Reviews by buckdog

buckdog says "The C3 trim saw is a very handy, nice, light, easy to handle saw" about Craftsman C3 19.2 volt DieHard Cordless Trim Saw

buckdog — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:30:22 GMT

I've never owned or used a cordless circular saw before. I have a large, heavy and powerful corded circular saw that is really overkill for many jobs that I do. That's what prompted my purchase of the C3 trim saw.

So far, I have mixed emotions about it. I really like the size, weight and handling of the saw, but it really lacks power compared to my main saw. I tend to overpower the saw and stall the blade at times, usually by trying to cut too fast. I need to spend more time with the saw to better learn its limitations and its strengths. I have no doubt that most of the problem is my lack of skill and knowledge with this type of saw. Ultra thin kerf saw blades and using the more powerful li-ion batteries would probably go a long way to helping with power issues as well.

Having said that, I've also had lots of positive experiences with the saw. It's so nice to snag the saw, snap the battery out of my drill and put it in the saw, cut the piece and be done with it. No muss,...

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buckdog says "The C3 hand vac needs more power or something" about Craftsman C3 19.2 volt Hand Vac

buckdog — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:30:21 GMT

I'm disappointed with the hand vac. I have a 16 gal sears shop vac, which is huge and a bother to sling around for small jobs. So, I thought that this little hand vac would work for small jobs, eliminating the hassle of breaking out the big gun.

It didn't work out that way for me. The hand vac seems very underpowered, even though it makes a lot of noise, it just doesn't pick up much stuff. I ended up spending more time trying to make it pick up the dirt or sawdust and shavings than I would have had I just rolled out the big shop vac and done the job.

I'm really sorry that this didn't work out for me. I want a small, light, easy to move vac for quick little jobs and I'm still looking for that vac.

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buckdog says "The C3 Hammer drill is terrific." about Craftsman 11543 19.2-volt C3 Cordless 1/2&#34 Hammer Drill/Driver

buckdog — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:30:20 GMT

I'm involved in a rather lengthy home remodeling effort, requiring a lot of drilling and driving long screws. I have a "cheap" 1/2 inch SDS hammer/drill that I've been using to drill into concrete block. I broke the chuck on that drill, after several days work and while drilling half-way into a block. I used a corded, standard drill to finish the day, but that was some rough going at times. The drill bit is small, provided in the box for for 1/4" tapcon concrete anchors, so I really needed another hammer drill that would work with that drill bit.......

I already had a C3 driver drill that I find very impressive, so it didn't take much for me to run back over to Sears and look at the C3 hammer drill offerings that they had in stock. I came home with the kit that had the 2 ni-cad batteries, charger and case. In retrospect, I should have opted for the bare drill and bought a full-sized li-ion battery. But, I was trying to be frugal..... The extra goodies, case 2 batteries...

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buckdog says "The C3 work light is a very nice little light." about Craftsman 19.2-Volt Light

buckdog — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:30:20 GMT

The C3 work light has been very much used since I obtained it. It's very bright and I really like the way the head swivels, allowing you to sit it on the floor and aim the light where you need it. In the vast majority of cases, that is more than sufficient.

I have no idea how long it lasts with the C3 batteries. I've had the same ni-cad battery attached to the light for a couple of weeks now, amounting to about 2 or 3 hours of total use, I'd guess.

The first thing I did, after buying the light, was to get a spare bulb. Seems like I always manage to knock my work lights off their stand and break the bulb.... There is a holder for the spare bulb, inside the rotating head, but fortunately, I've not yet broken the original bulb, even though the light has had a couple of knocks.

I would have liked to have a hook attachment for the light. There isn't any simple and easy way to hang the light somewhere when you need to do so.

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buckdog says "The C3 Drill/Driver is a very nice combination tool." about Craftsman 17191 19.2-volt C3 Cordless Drill/Driver

buckdog — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 14:30:19 GMT

I had a portable Milwaukee portable driver/drill combination tool for years. When it finally died, I wanted something equal to or better than that drill. After a great deal of research, I decided to go with the Craftsman C3 line of tools, mainly because of the 19.2 volts of power and the Craftsman name.

I purchased the kit with the compact lithium ion batteries and multi-charger. This drill has met and exceeded my needs and expectations. It has plenty of power and torque and the batteries are long lasting. With the small batteries and smallish size of the drill, it's a real pleasure to use, balancing well and is not too heavy.

As a drill, it works as well as any I've used. As a driver, I've driven a lot of long screws into fresh treated 2x4s and concrete lag screws into concrete block. I'm really impressed with the power and longevity of the compact li-ion batteries for these rather difficult tasks. The clutch works as advertised, easily adjusted and not over-tightening or...

