Cordless Drills

[PetrosA]

My last 18V was a Fein that kicked butt, but it was large and heavy. This time I got a Metabo LTX (3.0 Ah Li-on) that kicks even more butt at much less size and weight. It's about the size of my 14.4V Hilti impact driver. It will definitely hurt your wrist if you're not careful and I often use the clutch to prevent accidents. I considered getting a Hilti as well, but I don't think they're still making everything in Europe anymore (I tried out a rotary hammer recently that was made in China and it wasn't as good as the one I have made in Liechtenstein ).

I have a 375W inverter mounted in my truck that will run two chargers together if the truck is running. I would recommend a larger one though.

 

[dmagyar]

Hilti is a great product

Hilti is a great product

I've had Makita, Ridgid and have tried a Dewalt. After the the ridgid 14 volt went bad I bought a Hilti. That was over two years ago. I've had a Hilti roto-hammer for years and have used them ever since starting in the Electrical trade. You can't beat their roto-hammers and I have the same impression of the impact 12 Volt and 15 volt cordless drill I have now.

 

[jumper]

I've had Makita, Ridgid and have tried a Dewalt. After the the ridgid 14 volt went bad I bought a Hilti. That was over two years ago. I've had a Hilti roto-hammer for years and have used them ever since starting in the Electrical trade. You can't beat their roto-hammers and I have the same impression of the impact 12 Volt and 15 volt cordless drill I have now.

I have not used a lot of Hilti cord less, but corded have worked great for me. Tough as nails, in my limited experience.

TE= tough enough.

 

[LarryFine]

I have a 36v DeWalt tool array: hammer-drill, recip saw, circular saw, and the snake light. They are, in my opinion, as strong as corded tools of the same size, and the batteries still have plenty of charge life in them.

I almost forget they're cordless until the speed drops suddenly as the battery electronics tell me it's recharge time. It does drop suddenly, but I always have a spare nearby. I never grab just the tool from its case.

I also always, always put a dead or almost-dead battery back on the tool if I wasn't able to charge it right away. I want to grab a full spare, not the oops-I-forgot-this-one-was-the-dead-one when I need a fresh battery.

Added: We recently bought an 18v right-angle DeWalt from a plumber/tech recently. It doesn't have great torque, but it does fit where no other will when you need it. We also have a Kawasaki 14.4 drill for small stuff.

 

[guitarchris]

I always have a spare nearby. I never grab just the tool from its case.

I also always, always put a dead or almost-dead battery back on the tool if I wasn't able to charge it right away. I want to grab a full spare, not the oops-I-forgot-this-one-was-the-dead-one when I need a fresh battery.

I try to beat this into my helpers head!! I say "go get the Makita off the truck" comes back with the drill only. And when the battery goes dead he will get the good one off the charger then proceed to set the bad one beside the bag and charger.....WTF! I wonder about the boy sometimes.

 

[Sparky555]

I use a corded rotary hammer for concrete and a corded right angle drill for auger or self-feed bits. I like my cordless tools light-weight. I don't own anything over 18V and probably never will.

 

[shepelec]

28v milwaukee has worked fine for me for 4 years so far. The original batteries have just started to have problems. Replacements are around $140!! It sure is nice to have the power when you only need one or two holes without draging out a cord. My 28v batteries are lighter than the DeWalt 18v.

The Li batteries do have issues with the cold. If I forget to bring them in at night they don't work in the morning, so my "ritual" is to keep them in my cooler. It keeps them warmer during the day and I don't forget them at night. The little 12v impact driver is handy and easy to use.

 

[PetrosA]

One other thing to consider if going for li-on tools is battery indicator lights. My Hilti impact and my Metabo drill both have indicator lights that come on for a few seconds after pressing a button or release tab to show you how much power is left. It's great for when you have to drag the tool deep into a crawl space or up a ladder and don't want to or can't drag extra batteries along.

