Choosing a cordless drill

[Mark]

Hi,

Having read the comments on this ng on cordless drills/drivers I am unsure of which sort to go for.

I will completely redecorate the house (4 bed), install fitted wardrobes and some kitchen units and put up lots of shelves!

I have an aged B&D hammer drill which struggles with our brick/plaster walls so I guess I'll need a fairly powerful cordless drill.

I don't think very cheap drills could possibly last very long, but I don't want to spend over £150 for just a drill.

I would be grateful for some recommendations on what voltage and make of drill would be suitable.

TIA, Mark

[IMM]

Get an SDS drill: circa £80-120. Wickes pro range (grey) drill/driver circa £60-80

Sorted.

>

[Andy Hall]

If a significant part of the work is going to be masonry, you would be better off getting a corded SDS drill for about +/- £100 from DeWalt, Bosch or Makita.

Then stretch the budget on a different occasion and get a Makita 14.4v cordless drill for light to medium repetitive work where the light weight helps.

[TonyK]

As everyione has said, get a SDS drill for just under the £100 mark, then a semi-decent cordless drill/driver for about £50-£80. Do not waste time with cheap crap it'll just let you down when you need it most.

On the SDS front look for one with rotation stop so you can use it for light chiselling and/or breaking.

[StealthUK]

brick/plaster

All drills struggle compared to an SDS when it comes to drilling brick/concrete. There are plenty of budget drills that will easily last for the work you're looking at. Don't just focus on the drill though - make sure you have some decent drill bits!

[Dave]

Agreed on the SDS front, you can never go back. I bought my Nu Tool Pro from Markro for about =A330 and it's done a great job, has rotary stop & a selection of bits. More than good enough for the serious DIY guy & I can't hire one for =A330.

Again with drill drivers, the B&Q Performance Pro blue drill drivers are vbery good for the price, I have a couple. More than adequate for DIY use IMO.

Dave

[Kaiser]

I think they paint them grey so the pro's can hide them in the cement dust on building sites to avoid embarrassment.

[RichardS]

No, it's so elephants don't get caught doing unlicensed electrical work.

And it works, too....

[Gary Cavie]

I had one of those Wickes pro drills - within a week , the gearbox was=20 slipping - kept jumping out of gear on the high speed range. I thought it= =20 was just a duff drill, but saw somebody else using one, where he had=20 taped the gear change up to stop it happening.

After trying Hitachi, Metabo, Makita & Bosch, and having problems with=20 all of them, I finally bought a cheapish McKeller 24v one from Focus. It=20 has lasted for about 9 months, and shows no signs of problems (famous=20 last words?). It cost, IIRC, =A365, and is a nice drill to handle & use.=20 Comes with two batteries & fast charger. Highly recommended.

[IMM]

Wickes (rebadged Kress from Germany) have uprated the 500w ASDS to 650. At around £100-110. Their grey pro range (Kress again in most cases) is excellent value in drill/drivers.

[IMM]

Makita? Look at the price.

[Kaiser]

Elephants only do Trunk...ing.

[Andy Hall]

Tusk, tusk.

For that one, I think we should send you pach(yderm)ing.....

[Andy Hall]

Look at the quality, performance, ease of use and maintainability.

[Kaiser]

As long as you don't send me to Wickes, to buy an SDS drill, I don't think I've got the stamina to keep running back with it.

[Owain]

"Andy Hall" wrote | >> No, it's so elephants don't get caught doing unlicensed electrical work. | >Elephants only do Trunk...ing. | Tusk, tusk. | For that one, I think we should send you pach(yderm)ing.....

Well, even HRH pointed out wiring saying it looked like it had been done by an Indian ...

Owain

[Andy Hall]

So do you think that Phil the Greek is behind part P all the time?

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Like for like, a cordless drill will not have the same power as a mains one. And a task which makes a mains one struggle will flatten the battery in a cordless in short order. In general. For drilling the odd hole in wood, or driving screws etc, a cordless is fine. For drilling lots of holes in hard masonry, get a mains SDS.

[John Rumm]

Oddly, I agree with him on this (mostly anyway)....

If your only "difficult" drilling requirement is making holes for wall plugs in hard walls then you could go for a less sophisticated SDS mains drill (say 40 quid), and spend a bit more on a decent drill/driver.

(The Wicks kit can be a mixed bag since they use a number of OEMs not just Kress).

[John Rumm]

As you have admitted yourself before, the Makita HR2450 SDS is competitively priced (i.e. in the 80 - 120 figure you mention above).