Buying new drill/driver .... help

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SquareCircle

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Looking to replace a couple of drills. A 240v SDS Atlas Capco that I has now gone off to my Dad, and a 5 year old cordless Black and Decker Firestorm (12v) whose two batteries are now quite shot. The Atlas was a great piece bit of kit (in my limited experience) and made light work of drilling 8 mm holes in concrete and masonry; however I don’t have call to do this very often anymore. The B&D cordless was adequate, but the battery performance was a bit disappointing. New batteries are so expensive…… maybe its time to invest in some new technology.
Choice of kit out there is bewildering and there does not seem to be any clear favorites. Myself, I an prejudiced towards Makita kit.
There appears to be a new range of cordless impact drills, with NIMH batteries and much higher no load speeds at about £220 mark for the 14.4 v version. If they are all that they appear to be, then they would be more than adequate for the workshop, plus the occasional hole into masonry. That would serve 99% of my needs and I would not bother replacing the Atlas for the time being
Any first hand advice on these drills would be much appreciated.

regards
SC
 
I've recently replaced a Bosch GSR 9.6v with another Bosch GSR 14.4v; the difference in performance is awesome.. The 14.4 has a 1/2" chuck with improved keyless mechanism, 15 torque settings and oodles o grunt without sacraficing any control.

Physically the 14.4 is a much larger and heavier tool; although I was offered anything up to (and including ) a 24v I felt the 14.4 was about as heavy as I wanted to go. I'd best add... this isn't a personal tool, but one for work; when I'm metal bashing I need to use this thing most of the day and tool fatigue would be a factor...

Battery endurence seems to be around 3x that of the 9.6's in their prime; charging time is an hour... I don't foresee any down time waiting for cells to charge in a loooooooooong time....
 
I second what Midnight says re weight. I tried a 24v Bosch but that was a thug. Well engineered etc but damn heavy.

Since batteries are the weak point I only buy cheap. I've used the 24v ferms from Screwfix and they do the business. My only reservation is that I've yet to find any battery operated drill that will hack through concrete. You simply can't beat a good SDS drill IMHO. I do have a second hand DeWalt 110v for sale :wink:
 
I have a B&D 18v Drill/Driver. I have been really pleased with it's performance. However the battery has now started to play up a bit. Are batteries really that expensive?
 
If funds permit - Panasonic EY6432 (15.6 NiMH 3.5 Ah) and a decent SDS (Bosch etc).
 
Many thanks for the responses so far guys. However note that no one is talking about cordless impact / impulse drivers. Most of the main manufacturers offer several at various price points; must think that someone must be buying them. Or is it a case of if you wanna drill holes in hard stuff, get an SDS drill. Anything else will do for the workshop, especially since there appears to be very little to choose from other than personal preference between the Metabos, Panasonics, Makita’s and Festools of this world at any given price point (so long as it has NiMH batteries).
Roger sending you a PM about your yellow one.

regards

SC
 
I myself like makita but i own a dewalt xrp 18v and it is a top class drill i have sds drills and a 240v impact drill and since i have bought the dewalt i don't think they have seen the light of day unless i am using a core drill and then i use the sds drill the dewalt gets my vote and if it gave up the ghost tommorrow i wouldn't hesitate to go out and buy a new one.

Cheers,
Derek.
 
I have a 12v Elu impact driver (looks very similar to the newish DW one) and it is by far my choice for screw-driving. Totally superior to any drill/driver I've tried - not least because when things get tough, it doesn't flinch, but it also doesn't try to wrench your wrist off. Useless for drilling, by definition, of course.
 
WiZeR":3j1qstpb said:
Are batteries really that expensive?

Might be worth giving these guys a call http://www.strikalite.co.uk/

If you can take the drill or battery pack apart and replace the actual batteries (you may need to resolder the terminals) it should not be too expensive.