 

[jmellc]

I liked my DeWalt but when it finally gave out, the best buy out there was as a Porter-Cable. I got it and loved it. It walked recently & I got a set with drill, sawzall & circular saw for $130. Haven't taken out of the box yet. It's the same drill & the saws will be my 1st cordless. Milwaukee is good, but expensive. I used to have a 12V Skil that was decent, even had a Black & Decker Firestorm (don't laugh) that was a good drill for lighter duty, was excellent for driving screws. Got a 2nd Firestorm that wasn't as good, but I still use it.

I had Craftsman 14 and 18 volt models. They were so/so. I need to dig them out of the shed & decide whether to keep them as backups or sell/trade them. I buy very little from Sears any more. I bought a new battery once for the 14V, would fit the drill but not the charger. They change models/specs faster than a fly hops patties.

 

[ceknight]

My first drill was a Bosch; never really got to use it much before it was stolen (shop burglary). Since then, Bosch has stressed how tough its' drills are, even guaranteeing it will survive a 21ft. drop. Something to consider.

When my old Porter Cable kit started wearing out, I replaced all of my cordless tools with the Bosch 18v kit.

My Bosch impact driver hit a customer's driveway from about 17' up, I got a bit clumsy while attaching a weatherhead. Other than the asphalt scratches you'd never know it -- it has worked fine ever since.

A few months later one of the batteries stopped working, it may have been the dropped one, I don't know. I stopped by my toolmonger to get a new one, he took the dead one, handed me a new one without charge and said "wow, that's only the 2nd one to come back this year."

I took both of those experiences as evidence that I made a decent choice. YMMV.

 

[hurk27]

I try to beat this into my helpers head!! I say "go get the Makita off the truck" comes back with the drill only. And when the battery goes dead he will get the good one off the charger then proceed to set the bad one beside the bag and charger.....WTF! I wonder about the boy sometimes.

I have my Dewalt double battery charger mounted right in my side door of my van, its hooked up to a simple 150 watt Black & Decker inverter that is plugged into my spare lighter socket, anytime I bring back a dead battery they go right on charge, and at the end of the job or day I put all my batteries back on charge, I do pull out the inverter a little bit to shut it off at night since I only have one battery in this van and it will run it down as it's getting older, but my last van I had a perminate 3600 watt inverter set up with 5 deep cycle batteries built into the floor, so I didn't have to worry about dead batteries to start the van with, also had a Bull Dog auto starting system that would start the van if they got below 11 volts.

 

[puckman]

ridgit makes cordless tools . batteries have overload protection and trip out at the first sign of a jam up. prefer dewalt @ 18volts.

 

[ptonsparky]

May first cordless drill was a 9v Makita. It was still working when I gave it to my BIL a couple years ago. It needed new batteries & he had some. Other than that I have had only Milwaukee. 12v & now the older 18v. The impacts are great. Don't know how we got along without them. The circular saw drains a battery in no time. The hammer/drill combo we have is alright for softer brick & concrete. The biggest gripe, other than battery price, is when they changed the battery design for the 18v and it would not fit into the older units.

 

[dibloafer]

I know this, that 1/2" hammer drill can twist your arm off in low gear

have to agree on this one. My 18v DeWalt 1/2'' hammer/ drill is the bomb. I have two good, Ni-Cd batteries that I use with it. It sees lots of hole saw and unibit action, as well as excessive masonary/tapcon abuse, and it does the job all day long. Low gear is great for driving screws. Can't say enough good things about it. (sawzall is great, too. just sayin..)

my friend got the porter cable 18v set that came with impact, screwgun/drill, sawzall, flashlight, and circular saw. set is pretty much crap. not much power to sawzall and impact, which are the best parts of the deal if you ask me.

 

[hurk27]

have to agree on this one. My 18v DeWalt 1/2'' hammer/ drill is the bomb. I have two good, Ni-Cd batteries that I use with it. It sees lots of hole saw and unibit action, as well as excessive masonary/tapcon abuse, and it does the job all day long. Low gear is great for driving screws. Can't say enough good things about it. (sawzall is great, too. just sayin..)

my friend got the porter cable 18v set that came with impact, screwgun/drill, sawzall, flashlight, and circular saw. set is pretty much crap. not much power to sawzall and impact, which are the best parts of the deal if you ask me.

