Your cordless drill choice for sub-$200

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uofaengr

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Jan 9, 2014
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My old drill isn't cutting it anymore, and I have some gift cards to Lowe's so that's where I'll be buying. I was mainly looking at Dewalt because I've had good experiences with them before, but Hitachi has caught my eye too based on the reviews on Lowe's website and 3rd party sites that have given it high marks.

Definitely want a lithium ion over NiCad. Hard case vs soft case isn't a deal breaker. Have never had a brushless drill so not sure if I'd notice any improvement there.

Interested in hearing others' thoughts. Mainly looking in the $120-200 range. Not really interested in any el cheapo $50 options.
 
The Lowe's add here this week had several nice Dewalt sets on sale. Kind of a pre "BLACK FRIDAY" sale.
 
First, let me say, I am not a pro. I do hobbies and household stuff with my drill. However I do use my drill 5-6 days out of the week. Right now I have a Ryobi and before that was a Craftsman. They have both been great! That doesn't really help you though since Ryobi is at Home Depot and Craftsman is of course Sears. The point I want to make is this- If you will be using any other "companion" tools that run on the same batteries as the drill, make sure you check them out also. For my ryobi drill I also have the sander and circular saw that I use regularly, with the same batteries. This makes things easy and the sander and saw are quality tools. However the old ryobi flashlight and vacuum that I tried were junk. So i would look at the reviews of the companion tools along with the drill before purchase.

I have not tried a brushless drill yet but have read many reviews and my next drill will be brushless.

Hope that helps somewhat at least,
Bruce
 
Monofletch said:
The Lowe's add here this week had several nice Dewalt sets on sale. Kind of a pre "BLACK FRIDAY" sale.
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Completely forgot about Black Friday..I guess because I'll be working. Need to see if I can look up the local ads online...
 
I used cordless drills professionally for years. Craftsman was first choice for many of those years until a notable drop off of quality and warranty backing. I went to Bosch and got excellent service. I tried Dewalt and Porter Cable but never developed a loyalty due to issues (and a True Value store brand that didn't last a month). Bosch never let me down. And I am talking heavy use in assembly and disassembly of structures. Not sure which merchants handle the brand now but mine came from a jobber, Fastinal. And they stood behind any issues that cropped up. I moved to Bosch corded power tools as replacements were required as well. Sad about the evolution of Craftsman, now also sold in Target and Ace Hardware.
 
bralexander said:
First, let me say, I am not a pro. I do hobbies and household stuff with my drill. However I do use my drill 5-6 days out of the week. Right now I have a Ryobi and before that was a Craftsman. They have both been great! That doesn't really help you though since Ryobi is at Home Depot and Craftsman is of course Sears. The point I want to make is this- If you will be using any other "companion" tools that run on the same batteries as the drill, make sure you check them out also. For my ryobi drill I also have the sander and circular saw that I use regularly, with the same batteries. This makes things easy and the sander and saw are quality tools. However the old ryobi flashlight and vacuum that I tried were junk. So i would look at the reviews of the companion tools along with the drill before purchase.

I have not tried a brushless drill yet but have read many reviews and my next drill will be brushless.

Hope that helps somewhat at least,
Bruce
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I'm not a pro either, just need a capable drill and like having quality tools. Have never tried a Craftsman drill but have many Craftsman hand tools with no issues.

Brushless in theory should be a lot better, but since I'm not in construction I don't know that I'd notice the difference. However, if Lowe's has a good Black Friday deal on that Brushless Dewalt kit that's currently $199, I might have to bite.
 
Codger_64 said:
I used cordless drills professionally for years. Craftsman was first choice for many of those years until a notable drop off of quality and warranty backing. I went to Bosch and got excellent service. I tried Dewalt and Porter Cable but never developed a loyalty due to issues (and a True Value store brand that didn't last a month). Bosch never let me down. And I am talking heavy use in assembly and disassembly of structures. Not sure which merchants handle the brand now but mine came from a jobber, Fastinal. And they stood behind any issues that cropped up. I moved to Bosch corded power tools as replacements were required as well. Sad about the evolution of Craftsman, now also sold in Target and Ace Hardware.
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I had heard of a quality drop in Craftsman, but had no idea they're being sold in Target now...not a good sign. I've always heard good things about Bosch, but never tried one. I have read some reviews of a few going to the store with intentions of buying a Bosch but walk out with a Hitachi after talking to employees and others...TIFWIW...not a knock on Bosch but some giving props to the Hitachi I suppose. To be honest, I haven't even researched the Bosch thus far, but will now give it a look.
 
