looking for a bit of advice...

screwfix book landed on the door mat a few days ago with this...

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.js...19&id=49006

on the back...oooohhhhh

seemed like rather a good deal anyone got any other suggestions for a cordless drill.

currently using a pair of £10 jobbies from makro, which to be fair do ok for the money, but having used a dewalt 18v one recently i was made acutely aware of the advantages of the more expensive ones, although that one was probably more like the £300 mark.

downside i can see to the screwfix one is the batteries, they're only 1.3ah where more expensive ones seem to be twice that and they ni-cd's. is it worth paying much more for the better batteries? seems to be a big step up in price.

bought a makita 9" grinder during the summer and am well pleased with it and i've held the example above in b&q and it seemed nicely weighted.

i seem to recall a similar thread froma while ago, but i can only find one about impact guns.

any opinions welcome

thanks

callum

Matika stuff is quite nice, i personally use their drills to keep parts commonality with the tools at work - if mine breaks i take it in and swap it for another

I would prefer DeWalt, not really sure why, they do seem to last a bit longer - not in terms of battery life, just that they survive daily knocks better

Lewis

I bought this exact one off Screwfix about 3 months ago

Nice piece of kit. Feels well made

I bought a makita drill a couple of years ago, and haven't regretted it. I bought it from one of the hire places. Their retail shop sold DeWalt, but the hire guys said they only hire Makita as they are so much tougher, they just don't have the bling factor.

I paid the extra for 2.0Ah NiMH and agian have been well pleased.

The screwfix deal looks like excellent value to me.

Cheers
Mark

Funny thing about Dewalt is they run Bosch motors...So i just purchased a Bosch and it aint give up yet

I have used a few Kawasaki powertools, they seem pretty robust.

Wickes,

18V 2 for £25 and damned good too

Nige

I bought a 12v 13mm chuck DeWalt hammer drill almost 10 years ago - and it's still going strong! I bought 3 new NiMH batteries for it (the old ones were NiCd and not as good) a year or so ago off eBay which has given it a new lease of life.

When it dies, I will be straight out to buy another one the same (or close as). People have repeatedly told me that other ones are cheaper and better - but all I know is this one has survived longer than most battery drills and still has lots of life left in it!

Youy can pick up the 12v drills on eBay fairly cheaply
One of these

But, don't buy one of these, they are chocolate!

Si

I have a Makita version and after a short fall onto a carpeted floor the chuck spindle bent, making drilling a bit difficult to get a decent hole.
and 1 battery just died.
Dewalt impact gun superb and the batteries are lasting well.

Yep, thats the one my mate has in his workshop, gotta be nearly ten years old too and still going strong, chuck is getting a bit tired - starts to slip a bit, but thats still good after a hard life

yep, i've got that DeWalt one aswell, the batteries are going home on mine, but the actual drill is brilliant...
we paid around £175 new, with 3 batteries about 4 years ago....
i might look for a couple of new batts sometime, just to get a bit longer out of it.

m@tt.

I've got a 14.4volt Dewalt for work, it's used every day and has been dropped loads of times including off the top of artics. Still going strong apart from the batteries which are 5 years old. Just replaced the drill with another one, because of the batteries.

My 7.2 volt DeWalt Electric Screwdriver will put a self tapper through the floorpan of a car without a pilot hole.

Makro had the 14.4volt 3 speed DeWalt Combi Drill for £160 + VAT yesterday (Stoke Branch.)

I've got loads of makita Cordless stuff, used an abused every day 24v chopsaw, recipro and SDS, 18v combi drills x2, impact driver , jigsaw and circular saw. I've had AEG, Bosch, Metabo would not entertain Dewalt, overhyped. Makita have consistantly stayed ahead of the game in Battery technology while all the others play catch up, my Combi drill started to sound a bit rough a couple of years ago, so it was relegated to mixing Plaster with a 5" paddle, its still going .

The drill in the Screwfix catalogue is at the cheap end of the makita range, but I'd recomend that above some of the others trade range . If I thought anyone else's cordless kit was better than Makita's then I'd be using it. Some of the other brands are brilliant to start with but don't seem to last.

My cordless stuff is a bit of a passion

At work (West End theatre) there's the constant Makita-DeWalt running argument. Makita have dominated for years in theatre so much that drill-drivers are referred to as "Makitas" or "whizzers". Did you see the deal with the 12V drill-driver plus a rattle gun? Several of the guys have bought that set as we use rattle guns for bolting steelwork set and steeldeck together and drill-drivers for woodwork and laying flooring.

I use dewalt tools and the majority of the chippys who work for me use dewalt or makita, if you use them everyday then it pays to spend a bit more.

some interesting thoughts there, thanks for the help.

not entirely sure what to do, still pondering somewhat.

just a quandry of given tht cheap price is the step up to the next level too great.
i'll think about how necessary it is goig to be. given the stuff from he lower end of the market i'm used to, i'm sure anything will be a revelation.

thanks

callum

On eBay you can pick up a decent DeWalt for the same kind of money as a chocolate drill on the high street. Know where my money would go!

It might look old & tired - but it's still racing!

Si

the engineers at work have used Dewalt and Makita stuff for years and have had no problems.

If you're budget doesn't quite stretch that far then the more expensive Bosch stuff isn't bad IME. I've had a 14.4v drill that i picked up on offer from B & Q that has now been given 2 years of kicking and has been fine- No probs. Cost me £50 and has a two year gaurantee too!

Hitachi stuff is not bad either, but I suspect they are in the higher price bracket.

We generally use bosch (blue) everthing at work and roboty (wrong but similar spelling) cordless drills (made by bosch)

Steve