I had a flat tire one day and I carry a 3/4" breaker bar with a 7/8" impact socket on it to break my lugs loose then I have an adapter for the 1/2" Dewalt to finish running the lugs off and putting them back on, which I use the breaker bar to finish tightening them, well after I had broke loose all the lugs and had laid the breaker bar in the van, a state trooper pulled up and asked me If I needed a hand, he saw me using my Dewalt to spin off the lugs not knowing I had broke them free already, and said he has to get him one of those thinking they would break the lugs loose, I laughed and had to tell him not quite, then showed him my breaker bar, but even then he liked the idea of being to remove the lugs fast, so the next time I saw him he had the Dewalt impact and told me it will break loose most lugs on cars, so that is the next tool I want to add, besides its not fun when you have 8 lugs per wheel.

 

[B W E]

i hate dewalt

i hate dewalt

I've had to replace the gearbox and/or chuck on my 18V Dewalt XRP's 3 times (three different drills). Then I switched to Makita. I'm also pretty rough on my drills, but have never been dissatisfied yet with Milwaukee. Aside from the trigger assembly getting dirty from cutting holes in the ceiling for recessed lights, it has performed (outperformed) flawlessly. With the 4-pole motor, Makita is lighter, which definitely pays off at the end of the day.

 

[infinity]

I just purchased an 18 volt DeWalt lithium ion tool set with 6 tools. The difference in battery weight is quite noticeable versus the 18 volt XRP DeWalt Ni-cads. My favorite new tool is the 1/4" impact driver. It is very compact, light weight, has a belt hook and a front facing LED that turns on when you depress the trigger. Great for installing devices. I also bought the compact Li-ion battery for it which makes it even smaller and lighter.

 

[readydave8]

I just purchased an 18 volt DeWalt lithium ion tool set with 6 tools. The difference in battery weight is quite noticeable versus the 18 volt XRP DeWalt Ni-cads. My favorite new tool is the 1/4" impact driver. It is very compact, light weight, has a belt hook and a front facing LED that turns on when you depress the trigger. Great for installing devices. I also bought the compact Li-ion battery for it which makes it even smaller and lighter.

darn, I thought I was all caught up on buying tools and now I want these.

 

[jmellc]

When my old Porter Cable kit started wearing out, I replaced all of my cordless tools with the Bosch 18v kit.

My Bosch impact driver hit a customer's driveway from about 17' up, I got a bit clumsy while attaching a weatherhead. Other than the asphalt scratches you'd never know it -- it has worked fine ever since.

A few months later one of the batteries stopped working, it may have been the dropped one, I don't know. I stopped by my toolmonger to get a new one, he took the dead one, handed me a new one without charge and said "wow, that's only the 2nd one to come back this year."

I took both of those experiences as evidence that I made a decent choice. YMMV.

I never saw many Bosch battery drills, but I've always liked their power drills. I have a Bulldog that is a great drill. They do stand up to harsh environments. We used a lot of them at Bryant-Durham Electric years ago.

 

[stevero]

Several years ago I got a Makita 14v (NiCad I think) cordless drill as a "rebate" for a miter saw I bought. I've tortured that thing all these years and it's still runs great on the original batteries. (Previously had Porter Cable and B&D Firestorm drills. Those batteries did not last.)

Based on my satisfaction I recently bought a Makita 18v LI kit with hammer drill, impact driver, recip saw, circ saw and light. I've used the impact driver a lot, the drill some, the recip saw some, and the circ saw just a little. So far, extremely pleased. Love how long the tools run on a charge. The drill and driver come with LED lights. Thought at first that was just a gimmic, but have come to depend on the lights in dingy basements, etc. Wish the recip saw had lights, too.