I deliberately avoided DeWalt due to it's stealability and gross overpricing. I bought an 18V Ryobi three speed combi drill and it's been very good. I use it at work for drilling out 2" holes in steel trunking with a holesaw and for drilling masonry. So far it's been excellent.
The matching jigsaw is also very good. It's the first cordless jigsaw I've used that doesn't sound plasticky. It makes short work of cutting steel trunking.
These are from the "One" range. The cordless vacuum is the only disappointment. It clogs very quickly.
I think for general beefyness it's hard to beat a Hilti.
Some of their stuff has a security key thing, which might help stop if getting nicked (or at least give you the satisfaction of knowing that the scrote wot nicked it isn't going to get any use out of it).
Pricey though.
Were you wanting one with an SDS adapter and a wipe-clean finish?
Might be hard, it seems the main protagonist has already croaked!
Of those I own, my Makitas by a long margin. Having said that I have also used Blue Bosch and Hitachi, and would probably be happy with those as well in practice. I have only one DeWalt cordless tool, and that is an angle drill - that is actually quite good (and had a better spec for my intended usage than the Makita). Price was about the same as the Ryobi.
All of them are stealable I would have thought... although I suppose making them yellow does make them more visible.
DeWalt stuff does seem to vary a bit in build quality (I am thinking more the corded stuff now). Some seems no better that the better B&D stuff (which I suppose it *is* really) and some is first class.
With the cordless I have noticed their low capacity NiCd batteries are poor - if you replace a 1.3Ah pack with a 2.0Ah pack for example you seems to get four times the performance.
The "one" bit is a nifty marketing tool I suppose, but in reality you can buy tools from all the usual top end makers in "body only" form (i.e. sans batteries and chargers). When you do that, it makes the Ryobi stuff look less attractive. (for example I paid £75 for a 18V Makita Impact Driver body only)
Well yes, but I was talking for affordable personal use.
That said, I've been using a 36V Hilti to drill a huge number of holes in concrete for 12mm rods to support some large lighting trusses and it did an absolutely stellar job. I was easily getting a complete truss up (30 fixings) on each charge.
All el-cheapos are if you compare them to decent ones. If they weren't who would pay the higher price? But a cheap one might be adequate for occasional DIY tasks.
The Wicks 'grey' Kress high torque with right angle drive is a gem, though. But not cheap.
S'all I bought it for. But I've bent something in it and it no longer rotates true and the battery's holding less and less charge, even after only a few months, so I think I'll swallow hard and buy a decent one.
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