Advice on new drill

Mr.Generous

For the type of work I'd say a mains corded hammer (percussion) drill. SDS is not ideal because you need special SDS bits and it will cost a lot more and be heavy. To get the same drilling power from cordless you need to spend about £100, and although they are great, for the occasional shelf or plug its just not worth it. Any mains drill of about 550w will suffice, the Wickes own brand or the B&Q performance power brand will be fine. Avoid the very cheap Chinese stuff if I were you.

Tothepoint.

Mr.Generous wrote: »

For the type of work I'd say a mains corded hammer (percussion) drill. SDS is not ideal because you need special SDS bits and it will cost a lot more and be heavy. To get the same drilling power from cordless you need to spend about £100, and although they are great, for the occasional shelf or plug its just not worth it. Any mains drill of about 550w will suffice, the Wickes own brand or the B&Q performance power brand will be fine. Avoid the very cheap Chinese stuff if I were you.

SDS drills are no heavier than hammer drills of the same size and if you get a chuck you can use any drill bits as long as you can turn the hammer off.

Mr.Generous

heavy duty, ie it is an anvil and hammer 'thumper' and will cost a lot more. Then you could buy a chuck adaptor and more bits ... we are offering advice to someone who is going to drill a dozen holes a year.

Its an opinion, I'd say get a Milwaukee 5ah cordless twin pack for £500 if they wanted something pretty decent, but I don't believe it's worth it to the OP.

For £15 you cant go wrong with this ...

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Hammer-Drill-with-Keyed-Chuck-810W/p/195533

Tothepoint.

Mr.Generous wrote: »

heavy duty, ie it is an anvil and hammer 'thumper' and will cost a lot more. Then you could buy a chuck adaptor and more bits ... we are offering advice to someone who is going to drill a dozen holes a year.

Its an opinion, I'd say get a Milwaukee 5ah cordless twin pack for £500 if they wanted something pretty decent, but I don't believe it's worth it to the OP.

For £15 you cant go wrong with this ...

http://www.wickes.co.uk/Wickes-Hammer-Drill-with-Keyed-Chuck-810W/p/195533

You say avoid cheap Chinese stuff and then recommend one.

Norman_Castle

I used my 15+ year old mains skil hammer drill today to fit a tv bracket. Drilling both metal and brick. Its got very good variable speed control which in my experience many cheaper drills version of variable speed is poor. Decent variable speed makes it much easier and nicer to use especially as a screwdriver.

If it failed I'd consider something like this.
http://www.diy.com/departments/bosch-240v-corded-keyless-chuck-hammer-drill-psb680re/195931_BQ.prd?ecamp=Seapla&ppc_type=shopping&ds_kids=92700014019560944&gclid=Cj0KEQiA39_BBRD0w-_rmOrc__8BEiQA-ETxXY3CCBK1xN-pQdg1sM5QwXwFLB5rwZeLcsUWGx1OkOsaAhH98P8HAQ&dclid=CMOZ7J3NxNACFU0h0wod2gYK8A

Risteard

Hilti can't be beaten. But the type of drill depends what you need it for. I have corded 110V RLV; cordless; impactors; battery drill; SDS max as well as SDS plus and others.

mchale

OP, what ever drill you go for get decent drill bits as they do most of the work, I use these for masonry

http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-multipurpose-drill-bit-6-x-100mm/26900

can't fault them

thescouselander

I just got one of these today to replace an old Bosch cordless drill.

http://www.diy.com/departments/dewalt-cordless-18v-13ah-li-ion-combi-drill-1-battery-dcd776c1-gb/765799_BQ.prd?ecamp=Seapla&ppc_type=shopping&ds_kids=0&gclid=Cj0KEQiA39_BBRD0w-_rmOrc__8BEiQA-ETxXe4D-YNSMaNGYjfOIqLfkwlUZNKXFiyo2ykp4z6CyCkaAiEb8P8HAQ

I've obviously not used it yet but of feels solidly put together and seems to have plenty of power. Seemed a bit of a bargain for £65.

patman99

I had the (dis)pleasure of using a brand new Dewalt 18v drill when working in a care home as the in-house maintanence man. When drilling holes, it ate through battery packs at an alarming rate.

I have been updating my cordless toolkit recently and one of the drills I sold on was an Aldi 19v one. It only had a 1.2Ah battery, but torque wise it was a match for the works Makita I borrowed.

It was a cheap drill, but ideal for anyone who does the odd bit of diy.

Btw, when it comes to masonary drill bits, make sure to check whether or not the bit is suitable for using with hammer action as not all are.

If you ever need an SDS drill, then ask around as someone may have one you can borrow. I borrowed a Macalister SDS drill (B&Q cheap own brand) to drill several fixing points into a concrete slab and it went through the concrete like a hot knife through butter.

Also worth noting that a lot of the no-name brands use the same battery packs as the big brands.

For instance, my Workzone 10.8v cordless drill/driver uses the same battery as the Makita, Bosch and Erbaur units.

I have also noticed that Ryobi and Makita share the same batteries in their range of cordless multi-tools.

thescouselander

Cordless tools do eat batteries quickly especially if they've got more powerful motors in them. Better to have two or more batteries for continuous use.