or the 14.4 is 179.00 and has 450 inch pounds torque http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg...&s=hi&n=228334

 

One thing I have found with the dead battery drills is to dissassemble the battery packs, remove and recycle the batteries, and wire in either a cigarette plug or a pair of alligator clips on about 15 ft. of wire, presto, instant battery power again, with a lot bigger battery. If you do it right you can use the original battery case as cord storage as well. Comes in handy for working around a car/boat/rv...

 

or just go to radio shack and buy new batttery cells and rebuild the battery pack.

 

Yep.

I have two older Makitas, one 9.6 volt straight pack, and one 12 volt 'D' pack. Replacement packs for these models are becoming harder and harder to find. I recently rebuilt the old Ni-Cd 'D' pack using the newer Ni-MH batteries from batteriesamerica.com at a fraction of the cost of the OEM pack. The most difficult part of the rebuild is dismantling the case, but doable if you're careful.

 

If for occasional use, I would get a drill that had a battery that recharged in an hour. Some of the 12v and 14.4v take from 4-10 hours. I have the Coleman PowerPack (old and newer 18v) and if a quality chuck or extended run time is what you need, this is not the drill.

I swear on the Coleman, by testing the batteries, that they give you one good one and one marginal battery.

I already have nice air powered drills in 3/8 and 1/2 sizes, I just needed something to drill holes for lags doing my tree work and thw 1 hour charge time on the newer 18v works out fine. Especially with a 1200 watt inverter in the truck to provide A/C.

The cir. saw they provide in the $99 package totally rots, if you can cut a sheet of 1/4 paneling before the battery dies you are lucky.

 

My first Makita the battery only lasted 12 years. My second Makita the drill didn't make it 5 years. I still like Makita but all brands of High quality cordless drills have gotten pricey. IMHO if your not going to use it that much get the Ryobi and spend the extra cash on an extra battery.

Cordless is great but can't beat a cord for that all day repair. I have tons of tools corded and cordless. The cord will be with you for years and years and years and years.

MT

 

The best cordless drill I have seen is a Bosch 24V. Expensive, but it has not missed a beat in over 4 years and the batteries have held up very well. We even drill concrete sometimes with it. I also use a Ryobi 18V but the battery runs down too fast. I have a Craftsman 14.4 for home use, but the battery packs died. Found a good used replacement on ebay cheap.

 

I'll second this approach! I've converted my Milwaukee drill, two Makita's, a couple of cordless Dremel's (with proper converters), a Milwaukeee Sawsall, and a Dewalt to run off car batteries. I'm never far from my rolling shop, but when I am, I use my portable jumpstarter, it's the greatest. I can work for days, it seems before I run out of juice.

I've never been a huge fan of cordless tools - always finding them dead, dying in the middle of a project- having to stop in the middle of emergency repair job Because the tools are dead didn't help business. But I couldn't pass up the number of "broken" tools people were gifting me. With the price of batteries so high, people just go to toss the tools and buy new ones. Perfectly good tools with dead batteries! They give me the old ones... hehe. It's one of the few benefits of our disposible economy.

 

What to buy is determined by what you are going to do. For longer run times and heavier use go with an 18V model. I have owned a 14.4 Porter Cable and was happy with it. It only failed because I disassembled it to replace the chuck and haven't put it back together.

The crafts like the bigger drills because it means less up an down the ladder to change the battery. Other than that a 14.4 will probably do what you want.

I have a 12V Milwaukee, 14.4 Porter Cable and 18V Ryobi. I own a home repair business and all have performed well. The Ryobi by the way is recommended as a "best buy" by a leading magazine. I think we know which one.

The other 18V drills - Milwaukee, Dewalt, Panasonic, Bosch and so on are fine drills but are going to cost you >$200 for each. The Ryobi is < $100. The 18V kit was $150. I came close to buying the Bosch Brute but I am not going to be driving hundreds of screws per day every day.

Again buy what you need. If you need that much torque go corded. I have a corded Bosch SDS rotary hammer drill that nothing stops and will stomp anything with a battery. It will slice through masonry like my corded ones do wood.

By the way if you want to be King of the Block Milwaukee has a 28V "portable". How's you biceps?

Reg

 

I went to sears and for 150 bucks bought the set with the 19.2 v drill, light and circular saw. I have hung a bunch of cabinets,cut a bunch of plywood and they are going strong.The light works great for working on my truck or outside cause I just change the batt when it gets low.No regrets spending 150 on craftsman.
Rob

 

Fine Homebuilding gave Hitachi really good revues. I think you can get those at Lowes. I like the 18v dewalt. My dad and friend have the 14.4 dewalt and they abuse the crud out of them. When I was a laborer, in high school, I noticed that most of the guys on site used Dewalt.

Dewalt Drills and Milwaukee Sawzalls.

 

You stated a price range of $80-$150. Most of the drills mentioned have already exceeded that. So realisticly, it dosen't sound like you're in the market for a $300 Bosch. That's fine. There are plenty of decent drills in that range, you just have to look a little harder.

Cheapest decent drill: The Craftsman 19.2V. 1/2" Chuck, 410 in/lbs of torque.
Of course batteries will go first, as it is with most anything cordless. The only real drawback to the drill is that the chuck is cheap and will wear out eventually. If you don't mind changing that than it won't be a problem.

But consider a Makita. Great drills, lots of power. DeWalts aren't really worth the price you pay for the name.

Stay away from the Black and Decker Firestorms. Worthless.

 

I like the 14.4 DeWalts. I've used and abused several with good success. Be aware that they make several grades. Definitely get the higher grades. The cheaper ones will not hold up.

Whatever brand you get, get one with a ratcheting chuck. At least if you plan to use it to drill holes, and not just drive screws, the ratcheting chuck is the only way to go.

 

I recall reading some reviews that compared which drills use metal gearing as apposed to plastic. Seems that all ryobis and most craftsman were plastic geared. Just food for thought.