What £100 Cordless Drill?

[iamrcb]

I need a new cordless drill on the weekend to fix flat roofing insulation boards and for internal plasterboarding.

I've had a string of cheap cordless drills (£15) but all seem low powered and quickly run out of juice.

Can anyone recommend me an excellent quality cordless drill (drill and driver)for medium duty work, maximum budget £100.

There#s a huge range in price from £40 to £400 all with a range of voltages from 9v to 18v

options so far:

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/73596?cm_sp=AOVDrive...

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/80297/Power-Tools/Co...

[V12Les]

Maybe do a search?...
Been covered very recently.

[miniman]

B&Q is worth a look for special offers. I picked up a nice Makita 18v twin-pack (2 drills, 2 batteries, 1 charger) for £99 a few weeks ago.

[Autonotiv]

You wan't something with minimum 2.0Ah Ni-Mh battries.

Get a good make;

Bosch, Makita, DeWalt,AEG etc etc.

HTH

[iamrcb]

miniman said:

B&Q is worth a look for special offers. I picked up a nice Makita 18v twin-pack (2 drills, 2 batteries, 1 charger) for £99 a few weeks ago.

Thanks, If they have them in stock then I may pick this up tomorrow


edited to add a hint of doubt

Edited by iamrcb on Thursday 30th April 21:51

Edited by iamrcb on Thursday 30th April 21:52

[B17NNS]

Am sure screwfix are doing an 18v drill/drive combi (with hammer), 2 batteries and a charger for £99.

Linky:

http://www.screwfix.com/prods/73596/Power-Tools/Co...

Edited by B17NNS on Thursday 30th April 22:18

[FinGerS o FuDgE]

Autonotiv said:

You wan't something with minimum 2.0Ah Ni-Mh battries.

Get a good make;

Bosch, Makita, DeWalt,AEG etc etc.

HTH

Ditto that. Stick with a decent named brand.
I picked up a nice 18v Bosch last year from B&Q for about £100 last year. Worth checking them out to see if they have any sales etc.

[barney123]

Just got a Dewalt one - only needed it for small job - loft boarding- did not want to spend a fortune.

12v 1.3Ah £62 delivered.

Drill + Case + Bits + 3 batteries + Charger.

Edited by barney123 on Friday 1st May 08:39

[maser_spyder]

I had a Bosch 24V model for a couple of years before it got pinched.

It worked, worked, worked and worked with no problem at all, ever.

I replaced it with a Bosch professional 36V version, and again, it's had no problems at all.

My old man had a Ryobi which he's had no end of problems with.


I'm firmly in the Bosch camp as having had a couple they've been perfect with no problems, but I'm sure Makita and De-Walt are good too.

Don't go for the 18V, spend a little more and go for 24V if you can, it's worth the extra money for a little bit more power when you need it.

[iamrcb]

I bought an 18v Makita combi drill with 2 1.3ah ni-cad batteries from B&Q for £99 (less 10%). More voltage and more amp hours = more cost, all the ones I saw were beyond my budget

can you simply replace the supplied 1.3ah batteries with a higher spec battery replacement in the future? (from same manufacturer)

seems a whole whack more powerful than my previous cheapies. i'l be giving it a work out on monday.

Edited by iamrcb on Saturday 2nd May 21:44

Edited by iamrcb on Saturday 2nd May 21:45

[andy43]

Autonotiv said:

You wan't something with minimum 2.0Ah Ni-Mh battries.

Get a good make;

Bosch, Makita, DeWalt,AEG etc etc.

HTH

What he said - 2Ah minimum really, or you'll be forever recharging them.
The £99 jobbies are good but are cheap because they come with lower spec batteries, not ideal for continuous use - example - a decent 18v dewalt battery, 2.6 Ah, is £60+. Each.
Voltage-wise, try a few out, see which suits you for weight against performance - I found a 24v needs arms like Popeye to lift it.
HTH, pipecleaner-arms-Andy

[maser_spyder]

andy43 said:

Autonotiv said:

You wan't something with minimum 2.0Ah Ni-Mh battries.

Get a good make;

Bosch, Makita, DeWalt,AEG etc etc.

HTH

What he said - 2Ah minimum really, or you'll be forever recharging them.
The £99 jobbies are good but are cheap because they come with lower spec batteries, not ideal for continuous use - example - a decent 18v dewalt battery, 2.6 Ah, is £60+. Each.
Voltage-wise, try a few out, see which suits you for weight against performance - I found a 24v needs arms like Popeye to lift it.
HTH, pipecleaner-arms-Andy

What does that make me with my 36V Bosch then?

"I yam what I yam!"

They're not THAT heavy....

[threepwood]

Have you thought about getting an impact driver? For just screwing they are loads better than a drill. I went for the Ryobi gear due to their range of other tools that take the same battery, but if I was buying again I'd be tempted by the Bosch 10.8v stuff due to their light weight and compact size like these.

[HappyGoLucky]

I got the 24v bosch (with hammer) + 2 batteries for 99 form B&Q late last year, been using and abusing it day in since... great bit of kit, much better than my old Makita, but then I'd had that 10 years!

[Simond001]

iamrcb said:

can you simply replace the supplied 1.3ah batteries with a higher spec battery replacement in the future? (from same manufacturer)

Physically replacing the c cells is as easy as opening the case and soldering a new set up. A cheap way to get high power cells is to buy old stock from a radio control car shop. We are using 4600nimh cells, so anything under 3700 is worthless.

the downside is that they take longer to charge.

With a lipo battery you cannot, and must not try to replace the cell. These are normall variants of 3.7v i.e. 11.1v 14.8v 18.5v etc.

If you try to replace these they will catch fire. No question of how good you are with a solering iron, they are totally different structure and will catch fire.

To avoid confusion. If you try to solder a lipo it WILL CATCH FIRE.

(and they are buggers to put out once alight)

Edited by Simond001 on Monday 4th May 11:26