cordless drill/driver

Please recommend a few cordless drill/drivers to try out? Right now I have a Skil 6265 (5 Amp corded) but would like to get a cordless for outdoor use and where an outlet is not convenient.

I'd like to buy something from DeWalt, Porter Cable, etc. or equivalent. Under $200. For woodworking, decks, household repairs.

3/8" variable speed.

thanks Sathyan

Reply to
Sathyan Sundaram
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Try yard sale, flea market, auction ...but be careful ...check it out thoroughly first. I just recently got a Makita 3/8" cordless reversible for $7 Can [$5.38 US] at a yard sale, and for that price just checked if it went round and round when I pressed the trigger. Not a damned thing wrong with it that I can see.

Bill.

Reply to
Bill Rogers

Panasonic EY6432. This cordless drill is 15.6v and compact. Milwaukee and Bosch are good brands too. But, I bet your Skil will outlast any corded drill. If you really want to save money, buy a heavy-duty outdoor extension cord for your corded drill.

Reply to
Phisherman

For deck building or similar work, try one with impact capability. It'll drive long screws with much less effort.

Barry

Reply to
B a r r y

I have been extremely well pleased with my DeWalt DW929. It's a 3/8 chuck, 18v cordless in their "compact" series. . Adequate run time on the batteries. Fairly light weight as 18v drills go, well balanced in the hand, more than enough torque to do anything I've asked a 3/8 drill to do, and adequate runtime on the batteries. The XRP extended runtime battery also fits at the expense of a little more weight in the hand. The 929 has been discontinued and replaced with the DW959 which has a 1/2 inch chuck and is a pound or so heavier. A quick Froogle shows the 929 to still be on the shelves at several places.

I believe you could find either one, 3/8 or 1/2, for less than your price cutoff. I didn't look for reconditioned, but that might also be a possibility. I've been pleased in the past with my experiences with factory reconditioned tools.

Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA

Reply to
Tom Veatch

Tom Veatch wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@4ax.com:

I just recently bought the DeWalt 3/8" 12v cordless. About $129, IIRC, at the Orange Borg. The 12v made more sense for me, because this one was an augment to the 1/2" 12v DeWalt I purchased about 18 months ago. Interchangable charger. Similar batteries could be swapped in a pinch.

The only reason I needed a second cordless was that the 1/2" had much more torque than I needed for most jobs, and strained my neck and shoulder when used for extended periods. The new one is lighter, and easier to use for many tasks. There is a lot to be said for matching the tools to the user and the requirement, and not just getting the Binford Torquemaster 5000....

Patriarch, who's not 25 any more...

Reply to
patriarch

Oh, I hear you! ... At least I think I do. The ears don't work quite as well as they used to. Along with the knees, hips, shoulders, memory, and a couple of other parts that will go unmentioned.

Tom Veatch Wichita, KS USA

Reply to
Tom Veatch

reconditioned

Reply to
Rebel (Ron)

Good thought. Creative application of Murphy's law--if you buy crappy tools you'll live long enough to need to replace them. Although someone 50 years old has anywhere from 20 to 50 good years left barring accident or serious misfortune.

Reply to
J. Clarke

By 6 Sep 2004 07:45:05 -0700, snipped-for-privacy@osu.edu (Sathyan Sundaram) decided to post "cordless drill/driver" to rec.woodworking:

I had a PC 12v for several years, and liked it a lot -- good balance, fairly powerful. But the batteries didn't' last but about 100 charges. And I kept wearing out the little tiny motors. Eventually after 4 motors, and two trigger switches, re-soldering the wiring several times, and maybe

10 batteries, I gave up on the Porter Cable cordless tool. It really didn't stand up to professional use, and parts and construction were substandard.

Did a bunch of networking work and took in trade an 18v Dewalt kit; it was about 300-400 US$ at the time on sale. 1/2" hammer drill, small circ saw and a recip saw. I like the drill a good bit -- it's heavier, but the batteries go a long way on a charge, and it's more powerful. The circular saw has all but replaced my other two, esp for cutting sheet goods. The recip saw is ok, and can be handy, but is not powerful enough to, say, cut RR ties, or cast iron pipe (which together wore out two PC Tiger saws for me...), but it does handle studs, limbs and trees up to about 3-4" with the right blade, and almost any size of pvc pipe. The recip saw wears out batteries faster than either of the other tool.

