Good, Light Cordless Drill?

[DoN. Nichols]

Hmm ... if it is powerful enough for her needs, there is a nice interchangeable motor tool by Rigid for which one head is a right-angle drill. It is powered by 12V Li-Ion batteries. The primary thing comes with the motor, battery, charger, and one of those vibrating saw things which are nice for cutting drywall and other things (Plus detail sanding, but I have not used that function on it yet -- nor the metal cutting blade).

Oh yes -- a very nice warranty for the batteries. Be sure to keep the packaging until you know what you need to do to register the batteries. My wife was too quick at cleaning up. :-)

The right angle drill has plenty of torque, and I use it as a power screwdriver for larger screws.

The basic kit comes with the R8223404 "multi-tool" head. The drill head is R8223402, and the hammer (which works nicely in confined spaces) is the R8223405. The whole series is called "JobMax"

The initial set, with the JobMax multi-tool head comes in a zipper closed fitted cloth bag, and it is just barely possible to close it with the two extra heads and a spare battery carefully wedged in. There are a couple of other heads which I have not bothered to get, including an impact wrench one.

Hmm ... looks as though there is now a corded power module to use when you are running a long time, so you don't have to keep spare batteries charged up.

Here is the starter kit at Home Despot:

with the kit part number being: R82235.

The one review with the broken tab for locking the battery in must have done something wrong. It is well protected while in the tool in my opinion.

Here is Rigid's site covering the system.

Here is the Home Depot for the drill head

And here is the hammer head, if you are interested in tossing it in:

And here are a set of reviews of the system:

Good Luck, DoN.

[krw]

I've seen those deals, too; packages sitting on the same shelf. Huh?

The old DeWalt batteries can be rebuilt for about $40. Not so important at your two-fer price, but at $120 a pop...

[krw]

Li-Ion batteries are 3.4-4.1V, so how many cells are in a 10V battery? 12V? ;-)

Yep. Li-Ion is the way to go for a drill. Other tools, not so much.

[Roy]

A few years back I asked the same question about a drill for my wife. The discussion is here:

the short form:

ended up buying her the Panasonic 12V, and both of us like it. I use it, primarily for drilling holes, more than she does. For many regular jobs I will pick the Panasonic over my Dewalt 18V. The Panasonic feels much more ruggedly and precisely built than the Dewalt. We've been using it drill for over 4 years. I'd buy the 18V version to replace my Dewalt if it went TU. Lithium batteries would eliminate the weight penalty with nicads, so I think SWMBO could use the

18V version too. SWMBO is petite at 5'1", 110 maybe, and she does not have the wrist strength to wrestle the 18V Dewalt for any length of time.

I'm sure some of the other manufacturers have made great strides since I was shopping for new drills. You should be able to find a half dozen out there that won't be to heavy for her.

[Lobby Dosser]

> or the short form:

Big second for the Panasonic! Used it for 4 years or so before somebody walked off with it ... :( Really light weight and a great grip for small hands.

[Gerald Miller]

Hanging on hooks, side by each, had to take a 2pack to the checkout to convince myself.

Gerry :-)} London, Canada

[Puckdropper]

Nova wrote in news: [e-mail]:

the store. Of note is the 3 AH battery. It's a little heavier, but the power head balances it out nicely so you don't really notice the weight.

Puckdropper

[(;harles]

I've had the Craftsman C-3 drills for years now and have started upgrading to the Lithium batteries. I bought a tool set that came with two lithium batteries and charger than sold off the new saw with an old battery and old charger and wound up "stuck" with the drill. Finally decided it wasn't going to sell and tried it out. Great little drill with the compact Lithium battery. It has a light I thought (at first) was useless but it came in quite handy installing drawer slides in the deep recesses of the cabinet. Light, powerful and "bright."

[Nova]

>>> or the short form:

I have a Panasonic 18V drill. I really liked the drill but the batteries would no longer take a charge after about 3 years of moderately heavy use. I was going to buy replacement batteries but they're about $100 each. There are third party batteries available for a little less but I question there quality. I looked into having the batteries rebuild about 2 years ago and at that time no one was rebuilding Lithium Ion's.

I still have the drill and may get the batteries rebuilt someday. PrimeCell still doesn't rebuild Li-Ion as their web site says the cells are not yet readily available.

[RonB]

It doesn't look like many, if any, have weighed in with 14.4V Makita so I will. It looks like they fit many of your thoughts.

I have two sets, one of which has been around for about 13-15 years. About five years ago my wife decided the older one was on its last legs because it was starting to look like a well-worn stock car (I'm not gentle either). She got me a drill/driver combo set for Christmas that year but old faithful just keeps on going. We just finished building a house and did most of the interior ourselves; so both machines got a pretty good work out and the new one is showing its use too.

The machines are smaller and more compact than the 18V machine. In fact, I don't see why she would need one of the bigger drills. The

14.4V is more than capable of giving you wrist a good twist if the bit, or boring bat gets bound up. The only reliability issue I have had is that the charger for the older unit did die but the batteries are interchangeable between drills and chargers. The charger is expensive. BTW, I have used the heck out of the driver that came with the newer drill and love it. In addition to general use, I have built two decks, and about 350 feet of cedar fence without a hitch.

