Cordless Drill

[Johnnytheboy]

Apologies if covered recently (search is down).

Need to buy an 18V cordless drill for work. It's used for intensive bursts of masonry/general drilling, but only occasionally.

We bought a MacAllister (B&Q own brand) one which was fine and <£100 a couple of years back, but the batteries are slowly dying and it turns out B&Q don't sell batteries for their own drills.

My boss is quite good at agreeing to big spends if I catch her at the right moment so I've now got a <£200 budget for a new one. As far as I can tell I could have anything but a DeWalt at that price.

Does anyone have any brand recommendations?

[Sticks.]

I've had one like this (24v) for a while, though occasional domestic use. Bosch. so should be ok though?
http://www.robertdyas.co.uk/P~146987~Bosch+Cordles...

ETA just noticed, out of stock, d'oh.

Edited by Sticks. on Saturday 14th August 07:55

[WestieMan]

I got the Makita twin pack from screwfix few months ago. I fitted a complete kitchen to my new extension and I dint had to charge them second time.....amazing drill.

I know is over your budget but it's worth every penny.

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/37308/Power-Tools/Ki...

[Kindersley]

I bought a mint 18v Makita lxt S?H with batteries for £100. best drill i have ever used. I then bought a 18v lxt impact complete with charger and 2 x batteries for £70


Amazing battery life.

[Ricky_M]

Another vote for Makita. I've had my 14.4v for nearly four years now and it is still going strong!

[smifffymoto]

JUst trawl axminster.co.uk good range and prices

[Globulator]

Johnnytheboy said:

Apologies if covered recently (search is down).

Need to buy an 18V cordless drill for work. It's used for intensive bursts of masonry/general drilling, but only occasionally.

We bought a MacAllister (B&Q own brand) one which was fine and <£100 a couple of years back, but the batteries are slowly dying and it turns out B&Q don't sell batteries for their own drills.

My boss is quite good at agreeing to big spends if I catch her at the right moment so I've now got a <£200 budget for a new one. As far as I can tell I could have anything but a DeWalt at that price.

Does anyone have any brand recommendations?

Go to Screwfix.
Buy the SITE brand.

Re-branded Makita, very cheap, very good.

[annodomini2]

MacAllister are an American brand http://www.mactools.com/

I have one of their DA Random Orbital sanders, very good.

Check ebay or google shop for batteries

Don't know if this fits your model but: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detai...

But as others have said, Makita or Site or another MAC

Edited by annodomini2 on Saturday 14th August 09:25

[KrazyIvan]

Johnnytheboy said:

Apologies if covered recently (search is down).

Need to buy an 18V cordless drill for work. As far as I can tell I could have anything but a DeWalt at that price.

Does anyone have any brand recommendations?

• Cough*

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detai...

[Gingerbread Man]

smifffymoto said:

JUst trawl axminster.co.uk good range and prices

Recently brought a nice Makita from here. £150 for lithium (3 amp hour) powered drill. 18, only came with one battery though, but for your bigger budget you might be able to get a second battery.

[Kindersley]

KrazyIvan said:

Johnnytheboy said:

Apologies if covered recently (search is down).

Need to buy an 18V cordless drill for work. As far as I can tell I could have anything but a DeWalt at that price.

Does anyone have any brand recommendations?

• Cough*

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detai...

give it a miss.... Dewalt is rubbish

[Ynox]

annodomini2 said:

MacAllister are an American brand http://www.mactools.com/

I have one of their DA Random Orbital sanders, very good.

Check ebay or google shop for batteries

Don't know if this fits your model but: http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detai...

But as others have said, Makita or Site or another MAC

Edited by annodomini2 on Saturday 14th August 09:25

MacAllister isn't the Mac of Mac tools. It's B&Q's in house brand. Got some of their kit and it's OK for lesser used tools.

As for a cordless drill - Bosch (the blue pro one)/Makita/Hitachi (probably in that order). Avoid DeWalt. Ryobi is also OKish.

[Johnnytheboy]

Thanks for all your advice. DeWalt drills clearly divide opinion - I wonder why that one's so cheap.

Several people I know have recommended Makita, they seem to be the only brand that no one hates.

[andy43]

If you can be bothered, take the battery to bits - it may well contain standard C sized rechargeable batteries all joined up to make 12v or whatever. Or if you buy a new drill, make sure the batteries Ah rating is good - over 2 is good, 3 is better.

[mat13]

At work our fitters use Bosch, site and makita drills, the makitas are the best but not by much over the site ones. The Bosch are ok but have the worst battery life.

[Gingerbread Man]

We use Roybi at work. I find that the chuck doesn't grip as strong as you'd like, forever having to re tighten, put the drill bit back in after it's fallen out! Saying this, they are good for the money.

As for the Makita that I recommended a few posts up. I got this one and love it - http://www.axminster.co.uk/makita-bhp452rfwx-18v-a...

[henrycrun]

Whatever you buy, try to get 2 sets of batteries

[grumbas]

Kindersley said:

KrazyIvan said:

Johnnytheboy said:

Apologies if covered recently (search is down).

Need to buy an 18V cordless drill for work. As far as I can tell I could have anything but a DeWalt at that price.

Does anyone have any brand recommendations?

• Cough*

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detai...

give it a miss.... Dewalt is rubbish

I bought that one about 18 months ago and for the money I haven't really seen anything that compares.

Mine is still going strong and a decent bit of kit, far superior to the Black and Decker I paid £50 for before.

Best bit is the batteries can be used with the rest of the range - I recent bought bare unit impact driver and circular saw on ebay to make use of them.

A lot of tradesmen I know are leaning towards makita at the moment as they reckon they last longer, but for diy/occasional use I can't see what's wrong with DeWalt stuff, and a lot of tradesmen still use it.

[Globulator]

henrycrun said:

Whatever you buy, try to get 2 sets of batteries

My cheapy (Makita based) SITE drill came with 3 nicads and a fast charger.
Actually I bought 2, one for driving, one for drilling.
Seriously, the nearest competition are over twice as much.

[h0b0]

I spoke to a Dewalt employee a while ago who said that their perceived use in the UK was wrong. Apparently, other countries see Dewalt as being very good home improvement tools and Black and Decker the professional series. He said it had an impact on their sales because people thought the tool was not up to the job, but it wasn't designed for the trade even though every one thought it was. This was around 6 years ago though so things may have changed.