OK, DD#2 has asked for a drill for her birthday. I figure in this day and age, cordless is the way to go.
So which one? I bought a Happy Homeowner grade Dewalt from Home Depot and it was a true POS. The transmission broke and the battery charger is dead, both under very light duty use. So I'm not really interested in getting her one of those.
Who makes the best consumer-grade 3/8" cordless drill that doesn't cost $500? Because I'll probably be buying 2. Thanks!
The DeWalt XRP stuff was the gold standard a few years ago. I agree, the homeowner grade stuff is utter crap.
I like DeWalt but I stick to the better grade stuff.
I suggest: Hit the local pawn shops and buy the 9.6V Makita cordless drill sets. They will all have dead batteries and be dirt cheap. Like $15 or $20 for the whole thing, case, charger, etc. Do mention that the batter is dead and it doesn't work. Then buy a set of batteries for them off of amazon. For a bill, you will have a damn near indestructible set of drills.
Heard good things about Milwaukee m18 fuel. I plan on getting one of their combo kits soon.
Ive purchased a good bit of these for work, when I was a mfg engineer. My experience with dewalts wasnt the greatest. I switched everyone over to the m18. Reliable, and stupid powerful. Worth the money IMO.
I have had good luck with ryobi, batteries last good. Not top of the line by any means, but good bang for the buck and tons of other gadgets that take the same batteries. But definitely check the drill out in hand before you buy it. My old ones that got stolen were way better constructed than the next set I bought but I suspect that was my fault for grabbing the 99$ black Friday combo deal without looking at it.
My porter cable cordless stuff has been fantastic.
Also wanted to add depending on what it is being used for I love my little 12v Bosch I found on clearance and it was too cheap not to buy.
Having been through just about every brand in existence, I recommend Rigid stuff.
For light duty around the house, I'd get one of these.
If you want heavy duty, get the 18 volt kit.
I have both on my work truck, and use the 12V 90% of the time.
Dusterbd13 wrote: My porter cable cordless stuff has been fantastic.
This is the stuff i have. My old one had a fantastic metal chuck and lasted forever on one battery.
I can't be the only one who has had great luck with the Dewalt stuff. Always the brushless or higher grade stuff. 20 volt. Max tools had some re branded stuff that is great also.
At the shop our guys almost all use Makita or Milwaukee.
They refuse to use dewalt anymore. I never asked why.
Here is a previous thread about cordless tools that was so insightful, I bookmarked it.
Cool, thanks, everybody. I have great luck with my Makita tools, but they're all corded.
JohnRW1621 wrote: Here is a previous thread about cordless tools that was so insightful, I bookmarked it.
Interesting.
The two Rigid 18v drills I wrote about in that thread are still going strong. They are within 3 months of being 2 years old and see use pretty much daily. They have drilled 1000s of holes and run 1000s of screws. Great drills.
Another vote for Milwaukee. My M12 has been great, through hundreds of charges. Very light but powerful.
Get a kit with multiple batteries.
I am using Bosch 18V liIon stuff. 1/4" Impact and 1/2" drill. They are pretty good, not great.
I am angry with the Makita 18V LiIon charger system. If you over heat the battery it shuts down, just like it does when the battery is dead. So you are drilling a few dozen holes and the drill suddenly slows down, you think nothing of this and replace it with the battery in the charger and put the dead one in. beep, beep, beep and a flashing light. Huh? reset the battery and the same thing. Weird. One more time and the protection circuit in the battery shuts it down for good. You can take it to a battery shop and have them fix it for right around the same price as a new battery. I learned my lesson after losing two, googled it and found out this is SOP and was careful with my remaining battery, however my tame retiree that cleans and organizes the shop didn't get the memo and was considerate enough to kill the other one.
So I have a nice Makita 1/2 Drill sitting in storage because I won't buy expensive new batteries for it knowing that they will be rendered useless just like the last three.
I have Bosch batteries that are 6 years old and are starting to get weaker, I can buy another drill on sale with 2 new batteries for the price of one Makita replacement.
I tend to use the dewalt 20v stuff... not had a single problem with any of it.
I've spent 20+ years advocating Makita. I used them for everything, and had 50 or more tools. Never failed. I had a line of 7.2V, upgraded to 9.6V, then 14.4V. Loved them all. Don't remember ever killing one.
I recently decided it was time to retire my line of 14.4V. They had served me well. Upgraded to Makita's current line of 18V. Wish I hadn't.
The tools are great. I am totally in love with their skillsaw (finally a battery saw that works!), and I also love the recip saw. The grinder is good in a pinch but mostly sucks. The flashlight is a total POS (big disappointment, because their old one was one of my favorite pieces). Drills and driver guns are fine.
The biggest problem is the batteries and charging systems just don't cut it. The electronic chargers are programmed to refuse to charge any battery that is weakened or imperfect. I've had to replace 3 or 4 batteries and 2 chargers in less than a year (compared with years and years of hard service from the old 14.4's, regardless of whether or not they could still reach full charge, and I NEVER replaced a 14.4V charger). I've invested in about a dozen Makita 18V tools, and the charging system ruins them all.
20V brushless DeWalt system is the system that seems to have the most bang for the buck, most available, most used on jobsites, and doesn't seem to be able to be killed, even by sorry contractors in hard usage.
when my snap on 1/2 drive cordless impact turned out to be utter crap i replaced it with a milwaukee 3/8 drive impact and drill combo. it was the 18v kit available in 07, used it at work every day for 3 years with no issues. Since then anytime i need a quality cordless tool i go milwaukee
If you can find some NOS of Makita 14.4V, buy them. They'll be cheap as dirt, and never fail.
We use cordless Hiltis at work, I think they are 20 volt. They are bad ass.
I've never priced them though
I love the 20 volt Dewalts.. I bought the "Max"1/2" drill a couple of years ago and it just goes and goes.. it also just fits me better and is better balanced than the other brands. I got a barely used 1/4" impact driver without batteries a couple of months ago for $40 and it is my favorite hand tool now. It has more torque than something that size has any business having..
I've used ryobis for years.they get used stupid hard in bad conditions doing concrete work but are way ahead of the game performance to dollar wise
I've used ryobis for years.they get used stupid hard in bad conditions doing concrete work but are way ahead of the game performance to dollar wise
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