Electrician Talk banner

Milwaukee, nothing but heavy duty GARBAGE

20K views 66 replies 29 participants last post by  UncleMike 
#1 ·
I owned a Fuel drill for two weeks and the side handle broke off. Now, after, six months, the chuck is completely stripped. What a piece of sh!t.
 
#42 ·
99cents said:
You're right. I'm used to the old Milwaukee (no, not the beer :) ).

Now they seem to be just another off-shore sellout. For the beating I put a Hackzall through, I can live with replacing it every once in a while. The Fuel drill has great torque but I don't think it has been engineered to keep up. They essentially took their old drill, put in a brushless motor, and hoped for the best.

A friend of mine bought a Makita and the gears stripped out after a month. That's why I went Milwaukee. I guess the Milwaukee is better. It lasted six months :( .

The moral of the story is that you can't buy a cordless drill to replace a good old fashioned corded workhorse. Time is money and making trips to the warranty depot represents negative income.

People are talking up Hilti; expensive but a quality product. Maybe it's time for a change. Again.
I've been hearing this for years about Home Depot products . Everything from plumbing and lighting fixture to tools are not the same quality as the same ones you'll find in a supply house . I don't know this for sure , but can easily see that happening . They look the same on the outside , but the internals are built with crap parts . Plastic gears etc. , although , I've been abusing my dewalt 18 volt drill : hammer drill for years that I got there , and it's still kicking ?
 
#44 ·
From what I have found out this is one of those urban myths...

Last year I wrote to Porter Cable and asked if they make a cheaper brand just for big box stores...

The company rep told me there is nothing to that story and all their drills are made to the same specs no matter where they are sold...

So far I have not found any proof that I was lied too other than hearing the same story over and over again about big box stores..
 
#48 ·
BBQ said:
[Face Palm]

Even if they do make cheaper stuff do you honestly think they would have answered ...

Yes, we make cheap crap for the big box stores.
Lol ! Ummm , no sir ( laughing in the background ) ! All of our products are made to the same specs no matter where they're sold ( hysterical laughter in the background ) ! Who knows ? I'm not willing to buy identical tools to do a forensic investigation unless the one I bought at the box store dies an untimely death from normal use .
 
#49 ·
wendon said:
So how many Milwaukee tools do you own? You know more than an authorized Milwaukee repair shop? :no::no: I've bought tools from both places, no difference! Unless it's a huge Milwaukee conspiracy!
I own quite a few.

My trucks all have the m18 fuel drills, saws all and circular saws.

The m12 series is nice too. Multi tool,roto zip, etc etc

The m18 drill I bought at Home Depot broke, the chuck snapped and unscrewed right off the drill as I was using it.

The m18 drill I bought from my supply house is slightly different but much better quality. When I brought the m18 to the authorized repair center the guy said the same thing as a previous poster said.

The link BBQ posted shows there is truth behind the cheaper crap. Ryobi is listed and everyone knows they are Home Depot.

I find it very humorous that so called professional contractors are sticking up for a big box store, shame on you.

Home Depot tries to steal your work and sell you cheap **** and you still go there then to real supply houses...
 
#55 ·
Don't even have a Home Cheapo in our town and the Menards sells Bosch and a host of other cheap junk. I buy my tools from Electrical Supply House or the local Farm & Fleet store. Funny what a story a so called electrician can come up with. As for Milwaukee tools I've got:

M12 flashlight
M12 LED flashlight
M12 driver
M12 Impact driver
M12 Hackszall
M12 Tubing cutter
M12 Pvc shear
M12 Multi-tool
M18 Angle grinder
M18 Drill
M18 Drill/Hammer Drill
M18 metal cutting circular saw
M18 Hackszall
M18 LED flashlight
M18 Impact driver
M18 Fuel Impact driver
M18 Angle drill
M24 Circular saw

Corded:

Milwaukee Hole Hawg
Milwaukee hammer drill
Milwaukee D handle drill with extension
Milwaukee Super sawzall
Milwaukee angle drill
Now I'm waiting for them to come out with the M12 Fuel Impact driver:thumbup:

I've had Bosch and Panasonic cordless drills that worked okay but I still prefer Milwaukee. Just my opinion. I've never had a Dewalt tool. They might be okay but I just don't care for them.
 
#50 ·
I don't know. If you go to the Milwaukee website, the part numbers are the same no matter where you buy them. Home Depot doesn't sell this stuff any cheaper anyway, at least in Canada. The only milwaukee item I bought from HD was a sawzall and that was because they had a $20.00 coupon. I know the industrial supply house would have matched that, no problem.
 
