ThreeSheds Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 From left to right: (1) Bosch (made in Switzerland) 7.2v - 15(?) years old and FANTASTIC if a little under-powered. (2) Halfords (made in PRC) 14.4v - 1 year old. Bought as a replacement for (1) but the torque is hardly any better and the battery life is poor, so is rarely used. (3) Bosch (made in Malaysia) 14.4v - 2 days old. FANTASTIC! The little 7.2v Bosch drill has served me faithfully for such a long time it owes me nothing, but last year I decided that I needed something with more power and so I got the Halfords 14.4v thing. The torque on this is hardly any better, the speed is up by possibly 50% and the battery life is actually worse! Feeling the weight of the battery pack I think that it's a big case with a small battery inside as a comparison the 14.4v battery from the new Bosch weighs 25% more than the Halfords one. So far I am VERY PLEASED with the new Bosch drill It has a two speed box, and it's torque - even in the high speed gear - is far better than the Halfords one. It has a smart charger that can be left on and will cope with anything from 7.2v to 14.4v (auto-sensing) and so does nicely for my older drill too, and is clever enough to switch to trickle-charging when the battery is full. It is neat, compact, has good balance and fits in tight places (It doesn't look it in the pic, but the Hf one is actually bigger and is nose-heavy) and it feels good in the hand. I don't know about battery life yet, but I suspect it will be good. The Halfords one will be heading for the bay of E I think... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mickeyw Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 I have an Atlas Copco (sometimes sold as AEG or Milwaukee) cordless drill driver in 12v form. It's about 3 years old now and I cannot fault this, battery life is superb and loads of torque and a decent ALL STEEL keyless 13mm chuck. It came with 2 12v batteries rated at 2.0Ah which seems well above the norm. Also more recently I bought a Hitachi combi drill (with hammer function) from Screwfix . Again, very impressed with its perfomance and feel. I don't think build quality is quite up to the Atlas' but it is comfortable to use and does the job well. Batteries seem to last for ages and hold charge well during periods of no use. Both drills are certainly nearer the Pro than DIY quality. Both around the £100 mark, I think you need to spend this much to get a worthwhile tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rusty_wingnut Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Makita, never buy anything but. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mjm295 Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 My cordless is only used for doing up screws, (B&D 14v) its done me well for 4 years so far. For any proper drilling I use a plug in one. I had a cheap £25 Black and Decker plug in drill that has done me for 8 years, including loads of DIY house work and a big extension AND building a kit car where a lot of the body was made from stainless which knackered a lot of drill bits. I did manage to knacker my dads Bosch grinder on the same car. Was a great grinder though. Lasted 10x longer than the cheapy B&Q effort. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
smo Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Ive got a 24V Bosch and its amazing, comes with 2 batteries and despite drilling walls & screws at home and being used in the workshop its still on the first charge of the first battery....bags of torque too, it "bit" with a 10mm drill earlier in some steel and nearly took my arm off! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
51bigG Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 Ive got a 24V Bosch and its amazing, comes with 2 batteries and despite drilling walls & screws at home and being used in the workshop its still on the first charge of the first battery....bags of torque too, it "bit" with a 10mm drill earlier in some steel and nearly took my arm off! I have to agree about the bosch stuff, I have a drill, jigsaw, angle grinder, torch and 2 impact wrenches all in the 14.4 range, all good but the impact wrench is S.IT HOT in my opinion, fitted 200 window grills in a prison with 12x 10mm x 100 long fixings in every one, screws in hardwood decking, easy, screws in softwood, easy, bolts in purlins, 12mm done n dusted and tec screws in roof sheeting 3 screws to every one the 110 tool made for doing them, absolutely brilliant tool. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Night Train Posted March 13, 2009 Share Posted March 13, 2009 I run lots of old Bosch, Makita, DeWalt and Hitachi power tools, ac and battery. Most are over 20 years old and the youngest is over 15 years old. All better then the rubbish that sells on a shop brand. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BogMonster Posted March 15, 2009 Share Posted March 15, 2009 I have a little Dewalt (7.2V I think) which is very good and nicely balanced for small jobs though the battery life isn't that special, a B&Q cheapy one which has never worked properly from day 1 and despite being 18V it might as well be 1.8V, and a JCB drill which I bought because it was a 50% off deal a few years ago in Argos which got me an 18V drill with two batteries and a free big mains drill for less than £50 - the gearbox on the JCB is a bit cranky now but otherwise a good drill with plenty of power and a friend of mine has one he has built a few houses with and still going strong. I've just ordered a Hitachi 18V but that isn't here yet. I also have a very old 8.4v Black & Decker which fell on a concrete floor and broke in half, was glued back together with Araldite and still works Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ThreeSheds Posted March 15, 2009 Author Share Posted March 15, 2009 Sorry - but the links to the image I had in my post appears to not be working. Maybe something to do with them being on Picasa perhaps? I'll see if I can get it going again... It's back! What's all that about? Sorry for wasting posts - if I could remove this one... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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