Cordless Drill

[Hohn]

I've had great experiences with Bosch,Makita, DeWalt, Milwaukee, and Hitachi.

I only recently went cordless because I am a homeowner with regular access to electricity-- not like contractors who often work on sites with no power.

i went with Makita 18v li-ion because the impact driver was the only model on the market with a brushless motor. Also, the ergonomics were excellent. If I were buying a kit of cordless tools instead of just one or two, I'd go with DeWalt or Bosch. Milwaukee are all Chinese made now-- or at least assembled there and the quality seems less than when I bought the Super Sawzall I really like.

 

[Mr Evilwrench]

18V Bosch. Use is fairly intermittent, but I'm pretty hard on it at times. Batteries always outlast me.

 

[Mark-DuCo]

Almost all my power tools are Bosch, can't go wrong with a lifetime warranty.

 

[HoughMade]

I use the Ryobi drill and sawzall at work....

No you don't. You use a Ryobi reciprocating saw. The name "Sawzall" is a Milwaukee trademarked name....and there's a reason why everyone else wants to claim that name.

 

[jkaetz]

Are the li-Ion worth the extra $$? Looking to "start" my garage collection. Have some older stuff but wanna start over with one brand and new.

Another yes here. You would be silly to buy a ni-mh powered cordless device now days. They will always be dead when you need to use them and suffer from the age old "battery memory" if you don't completely power cycle them on a regular basis. Li-ion batteries have a very low self discharge rate and actually prefer being recharged before they're completely dead. Nevermind the weight savings. I've started with the Makita 18v stuff and so far have the Drill/Hammer drill, Impact wrench (The big one, ~400 ft-lbs and will remove lug nuts without fail), and circular saw. Still would like to pick up the impact driver and jigsaw.

 

[Trooper]

We had Porter-Cable at work. Then Dewalt bought them out. So we went Dewalt. Now Porter-Cable is back but I do not know if it is the product that it used to be.

 

[K_W]

When building my shed last month, my father and I were rockin' his well used, now passed down, 1993 Makita 9.6v Ni-Cad drill with a 1998 battery. Yet, his 2008 18v DeWalt couldn't keep enough charge to do even a handful of screws.

The Makita ran in dozens of 3" deck screws and over a hundred 1 5/8 screws on 3 charges over 4 working days over a 2 week period, and it still had some charge in it.

My money will go to Makita if this workhorse ever dies.

 

[lizerdking]

We built our own home. Everything but the concrete work was done by myself/wife/family.

Dewalt did the electric boring, drywall hanging, cabinet installation, closet installation, Tapcon drilling into the cement for basement walls, two decks combined over 1500 square feet, plus more i'm forgetting.

The impact/Drill were put to the test, and i still use them almost weekly. I had a cheaper drill that i threw out about week into building the house. Don't go cheap if you're going to use it. If you're going to hang a few pictures, head to walmart and buy what's on sale, but expect to replace it when you need one that works.


This kit isn't bad (just ordered one in at work), doesn't have the hammer drill but if you're not hitting the cement, the price is right....

DEWALT DCK265L 18-Volt Compact Lithium-Ion Drill/Impact Combo Kit - Amazon.com

The other big brands probably compare, but I know from experience I'm never buying anything but dewalt again.

 

[williamsjr22]

If you can wait until Black Friday, I know Ace, Home Depot, and Lowes will have drills on sale.

Lowe's and Ace - 1/2 inch DeWalt 20 volt with 2 batteries for $99
Home Depot - Offers Milwaukee or Makita 12v combo (2 batteries 30 min charge) with drill and impact driver or Ryobi 18v drill plus saw for $99