Just because I think the yellow looks cool
What cordless drill?
I'm on the search for a good cordless drill that will be reliable and not cost the earth.
What and where from please folks....
Ta
TC
I spent ~£100 on a Makita 18v drill/driver with hammer function.
Comes with 3 batteries and charges in 20/30mins or so.
If I had to pick one I'd say it was the single best and most used tool in my collection.
HTH,
James
Makita tools will give good service, Ryobi tools are also very good, I'm in the building trade and many of us use both makes. Very reliable For a bit more money there is De-Walt. Avoid at all costs Clarkes tools, total waste of money if you intend to use it a lot. Barry.
I bought a pair of Bosch drills from B&Q's
about 6 years ago.
They came as a pair with 3 batteries and two chargers.
The batteries are finally starting to give up the ghost..
But boy have they been worked hard...
And as James says, certainly the most used tool in my collection.
The only advice I would give is, don't skimp on price.
The cheep ones have crappy batteries and in my opinion are false economy
David
i have 3 of the ryobi +one range drills 2 for at home (drill/driver set) and a drill for work, i use it mainly for cutting 22mm holds in stainless meter posts for mobile phone mast installations, never misses a beat, mind u 3 years on the batterys are a little shite now, would definately buy another tho
After a few B&Q ones I bought a Bosch 12v for £80 which has given 3 years of hard service reliably.
Corded drill recently died so have replaced with an 18v Makita, prob same one James
mentioned. If this is proves as good I'll be happy.
makita bosch pro or hitachi are the list i would pick from. makita being top followed by bosch and hitachi in second.
dewalt are just re-branded black and decker rubbish.
Can't disagree with any of the above, (mine's a twin - pack Makita, but I also had a Bosch which was excellent - lasted me 5 years!)
I will add that the Lithium - Ion batteries are adding a new dimension - they don't discharge themselves, have no memory effect and are a lot
lighter than nicads. The only downside seems to be the price.
Anyone used Li - ion powered drills for any length of time??
Similar here - had a Bosch for 5 year and the battery started to fade. I punted it onto my Dad (who thinks it's great and is still using it!).
I then bought a Makita with a 3Ah battery from Screwfix it's bloody amazing how long the battery lasts!
quote:
Originally posted by stevegough
Anyone used Li - ion powered drills for any length of time??
I bought a challenge 18v from Argoose had it a couple of years dropped it a few times and broke a connection in the battery, was so pleased with it
went and bought its replacement which was absolute rubbish. So I took the originals battery apart and repaired it and its still going strong after 6
years.
For work Ive now got a 24v Bosch Hammerlite which is an SDS drill which will blast its way through anything but a bit heavy for car building.
Cheers,
Bob
[Edited on 12/6/09 by splitrivet]
Dewalt 18v. Very strong, lasts forever on the batteries and built to last.
Weighs bit too much.
Gets used for everything, even mixing plaster lol - although i did finally burn the motor out doing that, but parts are dead easy to get and cheap,
motor is a straight swap.
If you can, get one with li-ion batteries as they have no memory effect.
Blimey, there's a lot of choice. I'd like to spend £100 but will spend £120. What would you go for at that price?
Im going to add to the Makita/Bosch pimping.
We have a 12v bosch from BnQ, which replaced an earlier 7.2v one, and it works well for what we use if for.
This one http://www.bosch.com.my/content/language1/img_productworlds/GSR12-2.jpg
Also, at work (JCB) they use Makita continuously, including on the production line where they get hours and hours of use.
Lithium is coming, but for the cost, i would stick to Ni-Cd/Ni-MH and you can always change the battery after a year.
Daniel
I bought a DeWalt cordless and corded drill recently from Screwfix when it was on offer, cost me £60.
I've only ever bought cheap drills before but these don't slow down when under stress.
going against the flow - I've had 3 "Aldi special offer" cordless drills over the last 5 years at a total cost of less than £50
In that time I've been asked to repair several friends makitas & dewalts, & I know plenty others who've had them lost borrowed or
stolen.
Why 3? one got a tired battery, another developed a rattly chuck bering after doing all the holes in a locost....