Might be a brain fart... K-mart, not Target. Sears and Kresge (K-mart) merged some years back. IDK how Ace got in on the Craftsman market. Their hand tools are still high quality and a few select power tools like their 5-6HP shop vacs. But overseas sourcing led to huge drops in quality of materials and assembly.

Bosch is worth a look IMHO. I ran mine driving tek-screws into concrete and metal beams until a battery died, swapped in a hot one and ran that one til it was discharged. By then the first battery had recharged and was ready without waiting. So I could run the tool constantly doing high-torque work for up to 12 hours without pause.
 
I have a Ryobi kit sounds similar to the one that bralexander mentioned above. The drill worked adequately for light work for several years. The other stuff (reciprocating saw, flashlight, vacuum, circular saw) were pretty much junk. The circular saw worked good for stuff like 1 inch pine boards and luan but anything heavier not so much.

The batteries are pretty much dead now, although they will work for light drilling for a bit.
 
Codger_64 said:
Might be a brain fart... K-mart, not Target. Sears and Kresge (K-mart) merged some years back. IDK how Ace got in on the Craftsman market. Their hand tools are still high quality and a few select power tools like their 5-6HP shop vacs. But overseas sourcing led to huge drops in quality of materials and assembly.

Bosch is worth a look IMHO. I ran mine driving tek-screws into concrete and metal beams until a battery died, swapped in a hot one and ran that one til it was discharged. By then the first battery had recharged and was ready without waiting. So I could run the tool constantly doing high-torque work for up to 12 hours without pause.
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Wow.. Kmart.. Even worse. Didn't know about the merger since I haven't been in a Sears in probably 3 years...Lowe's is just a lot more convenient.

Looked up Lowe's Bosch offerings quickly. It seems most of theirs top out at 1700 RPM compared to the Hitachi 1800 RPM and the Dewalt 2000 RPM. The Black Friday $99 Bosch offering tops out at 1300 RPM. I prefer as fast as affordable.

Noticed Lowe's has a combo deal with both a 20v Li-ion drill and impact driver in a soft case for $199. Neither of these are brushless. The 20v brushless Dewalt with hard case alone is $199. Same for the impact. The 20v brushed drill with soft case is $129 which would probably actually be enough for me, but the combo deal has got me thinking if it's actually a better deal.
 
Remember that torque and power usage are just as important as speed, if not more so. A fast drill isn't always best. Keyless chuck and variable clutch are important. And Makita has an excellent rep as well.
 
All good points above ^^^.

I believe all the options I'm considering have a keyless chuck and variable clutch, some more variable than others. My father has an ancient Makita that has been put through its paces until I believe it finally burned up. He went with a 20v Dewalt and it seemed nice the little I've used it I suppose why I originally considered them.
 
uofaengr said:
All good points above ^^^.

I believe all the options I'm considering have a keyless chuck and variable clutch, some more variable than others. My father has an ancient Makita that has been put through its paces until I believe it finally burned up. He went with a 20v Dewalt and it seemed nice the little I've used it I suppose why I originally considered them.
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DeWalt isn't junk, at least on the higher end tools. Just be willing to spend a bit more once than to have to buy again. Good luck and let us know what you pick please?
 
Codger_64 said:
DeWalt isn't junk, at least on the higher end tools. Just be willing to spend a bit more once than to have to buy again. Good luck and let us know what you pick please?
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Will do. Appreciate all the suggestions so far. I believe in spend as much as you can afford the first time or you just end up spending more in the long run.

Just looked at a Bosch again that Lowe's is running a special on until 12/1 18v brushless with soft case for $139 after adding it to your cart (hope it's the same in store)..max of 1700 RPM but max torque of 440 in-lb which is right up there with some of the other faster drills in the 450-460 range. A big knock I have against Dewalt is they don't publish their torque ratings. That particular Bosch (which includes 2Ah batteries compared to most others 1.5Ah) may have just went near the top of my list.
 
