Hitachi KC18DE 18 Volt Combo Kit

After twenty years of marine construction as a heavy timber dock and pier carpenter and commercial diver I have been pleasantly surprised by Hitachi. I have been a card carrying member of a professional line of tools known by their red boxes and stellar reputation as hard hitting durable tools.I had a kit like this one built by the red box company but was really unhappy with the power and I had to send in two out of four tools due to breaking on the job. I replaced that kit with this hitachi kit and have come to appreciate Hitachi. The previous reviewer apparently failed to read the part in the instructions where it talked about cycling the batteries a couple of times before they will hold a full charge(!) Well I have been using this kit hard and it is one hell of an arsonal. Good battery life and strong enough to feel like a corded tool. The circular saw has a light for the blade that helps and the motor doesn't bog down like most battery powered tools, the recip. also dishes out the...Read more

These are very good quality tools, like all Hitachi that I own (more than 20) they are built to last. The light on the circular saw is a great extra, even when cutting something in poor light the light on the saw is perfectly located. The drill is only a 3/8" chuck, but has lots of power. The only problem I find with this combo is that the batteries that came with it are 1.2 AH. I got lucky and found a couple of 18 volt Hitachi 3.0 AH batteries at Lowes on clearance for 40 bucks each. With these batteries the tools have more power and run much longer on a charge. Even with the added expense of upgrading the batteries, these tools are worth it to me as they don't have to go back to the service center all the time like some of my DeWalt and Porter Cable tools do.

I have two each of the drill and circular saw. One of the saws I turned into a cordless table saw by building a small table and fence for it. It is really handy to have a small table saw right at the job site for ripping. There is no safe way to rip without a table saw. I couldn't find one of those small corded saws I liked, and even if I did, it would still need a cord. I don't know why some company does not make a cordless table saw.

The saw mounted on the table will rip 2X lumber no problem. It will easily cut 5/4 oak. Using two saws at once (the unmounted one is used for crosscuts) I have never been slowed down by battery life. As soon as the battery I'm using is dead, the one in the charger is recharged. The way to buy batteries for these tools is to buy them as part of a new tool kit. One replacement battery costs about 80% of the DS18DVB drill kit which includes two batteries and a bonus drill!

The drills are a replacement for two DW drills...Read more