Thread: What drill to buy

G'Day Sean,
I have the Milwaukee M18 with 3.0Ahr batteries which I have been very pleased with on preformance & battery life.
My builder mate has a similar Makita kit as do a lot of tradies.
My electrician mate has a similar Panasonic kit which he gives heaps.
They all have the 3.0Ahr batteries while yours have only 1.5Ahr batteries.
The other thing I'd encourage you is to purchase from a trade tool supplier;
as I've heard roamers that the Bunnies supplied tools are not the same, but specially made to a price for them.
Go to your local trade tool supplier and have a feel/play with the various tools plus remember that Fathers Day is only 2 weeks away with good specials.
I hope that helps.
Cheers, Crowie

PS - I've purchased extra batteries & skins for my M18 Milwaukee kit from Toolking.com in the USA...

hi, justahobby

if your forum name really indicates what you'll be doing, you'll be happy with any one that you've already found, just depend on what colour your prefer they are all good and reliable

personally I prefer green colour hitachi, not sure if they have 1.5ah combo kits but my 3.0ah combo kit is very impressed.

What I've done is stick with one brand and only bought the charger locally, then imported all cordless bear tools from USA, it worked out a lot cheaper.

There is a range of tools that will probably fill your needs.
I have the Makita 18v lithium Ion cordless drill. (BDF452SHE) It has done just about all I have asked, and done all within its stated range. With two batteries and about 30 minutes recharge time I have not been caught short. Mine does not have an an impact or hammer action. If I need to drill bricks or concrete I go for a dedicated impact drill which.

Sean, any of the kits that you've mentioned will provide you with quality tools. As they're all remarkably similar, I'd suggest that you go and have a good look and feel of them before deciding.

However, there's a couple of points that you should consider:
Firstly, the batteries supplied all seem to be 1.3 or 1.5 ah. capacity, perhaps a little small for extended use, even if only on weekends. As you're only buying 2 batteries with your 2-tool kit, you could be caught short. Bigger batteries are available most places, with Makita being the best value @ about $100 for a 3.0ah. replacement.

Most tradies use & recommend Makita LXT tools. While both DeWalt and Milwaukee are occasionally seen on the sites where I work, they're outnumbered about 20 to one by the former. Service and parts are also universally available, making them a viable longer term proposition.

Personally for occasional weekend hobby use I'd be getting sometyhing smaller than 18V.
Yes the tradie quality 18V stuff with multiple 3Ah batteries will go all day, but do you need that grunt?

For a long time I got by with a 9.6V Metabo and a single battery
The key was buying the drill in the kit with the fast charger.
In use once the battery was flat, I'd stop and have a cuppa while the battery charged. Charging only took 15 mins and I was right to go again with typical W/E tasks.

These days the sweet spot for drill/drivers seems to be the 10.8 to 12 V lithium Ion jobbies.
I suggest you look at the Makita and Blue Bosch -- both of which are avaialble as drill/drivers
For the occassional hole into bricks get a set of Bosch Multi construction drill bits -- these will drill into brick without the need for a hammer action
and if you want to drive a lot of screws get an impact driver

HI recently bought the Miwaukee M18 cordless hammer drill and impact driver set. I love them. Very powerful and great to use.

I also have a bosch blue cordless drill. its about 6 or 7 years old and its still going strong.