Thread: Assistance with cordless drill

Hi gt88,

As you can see this sort of question draws a lot of responses.

The suggestion to buy a corded tool is a good one. They may not be easy to find but you should be able to get a good tool that will last for ages.

Forget NiCad or NiMh batteries. They work well for tradies and heavy users that cycle the batteries regularly, but if you are only using the tool occasionally they will ALWAYS be flat when you need them and they will be dead within a couple of years.

Lithium batteries will last a few years regardless of how well or badly you treat them, but they stay charged between uses and if you keep them in a cool place between uses you should get a good 4 or 5 years out of them.

My suggestion would be to look at the Ryobi one-plus tools in Bunnings. You may have to wait for a holiday promotion but you should be able to pick up an 18v lithium starter combo with a drill-driver, torch, two batteries and charger for under $300. The Ryobi motors and gearboxes aren't half as bad as everyone here will try and tell you, but the big bonus is that the whole range is designed to be interchangeable with a shedload of other tools and the batteries are readily available separately. In other words, in 5 years time when your batteries are dead, you'll be able to walk into Bunnings and buy some more. Same goes if you drop or kill the drill, you can buy a new one without batteries and charger. The range began life as Ryobi's 'Trade Line', has already been going for over 10 years in the Ni-Cad version and anyone with a 10-year old drill can go and buy new NiCad or Li-Ion batteries for it today, which isn't bad going.

I was able to pick up 2 of their old 3-speed metal-chuck hammer drills for $50 each when they were discontinued. It is a monster of a cordless for the money and I doubt I'll kill one let alone two. Even the cheap lime-green 2-speed drill in the combo is surprisingly powerful with an 18v Li-Ion battery under it.

(Disclosure - Mrs Dave used to work for Bunnings but no affiliation now...)

I have used a Ozito corded driver drill (about $30) for two years flat out and it still works well. Fixing framework and roofing for enclosures, unbeatable value. Any cordless job could not be more than a few holes or screws, which anything could do within reason.

So I use two ozito's with drill bit and screw bit to save swapping, easy. A two batt cheap ozito 12volt cordless is okay, but batt's are crap and don't hold charge. My 1.5ah Bosch 12volt will outlast both easily, with heaps more torque from motor...

A small li-ion would be the best for tight spots and to still have a charge when you need it.
But i'd get a $30 driver drill and a $40 dremel knock off with flex shaft and you have things covered for under 100 bucks after a set of drill bits. If you can borrow a hammer drill when you need one...

Given this:

Originally Posted by gt88

I'm an occasional DIYer.

my suggestion is that you get a corded tool from a dedicated tool place. You should be able to pick up a good quality corded tool for the same sort of money as an average cordless. It wont die through lack of use, always be flat when you want to use it now or always be going flat during use because (unless you spend good money) the batteries
are cheap rubbish.
Good luck with it.

I am an occasional DIYer, and I have a Hitachi 12V NiCd cordless. It is great. Mostly it has enough power for what I want. The batteries almost always have a bit of go in them when I need them. There seems to be almost no self-discharge at all. I can go for weeks without charging a battery. I like it so much that I recently bought an old battered one off ebay for $20 just to have an extra one and more batteries.

Peter

I'm with Pukmun.
Have had a GMC cordless drill for 5+ years now and has done everything I wanted including building a pergola but the battery is not the best now so bought an Ozito with two batteries. So now have two cheap cordless drills that suit me fine for occasional use. Probably one of the better investments in cheap tools I ever made.

If it is at your price point, I would go with VEK's recommendation for the Porter Cable unit. Porter Cable is real quality brand and the battery charge for a Li-ion battery will last for a surprisingly long time between recharges.

In my experience, less frequent use does not equate to less battery life if the batteries are properly treated and cared for. However there does seem to be a correlation between cheap tools and lower battery life.