Shop PORTER-CABLE PC418C-2 18-Volt NiCd Cordless 4-Piece Combo Kit Best Price
PORTER-CABLE PC418C-2 18-Volt NiCd Cordless 4-Piece Combo Kit – Review & Rating
Drill driver has 2 speed gear box for tough jobs. High gear provides faster RPM for fast drilling, while low gear offers high torque for heavy duty screwdriving applications. The drill has a 1 2” metal single sleeve chuck, integrated LED worklight and up to 440 in. lb. of torque. 6 1 2” circular saw provides more efficient cutting and greater cutting capacity. Compact reciprocating saw allows cutting in tight areas difficult to access with larger saws. Includes 4 tools, 2 batteries, and charge
List Price: $ 159.00
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about 7 months ago
Not the Porter Cable of yore, but still very good,
I bought this kit earlier this week, so the impressions below are only from a few hours of use. Also, I’m a DIY homeowner, not a contractor or professional. Because some people may be considering Ryobi’s similarly-priced cordless P842 18V Nicad kit, I’ve thrown in a few comparisons to that as well.
By component:
DRILL: It feels a lot like the lower end of DeWalt’s range. The motor section is heavy and substantial, though with nowhere near the front-weighted heft of DeWalt’s XRP line. The handle is thinner than I expected and the design is closer to compact than full-size. It has a motor brake and a 1/2″ metal chuck, two useful professional features. Balance is above-average, though overhead and precision work would benefit from a lighter unit. The torque clutch has 32 settings and isn’t excessively difficult to adjust. The drill has a two-mode switch, a variable speed trigger, and generally sounds refined. Both modes are powerful and were capable of driving a 3″ boring bit. In torque and RPM, the high-speed mode isn’t far off from my Ryobi corded drill from a few years ago.
The only negative so far is in the build tolerances of the chuck. There’s about 1/16 turn of chuck play before the gears engage when the trigger is pressed, and my particular drill’s chuck is noticeably misaligned. The wobble radius for very small bits can be wider than the bit. This makes it slightly harder to drill in a precise spot, though it has minimal effect once the hole is started. Both my corded and cordless Rybois are perfectly aligned. I’ve docked a star from the PC kit for this. On exchange, I tried two more of the same drills at Lowes. The first replacement was out of true to the same extent. The second was only slightly off, so I kept it. I also noticed a small power variance among the three.
Relative to the 18V Ryobi drill, the Porter Cable is a small step above. The Ryobi chuck is plastic, it isn’t quite as powerful, and the battery on my tester was unusually difficult to dismount. The chuck was perfectly centered, however, the torque clutch is easier to adjust, and the drill handles very well. Other reviewers have noted durability problems with the PC’s battery spring, rubber grip, and forward/reverse switch with professional use. Porter Cable has a 3-year warranty on this tool set. Ryobi, only two.
Porter Cable sells a slightly better version of this drill with Lithium batteries. Minor cosmetic differences aside, it has one key advantage: the chuck has a hand-tightened locking system that sounds like a ratchet wrench. This prevents the chuck from loosening before you want it to. DeWalt, Hitachi, and others have equipped a similar system on most of their drills.
FLASHLIGHT: A throwaway, but effective. It weighs almost nothing without the battery, so it’ll hold itself up when one is mounted. It has a rubberized push-button on/off switch. The lamp creates a moderately narrow spotlight beam and does not articulate. Rybobi’s version does. The bulb is incandescent, so even if the unit could stand being dropped, the bulb would probably break. A wider LED beam would be more useful and would have better battery life and impact resistance.
CIRCULAR SAW: Really decent for a cordless tool. It uses a 6.5″ blade as compared to Ryobi’s 5.5″ and is therefore a larger unit. Build quality is very good. The height and angle adjustments work smoothly with no slop, and the motor has an automatic brake when the throttle isn’t activated. The included blade rotates with almost no horizontal movement and leaves a smooth, unsplintered edge with 1″ pine, though the wide kerf chews up more wood than I’d like. 2″ wood is well within the blade depth of the unit. The limiting factor is the battery. It lasted for a half-hour of random cuts into 1″ and 2″ pine. The saw’s RPM is lower than a corded model. It lacks the power to push through a bind, and so requires more care in how the wood is arranged. Pacing is slower. Even with two batteries, I’d choose a corded saw for anything more strenuous than small projects, though this saw is definitely capable of cutting 2x4s. An aftermarket blade will improve battery life and cutting capacity.
