I bought a B&D Firestorm kit about five years ago. Brand new, out of the box, with store receipt in hand, plugged in the charger, charged one battery. Connected it to the drill, went to drill a hole, and it made about six turns, then nothing. Switched the battery to the circular saw with no blade, and it turned about a quarter turn and stopped. Put it back in the charger, and the charger flashed "Battery Bad". I tried the other battery, it flashed "Battery Bad".
I called B&D, they said "Take it back to the retailer", so I did. Retailer showed me their B&D policy sheet, indicated to ship it, with receipt, in original packaging, back to B&D, so I made a copy, shipped the whole deal. Eight weeks later, a box arrived from B&D, I opened it, and the SAME STUFF was in there, with a note that warranty return policy did not cover inoperative merchandise.
I'll never buy a B&D again. Yep, made by same folks as DeWalt... they started the black-and-yellow because their orange-black products wouldn't sell (wonder why?)
All I wanted, was a working charger. They not only had a failure in quality assurance, they really failed in customer service. I still have DeWalt corded tools, but as they fail, I dispose them, and seek products elsewhere.
My most recent drill is a Ridgid... I bought a 1/4" impact gun, and an oscillating multi-tool, all running on same battery. They're okay. Drill chuck is perpetually loosening up. The impact gun's bit-retaining nose went to crap when I had one bit break off at the 'neck', and the fragment wouldn't release from the magnet. While trying to extract the bad piece, the whole nose came apart, sent the three retainer balls into dark corners, and the retaining ring would not seat... so now, any bit that goes in, gets held with gaffer's tape.
My 1/2" impact wrench is a Ryobi, with the large battery. Unlike the Rigids... the Ryobi is NOT a brushless, and it is absolutely clear that there's brushes, because it's constantly throwing sparks out the vents... since day 1. Brush-type motors don't last but a fragment of the life of a brushless system, and as they wear, the brushes become much less effective, sothe motor loses power, and consumes substantially more battery power. Given the choice, always choose brushless.
Chargers and batteries... the fancy batteries and chargers both have microprocessors, and BOTH my Ryobi, and my Ridgid cordless tools are worthless anytime ambient temperatures are above 80F, or below 40... and not only won't they OPERATE, they won't CHARGE. When I'm on winter jobsites, I need those tools to be functional when it's -20F, so best I can do, is keep the chargers and tools in the front seat of my service truck, with the engine on. As the tool cools off, I hafta throw it back in the truck. I pull out my older Hitachi drill, slap a battery in it, and go... it doesn't care about the temperature.
I have had batteries rebuilt by my local Batteries Place... and I've had oh... 75% success. For the ones that don't, I take 'em back to Batteries Place <;-) to get re-rebuilt, and usually they come out okay, but in the scheme of things, when I'm on a job, and a cordless tool bites dust, I expense a replacement tool, and the failed one goes back home to my garage, and if I give the batteries a rebuilt on my own dime, I expect to get a few years of casual home op before they become recycleable. Like brushes, motor bearings don't last forever, and when THEY start to drag, battery life goes to crap too.
Cordless tools are great, and they suck. Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em.
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mhankins wrote:
