New cordless drill / impact driver choice?

[Austinisgreat]

Hi guys,

Just halfway through a job for a customer which is basically a timber framed extension (in 4 x 2's) on an outbuilding approx 6m x 1.7m. I've now done all the hard work on the extenal walls and all the roof (Onduline) is up and pretty much finished.

However, esp with todays cold weather, my trusty Makita 10.8V drill/impact driver kit of some 3 years great service (the one in the pretty aluminium flight case that SWMBO has always wanted as a mobile make-up box!) [Edit - I keep my own make-up and a spare pair of tights in there anyway! ] was giving me about ten mins per battery putting 100 x 5 Spax screws into framing.

Have looked at Makita as I kind of like the brand. However bit confusing as there are 3, 4, and 5 A/Hr cells and also a new brushless motor range. Would be happy to spend around £300 ish if it were to last me another 5 years and don't really feel the need to buy other cordless tools at the moment.

Anyone have any other recommendations aside from Makita? My mate has resently got a newish De-walt impact driver that impressed me, and another friend has an entire suite of Milwaukee cordless tools that he loves, despite having to replace the drill after a couple of years.

Any comments and input welcomed.

Cheers guys

Andrew

 

[AJB Temple]

I have the Milwaukee 5Ah Fuel 18volt drill and driver (brushless) set. I have to say I am super impressed with it. I have had Makita (good). Ryobi (good- but that was before ether went all DIY) and Milwaukee gear and the Milwaukee kit I have had (saws and drills) previously has been faultless so they tend to get a degree of brand loyalty. I only replaced because I have my previous Milwaukee drill/driver to my eldest son.

Never used DeWalt. Really, I think if you pick a heavy duty product from a good trade brand, they are all much of a muchness.

 

[RobinBHM]

If you are doing quite a bit of work, deals with a third battery are good, it means always having a fully charged one resdy.

Ive been very pleased with 12v and 18v milwaukee sets I have. Also panasonic are very good. I think makita, dewalt and bosch all make good drills.

Be careful of screwfix type deals, they often bundle small batteries in the kits for a cheap headline price, sometimes the 2nd battery is only 1.5

 

[Graham Orm]

Any of the good brands Makita/Dewalt/Milwauki/Hitachi etc will do a good job if you get the 18v kit with 3ah batteries. How you manage with a 10v drill I can't imagine. You'll certainly notice the difference if you buy an 18v.

 

[No skills]

The modern 10.8 and 12v impact drivers are quite capable up to 75mm screws in softwood.

As has been mentioned most of the pro brands in 18v li-ion will do the job. When you buy the devils in the detail so check what batteries there are and also what charger (some cheaper deals have slower chargers, bosch seem guilty mostly).

Might as well go brushless if you spend a bit. Milwaukee are just bringing out a second generation of their brushless 18v range, don't get caught paying full price for the older tools.

 

[sitefive]

a new battery off ebay? Got my old impact driver back running for £16.
If I had to buy today ( I will probably buy in near future as the ni-cd batteries are exhausted pretty quickly)
I would get the makita 18v brushless impact driver no doubt about it.

 

[Austinisgreat]

Cheers fellas,

Thanks for the input.

Think I'll go Makita 18v with the 5a/h cells and that should see me right for the forseeable.

Still love my little Makita 10.8 set though. . . . . . . . . . .not man enough!

Cheers

Andrew

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

I think if you've had good service from the Makita stuff before then it makes sense to stick with it. Personally I like the Bosch Blue kit, but the Makita tools I've had have all been excellent.

 

[Austinisgreat]

I think if you've had good service from the Makita stuff before then it makes sense to stick with it. Personally I like the Bosch Blue kit, but the Makita tools I've had have all been excellent.

Cheers Sporky

Will report back. Weather awful - good day for shopping!

Cheers,

Andrew

 

[Austinisgreat]

Any of the good brands Makita/Dewalt/Milwauki/Hitachi etc will do a good job if you get the 18v kit with 3ah batteries. How you manage with a 10v drill I can't imagine. You'll certainly notice the difference if you buy an 18v.

Graham,

Thanks for the response. I went Hitachi a few years ago and regretted it bigtime, My experiernce only but the chuck was u/s.

Andrew

 

[Adam9453]

I've been very impressed with dewalt drill and impact drivers, as others have said go 18v and 5ah for maximum power and longest battery run time.

