[SR77]

What do you guys prefer for your garage/car work, a compressor with pneumatic tools or the new electric and cordless tools out? I am trying to decide which direction would be best for me to go for my garage projects for both cost wise and tool performance. I would think the tools I would use the most would be an impact gun and cutoff wheels and a diegrinder. Are the electric/cordless tools comparable to their pneumatic twins? Which would be the best bang for the buck pneumatic or electric/cordless? thanks for the help

[jr68]

pneumatic are fine if you have enough air to run them, and they need a ton of air. I dont so I use my electric impact and die grinder all the time while my air tools gather dust.

[SR77]

thats for the reply! I have a small pancake compressor now for house projects etc, but if i go the pneumatic way I plan on getting a new compressor for the garage to support the tools I buy.

any other opinions?

[BPOS]

I say go air. A nice air compressor will do a lot of things for you beside running air tools.

[SR77]

thats for the replies, any other opinions out there

[yellow69RS]

I typically plug in my tools at home in the garage. I have a Harbor Freight here and buy their cheap 4" angle grinders. I also have a compressor that I use to sandblast and paint.
I will say one thing about air tools the cheap ones wear out too fast and the good one are hard for me to justify the price for home use.

Jeff

[JimM]

The only "cordless" I own is an 18 volt dewalt screwdriver...

Everything else is air. Air tools don't get hot!

[clill]

I have a bunch of Dewalt 18volt stuff like Impact, drill, sawzall,flashlight, noisey vacumn and even just got a right angle drill that I love. Barely use the air tools anymore unless there is a really stubborn lugnut that the Dewalt won't get off.

[camarosrnice]

Get a 4.5" electric dewald grinder with a thin blade and a flap sanding disk they work great on cutting steel and finishing welds. I rarely use my die grinder now

[zman1969]

I have a set of Milwaukee 18V cordless tools- sawzall, drill, circular saw, flashlight and best of all 2 different 1/2" impacts one is lightweight- about 3lbs and 180ft-lb and the big 325ft-lb thats like 7 lbs the impacts are great!! I use them to teardown and build rear ends- makes getting a pinion nut off at the junkyard a breeze! This is some of the best$$ I have spent on tools- I hardly use my compressor anymore-waiting for it to build pressure and the noise factor sucks! the big impact I have been using for 5-6 years - I absolutely LOVE IT! just recently I have upgraded to Li-Ion batterys and thats a great improvement- my first try at the boneyard I pulled 3 nova rear ends with 1 battery! I wouldnt be without em! the other tools help around the house for cutting wood-trimming tree branches and that flashlight is handy too - they even offer 28v now-Check E-bay but read carefully there are 3 different 18v Batterys

[Pro-Street69Camaro468]

They all have there place.When I work on cars whether auto body or mechanical its air. I have just about every tool known to man battery tools such as Dewalt are good for certain things on a car but I wouldn't depend on them totaly.I would say if your talking just for working on cars I would stay with air,especially auto body.Your not going to find a DA or fileboard in battery or electric at least of any quality...this is...JMO...

[Shawn67RS]

Love the cordless. Have an18V Dewalt 1/2" impact that takes rusty lugnuts off of sprinkler tires in the corn fields. Have a 3/8" too, it's pretty handy.

[herbyjr]

Over time, my Dewalt batteries wear out and don't keep their charges as long. They are a lot handier because I don't have to pull out the hose, but I do get tired of recharging and replacing batteries. If I'm going to be using a tool all day long, I'll go with the pnuematic. For quick jobs, I stick with batteries.

H.

[rj68RS]

For working on cars - pneumatic. For household projects and general repair - battery. For framing and carpentry - pneumatic.

Having a good air compressor is the way to go if you have the space for it. I have a 35 gallon upright that puts out 175psi and I use it all the time. For car work, impact gun, ratchet, file, die grinder, painting, blowing things clean, and believe it or not... actually filling tires.

I love my DeWalt 14.4v and 18v kits for household stuff just due to the flexibility. I can wear out batteries within 12-18 mos due to use, not due to sitting.

For real carpentry work I go back to air for nailers and staplers as the there really is no battery/cordless comparison for all day use. I even had a Pasolode gas charged I eventually sold on eBay as it wasn't cost effective to use regularly.

[Eke]

I have both. I use the electrical/battery powered for quick small jobs, but I would never consider getting rid of my pneumatic. Unfortunately most people do what I did and get a compressor that isn't big enough. Next summer will involve some modifications on the house and garage and will include a new, larger compressor that will be in a room outside the garage so the noise/heat factor won't be an issue.
If you have to choose, I would encourage you to determine your needs first, then choose your poison. Electric/battery powered burn up over time and good pneumatics are expensive but last a long time.