Spec me a cordless drill

Nzyme · 31 Mar 2013 at 11:46

As per title really, after a new cordless drill for general diy. Budget of up to 100 English pounds.

Anyone got an recommendations or things to look out for?

Nightglow · 31 Mar 2013 at 12:00

You wanting to drill in masonry I presume..
This would be on my list, a good quailt combi drill, might find it cheaper if you shop around.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/makita-bhp453sh-18v-1-3ah-li-ion-cordless-combi-drill/58614

If you want a second battery then this 14v drill would be good, but it's slightly less powerful.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-gsb-14-4-2-li-14-4v-1-3ah-li-ion-cordless-combi-drill/25293

But, with the Makita having a 30 minute charger only one battery wouldn't be an issue to me.

Tachyon · 31 Mar 2013 at 12:56

Here's one I've used daily for over a year and it's performed great. It's been used in a workshop environment for mostly light drilling work and screwing things together. It's a back up drill I have to a couple of others I use for heavier work but it would be perfect for DIY.

Pros: Great little drill, 2 Li-ion batteries (18v 1.5ah) that hold a decent charge so you're never going to be caught out. Battery meter on drill gives you an idea of how much charge you've left and there's a little LED light which is handy if you're in a dark corner or maybe working in kitchen units or something.

Cons: Not the best balanced drill I've ever used, as you can see from the picture it is a bit top heavy and it's quite long as well. If you happen to use a quick change adapter for your drill bits then make sure to give the chuck a good tighten. Think it's only a 10mm chuck, can't remember.

Bosch 18v Li Combi Drill (+2 Batteries)

Edit: For someone looking for a drill for DIY I think it's a bit of a bargain really at that price.

Edit2: Price back up to approx £100, was £85.

Lopéz · 31 Mar 2013 at 12:59

The Makita that Nightglow linked is a really good drill, Li-Ion battery and a fast charger so no real need for two batteries. Screwfix price on that is hard to beat at the moment. I recently picked up a DeWalt equivalent with two batteries and a fast charger, I think that was about £150 from Screwfix, extremely happy with it.

Nightglow · 31 Mar 2013 at 13:15

Lopéz said:
The Makita that Nightglow linked is a really good drill, Li-Ion battery and a fast charger so no real need for two batteries. Screwfix price on that is hard to beat at the moment. I recently picked up a DeWalt equivalent with two batteries and a fast charger, I think that was about £150 from Screwfix, extremely happy with it.

Bosch 'GREEN' is the diy range, very good drills for the money,but the Makita is a light trade drill.
I have Bosch & Makita trade cordless drills, & never had the need to buy a second battery for either,as they last for ages & both charge within 30 minutes, giving me time for coffee.
And with a Bosch Multipurpose Drill 4 Bit Set, covers the most used sizes,they will drill everything, even without hammer they will drill in to masonry.
But, a Bosch Multipurpose Drill Bit 5mm is also handy addition to have.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-multipurpose-drill-bit-set-4pcs/95958

http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-multipurpose-drill-bit-5-x-85mm/21971

Tachyon · 31 Mar 2013 at 14:05

If you do fancy the Makita drill Nightglow posted I just came across it on the B&Q site with 2 batteries for an extra £30, didn't check the Screwfix site to see if they had it or not with an extra battery.

I know your budget is £100 and the extra battery puts you £30 over and of course like others said one might suit you fine but it's nice to see the options.

Makita LXT 18v with 2no. 1.3ah batteries.

Nightglow · 31 Mar 2013 at 14:12

Tachyon said:
If you do fancy the Makita drill Nightglow posted I just came across it on the B&Q site with 2 batteries for an extra £30, didn't check the Screwfix site to see if they had it or not with an extra battery.

I know your budget is £100 and the extra battery puts you £30 over and of course like others said one might suit you fine but it's nice to see the options.

Makita LXT 18v with 2no. 1.3ah batteries.

With a 3 year warranty if you register it, with either offer you will struggle to find better at the price.

And with 20 years using of Makita, I've never needed to use the warranty.

FISHGUTS · 31 Mar 2013 at 16:21

Nightglow said:
And with 20 years using of Makita, I've never needed to use the warranty.

I have and found their service to be fantastic.
I had an autofeed screw gun which I'd plasterboarded 2 houses with and it started having problems jamming up.
Sent it off to get fixed out of warranty through Travis perkins and they sent me a new one.
Guy at TP's said they often just send out new stuff.

Mark A · 31 Mar 2013 at 18:35

The Makita looks good. I prefer Dewalt to makita but both are great and should do everything you need.

As you will be using it for DIY, just make sure that you fully charge the battery before storing it for long periods. Li-on cells don't like to be left depleted for long periods.

Maccapacca · 31 Mar 2013 at 21:14

Makita from personal experience, buy the most you can afford excluding boxes and drill bits. The new chargers are so quick you don't need two batteries for DIY stuff and the aluminium gearboxes are needed for site use not DIY.

The cordless stuff is only good for light hammer drilling, don't expect to be drilling into concrete lintols or floors, buy a cheap 240/110v hammer drill for this and decent bits.

Makhaira · 31 Mar 2013 at 21:38

Any reason for the preference of the 18v Makita vs the 24v Erbauer for £20 more? I've had good experiences with both brands before.

Link here: http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-erf395com-24v-2-0ah-ni-cd-cordless-combi-drill/48544

I'll echo macca's sentiments though - if you're going to do an significant masonry work, definitely get a mains powered hammer drill as a minimum, or an SDS drill if you're doing bigger stuff (you can buy Titan SDS stuff on offer for cheaper than you can hire usually!).

