cordless tool kits?

[beakie]

So after some searching I came up with a rather old (2005-6) thread about tools, little to do with cordless.
I am getting into a business venture with a buddy and will be doing small contractor jobs to make some extra coin. I want to get some newer tools of the cordless variety and am wondering what those of you out there have that make the grade.
Personally I have a Makita 18v from a promo deal that came with some corded tools and 3 18v batteries, 2x2.6Ah and 1x3.0Ah. Served me well almost 2 years now, great battery life and always plenty of torque/speed/ whatever is needed.
From talking to tool guys, DeWalt used to be top dog, but recently been going down hill. Rigid seems to be coming on strong, Makita is still near the top and Milwaukie/Hitachi and some others are rather good, pricy but still good.
Also, is Lithium the way togo for batteries now? I can wait a bit and use what I have for now (corded) and get the non-lithiums cheaper once Lithium comes on strong, or are they here to stay and its ok to get into them because they'll be the way of the future.
So I am looking for Brands, and battery type? Any other advice on topic is mucho appreciato.
Thanks for any and all advice, after reading through the old thread lets try and keep it on topic and off bashing what one or the other says.

 

[selarep]

Ah yes... power tools. I member I started off with a $10 power drill when I was 15. I would recomend Hildi from Home Depot. They are heavy duty tools and man they kick ass. I own a Makita, Dewalt kit, Milwaukie, Rigid kit, and I am looking to get a Hildi next. TO many drills... but I would have to say the dewalt has always done me good. the digid is awesome because of the kit, I can swap from the saw to the circ blade to the drill to the flash light and I think its a 19v battery. cool think is when I bought it homodepot offered a free replacement plan on the batteries for life so I have had to replace it once because if you dont wear the life out and charge it up, the becomes a short lived batter. the Dewalt is great too, no problems with it yet and I have dropped that thing almost as much as I have with the rigid stuff. the makita is an old dog, my grandfathers, he likes it a lot but now he's into the dewalt. My uncles and I love the rigid stuff though. as for the milwaulkie, I dont remember it much, my uncle took it and it seems to be lost. Look into the Hildi stuff, they are top notch German made, but they dont offer a life time warranty, it depends on the batteries. its wither one to two year.

 

[willy51]

You cant beat hilti, i used to work in the Home Depot tool rental dept. You wont belive the stuff those tools will survive. For a power drill though, there is only one for my tool box, Millwauki. Its the way there put togerther. No clamshell junk, the planetarys and motor are in a tubular internal 1 piece frame. No distortion = longer life and more power. Just my 2 cents.

 

[dphillips]

We've had good luck with the DeWalts here at work. Can't beat the price for what you get. I've been impressed with what I can go through with the cordless hammer drill. The corless angle grinder has come in handy many times. Batteries last a hell of a lot longer than that cheap Ryobi crap that I have at home, even when they haven't been charged for a while. The batteries are a little pricey but if you have a Batteries Plus store in the area they can rebuild the old ones for less.

 

[BRIANHO13]

The dewalt cordless impact is a bad ass piece of machinery. Mine paid for itself first trip to the JY.

 

[MT Mike]

You cant beat hilti, i used to work in the Home Depot tool rental dept. You wont belive the stuff those tools will survive. For a power drill though, there is only one for my tool box, Millwauki. Its the way there put togerther. No clamshell junk, the planetarys and motor are in a tubular internal 1 piece frame. No distortion = longer life and more power. Just my 2 cents.

Off topic-but how was this guy able to post? His name is in black......

I'd go with nothing but DeWalt, and nothing less than an 18v. My .02 cents.