Tradesmen...18v Cordless drill recommendations please.

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devonwoody":3cy75c3a said:
Mine is three years old cost around £98 and it might start up again next year, and if they only last 5 minutes just pop down the road and get another under guarantee. :)

It's not convenient DW. I use and depend on it daily. I need to know that I don't need to worry about it letting me down. B&D stuff is all DIY grade and burns out if you use it any more often than once a month. When i'm working I use mine all day every day. Thanks for the input.
 
I understand your feelings, I agree I am not a tradesman. BTW my mains B & D (was top end) must be twenty years old and it has done a few holes in its time.
 
I have the Milwaukee range of 18v lithium. Drill and impact driver are great, not so keen on the jigsaw it seems to wander a lot. Battery level indicators on all battery's are handy.
 
I used to be a DeWalt fan many moons ago when they made stuff properly. Nowadays all the DeWalt stuff is actually made by B&D, in the B&D factory and with B&D parts. I only found this out when I worked for Stanley Black & Decker on contract a few years ago. Over those years I had nothing but problems with chucks, gearboxes, battery failures, the list goes on.

More recently (around 12 months ago) I was offered to trial the then new 4.0Ah battery in a DCD980. Needless to say, they haven't ironed out the quality issues. The 4.0Ah battery lasted only half the time of the older 3.0Ah battery, the gearbox completely failed and the 4.0Ah battery actually ended up catching fire.

Anyway, I started using Makita about 12 years ago. In that time I've had Ni-Cd & Ni-Mh until I upgraded to Li-Ion about 5 years ago. In the last five years I've had only two faults. The first was the Jacobs chuck on a BHP452 Anniversary Black & White drill collapsed and the second was a charger short circuited (although I suspect it got damp). I have never had a battery fail (and I have fourteen of them). I've had them get warm on occasion but they've never let go. I'm still regularly using the original batteries that came with the first Li-Ion stuff I bought. They must have ten thousand plus of hours use on them by now and they're still going strong!

I do have a few 240v items of other brands (Evolution & Tonino Lamborghini), bought at the time on a tight budget after selling all my 110v gear, but my power tool collection is primarily Makita. Oh, and a couple of cheap 12v Li-Ion drills I use for concept LED work (light as a feather) but I bought those before Makita released the 10.8v range.

As far as the quality goes, I've found them better than anything else with the possible exception of the old industrial AEG stuff (remember the black bodied stuff before they were bought out by Techtronik in Hong Kong?), the new Orange rubbish is made by Ryobi!

Makita are definitely, IMO, far superior to Milwaukee (cheap tacky plasticy rubbish these days), Metabo (over-priced and the gearboxes have the consistency of cheese) and DeWalt as mentioned above. I won't even start on Hitachi, I have a demolition hammer of theirs which has had three new exciters under warranty and two new stator windings. Now it's just out of warranty and needs another exciter :evil:
 
MMUK":1793zayh said:
I used to be a DeWalt fan many moons ago when they made stuff properly. Nowadays all the DeWalt stuff is actually made by B&D, in the B&D factory and with B&D parts. I only found this out when I worked for Stanley Black & Decker on contract a few years ago.

Have been so for a very long time!

In the eighties I was branch manager of a company who were distributors to the trade and sold B&D professional range, DeWalt, Elu and several others as well as machinery.
I regularly visited the factory in Spennymoor Co. Durham where the DeWalt tools were assembled on the same production line as the B&D stuff.
That said, I@m still using several tools from that era.

Bob
 
The older Dewalt cordless stuff I have (I would guess manufactured v.late 1990's early 2000) is marked as made in Germany (I think, memory fades) - I had guessed the better models might of been re-badged elu??
 
I've replaced the Makita with a DeWalt 18v Lion. I'm impressed so far. It's better made than the Makita. I'll tell you in 12 months if I'm still impressed.
 
I have found one slight problem with my new De Walt Li Ion, it won't grip my smallest drill bits about 1mm dia. the Makita did. :roll:
 
2011, Makita TD09DD drill/ driver, DF3309 hammer driver, with a torch. 10.8V I on batteries in an aluminium case £128. all in at Jewson's. excellent replacement for my previous 7 year old Hitachi. Abused by sometimes used all day everyday for weeks, then left in the van for weeks unused. normally kills batteries! Or For really heavy work, has to be a Dewalt! Regards Rodders
 
They are very nice but I'm happy with my Makita drills. I did by the small cxs recently and it is good, very hand for kitchen fitting
 
I just charged my 15 year old 9.6V Ni Cad driver today and it is still working fine! :eek: How is it that Makita could make a Ni Cad battery that good 15 years ago but can't make a decent Li Ion or Ni Cad one now? :roll:
 
I can beat that I've still got my first drill I bought as an apprentice back in about 89 I reckon and yes it still holds a charge
 
Grayorm":d6ddwv42 said:
devonwoody":d6ddwv42 said:
Whats wrong with getting a cheap black & Decker from B & Q if it gets knackered within the year claim under guarantee. (get your money back not a replacement each time :wink:)

Thanks DW but a black and decker wont last 5 minutes never mind a year.

I would normally agree that B&D is cheap and nasty BUT, a while ago i saw a 110V B&D drill for £30 quid in a second hand shop, which i bought. At the time i had to drill and plug 2x2 studs into a very long concrete wall in a shopping complex.This took 3 long days, i continually hit the steel re inforcing bar inside the concrete. The drill was, sometimes so hot at this constant abuse that the gearbox grease was melting and leaking out. brilliant drill, which is now my good old spare! (This may be the only one)! regards Rodders
 
I still use my dad's old Black & Decker percussion drill occasionally and it's from the mid 80s.

When the time comes to replace my current cordless drill (Dewalt Dw997) I'll be looking at Panasonic though Protool would be at the top of my list if I could justify the price.

Mark
 

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