Cordless Drill

[amateurfishing]

looking for input on a possible new cordless drill

the brand i have now has done very well for me the past 10 plus years but recently hav e had some issues with the brand, went thru 3 drills this weekend right out of box so dont know if company is making them cheaper or not for just putting up drywall & framework, i am having decent trouble now trying to make cement board screws resessed for shower wall. i will note my brand is not a store brand like tool shop

i cant see the need to buy a $300-$400 drill just for home projects but maybe some will tell me otherwise and necessary for a basement finish project

what brand do u recommend & r u in construction trade or not, thx.

[tonkapat]

Panasonic. Imo none of the others are close.

[Beegreen111]

I use a dewalt cordless. It is 3 years old and I am just starting to have trouble with it. I think my next one will be the makita. They seem more powerfull and smaller/lighter. I am in construction and have tried most of the main brands.

Good luck

[Ufatz]

Buy Makaita and only buy once. I still have a 9v Makita that is 25-years old, pea green color, ugly as hell but I can't bring myself to toss it because it still WORKS. And I can buy batteries off hsolist.

And I have some newer Makita's too and all they do is charge up and work, day in and day out.

Yes! I know they cost more. But I never have to worry about having a drill that works.

[ncesi]

We use these tools daily for our work. We have used Panasonics for the last 10 years with great results. We have some of the Makita 12volt Lithiom Ion tools and everyone likes them also. We are switching over to the Milwakee 12 volt tools and so for so good. we are switching because of the variety of tools that run on the same batteries, and will see how it goes. We also have 18 volt Panasonic drills and 18 volt Milwakee drills, for heavier jobs. We use and abuse these tools daily and I cannot remember the last time we drug out an extension cord to run anything as far as a drill, hammer drill, saw,for daily uses. Good luck.

[ghostranger]

The tool supplier we work with at my work says the only brand that gets return with problems is Dewalt. They say that the company was bought out a year or so ago and are really making the tools cheaper. They really recommend going with Makita or Milwaukee. I don't know if that helps or not, but something to consider.

[Redlantern]

To be fair, I think you ought to say which brand and model of drill you were using.

[K_Josh87]

I have a complete set of Dewalt tools, circle saw, sawzall, hammer drill, lighter duty drill, 12v drill and 18v lith ion 1/4" impact. Recently bought a 18v Milwaukee from the homer depot, and was so impressed, I went down to Kato Tool and picked up a 6 tool combo in The Milwaukee set... They kick the crud out of the dewalts hands down with the XC batteries.... I plan to get a 12v kit someday to to try... and yes, we use these tools daily... I am a general contractor, and we build and remodel anything from houses to barns to pols sheds to decks and much more!

I have ran alongside guys running the mikita tools on a grain bin crew... they seemed to run good. I have not owned any makita cordless myself, but know a few guys with them and they seem to run forever...

[Wanderer]

I really like the Milwaukee line for general uses at work (maintenance) but I've found Porter Cable works plenty good at home and is a lot less expensive. Lithium Ion is the only way to go IMO and for general work a 12v is enough. The 18v Dewalt used to be my fave but not any more. the lithium ion charges quick and runs longer with no significant drop in power until it's about done in. It holds it's charge too so when you grab it after it's been put away you can usually use it long enough that your other battery can completely charge.

[upnorth]

I have a Kobal 18v Lithium Ion. Built a deck, rocked a few rooms and many other misc(gutters and the like)things around the house. So far so good. Battery life is not that great, probably a hundred 3 inch screws or so, but it is a quick charge unit so the the battery charges in 20 minutes. Drill, charger and 2 batteries cost me $89 @ lowes. But I am not a pro, just have a perpetual run of projects around the house.

[amateurfishing]

To be fair, I think you ought to say which brand and model of drill you were using.

i will state my brand has not even been mentioned yet which leads me to believe that my drill is underpowered & made cheaper

[Tom7227]

I get emails from Amazon nearly every day trying to entice me into buying tools. They seem to have sales quite often on cordless tools. I only look and have not shopped but you may want to check prices there when you're ready to buy.

A factor that I would give a lot of consideration to is the length of warranty, especially on the battery. That and the cost of a replacement battery seem to vary widely.

In the recent weeks I have worked with two guys who have the 18vDc cordless rigs. It seemed to me that they didn't have very good battery life. In fact the garage door guy had to recharge his batteries constantly and changed them out at least 6 times while installed the two doors. I am not so sure that more power is better in regard to cordless tools.

[frazwood]

I will state my brand has not even been mentioned yet which leads me to believe that my drill is underpowered & made cheaper

In spirit of naming more brand names, I bought a 6-tool Ryobi tool kit a few years ago, just as I was starting to get into doing projects myself. The tool that I used the most was the drill, which burned out within 6 months of admittedly heavy use.

After that, I bought a DeWalt corded drill, which is a lot more powerful and hopefully lasts longer (four years so far!), but it lacks the convenience of being cordless.

