OT: great deal on a 12 V cordless drill and/or impact driver

Hm - looks nice. I have the smaller 12V (3/8", 2amp hr) Panasonic, and I love it. Lightweight but well-built, well-balanced, great tool. Even at 2 amp-hr, the battery life is excellent - if I could have gotten the same thing with a 1/2" chuck and even more battery life for an extra $23, I probably would have. Enjoy your new tools, Andy

Yes it looks like the same thing otherwise. Don't see any defects, looks factory fresh. I don't much like the plastic right under the trigger but maybe I'll get used to it. I'm finally replacing a cheap Skil 12 V drill. The handle on the Skil was too wide but the Skil weighs only 2.6 pounds! It has a two-piece keyless chuck, probably cheaper to manufacture than keyed chucks. They are horrible IMO, I'd rather have a permanently attached quickchange chuck. I just love the single piece chuck on the new drill, nice action, although a little surprised by the constant ratcheting noise it makes in either direction (I'll get used to it). It weighs 4.2 pounds with a full battery [being facetious].

Again, I bought it partly for the batteries. Four batteries would cost more than both kits. If anybody needs a drill, take a look.

I wish ... I have one of those 12V Panasonics, 2 batteries, and a 9.6 V one w. one battery. All 3 batteries need repacking - and that will cost me considerably more than getting one of those drills from Amazon would. Sadly, they only ship US.

I love those drills, the 9.6 particularly is a beautifully designed tool. But I am starting to think about changing to Li-ion which is currently being promoted, at very little more money than getting those damn batteries updated. Bosch has some nice looking drivers out there. So does Metabo.

I hate throwing out gear that is still in great condition. I HATE it. :-(

-P.

Just opened one. It uses about size C squarish batteries (x9). Looks like it has one or two sensors, one probably thermal (maybe tape insulated from the case), not sure what the other thing is. And there is a wire coming from the bottom, probably the negative terminal.