This is a homeowner's dream. I've been looking at the Milwaukee, DeWalt, etc. cordless combos for years but I could not justify the price for my week-end warrior needs. This kit gave me reasonably well-made and well-powered tools at a price I could afford. My son and I built a real tree-house (8x10, 10 ft. high!) over the Thanksgiving using these tools with no problems. The tools all performed and held up well through that 40 hour project. I was glad to have the cordless feature up in those trees 200 feet from the nearest electric outlet. You really do need to cycle the batteries a few times before you get the max life out of them, but the one hour charger does exactly that. I'm also a fairly slow worker(nobody's paying me), so that I rarely needed a new battery before the charging one was ready and if I did, that was a good time for a break (like I said, nobody's paying me for this work). I can see where a professional would need more run-time.
If I were using these tools everyday, I'd shell out for the professional brands, but for my needs they are just right for the price. Skil 2887-16 18-Volt 4-Tool Combo Pack
O.K. this is not going to rival a 500.00 cordless set but for the price and for an occasional user this is pretty good stuff. Unlike some of the other reviewers I would rate the circular saw as my favourite piece. The blade has to be sharp and you need to take it easy and let the saw do the work. The paper work suggests 70, 2X4's can be cut on one battery and this seems in the ball-park. Someone wrote that they could only go through 5 2X6's before running out of juice..there must have been a serious problem with the batteries or saw if this was the case.
Mine has lots of power for general building and more than enough battery juice to complete the small home reno stuff I do. The first few charges the batteriesare at about 80% and then full power is attained.
The soft sided bag is a good idea but a padded, pocket for the batteries would have been a nice touch. There are many nice touches though... the stud finder slips on top of the drill and is easily detached and works very well, the light on the drill is a good idea for those over 40, the reciprical saw has on board blade storage for two blades, the base of the circular saw holds a wrench for blades changes, the gauge on the battery makes running out of power less of a surprise.
I think upping the price and including 4 batteries would be something I'd pay for but all and all; good stuff.
After several years I'll add the following. The batteries drain down in storage faster than other cordless tools I have. This is frequently annoying and I awould downgrade my review from 4 stars to three.
Robert Bosch Corp., (yes, same Bosch)owns Skil. Skil tool power plants, cordless and corded alike are designed by Bosch engineers and built under contract at Black & Decker, who just so happens to be the parent company of DeWalt. Skil is merely a company in name only anymore, much like the cb radio giant Cobra. Cobra, once a stand alone manufacturer now exists in name only, with all of their products built and designed by Uniden but still sold under the Cobra name. Same thing here. Anyway, I enjoy the combo set immensely. I have cut 59 2x4's on a single charge. I cut 12ea 2x6 rafters, including peak rake and bird's mouth, 10 2x4's for blocking,etc and crosscut 4ea 7/16 4x8 OSB on one battery charge. It will take you four solid charges to get the battery ready to accept a full charge and you should always completely discharge the battery each time. My only dislike is the sliding feature and general design of the battery. Oh well, I have many tools and this set has earned its keep. Do yourself a favor, bypass the other sets at $500 or more and spend the $180 for this one. You'll be glad you did.
Used this kit many times. Good tools & good battery life. One battery did 10 cuts on 2X6 lumber, then drilled four 1.25" holes with a paddle bit on the drill. Batteries must be charged & completely discharged several times before they have their full power.
I bought this kit about 3 weeks ago. Do not buy the cordless circular saw. I could only cut a pice of plywood about 20x30 inches on one charge. The drill has only 1 drawback- the cruck is strange and when you try to grab it to tighten down, it slips out of your hand. Flashlight is increadibly bright. The sawzall is nice, but my Craftsman sawzall can out perform it. This kit might be nice for a home owner, but for saws, go corded.Hope this Helped-
Tools look great and do a great job as long as the battery last but I'm not sure if these tools will satisfy someone whom will use them heavely. The circular saw claims 70 2x4s per charge, I've only used it on 2x6s and the batt only lasted for 5 of them. The sawsall eats them even faster.The flashlight is also only half as brite as my DeWalt 12v.I'm hopeful that after a few cycles the batt will increase there run time. Have not used drill enough to rule on.I might change my mind in future but right now I can neither recommend for or against buying. Tried again, batts did not last as long as the first time!
I bought this kit 2 1/2 years ago when I needed to some home repairs to sell our house. The circular saw was not very powerful and would drain the battery very quickly. Then after about 3 months worth of use I had a very hard time detaching the battery from the saw. So once I finally got the battery to detach the circular saw has sat on the shelf ever since. The drill worked great for about 2 years but now seems that the clutch is slipping so replacing the drill. I still have jigsaw and flashlight and they are working fine. Battery does stick occassionaly on the jigsaw. I guess that I got my moneys worth out of it just hoped that it would last longer than 2 years before 2 of the pieces were broke. The drill is stull useable but have to stop every so often to reset the speed selector because it slips out of gear.'
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