New Drill

[InertialTooth45]

I don't know what all these people commenting about cordless ones not being up to masonry is all about!

I've got the Ryobi 18v one+ combi drill and it's perfectly fine drilling through brick and concrete up to 7 or 8mm for rawl plugs. I've even used it for a 45mm waste pipe hole with a holecutter in it, though admittedly that really was pushing it.

It was around £140 from B&Q with a charger and two 4mah batteries. It will drive screws in to a certain extent, into rawlplugs and around 20mm wood is fine, more than that and it struggles though they also do a dedicated impact driver which is much better for than and you can get the two in a kit for a reasonable amount.

And serious masonry work and I use a cheap screwfix SDS drill (~£40) which eats through.

[hairyben]

InertialTooth45 said:

I don't know what all these people commenting about cordless ones not being up to masonry is all about!

I've got the Ryobi 18v one+ combi drill and it's perfectly fine drilling through brick and concrete up to 7 or 8mm for rawl plugs. I've even used it for a 45mm waste pipe hole with a holecutter in it, though admittedly that really was pushing it.

It was around £140 from B&Q with a charger and two 4mah batteries. It will drive screws in to a certain extent, into rawlplugs and around 20mm wood is fine, more than that and it struggles though they also do a dedicated impact driver which is much better for than and you can get the two in a kit for a reasonable amount.

And serious masonry work and I use a cheap screwfix SDS drill (~£40) which eats through.

Well you've answered your own challenge there, hammer action cordless drills are okay for raw plugs in most masonry (although to be fair once you've used SDS percussion hammer does seem a bit pathetic) but we're talking drills for all uses here, I'd like to see you drill a 20mm hole for a cable or pipe through a bit of concrete or hard brick with your 18v combi.

[fredt]

Bit leftfield I've gone for Hitachi's 18v range for my diy tools.

The DV18DSDL kombi is very good if a little heavy, very decent hammer action for occasional use but clearly not as effective as a dedicated SDS drill

[mcpiston]

As a general rule Amp rating is more important than voltage rating when buying cordless.

[Zoon]

Got a Bosch 18V with two 2.0Ah batteries before christmas for £65.
It's brilliant for most general DIY jobs.

[kambites]

Simpo Two said:

You need three drills.

1) A small handy cordless job (li-ion) for mobile work and tight corners

2) A mains hammer drill for normal work

3) A fk off SDS drill (the kind that looks like a grenade launcher) for big stuff.

I'd say that's overkill. I have all three and I haven't touched the middle one in five years which includes building a house extension.

[kambites]

InertialTooth45 said:

I don't know what all these people commenting about cordless ones not being up to masonry is all about!

It's the difference between having to spend ten seconds per hole applying significant pressure to a cordless drill and sort of vaguely waving a wired SDS drill in the general direction of the wall.

Fine for hanging pictures; any sort of serious work, especially in situations where you can't get significant pressure behind the drill, and it's a complete waste of time.

[seyre1972]

I bought these a couple of weeks ago to replace my ageing DeWalt Cordless which owed me nothing. Comes in under budget @ £159.99 and also benefit of having option to expand/buy other Dewalt kit you need without buying other batteries/chargers (Circular Saw etc)

Screwfix DeWalt DCZ298C2-GB 18V 1.3Ah XR Li-Ion Cordless Combi Drill & Impact Driver

Sure you can get more powerful/high Amp Hour versions - but they are at at least £100 more expensive. And this more than does what I'll ever need round the house/garden (Impact driver removed worn/rounded bolts from lawnmower blade that I couldn't get off with spanners/Socket Set ....)

[Belle427]

Id probably buy these, the corded sds is a great piece of kit for heavier stuff and the batteries on the combi should be fine for just diy tasks.
http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-2kg-sds-plus-drill...
http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-gsb18-2-li-plus-18...

[rambo19]

Got mine from aldi's or lidl's, not sure which, been brilliant!

[39sl]

I bought one of these specifically for the SDS function as I needed this for a specific job...can't put the bloody thing down now....drill in one hand and filler in the other
Got Dewalt hammer drill but for a cost effective SDS, got to suggest this one :

http://www.diy.com/departments/mac-allister-cordle...

[doolie]

I binned the corded hammer drill years ago, sds has fully replaced it.

Then I have a makita 10.8v kit , hammer drill/driver and impact driver, for most of the day to day stuff. Kit was £110, wish I'd bought it sooner given how much I use it.

[J4CKO]

Am new to the SDS thing, the window fitter who was here was saying how good they are, what is the different other than the way the bit fits in, he gave me a drill and some fixings to help fix a wonky gate.

[MDMA .]

SDS is the type of fitting. The drill bits are slotted which allow movement when in hammer mode. Just get a Hilti SDS drill and be done. Will last forever. Look at what the main trades use on site, Hilti.

[dazwalsh]

You also have sds, sds+ and sds Max,

Sds was the original system

Sds+ is the improvement on sds, and is the most commonly used, + bits are backwards compatable.

Sds max is used for really heavy duty stuff, and use chunkier bits, not conpatable with the above 2.

[hairyben]

J4CKO said:

Am new to the SDS thing, the window fitter who was here was saying how good they are, what is the different other than the way the bit fits in, he gave me a drill and some fixings to help fix a wonky gate.

Don't let other posts confuse you SDS is a fitting type but is used as a generic name for drill that uses a piston - type hammer that physically hammers the end of the drill bit. I'm not sure you can even easily buy other fitting types any more except for the heavier duty types like sds max and kango

boggo hammer action or percussion drills use a serrated ring which basically vibrates the bit.

[wolfracesonic]

The main difference between SDS type drills and rotary percussion is that a cylinder of air creates the hammer action in the former , while it is a metal hitting metal in the latter. SDS drills are sometimes called rotary pneumatic, meaning operated by air.

[PRTVR]

Have just bought a SDS drill after a plumber demonstrated one to me, it made went through concrete and bricks very easily, so as I had some concrete to break up along with a stone fire place to take down it was a good excuse to buy one, did not want to spend a lot as it would not be used much so went for this

http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttb631sds-5kg-sds-...
For the money it is a great drill come with 22 drills and chisels most of what you might need, only downside is it is big and heavy compared to a battery powered hand drill but in use the weight helped in both drill mode and chisel mode making taking down the fireplace and breaking up the concrete easy,for drilling into plasterboard it might be a bit overkill but for concrete and bricks it's great.

[zbc]

Couldn't find this asked more recently so I thought I'd do a little thread resurrection. My old cordless still works fine although it's about 20 years old but it seems like the charger has given up. Replacement one if I can find it looks to be about €60 so I'm thinking I might as well get a new one. Any suggestions? Quite happy to have a corded one, most of the jobs I do are fairly standard household DIY but in a house with substantial stone walls so something powerful would be nice but it's not something I'll use more than once a month normally.

[Nickyboy]

I've had a Ryobi ONE+ for the past 10 years. Great bit of kit and easily expandable tools for a decent price. Decided to upgrade to a Dewalt when it was on offer in Screwfix, slightly more expensive but worth the extra. Batteries charge a lot quicker and the drill itself is a lot better.