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buckdog says "The C3 radio is a pretty nice little unit." about Craftsman AM/FM/Aux/Weather Radio

buckdog — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:24:09 GMT

I got this radio as a surprise in the box of one of my new C3 drills. I got both the driver/drill and the hammer/drill and don't remember in which box the radio came. I already have a small stereo radio "boom box" type thing in my shop, so the C3 radio remained in the plastic wrap for several days.

I decided to look it over one day and discovered that it had an input jack, which meant that I could use my mp3 player. Very cool! I plugged in a battery and my mp3 player and the C3 radio is what I've been listening to now for several days.

The C3 radio is rather small, with a large speaker for its size. The radio portion works fine, as far as I can tell, picking up my favorite FM station just fine. Of course, it also plays my mp3's quite well. It certainly has plenty of volume and should have plenty of volume for all but the noisiest shops and worksites.

If you have plenty of spare 19.2 volt batteries and need a decent radio with Aux input, the C3 radio is probably a no-brainer.

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buckdog says "buy a different unit, if you need accurate measurements" about Craftsman ACCUTRAC Laser Measuring Tool

buckdog — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 02:23:31 GMT

These type units are terrific for people that work alone, when the units work...... First, I had a $99 Bosch unit, which worked great for 2 weeks, very accurate and easy to use, then it died. So, I got another name brand unit because the Bosch was out of stock, but it had terrible accuracy, being off more than an inch on measurements under 10ft was normal.... I returned it the same day I bought it and went across the mall to Sears. I have very recently bought several of very nice Craftsman tools in the C3 portable 19 volt line. The c3 hammer drill is wonderful....

The store that I went to only carried this Craftsman model and no laser measuring devices, so I thought that this Craftsman might be the thing I needed. I didn't know that Craftsman had a laser measuring device. It's a nice unit, with lots of features, but it wasn't any more accurate than the previous brand X unit that I returned, being off an inch or more on a simple 5' to 6' test. Needless to say,...

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buckdog says "seems like a good meter" about Craftsman Professional True RMS Multimeter

buckdog — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:40:25 GMT

I bought this meter yesterday, 9/5/09, from the local store. I had difficulty with the meter on simple readings on small DC batteries and on some AC power outlets. Fortunately, I had also bought the $18 extra test lead kit with the meter. I tried the extra leads on the meter and it then worked flawlessly on all of the things that it had earlier failed to read.

I returned the unit and exchanged it for a higher priced model. I went for the higher priced model, for a couple of features that this model doesn't have. In retrospect, while I am very pleased with the higher priced meter, I think that I would have been just as happy with this model, had I done a simple exchange.

This model has a great display, very easy to read, which is important to me. It is easy to use and readings were fast and accurate when I used the good leads. It uses the new "safety" test leads, not the old leads that have the exposed banana plug that plug into the meter.

It uses a 9 volt battery, which is not included....

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buckdog says "very versatile" about Craftsman Professional True RMS Auto-Ranging Multimeter

buckdog — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:40:17 GMT

I bought this meter because one of the cheaper craftsman meters that I bought, was defective out of the box and I had to return it. This meter has a ton of functions that I'll probably never use, but for the stuff that I need it for, it has worked flawlessly so far. Checking DC batteries, power outlets, extension cords, etc is a breeze.

The temperature reading capability seems to work fine and might prove to be more useful than I originally thought. I can see where it would be useful for checking air vents for both AC and heating, along with a simple measurement of different room temperatures to diagnose heating or cooling issues in both the car and home.

The display is very large and easy to read, especially with the backlight function that allows you to see the display in the dark. The unit is also comfortable to hold, having a rubber surface around the outer edges and the meter is small enough that it fits my hands well. I was surprised at that, because I don't usually notice...

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buckdog says "excellent product, good value" about Craftsman Test Lead Kit with Storage Pouch

buckdog — Tue, 08 Sep 2009 23:40:07 GMT

I bought these leads along with the Craftsman Pro multimeter #82003. They add the capability to do just about anything the average user would want to do. In my case, they were especially helpful in isolating a problem that I had with the multimeter. My new multimeter wouldn't work on any DC measurement and only about half the time with AC measurements. So, I broke open the package for the new leads and tried them out. The meter worked perfectly with all of the leads in the kit. I was able to return that meter with the defective leads and exchange it for a new one and could tell the clerk exactly what was wrong with the defective meter.

The long wires on the left in the picture, are just plugs that the other items you see in the picture plug into. It is a nice system, but I wish that they had been designed to allow for extension to the standard leads that come with the meter.

The storage pouch that the leads come in is pretty nice too. It probably wouldn't last a long time...

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