Nightglow · 31 Mar 2013 at 22:06

Makhaira said:
Any reason for the preference of the 18v Makita vs the 24v Erbauer for £20 more? I've had good experiences with both brands before.

Link here: http://www.screwfix.com/p/erbauer-erf395com-24v-2-0ah-ni-cd-cordless-combi-drill/48544

Makita's reliability & 3 year warranty.

If you only got a one off job for a larger sds drill, then hire, you insured against accidental damage,etc, I know people who bought a cheap sds drill for the odd job, & it's been sat in their shed for 3 years & never used since.

Mark A · 31 Mar 2013 at 22:11

Erbauer are hit and miss, but mostly miss. They are basically just sourced from china and re branded with a German sounding name (like Einhell). I have also heard that it's almost impossible to source spares for the tools.

Much better to pay a bit more and buy something from a quality manufacturer like the ones mentioned in the thread so far IMO.

Also 18v is perfectly fine. My 18v dewalt driver can sink 200mm timberfix bolts into softwood with ease. 24v in a cheap tool like an Erbauer is just a marketing gimik to get you to pick that as it has a higher voltage. It wont have better performance than a decent 18v drill. Its not even faster, both go to 1300rpm. But like most cheaper tools it'll weigh a lot more and break if it falls off a worktop.

EDIT: Just notice that its also Nicad, which are utterly useless. Please dont buy that drill!

Nightglow · 31 Mar 2013 at 22:21

Mark A said:
Erbauer are hit and miss, but mostly miss. They are basically just sourced from china and re branded with a German sounding name. I have also heard that it's almost impossible to source spares for the tools.

Your totally correct Mark, the number of Erbauer tools I see being returned in Screwfix doesn't surprise me, you couldn't get spare batteries, & spares are non existent.
As I said before using my 18v Makita with the Bosch Multi purpose bit, I can easily drill a 6mm hole for a red wall plugs for a no 6-8 screw with out needing hammer in most instances, only when you get the hard engineering brick do you need to use hammer.
Even 8mm holes are possible with ease, for the larger wall plug with 10-14 screws.

Thinking about it, I haven't used my bigger mains sds drill around the house for several years now, every job were I needed a drill it's been 18v cordless that's been used.

And Ni Cad batteries have had their day, 18v Li-ion batteries are just superb & perfect for most needs.

pgi947 · 31 Mar 2013 at 22:41

A good 18v will be fine, if doing masonry work try avoid these drills with the alu gearboxes, I know Metabo have been using them lately in their LT/LTX line of drills and have come across some Makita drills also using them. They tend to crumble fairly easily.

Also stay away from cheap/unknown brands like Erbauer, Power Devil etc...will probably burst into flames as soon as you stress it.

BOSCH still make quite solid battery drills as are Dewalt and Hitachi. If you do go for Metabo pick something from the BSP or BSZ series. Makita drills are VERY cheap to repair, the last gearbox (complete) I ordered was around £12

Larger masonry work...to be honest you'd be better off hiring a decent Hilti drill for a day or two and leave the battery drill for smaller work.

Makhaira · 31 Mar 2013 at 22:48

Guess I've been lucky with Erbauer then! Point taken about the battery though. I'll probably be in the market for a new drill in the next few months as mine is slowly dying (old Axminster), hence the interest in the thread.

Seems like there's a lot of love for that Makita, I've added it to my list to check out. I just need to find a cordless as good as my mains drill - it's an old Bosch (I think), that's over 20 years old and still never misses a beat!

blueboy2001 · 1 Apr 2013 at 19:50

I've got this and been very happy with it:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dc100ka-gb-18v-1-3ah-ni-cd-cordless-combi-drill/73596

The batteries are NiCd rather than Li-Ion, so they are physically bigger but they are more robust, particularly if you're going long periods without using it.

PhillyDee · 1 Apr 2013 at 21:17

blueboy2001 said:
I've got this and been very happy with it:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dc100ka-gb-18v-1-3ah-ni-cd-cordless-combi-drill/73596

The batteries are NiCd rather than Li-Ion, so they are physically bigger but they are more robust, particularly if you're going long periods without using it.

The reverse is actually true. Li-Ion are far better batteries. Lighter, charge faster and do not have a memory effect. Keep topping up the charge on a Ni-Cd battery and it will kill it. Plus, Ni-Cd batteries are notorious for self-discharging. NiCd you charge before use, LiIon you charge after and its ready for when you next need to use it.

I have the CEL Power 8 workshop with Li-Ion and they last far longer than any other cordless I have used. I made and assembled 2 vivariums (4 foot long) including all screwdriving, and the battery will still pretty full.

K.C. Leblanc · 1 Apr 2013 at 21:31

PhillyDee said:
The reverse is actually true. Li-Ion are far better batteries. Lighter, charge faster and do not have a memory effect. Keep topping up the charge on a Ni-Cd battery and it will kill it. Plus, Ni-Cd batteries are notorious for self-discharging. NiCd you charge before use, LiIon you charge after and its ready for when you next need to use it.

I have a hitachi with NiCad batteries. They are a right pain, I have to remember to charge them if I need the drill the next day.

Oh and it doesn't satisfy the £100 pricing celling, but Metabo

Nzyme · 1 Apr 2013 at 21:33

Thanks for all the advice. I will have a look through all the suggestions

Spec me a cordless drill

Tea Drinker