Cordless drills smell like Scalextric.

[Dave Osborne]

I'm in the market for a new cordless drill driver and I've noticed that you can still buy some products where the motor smells like a Scalextric motor.

Can anyone tell me why some motors smell this way and some don't and is this good, bad or irrelevant?

Cheers, Rumble

p.s. I think I'm going to settle on the Makita 6337DWDE3 / 8280DZ twin pack (14.4V 3 x 2.6Ah NiMH). Any comments on this choice appreciated.

[Matty F]

The smell is probably ozone caused by sparking. That implies to me that the brushes might wear out a bit faster. It's not good to breathe ozone too much but unless you're in a very confined space it shouldn't matter.

[The Medway Handyman]

Dunno about the Scalextric smell, but I have a 14.4v Mak combi and its superb, real pleasure to use, not too heavy but loads of welly. Mines only got 1.3 a/hr NiCad batteries and they last really well.