RECIPROCATING SAW: Build quality on par with the other units. Not too large, not too heavy. The Goldilocks of saws, though pint-sized relative to corded models. Cheap blade. Lots of slop in all directions on a dry run, but accuracy improves considerably when the blade begins to bite. I bought it to cut tree limbs outside. I sliced through five in the 1″ to 3″ range with minimal effort, and I look forward to doing the rest of the yard. The battery is plenty powerful for this saw and lasts for about an hour. Like the drill, the trigger is variable-speed, though there isn’t a motor brake or orbital blade movement. The blade mounting system is standardized and fits almost all aftermarket blades. There’s a…
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|about 7 months ago
Not a contractor’s set, but excellent value for price,
To set the scene, I come from a history of working as a carpenter and general contractor so I appreciate powerful and durable tools. I normally purchase Dewalt and Bosch tools because I think they’re the best built ones out there. That said, I wanted something for small home projects and I didn’t want to spend an arm and a leg. For $130, this set can’t be beat by anything else out there. It has its issues, namely the wobbly chuck on the drill which makes using small bits a difficulty, but overall it’s a pretty amazing value.
Circular saw: About average; it’s good for small tasks in a pinch, but don’t use it with expectations of it working like a real worm-drive saw. You’ll be lucky to get 45 minutes out of it.
Reciprocating saw: A real gem. It works great for most homeowner tasks, feels durable, the quick-change bit mechanism works great. Again, don’t expect power like a corded model, but for small tasks like cutting a bigger opening in drywall for a bath fan, it’s great.
Drill: Wobbly chuck, but adequately powerful for most tasks. The 1/2″ chuck is a nice addition, as most hole-saw sets are for 1/2″ chucks. LED light that turns on with the trigger is aimed well and relatively powerful, very handy.
Light: I’ll preface this by saying I’m a huge flashlight snob.. I own several $200 Surefire lights, so my standards for lights are very high. That said, I never thought I’d use it and had it just sitting in the bag til one day I was helping a buddy out and needed to get into his attic. It was immensely useful for that situation. At about 20 feet, it has a focused center beam of around 6-7 feet with decent spread outside of that to around 15.
BONUS/Impact driver: I also bought the $60 impact driver bare tool with my set. This is THE tool to get. Hugely powerful, as in sinking 3 inch screws into solid pine with no pre-drilling, then literally sinking the head as far into the wood as you want. Then going in the kitchen and screwing oak cabinets together with no 3 inch screws and no pre-drilling and no stripped heads.
All in all, great set for the casual user. It’s 1/4 the price of the comparable Dewalt set, just as capable, will surely last you more than 1/4 as long, and has a much larger selection of bare tools (including that great impact driver).
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|about 7 months ago
Great combo for DIYers,
I recently purchased my first house, and like many things I am without any sort of tools. I bought this combo pack because of the great price. A drill, circular saw, a flash light, and a reciporcating saw are three tools that make any job easier. I do have to agree that the flash light is pretty much worthless, but the other three tools are worth the price. A great set for noobs and not too intemidating.
I do have a few tips after using the combo kit:
*RUN THE BATTERIES ALL THE WAY DOWN THE FIRST TIME BEFORE YOU CHARGE. This is the best way to get the most life out of NiCd batteries and it is not hard to do. Just throw a battery on the reciporcating saw and pull the button until it putt-putts out.
*Buy some replacement saw blades for the reciporcating saw, the included blade works fine but is short lived after one job. Dewalt has a 5 pack for around $6.00
*Porter-Cable also makes a drill bit kit. It’s worth picking up too. Check Lowes/Home Depot/Amazon for the best price. Around $29.00
*Have a battery charging while you are working. The batteries pack a lot of punch, but if you notice the punch turning into a love tap, replace the battery and you will be back on top.
A great “My First Tool Kit”.
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