 

[RossJarvis]

a new battery off ebay? Got my old impact driver back running for £16.
If I had to buy today ( I will probably buy in near future as the ni-cd batteries are exhausted pretty quickly)
I would get the makita 18v brushless impact driver no doubt about it.

I've got one of those, possibly too powerful, demolishes every brand of posi impact bit in minutes if not seconds!!! The drill was so powerful it managed to crack its own chuck locking screw when a bit jammed!!!!! Have just sent one 5ah battery back due to component failure after 36 recharge cycles over 4 months. Still like Makita but getting a bit sceptical.

 

[Austinisgreat]

a new battery off ebay? Got my old impact driver back running for £16.
If I had to buy today ( I will probably buy in near future as the ni-cd batteries are exhausted pretty quickly)
I would get the makita 18v brushless impact driver no doubt about it.

I've got one of those, possibly too powerful, demolishes every brand of posi impact bit in minutes if not seconds!!! The drill was so powerful it managed to crack its own chuck locking screw when a bit jammed!!!!! Have just sent one 5ah battery back due to component failure after 36 recharge cycles over 4 months. Still like Makita but getting a bit sceptical.

Well,

Having spent far too much time looking at deals on the internet I finally got in the van and went shopping.

Got the Makita kit (not brushless) and best deal was with 3 x 3A/H cells. Just over 300 quid.

Now I've used Wera Diamond inpact bits for a couple of years and they've been brilliant. But with the power of the new driver I've already chewed one up today! With Spax screws!

Anyway pleased as punch as no battery worries all day (3rd cell not even needed) . Should I post a separate review posting on here?

Oh and BTW is it better to keep them in the house overnight to prevent cells getting too cold?

Cheers

Andrew

 

[Bodgers]

If you are going for 10.8v again for weight, I highly recommend the Dewalts. I have the impact and standard driver and they are excellent quality. What is really good about them is the fine control on the triggers - compared to some others I tried, they were the best for this...

Sent from my MI 3W using Tapatalk

 

[Austinisgreat]

If you are going for 10.8v again for weight, I highly recommend the Dewalts. I have the impact and standard driver and they are excellent quality. What is really good about them is the fine control on the triggers - compared to some others I tried, they were the best for this...

Sent from my MI 3W using Tapatalk

Sadly Bodgers already upgraded!

Any feedback from guys on the Wera bits-- any better? The Makita set came with some "Makita Gold" bits are they any better than Wera?

Cheers

Andrew

 

[sitefive]

a new battery off ebay? Got my old impact driver back running for £16.
If I had to buy today ( I will probably buy in near future as the ni-cd batteries are exhausted pretty quickly)
I would get the makita 18v brushless impact driver no doubt about it.

I've got one of those, possibly too powerful, demolishes every brand of posi impact bit in minutes if not seconds!!! The drill was so powerful it managed to crack its own chuck locking screw when a bit jammed!!!!! Have just sent one 5ah battery back due to component failure after 36 recharge cycles over 4 months. Still like Makita but getting a bit sceptical.

Well,

Having spent far too much time looking at deals on the internet I finally got in the van and went shopping.

Got the Makita kit (not brushless) and best deal was with 3 x 3A/H cells. Just over 300 quid.

Now I've used Wera Diamond inpact bits for a couple of years and they've been brilliant. But with the power of the new driver I've already chewed one up today! With Spax screws!

Anyway pleased as punch as no battery worries all day (3rd cell not even needed) . Should I post a separate review posting on here?

Oh and BTW is it better to keep them in the house overnight to prevent cells getting too cold?

Cheers

Andrew

HOLY F you paid that for just an impact driver and 3batteries?

 

[Adam9453]

I chewed up a load or bits so I tried the dewalt impact bit set, haven't chewed one up yet despite some very heavy handed use with the 18v impact driver.
They weren't expensive so I can't recommend them highly enough.

 

[Austinisgreat]

@ Sitefive,

Impact driver plus combi drill plus 3 x 3A/H batts plus charger and case.

About par for the course having spent a day looking around.

Don't pee too much on my cornflakes I'll be upset :shock:

Andrew

 

[Sporky McGuffin]

Doesn't seem unreasonable to me for a trade-quality tool that you're clearly already getting good use from.

 

[Austinisgreat]

I chewed up a load or bits so I tried the dewalt impact bit set, haven't chewed one up yet despite some very heavy handed use with the 18v impact driver.
They weren't expensive so I can't recommend them highly enough.

I'll try some dewalt ones, certainly cheaper than the Wera which are supposed to be bullet-proof.

Cheers for the heads up.

Andrew