Cordless drills - which one to get?

Toyman01 wrote: 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. Rigid 12V Kit. 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.

Im a big fan of the Rigid, in 18 volt with the big batteries. The catch I didn't know when I bought my drill and impact driver set was that the sawzall and circular saw required a bigger battery pack than the drill.

But ridgid offers a lifetime warranty on batteries, which is worth it alone to me.

ingersoll rand gets my vote, just make sure you take care of the batteries. Lith Ion are great unless you do stuff like deep discharge them.

ryobi online with the impact driver kit couple sets of batteries and charger for $70 last time I checked. Good batteries just cost more so I would buy the batteries new with the kit. They are the best deal of the junky stuff. If you don't want the impact driver you can throw it up on ebay... for some $$

I recently bought a Rigid because of the lifetime warranty. It's been fine so far, but gets little use. I also have a Dewalt XRP from several years ago that has been a tank. My daughter has it for now. One of the batteries was decidedly weaker than the other right out of the box.

If I needed one and had the moolah, I would buy a Makita. We had two at a former job many years ago and they were definitely tanks. Heavy though. These had to big old batteries that slipped into the handle.

Dewalt has been promising on its website a conversion kit so that you can use 20v batteries in the 18v tools. Essentially a holder for the smaller battery. I have been waiting for the sale of this kit so that I dont have to buy new 18v batteries or 20v tools but Dewalt is over 8 mos late from its original planned rollout.

Bosh for me. The fact that the batteries have been standard for several years is a bonus. If your batteries get week, buy a new tool that comes with two more batteries!

+1 for Rigid's lifetime battery warranty.

Haven't had to replace any yet, but it's nice knowing that I could. I used my 18 volt drill with hammer setting and impact driver daily in college (6 years ago) for construction and they're still kicking strong for personal use.

They also have a 1/2" impact gun that's nice for automotive stuff. I can't remember the last time I fired up my air compressor.

whenry wrote: Dewalt has been promising on its website a conversion kit so that you can use 20v batteries in the 18v tools. Essentially a holder for the smaller battery. I have been waiting for the sale of this kit so that I dont have to buy new 18v batteries or 20v tools but Dewalt is over 8 mos late from its original planned rollout.

It's been out for a couple of months, I got one as soon as it came out. Now there's a kit with two batteries and a charger for $130-ish. Look on Amazon.

I'm a Dewalt guy. Their stuff has been bulletproof for me. The 1/4" impact gun is a particular favorite.

spitfirebill wrote: I recently bought a Rigid because of the lifetime warranty. It's been fine so far, but gets little use.

I use the hell out of mine and have for 2 years now. It's cleaned welds on two cages, drilled a lot of holes in steel... I've dropped it off ladders. I'll be running thousands of screws in with it and drilling 1" holes in 6x6 lumber later this week as I build my new deck.

Still on the original batteries too. It has been one of the better impulse (was on sale) tool buys I've made.

In reply to Tom_Spangler:

Dewalt seems to be OK if you get the contractor grade stuff? All I know is that I'd be pissed if a Harbor Freight cordless drill lasted as well as my Dewalt Home Depot drill did. I mean, I used it maybe once a month for a couple years and it's dead. The clutch refuses to shift into full lockup, and the charger just blinks and won't charge the batteries any more.

Dewalt has left such a terrible taste for me from my years in hotel maintenance that I don't even believe it when people tell me the tools have lasted more than 6 months, or the batteries are still going after a year. In part, it's because we were forced to buy the overpriced garbage from HD Supply instead of proper contractor tools and I've come to accept that. The owners weren't the best with money. 10 grand to find the right shade of white paint, yet we were expected to reuse our drywall screws. Rich people priorities I guess.

I'd almost be willing to give them another shot because I trust the people here, but after getting the drill and impact with charger and 2 batteries for less than $100 from Ridgid, there's no going back for me.

Ryobi had been really good to us in construction until the batteries started to go. Buy new replacement batteries and the tools started to go. But that was 10 years ago, before lithium batteries and the model changes that came with it. And we used the hell out of those tool sets.

I too am happy with the Ridgid 18v. I have the drill, impact driver, and multitool. Some people will complain about the warranty registration process to get the lifetime service agreement activated, but I did all of mine online without a problem.

Here's another vote for 20v Dewalt. I've had mine for at least 4 years. Not severe use, but it's built several decks and fences and will drive a 4" screw like nobody's business. Batteries and charger have been perfect. It's also the auto lift landing gear driver for my 5th wheel RV. That's a pretty good load.

Looks like I'm going with a RIDGID combo kit that contains the 12v drill recommended above with a 2.0ah battery, plus a 12v 1/2" drive impact gun with a 4.0ah battery that is interchangeable, and a charger, in a tool bag. It's under $150 for the combo, which is about $30 more than just buying an extra 2ah battery to go with the drill. Lifetime service on all, including batteries.

Thanks for everybody's input.

I know you are going to hate me, but this is what I got. Not much more expensive.

http://www.homedepot.com/p/RIDGID-X4-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Cordless-Drill-and-Impact-Driver-Combo-Kit-2-Tool-R9602/205762719

Duke, and Spitfirebill,

Those are the two sets I have, and I have had really good luck out of both of them. The 12V gets used daily for service work and both of them get regular use during installations. They are both outstanding drill kits.

If it's really $10 more, I'll probably go for the 18v version... but it is for a 20-something young woman with small hands, so maybe not. But maybe I'll buy one to replace my crappy Dewalt. Thanks.

In reply to Duke:

Get her the little one. It has more than enough power to drive a 4", #14 screw, or drill a 1/2" hole. The main advantage to the 18V, is it will do all of that faster and the drill comes with a 1/2" chuck. It will also snap you wrist in low gear if you aren't careful.

 absolutely love this [canoe]! after reading {spam link} i buy this the power is great and it even looks the part! very cool design! very science fiction looking! battery charges super fast I had the battery on the charger while I was reading the instructions and when I was finished reading them it was charged already!! that's pretty fast! 

In reply to whenry :

I thought I saw those adapters on eBay from China

Oops just noticed it's a 3 yr old thread.....

Hey, I think this is the first time a thread I started has been canoed!  Awesome.