Thread: cordless drills

I went down this same route last year, I looked at all the brands at Bunnies, the more I looked , the more confused I got.
I ended up with an 18v Bosch amd am very happy with it.

Al

Can't comment on the Firestorm, but I had two of their Hammer Drills (can't remember model but from memory they were 600W and made in 96). These drills lunched themselves during the construction of a shed. They were used to drill holes into a concrete slab for dynabolts and both of them lasted for about 6 holes.
After the second one blew up I went and hired a 600W Hitachi which drilled the other 20 odd holes without raising a sweat. Mind you the Hitachi had a purchase price that was about 5 times the Black & Deckers.
I still have got an older 7.2v B&D cordless which I was very happy with until the battery failed. Could not get a replacement battery for a reasonable price ($100 for a battery).
Reviews on the web for the 12volt Firestorm aren't too encouraging.
Personally, I reckon the Skil cordless drills are better and cost a heap less. For the same price I would look at other brands such as Bosch etc.
There were also a few recalls on the Firestorms due to switches melting.

I bought a 12 Volt Ryobi cordless from BigW a few years ago and its still going strong, I only use it around the house though. At work I use a Panasonic 15.6v cordless hammer drill, its unreal how much torque that thing puts out.

The only black and decker things I own are used in the kitchen.