Combi or SDS drill?

illusionek

Hello

I am about to move to my first house and as I have been renting until now I never needed any DIY tools, so I do not know much about power tools.

I am sure I will need a drill but don’t know whether I would be better off buying Combi or SDS drill?

I am moving to Victorian house with solid masonry and I do not have any specific project in mind. Surely at the beginning I will be using this drill for installing blinds, putting up shelves etc, so smaller DIY jobs.

I did some reading online and looks like Combi drill would fit the bill but then since walls are made of solid masonry brick I think I may actually need SDS drill?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.


Many thanks!

Grenage

If you're only going to have one drill, I'd make it an SDS.

Furts

You may want to consider a three function SDS drill. These will drill, hammer drill, and act as a breaker so chisels can go in them and be used for demolition. Feel the size and weight and then decide. A good brand like Makita would be around £100 or so.

TheCyclingProgrammer

If you only bought one, personally I spend the money on a decent combi with two batteries. I have a Bosch one that is very good.

An SDS drill has its uses but I use my combi far more than my Makita SDS. The SDS is corded and just too heavy to use casually.

spadoosh

In most circumstances i would say if youre going to have one drill make it a combi. I use a combi way more than an sds (only used it for core drilling) but i have soft council brick.

Victorian houses can use really dense brick which is a pain to get through with a combi. So in that case you would be better with a sds.

Just get both, you cant have too many tools.


When working ill only drill with an SDS and use the combi for fixing and screwing. You know the SDS will be up to the job on any house and drills in seconds. My combi is hopeless against accrington brick.

adonis

I would pop to B&Q and check the weight of an sds drill first as they can be heavy to use but great for solid walls.

Would your budget stretch to a cheap sds and cordless combi drill?
the combi would be easier for putting screws in and general diy stuff.
Screwfix have some reasonably priced.

edit the others beat me to it

martinsurrey

adonis wrote: »

I would pop to B&Q and check the weight of an sds drill first as they can be heavy to use but great for solid walls.

Would your budget stretch to a cheap sds and cordless combi drill?
the combi would be easier for putting screws in and general diy stuff.
Screwfix have some reasonably priced.

edit the others beat me to it

I agree, a decent cordless combi and a cheap corded SDS, best of all worlds.

d0nkeyk0ng

A combi will be fine for most things around the house - putting up shelving, drilling into a batten for curtains or blinds etc. I don't have an SDS drill but it was easy enough to drill into brickwork with masonary bits and combi.

If you are drilling through the walls to make holes or channels eg for vents, ducts etc then SDS will beat any combi drill.

I'd echo the above comments and go for a decent combi + decent drill bits (for screwdriving and for drilling, including masonary bits) and look at SDS if and when you need to.

However, I'd wait until you've moved in and assess what needs doing first. Your money may be better spent on doing things like changing the door locks, and getting the boiler serviced.

illusionek

Many thanks for so many responses.

I agree with all of you that ideally I should have both so I can use right tool for each job. I could probably stretch to buy both but neither of them would be good quality with my limited budget.

Based on the feedback, it looks like I will be better off to invest in a good quality Combi as definitely I will need one but I may or may not need SDS.


Do you have any recommendations for a good Combi drill? I checked Screwfix and it looks like price range is from £50 to £419. How much should I budget for fairly decent drill?

I dont want to buy cheapest one but then again I think £419 for my DIY needs would be overkill.

spadoosh

B&Q, Screwfix et all all do combi drill deals. Generally i would say budget about £100 and youll have a perfectly good drill.

As a diy'er dont get too hung up on battery sizes which is where you will find the main difference in price from £100+.

The budget drills will work just fine, the batteries tend to let them down eventually though.

I would suggest soemthing like an 18v li ion makita.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/makita-dhp453rfw-18v-3-0ah-li-ion-lxt-cordless-combi-drill/7186f

something like this. However youll notice its a 3.0 ah battery which is more for the traders. You could probably get it quite a bit cheaper using more DIY aimed batteries.

http://www.diy.com/departments/makita-cordless-18v-13ah-li-ion-combi-drill-2-batteries-hp457dwex2/278413_BQ.prd

2 batteries @ 1.3 ah.

Probably not a huge amount of difference between the actual drills. Though the LXT is the more 'proffesional' drill.


Keep an eye out for any offers, these are the first deals i saw so do your own shopping around.

Grenage

I have two of these; they're ace.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-gsb-18-2-li-plus-18v-4-0ah-li-ion-cordless-combi-drill/7434k