In recent years new compact 12V cordless tools – impact drivers, drills, saws, multi-tools, and so forth, have been flooding the market, and the selection of new tools keeps growing and growing. While they’re not suitable for all tasks, we have accepted that these compact tools are capable of handling many low to medium duty applications.
There was recently an interesting poll over at Tool-Rank asking whether readers think 12 volts is enough power for cordless tools.
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Thus far, the poll results show that people are rather accepting of these compact 12V tools alongside standard 18V tools. Following are the current results, and bear in mind that the poll is still open, so go ahead place your vote right now.
Q: Do 12 volt tools offer enough power.
Options (votes/total voters):
- It has its place, but I am not selling my 18 volts (25/71)
- It depends on the tool (21/71)
- Yes, for light duty work (17/71)
- Nope, not at all (4/71)
- Yes, I replaced my 18 volt tools with them (4/71)
teicher
I’m a big fan of the 12V Li-ion tools. They’re lighter, more ergonomic, and easier to use in tight spots. The 12V tools do the job in 95% of the projects I’ve tackled and it’s been my experience that when the 12Vs aren’t up to the task, the 18Vs don’t fare significantly better. In those edge cases, I go for a corded tool.
Bishop Clarke
I seperate my tools as heavy duty (18V) and daily tools (12V).80% can be handled with my 12V collection. 18V only comes out of the when I need a longer lasting 3.0 Ah battery.
Good 12V Lithium tools have a huge advantage with power to size ratios and reduce the weight of my bag I need to carry into a house or site. I just got a 12V lithium impact that outperforms my 14.4 Dewalt.