They probably cost less to manufacture than a keyed chuck, and they are just plain horrible.
Make sure it has a single sleeve keyless chuck, preferably ratcheting.
If for some reason you get stuck with a two-piece keyless chuck, you might want to buy a quickchange chuck and keep that installed most of the time.
Also. If I'm not mistaken, besides quickchange drill bits, they are making tri or hex shank drill bits nowadays. Round shank drill bits are a thing of the past to me (there might be exceptions of course).
Only way to go?? Cordless drills are fun and useful and I have several.
They are toys compared to a good corded drill. It is a mistake to buy one if you don't yet have a corded.
Long after our cordless drills are trash, my Milwaukee corded will still be running, have more power, be more reliable, and will have cost less to purchase than a cordless drill. It will also cost less to operate when replacement costs are included.
I'm guessing that you and a lot of people out there have invested in the cordless without ever owning a corded one. That's too bad. The most important drill anyone should buy will have a cord, IMHO.
More do than don't now, I'd agree. "All" I think is not likely to be the case--while I've not gone shopping lately, can't imagine there aren't clutchless cordless drills still being manufactured. Just a point of reinforcing Edwin's mantra of earlier -- "generalizations generally are wrong"... :)
For lots of applications I'll certainly grant clutches are useful and desirable--for one primary reason it allows the use of a drill as a dual-purpose tool of a driver with much more ease and reliability than the old ploy of trying to manipulate the VS trigger...
Having chastised John, I'll repeat: "generalizations generally are wrong"... :) It depends on what you compare to what. You can find cordless that are stouter than some wimpy corded and vice versa.
And, it may well make sense for a casual homeowner to have a cordless first. Convenience for small jobs and outside things that come up like the pop rivet on the downspout strap or similar are the kind of routine maintenance that _most_ homeowners run into. Dragging out the extension cord for such is a real pita compared to grabbing the cordless.
There is some truth there, granted. But, that comes at the price of convenience and most are willing to make the tradeoff. There certainly is a place for both.
"generalizations generally are overly general"... :)
Depends on your needs. I've had many corded drills too. I probably still have one. I don't know where it is as I've not looked for it for many years. Don't miss it, have not needed it.
That may depend on semantics more than anything. My Craftsman cordless drill doesn't have a means to bypass the clutch - except by cranking it up past what your wrist would take. When it comes to cordless drills the line seems to blur between driver and drill anyway.
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