Below are the top 7 new tools of the year. Obviously everyone will have their own opinions but this is an overall composition of our opinions with customer reviews and insight.
1. Ridgid SeeSnake Micro – The SeeSnake Micro is not like any other tool you have in your garage. It’s a 3 foot long waterproof snaking camera with a light on the end. With it you can look into walls, ducts, heating & cooling units, engines, pipes, drains and any other confined space. Additional 3 foot extensions are also available. It would be nice if in the future you could take some kind of picture with this but that’s about my biggest complaint. This is a very handy tool and has a wide variety of uses. More than anything it is really just lots of fun to play with.
2. Bosch Breaker 11335K – The 11335K Breaker Hammer is the newest Bosch electric demolition tool. This is a great addition to the existing arsenal of SDS-Max hammer drills & Bosch Brute tools. At only 35 lbs. this jack hammer is very versatile with vertical, angled or horizontal positioning. I had to make this one of the top tools of the year because who doesn’t feel like a bad ass using a jack hammer horizontally? Like Arnold Schwarzenegger in Total Recall.
3. IR Mini Air Tools – Ok so this is really a whole line of air tools but I was having trouble picking just one of these new Ingersoll Rand tools and they are pretty cheap so buying the whole line is still very reasonable. These are great tools all around, perfect for home user or professionals looking for compact tools to fit into those hard to reach places. Mini Grinder – Mini Drill/Driver – Mini Sander – Mini Polisher
4. Milwaukee V18 Battery – How can a Battery be one of the top new tools for 2007? It is because the V18 Lithium Ion battery works with all your previous Milwaukee 18 volt Ni-Cad tools. If you already have several 18 volt tools or a combo kit you can upgrade to Lithium Ion for $179 (see previous article). Additionally the charger still charges your old batteries so you can use them as back ups.
5. IQv Cordless Impact – Ingersoll Rand’s new line of IQv cordless tools is pretty impressive. Everyone knows IR as the trusted name for air tools and especially impact wrenches but not necessarily electric or cordless tools. The IQv line really had some big shoes to fill and I think they did an excellent job. You have a wide selection of IQv impacts powered by Lithium or NiCd in either 14.4V or 19.2V. The IQv line also includes other tools common to IR users such as grinders, drills and ratchets which can use the same batteries and chargers.
6. Bosch 36V Circular Saw 1671K – Obviously everyone has seem a cordless circular saw before so why would I include the 1671K? Simply put this is the first cordless circular saw I would actually want to bring to a job site. In my mind cordless circular saws are still not an alternative to a good corded saw because saws need lots of juice. Previous cordless saws were good for 4-5 cuts which is a joke if you are building anything larger than a door stop. The 36 volt Bosch is good for at least 20 which if you have a few extra batteries and a good corded miter saw or portable table saw should be extremely useful on any jobsite. Around the house with an extra battery the 1671K by itself would get most jobs done without any down time.
7. Milwaukee 12V Micro Driver – There seems to be a theme here with the micro & mini tools. Everything gets smaller but at the same time more powerful and the 2401-22 is no exception. It’s not a secret Milwaukee created the Micro driver to compete directly with the very successful Bosch PS20-2 & PS40-2 (I’m sure we’ll see a micro impact shortly) and with good reason. The Lithium Ion tools have added seriously power and battery life making it possible to have small tools that can do big jobs. Plus I think this thing just looks cool.
