Cordless Drill Recommendations

[GeeTee]

I'm a field based IT "Engineer". Work wants me to purchase a cordless drill (their money not mine), but doing a bit of looking around has left me overwhelmed with choices.

I'd rather not go for the cheapest of the cheap and have to replace the thing in short order. On the other hand, it's likely to only see light duty - a few 32mm hole saw cuts into worktops a day for example. The thing will probably live in the back of the van most of the time so needs to not be flimsy and fall apart the first time it gets a knock!

So I'm after recommendations from those that use these things all the time and know which are the ones to avoid and which are the diamonds in the rough so to speak.

Any brands to avoid?
Better to have one larger 4Ah battery or 2 x 2Ah battery?

I have no idea what criteria I should be trying to assess these things on to be honest, just want to avoid buying a lemon.

Thanks in advance
G

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Holesaw can and do require a larger amount of torque so I'd go for an 18 volt tool and because they give a longer run time ad well as being more powerful I'd opt for a brudshless motor. Holesaw also draw a fair amount of battery charge so I think I'd opt for 4Ah rather than 2Ah. I'm on Makitas and in their range something like the DHP459 or DHP480 brushless drill driver would be a good choice but similar products by deWalt, Bosch, Milwaukee, etc would be just as capable

 

[bernardgreen]

Better to have one larger 4Ah battery or 2 x 2Ah battery?

Having two batteries means you can continue working when the battery in the drill goes flat. That is providing the second battery has been in the charger while you are exhausting the battery in the drill.

My Ryobi has given very good service over many years of more than average DIY work. Still works but one battry has failed. The Makita 8391 I bought on special offer is very good and looks like it will give nay years of service as a DIY tool.

 

[Nige F]

Hitachi DV 18 DGL/ JC. from Screwfix . 2 batteries . £100. It's what I use and I'll recommend it for what you will be doing. Yes it's got brushes, but you won't see them wear out.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

. Yes it's got brushes, but you won't see them wear out.

Main reasons for suggesting brushless are nothing to do with them wearing out. Brushless motors are generally 1.5 to 2 times the power (wattage) of equivalent sized brushed motors, have higher torque and they are far more frugal in terms of battery usage (about 40% in my experience) - especially important when driving holesaws, etc.

 

[GeeTee]

Thanks a lot everyone. Wasn't even aware of brushless motors - they look a tad more pricey though. Have to purchase tomorrow for jobs on Thursday, still so many choices! Maybe I'll have to beat a definitive budget out of my employer to narrow things down. Or just spend away and hope for forgiveness after the event

Thanks again

 

[rsgaz]

hole saw cuts into worktops

Another thing to be on the lookout for then is make sure you get one with a 13mm (or 1/2 inch) chuck. Many of the more compact drills have a 10mm (or 3/8 inch) chuck and the larger size holesaw arbor won't fit.

Gaz


edit: In a holesaw kit, you normally get a thread adapter like this...

...to allow you to use larger holesaw sizes with the smaller arbor, but they are a pain in the bottom!

 

[Belle427]

I find most of the big players such as Dewalt, Bosch etc are all reasonably good quality these days from the likes of screwfix.
Id always go for 2 batteries, 2 ah will probably be fine for your usage, you could always add a 4ah to it later on but the batteries tend to be as much as the tool itself.
Ryobi products are quite often overlooked and the batteries are reasonably priced, they are also made by the same company that makes Milwaukee power tools are they are very good too. Not the Rolls Royce of tools they once were but still very good.
I bought a Ryobi twin pack a few years ago and am very happy with it, I added an sds to it earlier this year as they all use the one system with the same batteries which is handy too.

 

[Nozzle]

I went for a miluakee which has interchangable chucks. Bloody bloody bloody useful they are too. A 90 degree job, and offset job, a normal 10mm chuck and the usual hex driver. It's variable speed with a 2 speed gearbox and a work light. No hammer action, but that's fine in metal, timber and plastic. Comes with two batteries (small ones) so you never find yourself waiting for a charge.

http://www.toolstation.com/shop/p87095?table=no

Nozzle

 

[GeeTee]

By way of closure to this. Firstly - Thanks, one and all, a lot of good info.

I made the schoolboy error of asking my boss what the budget was for this when he called about something unrelated - the response, "£50ish". Given I was driving at the time (hands-free of course), once I recovered from nearly ditching the van into a tree and recovering from a spell of inability to respond. All I could say was something along the lines of "Uhhh... not sure how that's going to work, I guess if it has a Fisher Price label on it".

End result - bobbed into my local Screwfix and picked up Erbauer ERB679DDH 18V 2.0Ah Li-Ion Cordless Drill Driver (7611K) which was still over budget - went to site today, first use, noticed the chuck was wobbling around. Returned it for exchange and the helpful staff let me look at the 3 others they had in stock - same problem - about 4mm sideways slop in the chuck to body. It has good reviews so can only think it's a bad batch thing.

Swapped it for the Erbauer ER1603COM 18V 2.0Ah Li-Ion Cordless Combi Drill (7645F) for an extra tenner. Same driver body, different chuck, different torque adjust mechanism as far as I can tell, no slop.

I feel like I've wasted everyone's time now asking for recommendations but hopefully it serves a purpose for others who may search such info.

All credit to the Screwfix staff, they were more than helpful, just the product was duff unfortunately.

Thanks again.

 

[benjy_b]

I know this threads pretty much done with, but for the sake of people searching I'd recommend:

http://www.kielder.co/collections/

They're a small, local (to me) business, who are new to the power tool scene.

I have their drill driver, combi drill and impact driver, all running their TYPE18 1.5Ah batteries.

I can't recommend them enough!