Thread: New Battery drill - opinions

I would definitely advocate getting into the 21st Century with Li Ion (even though it may not be around for all that much longer itself).

If you ring Tooltechnics (Festool) in Melbourne you might just score one of the very last Protool PDC 18 drills with two 1.5Ah batteries and a charger for $250. I very much doubt there's a better drill on the market, and absolutely not for that money.

4 gears
up to 3800 rpm in 12 steps
heaps of torque - known to have broken wrists of dopey operators
Looks, feels, sounds and performs like top quality.

You won't know yourself

I got my 18v Makita LXT at Cash Converters. I want to say I paid $150 for it with 2 batteries and a charger. I still haven't had a moment where I said to myself "I really need a different drill". Honestly it's one of the only powered tools I can say that about. I'm extremely happy with it.

Brands aside, if 18v, brushless, Li Ion is in your price range it's the only thing I would settle for. My understanding is that Festool makes a world class product as well.

Best of luck,
Luke

After buying a succession of cheaper Chinese 12V and 14.4V drills which all died within two years either from battery or mechanical failure I bought a green Bosch drill a year or so ago. This came with two Li ion batteries and charger, cost about $145, and was made, of all places, in Romania. It is streets ahead of any of the previous ones for power and endurance, and so far I am quite happy with it, using it in similar service conditions to those you have described. I would certainly buy another one.

Frank.

Hi Bollie7,

I've bought a number of battery drills over the years. I have very recently scrapped a "Black & Decker" 7.2 volt drill that had the batteries built into the handle. Its had at least three sets of batteries over the years. Since I find it difficult to adequately tighten the key less chucks I just replace them with a good quality Jacobs key chuck. This also has the advantage of being able to increase the drill holding capacity from the usual 10 mm to 13 mm or on one I have a 16 mm chuck.

In town there is/used to be a shop that would rebuild the battery packs. They would replace just the bad batteries for the cost of the batteries plus a 15% fee or the whole pack for a fixed price that was much less than the cost of a new one. They would also sell replacement chargers and nickel tape so you could make your own battery pack.

Thanks for the replies. As much as I would like to be able to go and buy an expensive drill, I really can't justify the money for something that will only get used once a week or so. Unfortuntley I have a limited budget. Bunnings also have their Ozito brand for around $65. Some might scoff, but I have an Ozito sliding compound saw that was given to me by my now, ex, father in law and with the use I've given it its been fine. I also recently bought an Ozito "silent shredder" garden mulcher. We did some research and it got a lot of very good reviews. Again I'm very pleased with it. My wife and I are wildlife carers and its quite normal to have more tree and shrub cuttings in a week than can go in the green waste bin. So my thinking re Bunnings Ozito has changed a little bit.
I'd still like to hear of what people think of the current Makita tools.

bollie7

I bought a ROK 18v li ion a few years ago it has copped a hiding but I can not fault it. I bought a Rockwell just recently mainly for the grinder that came with it, cannot fault the.grinder but I can the drill. I've been eyeing off the Ozito brushless lately, it appears quite well built and at $140 seems good value for hobby work. Makita? Not for me too many bad experiences.

The Laidley Pioneer Village where I volunteer recently bought one of the brushless Ozito battery drills, its quite an impressive performer. I don't know that its 24/7 tradesman quality, but for occasional use it will be just fine.

I bought a corded drill and a corded screw gun, Milwaukee brand, and after over 35 plus years they always work for as long as the job I'm doing takes. If I was a pro working on job sites would likely have cordless tools but since I'm not it's corded or air tools and hoses for me.

Pete

I have a Makita 18V drill, driver and a rattle gun. Had them for about 12 months.
Can not fault them. I've had most of the common brands over the years and i've decided
to just stick to Makita, on average they give the best value over the long run.
You get use to 18V very quickly, almost never have to dig out 750 watt Makita anymore.

If you can afford it, LiIon batteries have the highest energy density and are the lightest too. They also do not suffer from the memory effect like NiCad batteries do, nor do they suffer from self discharging, and if looked after properly will outlast any other battery. That said, they need a specialised charger and do not take well to deep discharge. Also, LiIon packs will trip if you overload them (like stalling the drill) and only become usable again after resetting the trip "fuse" by inserting in the charger.

NiCad batteries are by far the most robust batteries, cheap but heavy, and probably not around for much longer because of Cadmium being bad for the environment if not disposed of properly. And they loose most of their charge within one month of storage. And they suffer from the memory effect, meaning if you repeatedly only discharge them half before recharging, after a few cycles they will only hold half the charge.

In between these two, there are the NiMH batteries. No memory effect, need a special charger, still heavy and less energy density than LiIon, but cheaper.

Bosch green are a good choice low cost drill for occasional home use. Bosh blue or Makita blue or Metabo last much longer if used commercially.

I recently ventured down this path.

I have a green Bosch 12V and a blue 14.4V battery drill with NiCad batteries that were not holding charge. I was going to buy new cells and repack them myself but with the price of a new LiIon bit of kit, I decided to buy one new one.

I used to use my battery drills daily in my former life as an electrician, but I only needed something for around the house, ie not the cheapest but not the best.

Whilst looking around at the various stores I saw this on special for $149 (retail was $279 IIRC). I couldn't go past it and it goes really quite well.

http://www.bosch-professional.com/gb...i-33639-ocs-p/

Hi Bollie, I have 2 x Makita 18V Li-ion drills, a 14.4v Makita Ni-Cad and also a GMC 18v Li-ion. Although the 14.4 v Makita was good (held charge and had plenty of grunt) for 3 years or so, the batteries eventually conked out (would not hold a charge) and I then went to 18V Li-ion. The Li-ion Makitas are great and I am very happy with them. Regarding the 18V GMC, the build quality is certainly not as good as the Makitas, it has a lot less grunt, shorter battery charge life, longer recharge time and also it's maximum RPM is a fair bit less than the Makita, which is an important consideration if you plan to drill small holes in metal. That said it is still going strong after 3 years and it's light. Regarding Ryobi, it was my first cordless (a 12v Ni-cad) and I literally threw it in the bin after a month because it was gutless POS and did not hold a charge... the guy at the Bunnings tool shop said that Ryobi are the power tool brand that suffers from the highest failure and return rate. Hope this helps.

It's worth noting that the El cheapo Makita models sold at Bunnings are quite different to the expensive models sold in tool shops (which are very good, I own one, and have seen many more used and abused on construction sites all over, along with Milwaukee)

The batteries on the cheapies are different (from memory no feedback circuit in them to control the charge, among other things, although that might have more to do with fast chargers), plastic chucks (I think lower quality than their mid range models with plastic chuck), and just generally down on quality a bit.

Compared to Ozito? I honestly don't know at that level of Makita, I suspect without looking the Ozito probably has a better warranty for a start, and so far I've had good service out of the Ozito gear I've bought for occasional use. Given the price you've quoted, it's one of your cheapest options, could well be worth a shot?

I changed from Makita to Panasonic and love them. It is no accident that they perform well given Panasonic is one of the few makers who make their own batteries and they are top notch.


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