Cordless drills

[Bambi]

My cordless drill does not hold charge anymore and I see that B&Q have an offer on a Bosch Li Combi Drill with spare battery for £84. (was £149). Is this good or are there better buys for the same price?

[dombanks]

i bought a 14.4v bosch drill when i started doing the car. its still going... touch wood. its led a hard abused life so i would recomend them.

[wilsonch]

This is a great deal.

I have one of these and for general home use you cant beat it.

Just take a look at how much a single battery would cost and you can see that this with two batteries & charger is a must have.

[Mark (smokey mow)]

I pretty much built my house with a pair of bosch combi drills.  They had a hard life and were close to dead by the time I'd finished with them.  The chuck gave out on the first and then the second just stopped working.  Considering the abuse I gave them over their 3 years of service they did a stirling job and I can't complain, they were nothing fancy but always did what I asked of them, although I did feel it was slightly lacking in Torque.

When I finished the house I treated myself to a Makita drill.  (this one) The quality is far superior to that of the old Bosch, it feels more solid and better made, also has a lot more torque.  So far 5 years old and still going strong.

[RayM]

I pretty much built my house with a pair of bosch combi drills.  They had a hard life and were close to dead by the time I'd finished with them.  The chuck gave out on the first and then the second just stopped working.  Considering the abuse I gave them over their 3 years of service they did a stirling job and I can't complain, they were nothing fancy but always did what I asked of them, although I did feel it was slightly lacking in Torque.

When I finished the house I treated myself to a Makita drill.  (this one) The quality is far superior to that of the old Bosch, it feels more solid and better made, also has a lot more torque.  So far 5 years old and still going strong.

Must agree with Smokey, Makita are the dogs... I have one of the original 7.2 volt screwdriver/drills which must be 25 years old now and still going strong, used it only yesterday.

I also have one of the later models 18v with all the fancy stuff on can't fault it. Came with 3 batteries and charger from screwfix for £99.

[Jonah]

Makita for me every time. I have got one which I have had for 20 odd years & still going O,K + a newer 18 volt model which is superb with its hammer drill function. Screwfix prices are usually cheaper than B&Q.

[Terry Everall]

Recently got the 14.4 Makita package and I like it although Bosch is ok as well

[pete g]

have a look on screwfix website

they do good deals on drills and are owned by B&Q  usually do better prices.

they do the better batteries too.

[D7PNY]

Got a Makita earlier this year as my old cheapo drill wasn't up to much and I was away to build our decking!

Was on sale at B + Q for £100odd and I'm delighted with it!

First time I've had one with 2 batteries...WHAT a difference it makes! So handy!

Cheers,

Dave

[Mooch]

CPC (www.cpc.co.uk) are currently offering a Makita 18v Combi Drill with 2 batteries and a 101 piece bit set for £89.95 plus vat (= about £108) and free delivery.  Item code TL1412605.  

Ni-cad rather than Li-ion batteries but looks like a good deal.

[Paul Ash]

We use cordless drills all day long. The latest and best drill

On the Market at the moment is "panasonic" with 14v 3.3ah lithium ion

Batteries , the impact gun is a revolution. Small but very effective

Even for wheel nuts. But not bulky and heavy to handle like some drills.

The batteries are phenomenal last 5 times longer than previous

Drills we have used

We used to run Makita (dewalt before that).

So that's my pennies worth

HTH

[Geoff101]

I have that same Bosch drill. It's generally very good (for the money) - light and powerful but has two minor drawbacks:

1) Chuck size is only 10mm - some others are 13mm

2) The brake is very agressive if you let the trigger off quickly which can unlock the chuck ratchet with repeated use. Not a big issue but a little annoying.

I would still buy it again for the price though

Geoff

[DanE]

I have one of these drills too, but to add to the draw backs:

3) Hammer drill action makes the chuck undo its self with some bits.

Although this could be a fault with mine... only seems to do it on 7mm masonry drills and above when drilling concrete/hard bricks.

Had mine for nearly two years and think its great! Just wish I had two batteries sometimes as mine only came with one.

[Mike H]

FWIW I bought a Makita 18v NiCd a couple of years ago and it's great.

Mike

[Bob Green]

De Walt does it for me.