PPPro 18V drill - short review

[Grunff]

Some of you may remember the sad loss of my Erbauer 18V drill. There were several suggestions as to what I should replace it with. One suggestion was the B&Q PPPro 18V.

Having looked at these in the shop, and looked at their motor/battery spec, I'd dismissed them as being too poor to contemplate. But this wasn't based on actually having owned one.

I was in B&Q last week, and knowing that I'd be near B&Q again next week thought what the hell, I'll try one. So I handed over my £90 and took one home.

You get the drill, 2x 1.5Ah batteries, and a 1 hour charger. You also get quite a nice case (which I didn't have with the Erbauer, which cost £160 just over a year ago, now priced at £140).

The overall dimensions are quite a bit bigger than those of the Erbauer, which makes the drill more difficult to use. In particular, the 1.5Ah battery packs are significantly bigger than the 1.9Ah ones that come with the Erbauer.

The chuck is of similar quality and design to the Erbauer, but has the annoying habit of switching over to hammer action as soon as the clutch comes into play.

It does, however, have two major problems.

First, battery life is awful. Lucky to get half the use on a full charge that I would with the Erbauer.

Second, and more serious, is the speed controller. It doesn't control the speed in a manner proportional to trigger movement. There is a step jump to near full speed about half way along the travel. This is a real pain, and makes it very difficult to use.

If this drill was £40, I think I'd keep it and live with the deficiencies. But at that price, and especially when they brand it as a semi-pro machine, no way.

Tune in next week, when I'll be reviewing Axminster's White 18V drill...

[Steve Firth]

1) speed control - take it back and tell them it's faulty. I did and got one that works. 2) Battery life - seems more than adequate on mine, it improved after the first charge/discharge cycle. 3) Hammer action - I found this only happens when I get my big mit on the clutch control and operate both collars (clutch/hammer) at the same time. 4) Price - best bought as part of the larger pack rather than as a standalone.

I don't find it a bad drill at all, but then again I didn't pay £90 for it, I paid £140 to buy a drill a circular saw and a sabre saw with a torch.

[John Stumbles]

Told you so (nyahh, nyahh :-)

Actually I found it not a problem driving 5x65s into flooring, but I'm still sure it'd be a windup in some applications.

Bundled with the cordless circular saw, jigsaw and torch I think it's worth part of the overall £150, but I wouldn't buy it on its own for £90.

Our B&Q (Reading) has Ryobi 18V drills on 'when it's gone it's gone' offer at £90. At least it has one one display - whether they actually have any left to buy I didn't check. Having the 14.4 'Site' branded version of this machine and having used a colleague's 18V Site I'd expect it to be the mutt's nuts.

-- John Stumbles

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-+ If a job's worth doing, it'll still be worth doing tomorrow.

[Toby]

I wonder where all the "ex-demo" drills go. You never see recon ones crop up eBay, maybe they just hit the bin?

Toby.

[Rick Hughes]

A local special is the PPro Trade set ... a circular saw, hammer/driver/drill, light and aligator saw all in a carrying case, complete with 3 batteries & charger .... all for £69.99

It may not be perfect but it knocks spots off my DeWalt 12V, and the set is great value for money.

I actually found battery life excellent ... perhaps it depends what you are using as benchmark. Rick

[Steve Firth]

Err that's the same drill as the PPro, innit?

[John Stumbles]

Sadly not. Ryobi did a batch of drills badged as 'Site' for B&Q last year and I picked up the last one they had, a 14.4V job (half price at £60) so I have both to compare. For identification the PPPs have the usual, er, male protrusion on the battery which fits into a matching recess in the tool (in a way which any half-indecent psychologist could no doubt make a meal out of explaining how we predominantly male diy/tradespeople find so satisfying :-). The Ryobis have an arrangement like a camera/flashgun shoe.

On features & performance the PPP has a 13mm chuck (which is good for hole saws and auger bits) and hammer (which I haven't tried) and speed control which jumps from about half speed to max (with no load). The Site has a 10mm chuck, no hammer and better speed control. For torque (I've used both to drive 12 x 4"s into softwood) I don't think there's anything in it. I haven't got a sense of relative battery capacity.

-- John Stumbles

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-+ Load dropped, paperwork completed: job done.

[IanJH]

I think you shall find that the Axminster White range are the cheapo rebadged Chinese stuff that B+Q et al so fondly like to call trade stuff.... well to a 6 yr old then maybe but not to anyone who uses trade stuff they aint...

Not to worry I use Axminster a lot and they are a good company.. but I doubt there drills are up to much.. Rebadged Nu-Tool????

Anyhow.. good luck..

Cheers IanJH

[Andy Hall]

You made the mistake of not buying two.

That would have made all the difference...... ;-)

.andy

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[IMM]

At £90 each! two!

[Owain]

"Toby" wrote | Grunff wrote: | > Tune in next week, when I'll be reviewing ... | I wonder where all the "ex-demo" drills go. You never see recon ones | crop up eBay, maybe they just hit the bin?

They go to customers who don't check the boxes are properly sealed when they buy a "new" drill, or TV, Video, PC ...

Owain

[Grunff]

I *knew* I'd forgotten something...

[Grunff]

Hey - the PPPro was your recommendation!

[Toby]

Hmm, you're propably right. I always rigorously clean anything I'm returning, so there can't be any question about overuse, they look pristine. Now i'll disable a power tool by removing the fuse or brushes just to be sure it's NWO.

My old employer recycled gsm phones for O2, all the 14 day returns went out with new cases, bags, cable wraps, boxes etc. to be sold wholesale as new by O2. The serial number tracking showed some phones were going round the loop multiple times. My guess is that NuTool or whoever must be refurbing all this kit and putting it back in the supply chain.

[BillR]

I got the Axminster white 14.4v with 2 nimh batteries. Its very good. Knocks spots off a cheapo 18v I used to use.

[Grunff]

Hi Bill,

How long have you had it? How much do you use it? Does it hammer, and how much have you used it on hammer?

Thanks.

[Andy Hall]

Bad advice..........

.andy

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[Grunff]

I wasn't expecting it to be good, especially having handled it in the shop. But since I was there anyway, and will be there again next week, I thought I'd give it a good try out. So that next time I call it a pile of s**te, I can say so with some authority.

I used it for about 8 hours today. It does have good points. The chuck is good. And...erm...did I mention the chuck? It's a nice chuck. Oh, and the case is nice too.

Battery life is really bad, much worse than my initial assessment. Very poor batteries. It's large size makes it very unwieldy. It's the biggest 18V I've ever handled. But the worst thing is the speed (not all that much) controller.

[Andy Hall]

Have a look at the Makita as well. I was using by 14v one all day today making some wooden frames. This involved gluing and screwing some components together with long thin screws rather carefully and slowly. A gentle squeeze of the trigger and the chuck turns very slowly but with good torque.

.andy

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[IMM]

Not according to many here.