Cordless Drill

Traveller1981

Anyone know anything about cordless drills? I'm after one for basic DIY and came across this new range of litium ion ones. Is it anyg ood for around the house odd jobs?
http://www.feelconfident.co.uk/black-38-decker-lithium-ion-144v-cordless-hammer-drill-vpx1222x-gb

I don't want to spend much as I wont use it a lot. I can get it for £49.99 from a local hardware store.

Cheers

ic

I'd personally go for an 18V, 14.4V may lack the power when drilling into brick. What sort of house do you live in? What is the construction of the walls? If its an old Victorian terrace for example, its likely to have some very hard brick in the walls. If its new build you'll be drilling into either breeze block or plaster board, so would be fine for that. That said, some good sharp drill bits can make a whole world of difference whatever you're drilling into.

AdrianW2

My OH bought an 18v Woolworths drill for not very much (about £15) a few years ago. It is still going strong and managed to drill a 14mm hole into brick the other day.

amarg

Black and Decker are not a great make to be honest.

For a bit more you can get a decent 18v hitachi with three batteries, charger, case and torch.

This used to sell for £199 now £79.99

hitachi combi offer

You will also get free delivery on it!

Traveller1981

Sorry for the slow reply - I didnt get an alert to say anyone had replied to this thread.
Thanks for all the replies.

I live in a new house - so mostly plasterboard and breeze blocks. I won't use it very often. Also I was told you get a bit more oomph from the li-ion batteries over the nicd ones, so 14v "shouldn't" make any difference compared to an 18v. Also didnt want to spend too much. This one RRP for £99.99 but is on a half price offer locally.

I had heard black and decker weren't that good, but these new li-ion are supposed to be quite good. Anyone used one?

Thanks for the link to the Hitachi, that looks like a good deal.

lagi

Make sure like the one in your link to get one with a spare battery, its invaluable. Put on charge as soon as you start something and most times you will be needing the second.

Traveller1981

I think it actually uses both batteries at once, so essentially there isn't a spare. If you look at the picture, it shows both batteries being used at once.

Does anyone know the charge time of li-ion batteries? I can't find the time to charge anywhere for this drill.

Inactive

Aldi had a 14v drill on Sunday @£17.99, one battery, but only a one hour recharge time, 3 year warranty.

Not sure if they may have some left.

thescouselander

Traveller1981 wrote: »

Sorry for the slow reply - I didnt get an alert to say anyone had replied to this thread.
Thanks for all the replies.

I live in a new house - so mostly plasterboard and breeze blocks. I won't use it very often. Also I was told you get a bit more oomph from the li-ion batteries over the nicd ones, so 14v "shouldn't" make any difference compared to an 18v. Also didnt want to spend too much. This one RRP for £99.99 but is on a half price offer locally.

I had heard black and decker weren't that good, but these new li-ion are supposed to be quite good. Anyone used one?

Thanks for the link to the Hitachi, that looks like a good deal.

I think you should probably avoid Lithium Ion batteries if you are only going to use the drill occasionally. Li--ion batteries have to be used regularly to keep them in good condition - if you leave them lying round fully charged for months on end they will quickly degrade and become useless. The newer Li-Fe cells are a bit more robust but even so you are probably better off with Ni-cads (or Ni-MH) for the purposes you describe.

I would also recommend 18V or higher - you can't have too much voltage. I've found the lower voltage drills to be a bit feeble and it restricts the diameter of the hole you can drill.

ic

There's more about the drill on this page: http://www.amazon.com/Black-Decker-VPX1212X-Li-Ion-14-4-Volt/dp/B000UME3FG/ref=combo_pack_i_1

Looks like this range is end of life - hence the low clearance price. Ignore the fact its twin battery, that's a gimmick, seeing as its two 7V batteries. If you can get a drill with a spare, then you're on to a winner. There's nothing worse than the battery running out and having to wait an hour or so for it to charge again in order to finish the job.

27col

I have just bought an AEG 18v drill from B&Q. It has two large batteries and a fast charger. It cost £59.99. I have just used it to build a large deck area, which was all screwed construction. It performed brilliantly. Do not even consider getting a drill that has not got a spare battery and a fast charger. I was going to replace the batteries in my 18v Bosch Drill, but the cheapest that I could source them was £119.00 so I bought the new drill. The new batteries are also about 40 % more powerful than those in my old drill.