Last Thanksgiving, though, I bought another cordless Ryobi drill as a Black Friday special. For $40, I got the drill, a battery, and a charger... the latter two work with my other crappy tools from the original 6-tool pack, so it was a good deal when I take that fact into account. The major reason why I like this drill is that it has a slow setting, which makes it easier for a schmo like me to drill in screws.

If I really wanted to do something heavy duty, though, I would definitely avoid Ryobi. I use my cordless drill only for very light duty projects.

Related to my last comment, I think the important question to ask... how much do you use your cordless drill? The more that you use it, the more you should consider buying a better product.

[amateurfishing]

yes, my drill is a ryobi

first one lasted 10 years (granted very easy house piddly stuff), while working on basement finish over weekend i have gone thru 3 (1st one is 6 mos old but with 3 year warranty but no longer able to return to store) then 2 more inexplicably quit on me. would like to stay will same brand (only because i have 4 batteries) and it works fine for drywall but does not seem to have the power i need to put up durock cement board for shower, i cannot get screws resessed into board properly & cement board is not tight flush with the 2x 4's im putting it on. visited 2 stores and they say i am approaching the project correctly so the only other thing i can think of is my drill does not have enuff power to make the cement screws tight properly against the studs. first time i have ever not had enuff power (i think), dad ripped me all weekend for buying cheap stuff but has always been sufficient for past projects.

if anyone has experience with durock and what drill they used for the screws that would be very helpful as well

ps....mrs is currently dead set against another drill so i am treading this very gingerly and trying to find out if my drill is the problem for not getting the screws in far enuff to durock, have even been researching used items as once this project is done, dont see it getting used that much more.

[upnorth]

if anyone has experience with durock and what drill they used for the screws that would be very helpful as well

18v

[witgey&water]

Home depot has a Ridgid set on sale for 180.00. The impact driver will work wonders for driving the cement board screws. I have had dewalt, Makaita and Ridgid all have work great.

[Bobby Bass]

I got a couple of Ryobi 18v drills that are used everyday for nick knack stuff but if I am going to be doing any deck building or rocking I use a 25 year old Milwaukee screw gun. Thing refuses to die on me and even though I have a power cord hanging off it, it is way faster driving screws then my buddies Dewalt, ya, we have had races. Batteries are fine and handy but I think every tool has it's right place. Another thing the Milwaukee is lighter I think then the battery drill which comes into play when screwing up ceiling rock.

[JohnMickish]

I use cordless tools for a living. Our shop has switched over to Makita cordless tools. They are light, well ballanced and last. In the past we have used Dewalt, Panasonic and Bosch. The new lithium ion batteries are the cats meow. When I need a new drill for home, I know what I will get, Makita.

[PurpleFloyd]

Panasonic. Imo none of the others are close.

I agree. I have run Panasonic's for over 15 years and they are top notch. I have never been a fan of DeWalt, the Rigid stuff seems to be pretty good and I actually did purchase a few sets of Hitachi and have been pleasantly surprised with them but Panasonic is still better.

[frazwood]

It's definitely the drill. I installed some Hardiebacker cement board this spring and the Ryobi drill couldn't handle it but my Dewalt corded drill was fine.

[eurolarva]

I did a bathroom last year and used hardi board with the green screws and bought a new 18 volt ryobi and was able to get them recessed into the floor boards. The green screws use the rectangular head screws. There is two settings on the ryobi one is high speed and the other is lower speed with high torque. I am not claiming this drill will compete with the makita but for the cost is should get you through the smaller projects you throw at it.

[amateurfishing]

wife surrendered last nite and agreed to let me check out something new...ended up with makita 18v lithium-ion combo compact cordless pack....2 batteries, 2 drivers, 1 charger...$230...hopefully a decent deal. out of box testing last night and compact drill immediately provided better results. could not find panasonic anywhere & thought an extra $50 for compact drill & battery was worth it.

thx for all the info & knowledge, hopefully this will be a decent set in the long run for building kids new swing set & deck in future

[JohnMickish]

The little Makita impact is by far the most impressive cordless powertool I have ever used.

[Ufatz]

wife surrendered last nite and agreed to let me check out something new...ended up with makita 18v lithium-ion combo compact cordless pack....2 batteries, 2 drivers, 1 charger...$230...hopefully a decent deal. out of box testing last night and compact drill immediately provided better results. could not find panasonic anywhere & thought an extra $50 for compact drill & battery was worth it.

thx for all the info & knowledge, hopefully this will be a decent set in the long run for building kids new swing set & deck in future

You are gonna love that combination. Makita has really dialed in the right batteries, charger and tool.

[CAMAN]

Agreed with what was said about the Makita! I've had the privilege of using the exact set you bought for the last month or two and it is extremely hard going back to my 18 volt Dewalts. About half the weight and I love the way they have the LED headlight setup because it stays on for about ten seconds instead of turning off immediately. Battery life is about the same as the Dewalt but there is about double the speed in the impact driver. I do prefer the Dewalt drill over the Makita just because I'm able to use a 2 3/4 inch Speedbore bit in it, the Makita just doesn't have enough torque.