Versatile drill

With respect your description is a little vague. I probably end up assembling a bit of flat pack furniture for someone once a year. While you *can* do this with normal screwdrivers or allen keys, it only takes seconds with a cordless drill. I was helping a mate with some mods on a boat last weekend, and one of these involved removing and replacing two access panels on a sloping ceiling each held with eight self tappers. With a cordless drill, the posidrive screw sticks to a bit held in a magnetic chuck. You can use one hand to align the panel, the other holds the drill with the screw held on the bit, a quick whizz and it is in, move on to the next screw. Doing it with a screwdriver, even a magnetic one, is a lot more fiddly. The control of angle and torque that you have with a decent modern cordless drill really has to be tried to be appreciated.

You only need a few accessories, and you end up using it on all sorts of stuff. Removing air filters from carburettors. Taking off the plastic trim over hinges on an estate car tailgate or around dashboards, steering columns, A and B pillars, etc. My Makita drill case includes Pozi (and useless Phillips), torx and hex bits, and nut drivers as well as flat screwdriver blades. The latter are the one case where a conventional driver is usually better. Oh, and it does have a screwdriver with a 6mm socket in it. And hole saws, metal, masonry, and spade drills. And a spirit level. Almost a "one stop shop".

Still had a few this morning in my local branch.

Everything has its limits, and needs to be used within those limits. Those ugly old clunkers are at least more robust than the average modern cordless .

Last time I used one I was drilling masses of inch and a bit holes with an auger in very tough wood. It slowed the motor down a lot but it got on with it. Yes, every hole the auger needed backing off half a turn by hand, so i t's not all good. I keep them for those times a modern one won't do it for whatever reason.

NT

Considering what they cost then and now, I'd expect them to be better built. Not sure they were, though - unless you equate metal with decent build.

But the average mains drill 30 years ago had a much less powerful motor than you'd expect today. So easier to overload.

Much less power in, which is not the same as power out. Having core drilled with one & done that auger job they struck me as surprisingly capable.

NT

That's because SWIMBO has not detailed all the bits and pieces I am likely to have to do over the next 10yrs.

Well yes, I've got something to assemble this weekend - at this rate I'll be doing it all by hand just like I did with the recent IKEA cabinets. It might be 2 years or never before I have to do another.

So what drill have you got? That would be helpful.

Are you saying the lower powered motors of 30 years ago were actually more efficient than modern ones? I find that hard to believe.

I have a Makita 18 volt which came with 2 NiCad batteries, cost about £100 with a box fitted with a useful collection of drills, 6 mm bits, etc. It is a few years old and I have bought about 3 "clone" batteries since then. (It has had fairly heavy use including about 50 metres of fencing and a large summerhouse). Now, I think I would suggest going with Li-Ion rather than NiCad.

Surprisingly, it still seems to be available

If I was replacing it I would probably go for something like this (although it is in two boxes).

It sounds to me as though you don't actually need two batteries, though. In fact for your purposes the best buy would probably be an Aldi or Lidl "special", unfortunately only available intermittently.

Interesting to see the Lidl brand "Parkside" listing on eBay

Here is a cheaper single battery Lithium Ion (without accessories).

I've had some Wickes own-brand tools in the past. They don't feel quite so solidly built as branded products, but I suspect (from handling them in store) that the drills may have got better.

I don't know. I just know those old things turned out to be very capable of jobs that would be hard going for modern drills. As for why there's various possibilities.

NT