New Cordless Drill Driver quandry

[Rykard]

Hi,
I am looking for a reasonable quality cordless drill driver for around £100. I have had bosch, nutool and aldi's own but I got stuck at the weekend with
all the batteries dead or not holding charge. They are all getting on a bit, so I thought I would look for a 'new'
generation cordless drill/driver. I have done a bit of searching, but tbh it is all getting a bit confusing with different
voltages, amps/hr, brushless motors etc. I always thought the bigger the voltage the better, but it seems not so now.

I don't do loads of DIY but what I do do tends to be lots over a couple of days, so I could
do with good battery life, good power, reasonably light and fairly quick charging.

What is the current best buy/recommended at the moment.
Is this too tall an order for my budget?
Do I need to spend more?
Will the current li-on batteries last longer and not suffer the same detriment as the older ones do?

Cheers
Rich

 

[London Mike 49]

I have two combo drills, one is a dewalt http://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dcd776s2t-gb-18v-1-5ah-li-ion-cordless-combi-drill/2710p
And the other drill is from Lidl and is a similar spec and it only cost about £30, I tend to use this drill the most as it will charge in 30 mins and has plenty of go in it for what I want.
I can highly recommend the li-on batteries as they don't tend to fade like the older ni-cad batteries, they just stop when they are empty of charge and you simply re-charge them to full capacity.

Mike

 

[Rykard]

how much should i expect to pay? I saw a makita 10.4? pair last night for £160 - do i need to go that high as I am being bit by the buy cheap buy twice atm I think...

are dewalt as god as they used to be , i thought they had taken a downturn in quality

 

[Nozzle]

Avoid anything with Ni-Cd batteries! I was well impressed with the Miluakee that has replaceable chucks, with a 90 and offset driver. Comes with two smaller batteries so while you're using one, the other is charging.

The problem with Ni-Cd is they're supposed to be stored dis-charged which is useless. They also suffer memory effect easily. Li-ion are supposed to be stored charged so that at least means they're ready to go

Nozzle

 

[Rykard]

it's just a total pita isn't it lol

 

[Rykard]

so basically i want li-ion battery with the largest MaH value?

Is it worth paying more for a brushless motor?

 

[Burnerman]

The bigger the A/hr rating, the longer the tool will last.....essential if it's on a circular saw or other high drain tool.
I have a 18v Hitachi which has 2 smallish Li-ion batteries - I don't mind this as one can be on charge anyway. This tool has had serious use in metal drilling and always comes back for more. It was a Screwfix deal, around £120 a few years ago and I'd definitely have another.
John

 

[Nozzle]

so basically i want li-ion battery with the largest MaH value?

Is it worth paying more for a brushless motor?

In my opinion you're better off having two smaller ones (for the same battery technology mAh and the physical size are closely related). One in use, one charging - and smaller battery packs have the drill lighter weight and more able to get into tighter corners.

Nozzle

 

[chappers]

yep get the most amp hours you can afford at the highest voltage.
But to give you some idea of comparable capacity think in watt-hours multiply the voltage by the amp/hours.
For example a 15volt battery at 4 amp hours would have a watt-hours rating of 60 watt-hours so would run a 60watt light bulb for 1 hour, however an 20 volt battery at 1.5 amp hours would have a capacity of 30 watt hours so would only run a 60 watt bulb for half an hour.
The other thing I would seriously consider is to make sure the drill you choose has a full 13mm chuck and not a piddly 10mm one.

 

[big-all]

ryobi have over 40 tools that fit the same batteries at £130 is a bargain
http://www.diy.com/departments/ryob...-drill-2-batteries-llcdi18ll40s/546421_BQ.prd
http://uk.ryobitools.eu/one-2016/

 

[JohnD]

there's also the weight and size to think of.

I find an 18v combi is the best compromise of power and weight.

 

[chappers]

how much should i expect to pay? I saw a makita 10.4? pair last night for £160 - do i need to go that high as I am being bit by the buy cheap buy twice atm I think...

They certainly have enough power but only have a 10mm chuck. there are plenty of pattern part batteries out there too. I have no idea on the quality or safety of them though. you would have an impact for screwing and a separate tool for occasional drilling too.
I have a porter cable set I brought over from the states and use them most of the time usually in preference to my bosch pairing unless I have a lot of screws to do.
Also do you need the two tools you could get something like this or this and a spare battery for less than £160.
I can tell you from experience that the 4amp hour bosch batteries last for ages

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Is it worth paying more for a brushless motor?

Unless you are trade, no. Highest Amp rating? Again, trade yes, DIY, maybe. For drilling a 1.3Ah or 1.5Ah will suffice for most DIY - heck even the trade plumbers we have at work only use 1.5 or 2Ah on their drills - they keep the high amperage batteries for jigsaws and grinders which really hammer batteries

 

[Monkeh]

The problem with Ni-Cd is they're supposed to be stored dis-charged which is useless. They also suffer memory effect easily. Li-ion are supposed to be stored charged so that at least means they're ready to go

NiCd can be stored however you like, and memory effect is a non-effect on planet earth. Self-discharge is substantial, however. They're a robust battery technology much hated due to ignorance and cheap chargers (and cheap cells, and cheap packs.. three things which affect li-ion just as badly). They're also large and heavy, so li-ion wins anyway.

Li-ions are supposed to be stored partially charged. Self-discharge is low.

btw, NiCd is apparently finally going away for good at the end of the year.

 

[Nozzle]

NiCd is apparently finally going away for good at the end of the year.

Good ridddance to the inflexible, memory inflicted things.

Nozzle