RonB

[Steve Turner]

Joining this thread a little late, and as I suspected when I started reading the answers, you're getting just about as many suggestions as there are people replying! :-)

I went through this same thought process earlier this year, and based on all my research I narrowed it down to the Milwaukee mentioned above and a Bosch, either the the PS30-2A or the newer PS31-2A. I went with the PS31-2A:

I love it. The Milwaukee is a tad heavier and a tad more powerful, but to me the Bosch just felt better in my hand; nice and balanced. I'm amazed at how much power and battery life these little babies have.

[Jack]

think I would look into the Rockwell 3Rill, 3 in one drill. It seems to have everything I want in a drill and lifetime batteries. Drill, Driver and impact driver, with clutch. Under 3 pounds. I never used one but it sounds like a winner. In fact, I think I described what I wanted in a drill a year or so ago here, and they must have read my post... I should sue them:-)

[Jack]

I have 5 cordless drills. The one I use most I probably would be embarrassed to recommend to anyone, but it is this one:

wife bought it for me in a kit on in introductory sale at a B&D outlet. She paid like 29 bucks for the drill, a saw, light, battery and charger. I was a little miffed because I really didn't want a piece of junk, or a toy drill. Well, I was wrong. Been using this sucker for several years and it is my go to driver for all cabinet work. I fits in the palm of my hand, has plenty of power for light duty work (all cabinet work is light duty.) I even use the little sawzall more than my big sawzall, and the light is cool as well. Hell of a deal she got me.

I now want the Rockwell 3rill, but having more drills than I need, I'm having trouble justifying buying yet another drill... Batteries for life though...hmmmm.

[Leon]

FWIW Ridgid has life time warranty on batteries also.

[Jack]

Yeahbut do they have a small 2 1/2lb. drill/driver/impact drill combo with a clutch? This is the first one I've seen that has both impact and regular drill choices, like my hammer drill has... Most importantly to me is I would have a very small, light weight drill that also had impact driver ability, and with a clutch. The impact thing gives a drill a lot more power w/o using up battery. My regular impact is way too much drill for most stuff I do in the workshop. I think this 3rill, other than the dumb name, would be nice to have.

[Leon]

Good points but I would be a bit leery of a tool that promises to do it all. When Makita come out with theirs the reps indicated that it probably would not be bullet proof. Does Rockwell offer a return period policy?

[Jack]

My Makita Hammer drill I've had for 30 years and it works great, it has a switch for regular or hammer. Granted, it does not get daily use but I can't see why an impact/regular function would be any different than a hammer/regular function as per durability. Again, I never even witnessed this Rockwell 3rill in real life, let alone used one, so other than the press, I know nothing:-) My guess is the clutch doesn't work with the impact mode, but that's just a guess...

It sounds/looks great on paper though...

[Doug White]

" [e-mail]" wrote in news: [e-mail]:

Thanks to everyone for their input on this. I checked pricing and Lowe's sale on the Bosch PS31-2A was they best I could do. I went there, and figured they'd have them out on display, but I couldn't find them. Without the exact model number (my mistake in not bringing it), neither could the guys working there. They decided they were sold out.

When I got home, I checked on-line, and the system said they had four in stock. Grrr! Fortunately, I had to run another errand in that neck of the wods later in the week. I ordered it on-line for store pickup, and they had it waiting for me.

My daughter was thrilled when she opened it up on Christmas, espcially with how comfortable it was to wave around. The light weight & smallish grip are perfect for her. I'm sure she will get many years of good use out of it.

Doug White

[Steve Turner]

You went with the Bosch PS31-2A; excellent choice! I have that model and I predict your daughter will absolutely *love* it. I use it right along side my slightly older Bosch 366-18 1/2-inch 18V model (which I also love) and it keeps right up with the bigger model in terms of usability and battery life, and with little discernible difference in strength for most typical operations.

[DoN. Nichols]

[ ... ]

Glad that she is happy with it.

FWIW -- *after* this discussion, I happened to be going to Home Depot for another reason, and saw a sale on a new Ridged rechargeable drill only -- not the switchable head tool which I mentioned before. It was something like $159.00 (on sale) with two Li-Ion batteries which are covered by a lifetime warranty.

I got it, since it had the torque limit clutch for screw driving which the other did not. I was amazed at the torque it could produce. (It comes with a clamp-on secondary handle to control the torque.) It has aside from the variable speed trigger, there is also a switchable gear (planetary gears) for lower speed and higher torque, or for higher speed (1500 RPM at the top end). 1/2" chuck capacity -- a nice locking keyless chuck.

Forward/Reverse switch is behind the trigger, and has a center position which locks the trigger in the off state.

It also has a light at the bottom of the handle/battery compartment with a secondary grip switch or turned on by the trigger.

And -- each battery pack has a "fuel gauge" to tell you the state of charge (in steps of 25%), so you can tell whether y ou need to charge it before putting it into the drill.

The model (for others, since you have already purchased your gift) is the "fuego" R86008. (There is another model number which includes the full kit which I got -- but the box is now gone. :-) Be sure to save the box until you have cut out the barcode label which has to be shipped in with the warranty registration. (Oh yes, there is a zipper bag in Ridgid colors -- black and orange -- which holds it all, with a net pouch in the lid for the manuals (individual manuals for charger, drill, and battery packs.)

Enjoy, DoN.