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I would stay away from Hitachi. I have the 18V Hitachi (I own the drill, driver, 1/2in impact) from Lowes and don't get me wrong, it's an excellent drill, driver, etc, but the batteries are very expensive. They come with 1.5 Ahr batteries, and a 3 Ahr battery is nearly $90. You can only get the 1.5 Ahr battery at lowes. Charger feels like cheap Toys-R-Us plastic. 3 Ahr battery barely gets me through a work day on the drill. the 1.5 hr battery only lasts 45 min with 80% duty use on the drill. The impact is maybe 30 min at the most.

I would go with Milwaukee if you can afford it. Every tool on their 18v line is quality. Their 4Ahr batteries are $65 online, and an extra charger is $35 online as well. Although the tool itself is expensive, we run them here where I work because everyone else runs them so if you have a battery go down, or need an extra driver, someone else has it on site. The driver is high torque, nearly 1600 in-lbs compared to the 1200 in-lbs of the Hitachi. The main complaint is that the size of the drill is so compact, when you put your hand on the back of the drill to push into what ever you're drilling, then it gets very hot. The grinder is absolutely excellent for Milwaukee. Best cordless grinder my crew has seen on the job site.

If you want to spend less, and still get a quality tool, buy Ryobi. They have an excellent package deals with the soft case, battery, charer, drill, and driver. Their grinder is garbage, but their sawzall is good. Stroke is a little short but for a DIY'er it doesn't really matter. I've seen a lot of Ryobi deals recently.

I would stay away from Dewalt. We have had nothing but problems with every Dewalt 18v tool we have had here on the job site. The battery is especially garbage. I've had several PCB's go out on the batteries, bad cells, I've taken apart and fixed more Dewalt battery packs than I care to mention.

Brushless is great if you can afford it. Higher battery life, more performance since it's more efficient, but it's close to double the current price of brushes. It has a direct drive instead of the induction coil since you loose quite a bit of efficiency with the gap between the brushes and coil.

I've seen a few deals on refurbished dewalt brushless, if you are determined to stick with brushless and dewalt.

PM me if you want more info. We just went through a Drill/Driver/grinder/sawzall 18V cordless phase here on the job site re-tooling up. I'm the project manager and I help the crew with the tech info on making purchases for their new 18v cordless packages.
 
+1 for Dewalt. I've moved on from Craftsman and haven't looked back. Like a previous poster said, Craftsman has seen a dip in quality in recent years. Their hand tools are still fine but anything power I'm staying away from. I have had nothing but great experiences with Dewalt. I also agree with going with a litium ion and if you plan on purchasing other tools that could interchange batteries with, keep that in mind when making your decision.
 
Bishop2queen, wow thanks for the detailed post! Great information there. I'm not loyal to any one brand, my last drill was a POS Black and Decker, so I'm wide open to options. I've always heard good things about Milwaukee and the first battery powered impact wrench I ever used was a Milwaukee, and it was very nice. I was just going by what brands Lowe's offered on their website, and I didn't even see Milwaukee though I was pretty sure I'd seen them in store...could be thinking about Home Depot.

I'm still wide open to options and will go into the store in the next couple days to see what they have. That brushless Bosch is looking pretty attractive though the biggest drawback is only a 1 year warranty on both the drill and battery which is the shortest out there. Those of you that are in construction and use them daily, I understand now how this is a very important decision for you compared to the rest of us who might use it every couple of weeks or so.
 
Dewalt's 20V lithium Ion drills are proving themselves very quality in my book, I work at a landfill on their LFG plant and use the drill or impact gun almost daily, I even added the cordless sawzaw and grinder to my tools and use them almost as often. I will say that they have impressed me because I have been told I am hard on my shit, and they are still working great here almost 2 years later. I did see that Lowe's has the whole kit (drill, impact, sawzaw, flashlight) for like $250 on black friday weekend, and the good thing about lowes sales are that you can order online and pick up in store later even with their black Friday ads.

Also my company pays for my tools so I can get whatever brand I want, so that says something for these dewalt tools. Next time around I will probably pick up the Milwalkee Fuel line since they seem to have more power, but for now I will beat the hell out of these Dewalts!

P.S. I use these tools in the rain, mud, snow, etc. and they have really held up, I just recently purchased some for home as well since my old NiCad Dewalt died
 
As a contactor for Time Warner I used my hammer drill every single day. My choice is easy, Milwaukee is the only drill I will use. I have tried others in the past but they never hold up. You might be able to get one on a black Friday sale for your price range but typically they are about $300 for drill, batteries, and charger.
 
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