Been using this dewalt cordless stuff for about 1.5 years, and the batteries are starting to get old, not hold a charge as long. One battery (of the 2 supplied in the kit) won't charge fully, even after a deep cycle charge. Looks like it's dying. Used it today tho to make about 100" of cut in 5/8" hardwood ply, then remove about 50 2" screws, and drive about

35 1 to 2.5" screws. So I guess it still has a little reserve.

Overall I'd recommend the Dewalt stuff if it prices within range for ya.

/ts

Reply to
/..

I have a shop full of Porter Cable stuff and love it all.

I have the 12V Cordless drill for light-duty shop work. The biggest job I used it for was hanging the 3 pressure-treated rails for 600 feet of privacy fence. I used 3" decking screws. The drill did great for this job, with a battery lasting around 3 hours, and the spare only taking 45 minutes to charge. The drill had enough torque to push the screw head through the face and bury it until the threads left the other side. It has enough torque to drive un-piloted gate-hardware bolts into wet pressure treated pine (9/16" heads, 2" long?).

For the fence, I went through about 7lbs of screws with no lapses in charge with two batteries. Decking would require more rapid use, so a

12V may have a tough time keeping up. If you keep the charger air-conditioned or in a freezer, it may work out though. Personally, I wouldn't (and didn't) buy a big drill just for the possibility of an extreme 1-time job like a deck. I can just pull out the cords for that

-- decks don't move very far anyway. Most of the many hours of use the drill has gotten are in the shop working on small projects.

My dad has a couple 14.4V DeWalts and loves them. I just can't bring myself to get any DeWalt stuff when I've had such great performance from my gray and black tools. I have a full shop, and the only yellow thing in it is a box of DeWalt HSS drill bits.

-Mike

Reply to
Mike Reed

Cant beat the Dewalt (pronounced DEE'-walt) 14.4 XRP. Best drill out there. I go through drills all the time and I've had the Dewalt for years. It's outlived about 5 or 6 others.

Reply to
Brandon

I have a Makita 12v I got for Christmas about five years ago. Haven't counted the charges (light use) so I don't know if I've reached that magic 100 yet. No problems with the motor and the batteries hold enough charge to get a reasonable amount of work done driving drywall screws or general around the shop hole drilling. Used it to install twenty or so paper towel dispensers at work. Four holes each, plastic inserts, drove the screws to secure the dispenser. One charge.

bob g.

/.. wrote:

Reply to
Robert Galloway

H/D Lowes have a "price war going on right now: DeWalt 12V cordless/ 2 batt/one hour charger/case for $ 119.00 I ve got a lot of use ouy of mine building 2 houses over the last 5-6 yrs.

If you pick one of the stores, check the price, then advise the otherguy and you'll probably get another 5% (or is it 10%) off using the 'low price guarantee' they advertise.

...to buy something from DeWalt, Porter Cable, etc. or

Reply to
Rudy

If that were still the case, dewalt, like others is now targetting new markets, pretty colours for women and all that, and making down to a price, not upto a quality, better than most, but still not as good as even 5 years ago IMHO. A friend bought 6 dewalts for his aerospace shop last year (careful work, not abused) not one lasted 6 months....

Niel.

Reply to
njf>badge

I've still got a Dewalt 14.4 that both batteries have gotten weak. I replaced it with a Milwaukee 18V hammer drill. I got a vivid demonstration a couple of days ago when I needed to drill a couple of holes in one of the cast iron wings on my table saw to mount a new dust catcher type saw guard. The Milwaukee went through the cast iron like it was butter. I'd still be grinding away if I'd used the Dewalt.

Reply to
Mortimer Schnerd, RN

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 10:10:45 +0100, "njf>badgerbadger

Reply to
Larry Jaques

2 gearboxes and all batt packs
Reply to
Badger

On Fri, 10 Sep 2004 21:22:50 GMT, Badger calmly ranted:

Suckage. I just replaced one of two dead battery packs for my

14.4v Ryobi tools. They lasted over 2 years, so I got my use out of them. Of course, my entire tool package (drill motor, circular saw, 2 batt packs, charger, case) was less than one of the DW drill motors cost, so I'm even happier.

See Cheapa^H^H^H^H^H^HFrugality Pays!

------------------------------------------------------------- give me The Luxuries Of Life *

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i can live without the necessities * 2 Tee collections online

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Reply to
Larry Jaques

I got a 9v Makita for Christmas in 1995 and I used the hell out of it for 5 years. In 1990 my wife bought me another one and took mine. She keeps it in her truck for her trades to use and I am trying to kill my 4 year old one. Both are still going strong on the original batteries. They do get used tho. I think the worst thing you can do to a cordless is to leave it sitting around.

Reply to
Greg

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