I'm (still) in the market for a new cordless combi drill, and am coming close to settling for an Erbauer, based on a combination of price vs quality (as judged from uk.d-i-y reviews!)
I'm puzzled that the 14.4V model is priced 20 quid cheaper than the 18V model, in the absence of any apparent special offers:
14.4V (100 GBP)
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(80 GBP)
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18V one seems to outperform the 14.V in every aspect but weight (2.6kg vs 2.0kg) - is that the issue? or am I missing the obvious?
I had the 18V for a while, and was pretty happy with it until it failed. It developed play between the motor and the casing after 18 months reasonably hard work, and went back for a refund. It is certainly a better drill than PPPro etc., and significantly more torquey than an 18V Ryobi.
Don't buy either of these. You can get a Makita 14.4v 6228 with two batteries for the same or little more money and have far better results than with either of these unknown products.
In the highly unlikely event that you need spares or service in the future you will be able to get it.
There is very little point in buying a cheap cordless combi drill. The mechanics and control of the motor are simply not up to any meaningful hammer action for any length of time.
A far better solution is to buy a good quality cordless drill as I have suggested (this will do anything up to and including light to medium masonry work) and then a corded hammer or SDS drill for heavier masonry work.
Given a period of a couple of years at the most, after which these unknown specials will have fallen apart and the name long forgotten, let alone any spares, the overall outlay in buying something decent in the first place will be less.
But you can get 10 of those for one Makita, so they are more cost effective. And in time Lith Iron or Lith Poly batteries would have been introduced. Better than being lumbered for 10 years with outdated stuff with old battery technology.
A man on this group has just bought a conventional flued cast iron boiler. This is outdated old technology now. If he has this 15-20 years, in 15 years it will be an museum piece. Could be the same as buying an expensive battery drill.
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But that's kind of living for the future, isn't it? You always end up with a crappy tool, just to avoid the possibility that you might miss out on Feature X in 10 years time. You might get run over by a bus. Or assassinated. Or something.
BTW, my Makita has very nice NiMH packs. Light and high capacity.
On Tue, 22 Feb 2005 09:37:25 -0000, "Doctor Evil" strung together this:
Utter tripe. I've had a Makita 8443 for about 3 or 4 years and in that time a cheap drill wouldn't have been able to do most of the stuff I've done with it. If I tried the cheap drill would have been knackered and I could get through more than 10 cheap battery drills for every one Makita.
The 14.4 v drill/driver is a lot cheaper than the Hitachi, around £60 and better guarantee, if I recall rightly. They have two SDS drills which have just been improved in power. They have been making these for the past 10 years plus and have v good reputation for reliability.
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They are not crappy tool. The mid range offering a v good. The Makitas of this world have logevity that's all.
Read what I read. Lith Ion and Lith Poly batteries and now Lithium Sulphur, will be introduced as these hold 3 to 4 times the charge of the current crop. These batteries mean electric cars are now feasible with ranges of
200-300 miles.
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ion & poly batteries are in many mobile phones and were developed for that market. Once R&D is finalised for larger versions of Lith Poly batteries and they have the manufacturing capability to produce millions of them, electric cars will be the norm, and probably sooner rather than later.
PV cells are improving in efficiency, and the price is dropping as take up increaes, and when these Lithium batteries are available en-mass most roofs will have PV cells on them, a battery set and an inverter in the attic.
This will filter into power tools too. And if you think you can just go out and buy a new Lith Poly battery for your old drill. forget it, it doesn't work that way,.
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Brilliant idea, I don't think. using your "logic" (or perhaps that of Mini-me) you now have ten times the problems as the batteries, motors and mechanics pack up and you waste time on each.
Your thinking is certainly following that of the character you are trying to emulate. Do you have any children with Frau Whatever-her-name-was? The son thought that the Dr Evil character suffered from faulty logic to be kind about it.
It could have been but isn't. If you look at Makita's battery offerings, you will note that they offer battery packs of newer technologies and capacities as they have become available.
FWIW I looked at them at Interbuild last year and seemed fine. Good balance, good speed control, seemed well made. All in all a perfectly reasonable mid-range offering. I think your question could easily be turned round.
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