all day long, good luck doing that with a battery powered drill hammer.
Oh yeah, the Boschhammer is one of my favourites. Given that it is the one tool where I would use those really long masonry drill bits in, I appreciate not being burdened by the extra weight. I'll accept the inconvenience of the power cord on a ladder for just that.
If you go all in on cordless, now battery management becomes an issue. There is no universal battery solution, so you either have to commit to a single brand, or deal with several charging stations and battery types. If one of these tools manages to survive for a decade or two, you now have to deal with old batteries with may or may not hold a charge for a decent while, and get into the hell that is after-market batteries. The corded tool meanwhile, will just work.
I have a cordless handheld drill, and a cordless impact driver. Those are two of the tools you really want to have cordless. I got them from the same brand with four batteries and two charging stations. The rest is all corded. Extension cords are cheap.