I have an old B&D with the batteries in the handle, can't remember the price now but replacements batteries were not expensive compared with a new drill. These guys also sorted out my charger which I blew when I wired the batteries up the wrong way round :oops:

Andy
 
I recently invested in an impact driver from B&Q, what's their range called, Power Pro or Performance Pro or something like that?

It was on special offer so was about £50 and I thought I'd give it a try to see what all the fuss was about concerning impact drivers.

I have to say I was very very impressed, the batteries last ages and it's very powerful - whilst getting used to it my biggest problem was tearing the heads off stainless steel screws! :oops:

As for a drill/driver I would recommend the Ryobi 18v job I bought about 6 months ago, but it looks like you have a bigger budget than I did, so it's not really relevant.

Best of luck,

Vormulac.
 
dedee":282otw69 said:
WiZeR":282otw69 said:
Are batteries really that expensive?

Might be worth giving these guys a call http://www.strikalite.co.uk/

If you can take the drill or battery pack apart and replace the actual batteries (you may need to resolder the terminals) it should not be too expensive.

I have an old B&D with the batteries in the handle, can't remember the price now but replacements batteries were not expensive compared with a new drill. These guys also sorted out my charger which I blew when I wired the batteries up the wrong way round :oops:

Andy

thanks dedee, I'll drop them an email.
 
Axminster have this Makita on sale at the mo, which is a real bargin!! I have had the 14.4v version of the below for about six years now and its still going strong! Can't fault it to be honest.....

http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp? ... YM6MOKQIY1

If your after impact drivers then it might be best to have a look on the US forums as they seem to have been using them a little longer than we have.

Simon
 
I am also a makita user where possible. Purchased a 14.4 volt drill driver with three batteries about 4 years ago. Excellent lightweight piece of kit batteries still going strong.
 
Hi SC,
I bought the Makita 14.4v impact driver (and 14.4v drill/driver)
at the Ally Pally show this year.
The impact driver is absolutely fantastic, although a bit noisy.
I've been using it to build stud walls and 'tekscrews' into steels
and it's been effortless work.
Try and get it from a show, as i got mine plus the drill driver,
plus 3 batts., plus 1/2hr charger,plus case for £169!!!!!!
I think it was 'Price tools' in Brum.

TX
 
I have had a Makita 12V drill/driver for several years now. I like the drill a lot, but for the money that I paid for it at the time I think I could have bought a better value drill, such as a Panasonic or a DeWalt (Makita products are fairly expensive here, but I wasn't aware of suppliers of alternative makes at the time unfortunately). I have had one battery completely bite the dust on me so far. The dead battery was a 2.2Ah and I replaced it with a 2.6Ah (also expensive, maybe about 20% to 25% of the original cost of the drill itself) - the difference in battery life is very noticeable, with the 2.6Ah being a big improvement. I read a review recently that rated a Panasonic 12V (or possibly a 14.4V) as significantly better than most other contenders, including the Makita.

For what it is worth, I was told by a carpenter many years ago that the hammer action on cordless drills tends to shorten the drill's life significantly, based on his experience. This put me off considering buying a hammer action cordless drill, but these days I prefer to use a corded drill for drilling in masonry anyway. Having said that, a plumber that did some work on my house at one stage had a 24V Bosch hammer action drill. It drilled through masonry as if it were butter, and made my corded 750W drill seem useless by comparison. It was a monster of a drill, and cost him about €850, but he swore by it (he had already burnt out one of them, through regular use, and immediately replaced it with another without thinking twice).
 
Forgot to mention, but I also have a DeWalt 9.6V drill/driver. I tend to use it almost exclusively for driving screws while I use my Makita for drilling, mainly. Even though it has significantly less torque than the Makita, I find it to be very effective. It is a great drill, all in all - it is relatively light, comfortable to hold, small enough to allow access to awkward areas, and powerful enough for most things that I throw at it. I bought mine from here for about £60 although the price seems to have risen a bit since then - strangely, when I bought it a couple of years ago, it was advertised as being sold off as end of stock, but it still seems to be available so either it doesn't sell well or else they have a warehouse full of these drills.
 

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