Drill

Mr_Raoul

Im after a new drill, moving house next week and need it for all the odd jobs, hanging pictures/mirrors, shelves up, boarding out the loft, building shed etc etc, just a decent general DIY drill rather than something too kick !!!, any advice please, the prices in B&q vary massively, im not sure which price i should be aiming for?

Cheers

Hitch

Something like a Ryobi will be just right for you id say.
You dont really need an SDS, so look for a percussion drill. (normal hammer action)

annie-c

I have 2 drills. One is a basic corded hammer drill; the other is a 24v cordless hammer drill. Both cost less than £20 in Argos. The corded drill gives best performance and is lightest to hold, but the cordless one is handy for doing jobs that involve being high up ladders or outside - anywhere where a power socket or extension cable would be inconvenient. I wouldn't personally get less than 24v for a cordless if you're going to be drilling into masonry.

Mine were both from the basic range at Argos 'Challenge' I think. I've used them for everything from assembling flatpack furniture (using the screwdriver function) to drilling into stone walls (really tough job!).

Also important will be that you buy appropriate drill bits for the job. You can get decent ones in cheaper places like hypervalue, but I tend to check out the specification I'm looking for in a proper DIY store first, as the cheaper shops don't have great explanations on the labels.

Hope this helps

Annie

iBlob

Mr_Raoul wrote: »

Im after a new drill, moving house next week and need it for all the odd jobs, hanging pictures/mirrors, shelves up, boarding out the loft, building shed etc etc, just a decent general DIY drill rather than something too kick !!!, any advice please, the prices in B&q vary massively, im not sure which price i should be aiming for?

Cheers

As always, the market is flooded with products that will do what you want, so consider the following:

If you want a g.p. tool that will drive screws and drill into standard brick or block (but not engineers bricks) then a cordless 'combi' drill of 14.4v minimum should be chosen. Combi means it has a hammer action as well. Someone has suggested a 24v model. Great, but can be heavy when used one handed.

Get one with 2 batteries minimum. If they are rated higher than 1.3mah all the better (they run longer the higher the number). There are two main types of battery; NiCad and NiMH. The latter can be topped up anytime. NiCads need to be fully run down before recharging. You can probably guess that NiMH types are more expensive.

If your budget will stretch, look for brands that have been around longer (cheap own brand models do not have the same performance/durability and many are not ergonomically refined - causing wrist and arm strain).
This is particularly important if you are to use the beast a lot.

Ryobi is a better DIY brand. Look at Erbauer - cheap but now establishing themselves. Bosch (the green coloured range) tend to be under powered and pricey. Makita - make first class tools ( if you are prepared to pay a bit more). DeWalt - high specification, very high price (imported from USA) and very heavy as they now use all metal gears and chuck.

What to pay. Hard to answer as my use is different to yours. But look around the £70 mark for something you will enjoy using (even if you hate DIY). Like most things though, you gets what you pays for.

If you want to compare prices and specifications, may I suggest you look at the Screwfix website. You could order a catalogue which has the benefit of showing you all the tools and accessories you will ever need. You will find all the drill bits, screws, fixings etc. that you will never find in Beeinkoo, Harmbase, Hocus etc. Finally, if you have a Beeinkoo near yoo, it might be worth chatting to the chap who runs the power tool section. They usually have a better product knowledge than all the other staff and they will know if there are any 'specials' on, or in the pipeline.

PS. I am still using a 9.6v Makita pistol type driver that I bought in 1989. Only the batteries have needed replacing. I even drill softer brick with it.

Hope you feel less tired reading this than I feel writing it.