Cordless Drills
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Note: If you're on a tight budget, consider a corded (plug-in) drill. You can
get a high quality corded drill for less money. It will be lighter
and have more torque (power). And, <drumroll>
the battery will never need charging just at the critical moment. If
you don't use a drill regularly the battery is likely to need charging when you
go to use it.
Cordless drills are convenient but, they're more expensive and heavier with less
power.
Another problem with cordless
drills is the batteries usually only last 2-4 years, even if you don't
use them. Rechargeable batteries go bad just sitting on your
shelf. Replacement batteries are amazingly expensive. I see
cordless drills including a charger and two batteries on sale for only
slightly more than the cost of two batteries. So, you probably want to
think of a cordless drill as disposable, and expect to replace it every
3-4 years. [NOTE: The new
Lithium and NiMh have relieved this problem quite a bit.]
Normally you should expect to pay $60-$100 for a good corded drill. A
couple of years ago Makita's
model 6408K at $70 was rated high, and (surprisingly) Sears' model 10105
at $40 got a good rating.
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Revised April 2008
Tip: My experiences with Black & Decker power tools have been bad generally
and their drill ratings regularly bear this out.
The same
company owns both DeWalt and Black & Decker but, the quality of the two brands is
very
different.
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Exact models are important. The same brand may have
both
good and bad models in the same voltage range.
That nationally famous consumer products rating
magazine has rated cordless drills again. If you want a drill that can
moderately large jobs as well as routine ones, your best combination of weight
and performance is probably the 18 volt Makita Lithium
BDF452HW at $200 & 3.5 pounds. If you're
budget minded you may want to consider the 14.4 volt Hitachi Lithium DS14DFL at
3.5 pounds, which you can often get from Amazon for $93 -- having Scrooge-like
tendencies, this was my choice. If you have big projects in mind and want top
power with greater run time per charge and are willing to pay the weight penalty
for it you may want the top rated 15.6 volt NiMh Panasonic EY6432GQKW at $200 &
4.8 pounds
or possibly the Panasonic EY6432GQKW with a little less power.
The worst in each category are:
- 18 v -- Craftsman & Black-Decker. In previous ratings it was Grizzly
& Chicago Electric
- 14 v -- Skill. Black & Decker wasn't rated. Last time Black &
Decker and Grizzly were the worst.
- 12 v -- Black & Decker and Skill 2467-02 & 2468-02
- 9 v -- Skill & Ryobi. Black & Decker wasn't rated. Last
time Black & Decker and Ryobi worst.
A drill gets heavy after holding it out for a while. My test is to hold the drill as though you're
using it just above eye level and see how long you can hold it there. (Be sure it's with the battery -- display
models often aren't.) 5+ pounds may not seem like much until
you try this. It's true when you look
at price vs performance the heavier 18 volters give you the
most grrrrr for your money. But, the whole point of cordless drills is
convenience. Adding 2 pounds to a 3.5 pound drill is a lot. If it
becomes so heavy it's awkward or tiring to use is it still convenient?
Unfortunately, either the good brand aren't building Lithium 12 volters or they
aren't being rated.
You want a dual speed drill -- one for drilling and one for driving
screws -- and, most (all?) cheap drills lack dual speed .
In my opinion, the higher speeds, suitable for drilling, are too fast for convenient screw driving.
You'll probably find one of the primary uses for your cordless drill is driving screws --
they're often called drill-drivers. I've never seen a single-speed
cordless drill geared slow for screw driving, but if there's a cheap one I'd probably
give it a try -- the drilling may be slow, but it will work. Driving
screws at high speeds is a problem. |