Cordless drill? Mid range... ?

covbaldy

Hi,
I need to upgrade my pretty pants cordless drill, it can't drill through anything tougher than plasterboard!!!

I'd love a DeWalt or Makita but I can't afford them (

Can anyone recomend something that doesn't break the bank but still is powerful enough to drill through masonasry etc.

Does the voltage make a difference? Is a 24V more powerful than a 12v???

Thanks one and all...

weekendwarrior

Hi,

Basically you get what you pay for with cordless drills, but you probably already know this!

The higher the voltage the more powerful it is, the higher the AH of the battery the longer it will run, so for example a 3.0 AH battery will last considerably longer than a 1.4AH battery, before it needs re-charging.

If drilling masonry you wil need one with Hammer action, otherwise a standard drill/driver will do. Neto have an 18 volt drill for sale at the minute for £10.00. I doubt it has hammer action for that price!

Cheap drills are normally let down by the batteries, which can take ages to charge.

There is some advice here regarding cordles drills-

http://www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk/cordless_drills.htm

mattt44

As I have had loads of expensive drills for work, I pretend to myself that I know what I'm talking about.

With cordless weekend is right, you generally get what you pay for, at the moment I have 9.6, 18 and 24 volt cordless drills, the power just gets better the higher the voltage.
I would ask do you really need a cordless drill? For about £80 you can get a very good plug in drill, which will do anything you want, much more than a cordless for the same price and they are lighter, you will be able to get a drill with an SDS chuck and a plug in normal chuck for that price and it will be a good make.
Personally while I could not do without the cordless drills at work, at home I would make do with a 240v drill, if I didn't have the work ones.

How much do you want to spend?

covbaldy

Well I guess around £60 - £80. I have seen a good Bosch one but its 14V but I'm sure the battery wa arond a 1.4AH. Have seen this balck & decker :
http://www.robertdyas.co.uk/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?catalogId=10051&storeId=10001&productId=64215&langId=-1&parent_category_rn=14202

Does this sound OK - it doesn't say what the battery is but its an 18V one?

Doonhamer

I never really thought about it before but mattt44 is correct, if it is only for around the house why does it need to be cordless. I have a 24V Bosch SDS drill and it is great but it cost over £300. I just thought that cordless is the way to go as I do a bit of jobing, but as mattt44 says, why? I'm sure you could get a really good SDS mains drill and you never have to worry about charging it or the batteries going duff.

weekendwarrior

Some good points above-

I have just bought one of these-

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=45647&talkProd45647=talkProd45647

It is a superb drill with a very cheap price, delivered to your door!

I'd go for that and one of the £10 cordless 18 volt drills from netto!

windym_2

If you are looking at Bosch then make sure you buy their professional range which is a different colour to the basic DIY range. They are blue and not green. They generally are more heavy duty and have better batteries. If you buy through screwfix remember to use https://www.quidco.com for a cashback bonus.

Edit - http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?slotName=HERO&ts=68224&p=x3&id=61609&homeRef=home not a bad looking offer, only 1.3 batteries but then if you are only doing DIY at home this should be more than enough. I think somewhere there is a £10 voucher for screwfix (might be a referral).

mattt44

weekendwarrior wrote:

Some good points above-

I have just bought one of these-

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=45647&talkProd45647=talkProd45647

It is a superb drill with a very cheap price, delivered to your door!

I'd go for that and one of the £10 cordless 18 volt drills from netto!

Thats the very one I was thinking about, I've actually got this drill as well and its a very good drill, if you need to do any masonery drilling, you will be much better off having this than a cheap cordless.
In fact if you buy a cheap cordless and expect to drill any masonery above a 6mm hole forget it.

The Makita is a nice drill, I have the 9.6v version, but if you get it, you will be only drilling wood or thin metal. I only use mine as a screwdriver, the 12v will be better, but not much.
With the Dewalt, you can use SDS drill bits, drill through anything anytime, it has chisel stop for chiseling out walls (this in fact is what I have mine for), I know which one I'd choose.

I've also had a 12 volt professional Bosch and I would never have another, what a heap of junk.
You really get what you pay for in the batteries, good batteries will last alot longer than cheaper ones, in drilling time and in length of life.

If you want like Doonhammer to spend over £300 (or more) on a 24v cordless then almost any of the good makes are a good bet and it will be worth it as a cordless. Otherwise stick to a corded.

Let us know how you get on.

Cheers

calmgirl

cALM GIRLS HUSBAND

I have a 18v 1.8 amp black and decker with metal keyless chuck came with 2 bats and wire stud detector, on sale in B&Q cost £160 i got it for £79.00 used it the other day to put up signs all over a school i was working in nothing phased it even the 200 year old stone wall

mattt44

calmgirl wrote:

cALM GIRLS HUSBAND

I have a 18v 1.8 amp black and decker with metal keyless chuck came with 2 bats and wire stud detector, on sale in B&Q cost £160 i got it for £79.00 used it the other day to put up signs all over a school i was working in nothing phased it even the 200 year old stone wall

Look, it comes down to this, if you want to drill holes above 6mm in masonary (and covbaldy asks for a masonary drilling machine) you have to have a very good SDS cordless or a corded SDS machine.
Before I had a 20v Hitachi and I now use a 24v Hilti, the Hitachi still will do a good job even though it it over 6 years old, but the batteries won't last too long. Both are SDS, I also have a 18v Dewalt,(with normal chuck) with hammer action. God knows why I got one with hammer because I don't need it and indeed have only used it once, when both Hilti batteries were flat, never again if I have my way. it is only used for wood and metal now.

Calm girls husband, you have been putting up signs around your school and I bet you haven't been drilling holes above the 6mm I talked about above.

If you ask me, using anything but a SDS chucked machine for drilling through masonary is daft, unless you have no choice. Yes there are different versions and different sorts of drilling action, but without doubt an SDS is the way to go.

If you only want to do light DIY work and struggle (I don't care what you say CGH, I have had enough experience to know not to bother struggling with a "normal" (non SDS) hammer drill on a masonary wall) then by all means get a cheaper cordless, or a drilling machine without SDS.

I tell you one thing I've noticed though, buying cheap SDS drill bits doesn't seem to matter if you have a good drilling machine. the much more expensive ones without a doubt do a better job, but not so you would notice.

calmgirl

sorry never do read all the text in posts. They were about 7-8mm holes and I also have a sds corded drill that makes anything feel like polysteryne. At the end of the day a cordless sds drill for anybody other than a professional is not nessecary ( only my humble opinon ) everybody is entitled to their view on these cordless drills my best mate swears by bosch my builder friend is a dewallt fanatic, I go for the best i can afford and think how much i use it for example the sds is the £60 one in argos Challenge extreme i use it about 2 times a week for about 10 holes I am not going to spend £400 on a drill that gets a total of an hour use in a year thats twice the cost of my car which also does its job very well.