Well, the old DeWalt gave up the ghost after a ten year reign.
I was thinking about heading back to the original sawzall, but have seen some of those new crazy looking Hilti recips.
What’s the feedback?
We use our recips for everything from demo to slicing off rafter tails.
Heck, I’m pretty sure I’ve even used the DeWalt as hammer before.
EDIT**** Well, today, after running through all the 24 volt batteries we have for the cordless recip and sitting around with our thumbs up our grasses, I guess it’s time to make the purchase. I know everyone raves about the Tiger, and I personally love all of my PC tools, but flexibility is not one of my major concerns – power and smooth operation definitely are. So now it’s down to the milwaukee and the Hilti. I’ll probably go with the Hilti if I can even find one more person who has used one besides Frenchy!
Edited 4/21/2004 2:10 pm ET by petmonkey
Replies
Try this test yourself..
bring your own blade and a thick chunk of wood to the store where you get to try them out..
Lean on the saw's of your choice.. I mean really push it for all it's worth..
Saw after saw would bog down on me. except the Hilti..
Same blade same wood same fat guy leaning on the saw..
Many would pop the circuit breaker.. Not the Hilti!
I think my Hilti only draws 10 amps while a lot of the others were 13 to 15 amps.. the differance is a blown circuit breaker..
Now you'll say that there is no way a 10 amp saw can work as fast as a 13 or 15, right?
Try it yourself. The big sawzall came closest but it was a couple of inches behind in the same amount of time.. The worst was the Porter Cable tiger saw.
Finally I chose the Hilti for one other reason.. The Sawzall (which I have two of) now comes with adetachable cord.. every one I saw in the field was either taped or wired together..
Since I often hand the tools down by the built in tool lowering kit (Cord) that was totally not acceptable to me.. I was impressed by how wellthe cord on the Hilti was attached!
Frenchy - who sells the Hilti recips? I saw them in my local rental shop, but they just want too much money for one of their used units.
Home Depot!
Porter Cable tiger saw, forget what frenchy says.
I have the Milwaukee orbital super sawzall and the Porter Cable Tiger Claw. If I had to pick just one, it would be the PC because you can bend and twist it to fit in places the MKE can't reach. It's almost a different class of tool from the traditional recip saws.
I used it to make a horizontal cut thru a piece of pipe in the bottom of a hole in the ground. That would have been impossible with any ordinary recip saw, without doing a ridiculous amount of digging.
-- J.S.
I agree -- the PC Tiger Claw is like Houdini -- it can twist and bend and get into some really tight places that would be flat out impossible with a different saw. It vibrates more than a Sawzall, so if you use a recip saw all day you may need both of 'em.
Billy
Please take your Porter Cable and saw thru a 4x4 as fast as you can.. then take a Hilti and do it in half of the time..
To make things evan easier use the same blade, first in the Porter Cable then in the Hilti!
Sorry Frenchy but my PC does it in half the time yours does!
So I think I will just keep mine, I dont have the extra time it takes yours to do the job. :)
Doug
I'm sorry but that is not true! I tested them in the store with the same blade on each. The PC woukld bog down when you really leaned on it and the Hilti kept going at the same speed no matter how much I put my fat butt on it!
I'll tell you what, bring your PC over and I'll let you saw up chunks of black walnut 4x4's and white oak 4x4's If you ever get the PC to saw as fast as the Hilti I kiss your butt and give you a half hour to draw a crowd!
The Hilti is a fine saw. Now take that black walnut and put it in a crawl space behind some ducts and try to get the Hilti blade anywhere close to it. That is where the PC shines. The PC Tiger Claw really is a new class of tool, so you are comparing apples & oranges.
"Different strokes for different blokes."
Billy
When space is tight I flip the blade over and can get right up next to stuff. So far I've never been unable to get to something with the Hilti. I use it to demolish my house right now and based on the guy who designed this house (Mr. Rube Goldberg) That is saying something.. well actually I think his cousin remodeled it and gave it to his maiden aunt to add her two bits into..
Well, here's what I did...
We've been using the DeWalt cordless to get by until I made a decision, but after running through the batteries several times yesterday -- I knew I had to get corded version today. So I did.
I bought the damn PC Tiger saw because we have a Lowes in town, and we don't have a Home Despot in town. I am cursing that I didn't follow your recommendation!
Here's why...
Vibration - The damn thing vibrates like a U-joint with half the bearings missing.
Blade changes - That ridiculous blade change system is just preposterous!!!! Don't the folks at PC know that a recip blade gets HOT when you use it ?!!!! So here I am - trying to pull a broken blade from the machine - burning the crap out of my fingers. Perhaps the Hilti has the same type of blade lock, I don't know, but with the DeWalt, you just flip a switch and bump trigger - blade is ejected with no problems.
Adjustability - Sure, the adjustability was a neat feature, I even used it today and found it to be helpful. However, the ability to slice through large chunks of wood quickly and with less vibration are way more important to me.
