Search engine disabled FTE lines too busy. Need to replace sear's electric hand drill and considering cordless. Concerned whether the cordless has the power for medium to heavy use, and if the power paks last for sufficient period of time. Can across ad about an ultimate heavy duty cordless but can not recall the manufacturer. Any suggestions would be appreciated.

dave

 

Try a Porter Cable, Dewalt, Or Milwaukee 14 Volt or more. (The 24 volt models tend to be big and heavy.) They are more $ than Sears but you get what you pay for. I have a sears and it is OK for a homeowners use. Sears is made by Ryobi if you wanted to know that.

 

I have used and liked back and deckers cordless drills. Another good drill brand would be Hitachi, which you can find at Lowes.

 

I have a cordless but find I still need a corded drill for the jobs that require higher speeds and higher torque than the cordless can deliver (Makita).

 

Kinda avoiding Craftsman for awhole, decent tools but getting little fed up with the local Service Rep's blue lite mentality when it comes to providing service. Have couple Milwaukee air tools and find they really can take some abuse. Almost certain the ad for the 'ultimate' cordless was the Makita. Not familiar with Hitachi but will give them a look. Appreciate the input.

dave

 

For heavy use, unless you work in the boonies, go with corded and a heavy enough extension cord. I don't mind swaping bits, but having to lug around 5 battries makes the corded all over a better value. More power, less to lug and you don't have to find an outlet for the charger (if you have that, why are you using the cordless?). As for brands, a lot of personal preference comes into play, since it seems every few years a new model comes into play and it's back to "which is best". My dad's early 70's 3/8" B&D hammer drill, has seen it's better days as I used it as a dual action automotive sander about 20 years ago, but it's still better then a lot of the stuff out there. When I bought my house I bought a 1/2" Dewalt (had three choices and didn't want to buy the special srs bits for the Milwalkee). Brother-n-law bought a Dewalt cordless 18volt and he loves it, when my sister can get him off his kiester to do whatever needs to be done.

 

I have run a 12v Dewalt for about 8 years now. My drill needs new batteries and they are kind of expensive, but I will get them and still use my drill for many years to come. I use it at work on mountain tops with no power, and around the house for hunny do’s. Just for one or two holes it works great, but if the job requires many holes though thicker material I break out the corded drill.

Da’Moose

 

panasonic makes a good kit with a drill and a light. cheaper than dewalt or milwalkee but just as tough.

 

Don't put much emphasis on Consumer Report but came across an article today on Cordless drills. The report was dated about a year ago. Majority of the cordless mentioned where given favorable reviews. The Milwaukee 18V was rated the highest, but expensive. Next and for about $50 less was the Panasonic 15.6 V. Then came Dewalt, Makita, B&D, Hatachi close behind and about $100 less than the Milwaukee. As much as i like Milwaukee tools probably go with one of the other less expensive and include another electric hand drill. I do put power tools to the test, especially my electric drill. Intend to read a little on the power paks.

Appreciate the input.

dave

 

If money is no object, look at:

http://www.v28power.com/

If cost is an issue (and when isn't it?), you might keep an eye open for the Milwaukee 19.2V models to come down in price now that Milwaukee has announced their V28 line.

 

I have Makita cordless 18 volt and corded drill. The corded is 18 years old, with a lot of construction use. Never even needed brushes. But I am going to look at those 28 volt tools.

 

I really like my DeWalt 18V. It comes with two batteries and it recharges fully in one hour. It also has a trickle charge feature, and the manual says that you can leave a battery on charge as long as you want without hurting the battery. I personaly don't do that, but DeWalt says it's ok. It has a good ammount of torque, and it has been trouble free for years.

 

I just looked at eBay...the 18V Milwaukees have indeed come down in the last week or so. You can do a buy-it-now for a hammer-drill kit for $200, and auctions are going for less than that. That's a pretty damn good deal for the hammer-drill that until this week was considered the best you could get.

 

Those are gonna be very expensive and probably worth the cost if they are good as they are made out to be.

 

I've always used Milwaukee drills- they seem to last forever. I bought my son a cordless one, which was great, but both batteries died in less than 2 years. At $60 a pop, I'm really disappointed in battery life. I always reach for the cordless- it's just handier, I guess, and some of them are very well balanced nowdays. I'll probably go DeWalt 18V on the next cordless. I know contractors that swear by them.