#60 ·
I've been a life-long Milwaukee tool fan, but I'm happy to confess that I'm unimpressed and even angry about the tool quality in the last 5 years or so. I've been buying the occasional Metabo and Hilti tool lately as the Milwaukee stuff gives out or I need something I don't have already. Not sure what I'll settle on next. Very reluctantly, I have pretty much resolved I'm done with Milwaukee. I'm as upset about that as I am with the decline in Klein quality. I used to be essentially all Klein for hand tools and all Milwaukee for power tools. I feel like I'm wandering aimlessly in recent years, feeling like I can't rely on any manufacturer to suit my needs as an electrician now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: duque00
#63 ·
I'm afraid you're onto something! The problem is nothing is built to last anymore. Used be you could buy a washing machine and it would last for 15 years or longer. It was a breeze to replace parts etc on them but now how are you going to go about changing a frequency drive on a washing machine.......throw it away a buy a new one!
 
#61 ·
wendon said:
Don't even have a Home Cheapo in our town and the Menards sells Bosch and a host of other cheap junk. I buy my tools from Electrical Supply House or the local Farm & Fleet store. Funny what a story a so called electrician can come up with. As for Milwaukee tools I've got:

M12 flashlight
M12 LED flashlight
M12 driver
M12 Impact driver
M12 Hackszall
M12 Tubing cutter
M12 Pvc shear
M12 Multi-tool
M18 Angle grinder
M18 Drill
M18 Drill/Hammer Drill
M18 metal cutting circular saw
M18 Hackszall
M18 LED flashlight
M18 Impact driver
M18 Fuel Impact driver
M18 Angle drill
M24 Circular saw

Corded:

Milwaukee Hole Hawg
Milwaukee hammer drill
Milwaukee D handle drill with extension
Milwaukee Super sawzall
Milwaukee angle drill
Now I'm waiting for them to come out with the M12 Fuel Impact driver:thumbup:

I've had Bosch and Panasonic cordless drills that worked okay but I still prefer Milwaukee. Just my opinion. I've never had a Dewalt tool. They might be okay but I just don't care for them.
Did you read the OP?
 
#62 ·
wendon said:
Don't even have a Home Cheapo in our town and the Menards sells Bosch and a host of other cheap junk. I buy my tools from Electrical Supply House or the local Farm & Fleet store. Funny what a story a so called electrician can come up with. As for Milwaukee tools I've got:

M12 flashlight
M12 LED flashlight
M12 driver
M12 Impact driver
M12 Hackszall
M12 Tubing cutter
M12 Pvc shear
M12 Multi-tool
M18 Angle grinder
M18 Drill
M18 Drill/Hammer Drill
M18 metal cutting circular saw
M18 Hackszall
M18 LED flashlight
M18 Impact driver
M18 Fuel Impact driver
M18 Angle drill
M24 Circular saw

Corded:

Milwaukee Hole Hawg
Milwaukee hammer drill
Milwaukee D handle drill with extension
Milwaukee Super sawzall
Milwaukee angle drill
Now I'm waiting for them to come out with the M12 Fuel Impact driver:thumbup:

I've had Bosch and Panasonic cordless drills that worked okay but I still prefer Milwaukee. Just my opinion. I've never had a Dewalt tool. They might be okay but I just don't care for them.
Did you read the op?
If I made this all up how come there are others who say the exact same thing.

It's not just tools .
 
#64 ·
It's a Milwaukee thing....they don't understand!:laughing::laughing: I don't have a problem believing they're building power tools cheaper but do you remember when Makita came out with one of the first 9 volt cordless drills?? We thought it was wonderful in spite of it not working all that great. I think the cordless tools are built as good as they ever have been. The lithium batteries in spite of some drawbacks are great! It might be a tradeoff of weight versus more steel!
 
#65 ·
wendon said:
It's a Milwaukee thing....they don't understand!:laughing::laughing: I don't have a problem believing they're building power tools cheaper but do you remember when Makita came out with one of the first 9 volt cordless drills?? We thought it was wonderful in spite of it not working all that great. I think the cordless tools are built as good as they ever have been. The lithium batteries in spite of some drawbacks are great! It might be a tradeoff of weight versus more steel!
It was actually a 9.6 volt drill to be accurate , and it was the cats ass at the time . Why ? Because the only other companies putting out cordless drills were skill and black and decker and they were total crap compared to the makita . I still have mine somewhere with a dead battery in it , but I'm sure it still works if I replace the battery . I love today's cordless stuff , but I do agree , they're not making it to last the long haul if you're using them hard every day . Something is always compromised when we start making things weigh less . I'm still holding on to my whole dewalt XRP line only because they still work fine and I have damn near every tool they make . I'll eventually cross over to the compact lightweight generation when my stuff starts dying off , lol ! The fuel drills look sweet though !
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top