Power - The machine seems seriously lacking in the power department - we were using it today to finish the cut on some 75 degree angles through a 2x. That's a lot of wood, and while it was a neat feature to be able to rotate the handle, I'd rather have the Power ! (and a lack of vibration)
Thanks everyone for the recommendations. I appreciate the input!
So I wonder if Lowes will take the damn thing back if nothing is wrong with it?
Edited 4/22/2004 5:44 pm ET by petmonkey
Pet
Sure they will take it back, do you have the recipt? Thats the one good thing about them is that they will take it back. Just tell them that it doesnt work like you expected it to.
Doug
I also have the Milwaukee Super Sawsall, here's how they compare on your issues:
Vibration - The PC vibrates only slightly more than the MKE when they're the same shape. Twisting it gets a little more than that, but not too bad.
Blade changes - They both use that spring loaded twist lock, PC's is metal, MKE's is plastic.
Adjustability - PC, not MKE.
Power - About the same, only slightly less for the PC. The big difference is that MKE has more subtle speed control, the PC just wants to go fast.
-- J.S.
Comments,
It's funny that's exactly why I bought the Hilti, my Dewalt battery ate too many batteries.. At one time I had two battery chargers and five batteries waiting to go on the chargers!
while it's not as smooth as my sawzall it sure has power! it vibrates a lot less than the PC I tried.
Blade change isn't as easy as the Dewalt but a lot easier than the Sawzall.
I did notice the adjustable feature of the PC but since I didn't have that before with either the sawzall or the DeWalt I figured I could find a way to live without out it.. So far nothing I've cut has requiredsomething the Hilti can't get at..
Power..POWER!! POWER!!!!!! I love the power of this unit.. that plus it's not always tripping my circuit breakers the way the big sawzall does.. It seems to be about 20% more powerfull than my big sawzall but I don't need to use the 10 gauge extension cord and turn everything else on the circuit off to use it.. In the side by side comparison the big sawzall cut about 3 1/4 inches of the 4x4 in the time the Hilti took to cut through it..
Frenchy
If you ever get the PC to saw as fast as the Hilti I kiss your butt and give you a half hour to draw a crowd!
For that I may have to see if I can soup up the PC!
I confess I have never tried the saw that you have, Im just happy with mine and it does what I want it to.
But I may still take you up on that challange to saw some black walnut!!!
Doug
I got plenty come on over! something like 120 black walnut 4"x4"x9' (and that's after giving away nearly 100) They are all heartwood, but they only cost me two bucks each! nearly the same amount of white oak..
I agree about the PC being a nice saw. Based on recommendations from contractors I had it in my hands on the way to the cashier.. The Hilti rep stopped me and we did the test.. It really impressed me!
frenchy - I'm just curious ... that's a lot of walnut! I always had the impression that it was near-priceless - you hear stories of people using helicopters to steal Walnut trees ... why was this so cheap? and where are you located? Bill.
Minnesota, It's relatively common here, I have one in my yard and I see several nearby... I bought the black walnut when everybody had to have blond woods (hard maple and birch) and the sawmill couldn't give away their black walnut. They were selling it to the pallet plants for 17 cents a bd.ft.
Since then the interest in Black walnut is up but I still only pay about $1.60 a bd.ft. for black walnut..
If you check out the archieves I have pictures of my timberframe home in it and the outside timbers are all black walnut (as is all of the trim)
I love my PC but it doesn't fit the Milwaukee AX blades. Bought a Hitachi, fits the heavy blades and is orbital stroke.
Yep, I've got one of those Hitachi's too. Eats an awful lot of wood fast. Can't kill it either....and I do try.
I run those ax blades and the torch blades in both my P.C saws without any problems. By the way those are by far the best blades I've used.
ANDYSZ2I MAY DISAGREE WITH WHAT YOUR SAYING BUT I WILL DEFEND TO THE DEATH YOUR RIGHT TO SAY IT.
Remodeler/Punchout
I bought PC tiger claw 6 months ago and it is truly the most innovative tool of last year, don't leave home without it.(Fien multimaster won for 2003)
I'll second what Billy said. I bought the swiveling PC saw. It sure is convenient..... but, if you have ever owned or used a Milwaukee, I'll bet 9 out of 10 times you'll choose the Milwaukee because it is soooooooo smooooooth..........
carpenter in transition
I have both, and 9 times out of 10 go with the PC simply because the Milwaukee won't fit where I need to make the cut. It really depends on what kind of work you need to do. Most of my big demo is done and I'm more into crawl space, closet, and attic problems now.
-- J.S.
I got the milwaukie, a old one. My bud gave it to me cuz it quit working for him, spent 25 bucks getting a new switch put in it and now good as new. Still going strong.
Darkworksite4:
El americano pasado hacia fuera ase la bandera
Have owned my Milwaukee Super Sawsall for years - can't attest to the rest but the Sawsall is a monster, and relatively easy on the hands. It looks like something that fell off a car but performs as expected.
by the way, nice screen name!