My bro just had his van broken into. Among the losses were £500 worth of cordless drills. (the scum also took a £3000 trailer)
[Edited on 12/6/09 by Bob C]
Bought as Wickes 'Professional' 18V combi-drill from their interchangeable range as I also have the reciprocating saw that takes the same
batteries. Works well and has been abused for well over a year and still going strong.
JB
Its not good to just say buy a bosch, makita, DeWalt etc.
I will explain. I used to work for DeWalt and my job was working with the development teams to build and alter the production lines. The top end
models used DeWalt designed and built motors. They were fantastic. The lower end models often used industrial spec 'other' motors. Whilst
good they werent as good as the top end units. I lost count of how many times the shop would send returned drills up to us for analysis, for us to
conclude that for the application they were used the client should not have been using that particular model.
At a particular price point there isnt much to choose between the leading brands. Where differences come in is more to do with process stability (ie
variations in the build process for the full units and components) rather than the design. Also all of the leading brands have been moving manufacture
to low cost sources of late and this also has a factor to play.
My advice, get the best model that you can afford that offers a good warranty and keep hold of the receipt just in case.
For every person you talk to that will say a particular leading brand is awesome you will find another that hates them with a passion.
If you buy a cheap drill you get what you pay for. In general the better brands use better cell technology which explains why replacement battery
packs looks extortionate on their own in comparison to full cheaper drill packs.
I have an old top of the range Dewalt that was built in UK and it has never let me down.
Mate worked on the building sites - he always got the aldi drills......
He looked at it like this - they last 3 to 6 months, then you get another one. You then have 2 sets of batteries, set one on charge whilst you use the
other. When one is dead, swap over.
He reckoned he'd kill / lose an expensive drill a year - the aldi drills left him quids in with lots of spare parts should he ever feel the need
not to throw one in the bin (he did just bin them).
(ok reality, he'd buy 2 to 4 each time they came on offer to make sure he had them).
got a 10 yr old bosch still works well , in its lifetime I have bought two budget replacements as the bosch didn't hold charge very well after
4-5years, a Black & Decker and an 18v Nutool, both were binned after 18mths - 2 ys max.
got an 18v Makita from screwfix bout 6 months ago, on offer for £80 with 3 batteries , is about £180 now, superb piece of kit excellent quality.
As Ryobi seem well thought of, have a look at this offer from Screwfix,
SCREWFIX AD
[Edited on 12/6/09 by Paul M]
I like DeWalt.
Just because I think the yellow looks cool
I have a Hitachi Li-ion drill with 2 batteries that should have cost a couple of hundred , I had ordered a cheaper one but when I got it home and used it I realised they had made a mistake . whoops! Brilliant drill though when the battery goes flat the drill just stops with no warning
I swear by my Bosch 14 volts. I'm now up to 4 of them, never had a failure, in hobby use admittedly.
Fred W B
Just to be different, I have an Erbauer Combi drill
Built incredibly well, metal gearbox (you can even use it as a manual screwdriver to give screws an extra nip). Batteries last for ages too, and its
supplied with 2 and a fast charger.
Nicely weighted and balanced too. Fraction od the dewalt/makita price. A lot of the dewalt/makita price is badge.
One of these
David
bosch 14.4 li-ion
screwfix have them on special offer with 3 batteries.
after destroying 2 dewats drills (nylon gears)
i moved to bosch
altho i now have a ryobi 14.4 aswell because i left the bosch kits at home and neede it on site 
heres the
bosch one
I got the Makita twinpack from B+Q towards the end of last year to replace my DeWalt that got nicked. I only went to B+Q because the drill got nicked
on a Saturday and I needed one for a job on Sunday, so glad I did. It is an absolute effin pleasure having two drills, saves me so much time on most
jobs not having to continually swap bits over, just have one set up as pilot drill and the other as driver and whizz through the lot
quote:
Originally posted by RoadkillUK
I bought a DeWalt cordless and corded drill recently from Screwfix when it was on offer, cost me £60.
I've only ever bought cheap drills before but these don't slow down when under stress.
