Cordless drills

balibalistic

balibalistic

Joined
Jul 14, 2004
Messages
2,623
Hey fella's,

i'm in the market to get a new cordless drill. i use the hell out of mine in my shop. i tap alot of holes.., anything over 1/4". i just finished making a new machine fixture and my drill was toast after 3-4 holes. tapping 70 holes by hand suck's. i've pretty much narrowed it down to getting an 18v dewalt, makita or hitachi drill, what have you guys had good luck with?
 
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We only buy Makita for our shop. We have them going out on site with our fitter mechanics all the time. We used to go through cordless drills like they were going out of fashion. I got 15 x 18v Lithium Ion cordless hammers 18months ago. All of them still work amazingly. The batteries still hold charge. We wont be getting anything else in the future!

Matt
 
Having had Dewalt tools for years, I loved their power, hated their bulky weight and crappy batteries. Three years ago I bought the Li-Ion 12v Bosch drill and the matching impact wrench. I'm very impressed by the power, even though it's only 12v and half the size. The drill is dual speed and works great. The impact wrench is the best thing I've ever used to put screws in with. I like it much better than the clutch settings on a cordless drill. I also have a few other tools that I've reworked to use the same batteries, flashlight, dremel, reciprocating saw, and a 24v impact wrench. All retrofitted to use the Bosch batteries. With daily use, I haven't had to replace a battery yet.
 
I've been using cordless drills in the shop for a long time, and have used just about every brand. All of them have their own issues..... Batteries for Makita and Dewalt seem to wear out the fastest, and are the most expensive to replace. Replacement arts for those two brands are also the most expensive.
Ryobi 18v have a Lithium ion battery available, but those batteries have a diode "burn out" issue, and usually are gone after about 9-12 months. I thought that Rigid would be the answer, since their lifetime warranty includes batteries....the problem there is that you must go to an authorized service center for batter replacement, and the way Rigid has it set up, you have to take in your old batteries, turn them in, and then wait 4-6 weeks for the new ones! I've come to the conclusion that it's a "pick your poison" kind of thing. Right now I'm using Ryobi 18V tools, and purchase NiCad batteries through Batteries plus. Aside from the Lithium battery problem with Ryobi, they've proven to be really good tools.
 
As a journeyman Cabinetmaker, I've pretty much used every drill there is. I also give high marks to Makita. Dewalt XR's are OK but the batteries are expensive and do die after a couple of years. Only buy the XR models if you can. The drills are more robust and the XR batteries are bigger(more power)
The Ridgid service centre had replacement batteries in stock here, so no waiting.

Bosch blue core are really good but expensive.

I personally won't buy Dewalt again and would probably buy Mikita if I had to. I've seen too many Dewalt batteries die off over the years. It was actually cheaper to buy the drill kit with 2 batteries than it was to buy the batteries alone.

I agree with Ed's post above...good and bad with just about any choice. I've never seen a clear winner so far.
 
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We had this discussion before ,I think on gadgets and gear.Apparently at this time all cordless are made in China.One of the comments was that only Milwaukee had metal gears . In any cas e though mine doesn't get that much use I've had no problems .That brand is noted for having high torque .Get 18v or even 24 if needed.
 
I worked in a warehouse assembling furniture for many years. I use to swear by Porter Cable..... until they got bought out and went cheap. :(
After that I picked up a Hitachi drill. I'll never use another brand again. The power, build quality and battery life is better than anything else I've used. A few of my fellow workers had Dewalts, but every time they'd use my drill they'd just shake their heads at the power it had. Our repair shop would borrow my drill when they needed that little extra 'oomph'. The batteries outlasted anything else anyone had (all 18v). It wasn't inexpensive as I got one of their top end drills, but it's worth every penny imo.
 
Currently manage 35 to 40 tradesmans using cordless tools 75% of the day in a manufacturing environment. In our opoinion (mind you we have not tried every tool) the Makita 18v Lithium Ion cordless tools work the best. We actully purchursed another 25 - 6 piece kits last week.

Dennis
 
I used to install home security systems for one of the largest providers in the country. We bought thousands of drills/year and every year we would check out any new offerings on the market. For some stupid reason we stuck with Hilti's for a long time (far too long) and eventually made the switch to the Makita 18V li-ion drills and have never looked back. I know the guys in the department still check out "what's new" every year and nothing has been able to match the battery life, torque and durability of the Makita. I have a couple at home and, at least for any time in the near future, wouldn't consider anything else. They're light enough that my wife feels confident using one and they have enough torque I can use them for just about any job I can put in its path.

Then again, you know what they say about opinions... :D
 
I have a couple of Hitachi's and a couple of DeWalts here.

I give up on the DeWalts over battery life, and replacement price.

The Hitachis are outstanding tools, light with an excellent battery.
My only beef would be that they die with zero warning.
They don't slow down, and start to die.
You squeeze the trigger, and they don't go anymore.
A minor annoyance, considering how long they last before that happens...
 
Brian,

Interesting about the Hitachi tools.....are the batteries NiCad or Lithium? I asked, because what you described is exactly what happens with the Ryobi Lithiums, and after about a 1/2 dozen times doing that, you put them in the charger and get the "Defective" signal from the charger. After taking a couple of them into a local service center, I learned about the diode issue I mentioned earlier. If the Hitachi batteries are lithium, I'd keep track of how many times they will charge after they quit on you in that manner. If that's happening with NiCad batteries, that's just strange.
 
They are lithium batteries.

I figured they had circuitry that did this, as they just behave different than NiCad.

These are both in the 20 month old range, and get used a LOT.

I always run them until this happens, as they don't slow down, they just stop...
 
Not to sound like a nit wit, I went to your basic HF cordless drill after my second Makita batteries died. I found out that I could buy several HF drills for the cost of one Makita battery. On the other hand, I am not using it every day, but only as a part timer. So far it has been able to do anything I have asked of it. If I was using it in my primary job, I would definitely opt for a Makita, Ryobi or DeWalt. Just my $.02.
 
Brian, the reason i added the hitachi to my search is because i handled a friend of mines last week, he uses his on the job all day long. he said it preforms as well as his dewalts but is far more comfortable. i compared the two and could easily tell. which model do you have?

thanks for all your input so far guys, i appreciate it.
 
Guys if i might state what i know .. i have a 20 year old Makita with the stick style battery best damn drill i have ever owned .. saw them being dis continued and bought another& several batteries.as a screwdriver/drill it is great for small stuff only . went to Dewalt 18 v Xrp when they came out still have it still use it . batteries for Dewalt sucked bad in the begining, some still do .. bought a Milwaukee 18 v combo pack used the hell out of the drill for about 3 years then the batteries died one after the other so i stored it , i just received 2 new batteries for it under a Re-Call today !! No one ever told me about a Battery Recall?? work bought me a new Dewalt have used it several times a week real hard for 2 1/2 years . Boss asked me to check out the "Best " cordless,i checked ratings from many sources several pointed to good old Makita we bought 1 for one of the guys who is real hard on his tools it is dead in under a year, second co-worker the same thing .. these are not the cheap Makita drills they are about $300 each .. The Quest continues.. i drill about 10 2 1/8 holes per day and 20 1 inch holes need lots of torque/power. my old Milwaukee has more power than Dewalt, 5 large holes per battery on Milwaukee Dewalt about 3 .. i saw there was a re-call on Dewalt batteries too ,where do i buy a de coder ring to hear about this ?? Good luck to us all
 
my makita 18v lithium turned me from a cordless hater to a cordless lover... unfortunately they can't take being underwater for some reason, though they still had some charge I can't seem to get them to recharge, new batteries prohibitively expensive
 
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