DeWalt is just rebranded Black and Decker stuff with a 100% extra added for the privaledge...
quote:
Originally posted by flak monkey
DeWalt is just rebranded Black and Decker stuff with a 100% extra added for the privaledge...
quote:
Originally posted by flak monkey
Just to be different, I have an Erbauer Combi drill
Built incredibly well, metal gearbox (you can even use it as a manual screwdriver to give screws an extra nip). Batteries last for ages too, and its supplied with 2 and a fast charger.
Nicely weighted and balanced too. Fraction od the dewalt/makita price. A lot of the dewalt/makita price is badge.
One of these
David
I have:
an 18v Bosch (going strong after a couple years hammer)
a pair of 14.4v Makita's (3 batteries)
and two cheaper ones... I just hate having to swap/change bits/ends/burrers etc mid job.
It's the same reason I have 3 Grinders (one with a 1mm cutting disc, one grinder and one lap/flap/polishing disc) Just so much quicker and
easier... One's a black and decker and the other two are cheaper and not used as often...
Yes, in the case of the small grinders they are so cheap now that if you compare the cost of your time (at what you usually earn or charge out your
time at) you only have to save the time you might spend changing the discs in a weekend in the garage to pay for the next grinder.
I have 4 grinders under the bench (all plugged in) and 4 drill drivers (all Bosch 14.4's) on the bench so what ever you have in the vice you can
just reach down and grab the right tool to cut/metal finish/deburr/derust/drill/screw/countersink etc as required
In the rightmost drill you can see that I cut a 1/4" socket set extension down so that I could secure it in the chuck and then easily swap any
1/4" drive socket or attachment onto it.
Cheers
Fred W B
drills
[Edited on 16/6/09 by Fred W B]
wow, that is away of doing it 4 drills and 4grinders. i have one corded drill, one air and one cordless drill.
which is a 14.4v drill with 2batteries from BnQ, not sure on the make, but i use it and think it is ok, but do not do the amount of work every one
else.
While we're on topic. Where are people buying power tools from at the moment.
I've used 'tooledup.com' a number of times for gear in the past, but screwfix is always very good on price to and can collect in
person. Any other suggestons/thoughts.
Looking at buying dad one.
Daniel
[Edited on 19/6/2009 by dhutch]
I used to buy all our power tools from local suppliers, usually when we killed one of the old ones. More recently I have been using Screwfix and
Tooled-up, only buying off either when they have their hot deals.
As a side note, look on Hot Deals UK and people post up Screwfix 10% voucher codes. Just bought a Dewalt chop saw today from Screwfix, their deal of
the week, from £299 to £149.
In my opinion, the better quality drills cost the money. The cheaper Dewalts must be badged, it seems like Black and Decker, who also bought Elu,
which were a good brand. Some Elu batteries fit Dewalts.
We absolutely paste our tools and it's the higher end Dewalt's and Makita's that survive. I have a big 24v Dewalt cordless and use it
for diamond cutting 5" holes, it is the bollox.
All drills (even the litium ion ones) still fail the scaffold test, 4 lifts up, forgot the toe boards and you feel the nudge against your boot 
You need one of these.
Currently look at these three. http://www.screwfix.com/prods/52265/Power-Tools/Cordless-Drills/Makita-6261DWPE-9-6V-Cordless-Drill-Driver
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/76475/Power-Tools/Cordless-Drills/DeWalt-DC756KA-12V-Cordless-Drill-Driver
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/21623/Power-Tools/Cordless-Drills/BOSCH-GSR-12-23-12V-Cordless-Drill-Driver#
The bosch is the most expensive, but also the only one ive used first hand and the only one with three batterys (not really needed for the app).
Makita is a 9.6v over a 12v, but cheaper with it. Not a fan of DeWalt generally but its fairly cheep, and is the only one of the three with a 13mm
chuck which can be usefull.
Also one rogue in there with the Lithium, but im not sure i can stand the lead time if its for fathers day. (never done anything for it before, but
sod it, first for everything!)
http://www.tooled-up.com/Product.asp?PID=163557
Also this seams a steal. To the extent i might buy it for me. But will check ukhotdeals too.
http://www.axminster.co.uk/basket.asp
Daniel