Thread: Electric Drill - Which One?

Its pretty rare for a Makita to need its warranty... unlike GMC

(Looks in shed)

Makita!

G'day Metal Head,

Like Groggy says, Makita. And 13mm over 10mm chucks.

Avoid GMC, unless you want cheap and dodgy. You'll spend more money replacing cheap tools with cheap tools than buying quality in the first place.

My personal preference is always a keyed chuck, keyless seem to pack it in very quick.

A little story, I got my Makita drill from a pergola builder who threw it down in disgust because it wouldn't work "piece of junk!" he said, and left it.

Since I'd been watching him pick it up and lower it by the cord a number of times I took it home and replaced the cord. It hasn't missed a beat since!

If you will be doing a lot of hammer drilling go for the Makita with the key chuck. I've got a cheap drill as a present and the keyless chuck has come loose once when I was drilling a lot of holes in concrete.

Originally Posted by Waldo

keyless seem to pack it in very quick.

I could not agree with that. Our drill press has a 30yo keyless (replacing the keyed chuck supplied with the machine) that was moved on from a former drill press. It has done far more steel work than wood in it's life and is still as good as new.
A big Metabo drill died on us after about 20years of mostly steel work. It's keyless chuck is still as good as new and is now with our wood lathe.
A Makita cordless, 15+yo and probably on it's last legs has a keyless chuck still in excellent shape.
But then we have a green Bosch (cheap) which has had very little work and it's mostly plastic keyless chuck is pretty ordinary.

I was in a pretty similar position to you a couple of weeks ago, after my trusty 10 y.o Bosch drill carked it in the middle of a fencing job.

Like you I thought the Bosch with the dust extraction was a bit of a novelty, so it came to a choice between the other Bosch model and the Makita. I ended up going with the Makita because it was the only model that had a keyed chuck. Took it back and used it to drill a bunch of 13mm holes in brick. When it got warmed up it dripped a little bit of grease, I figure that was just the excess from the assembly process.

Anyway, the Makita hasn't missed a beat and I reckon it's a good quality tool for the price.

Justin.

G'day,

To qualify my dislike for keyless chucks, my experience was exactly the sames as Wood Butchers, even to the circumstance by which I got it.

The bodgy drill is now my wife's which she uses from time to time.

And to further to Wizened of Oz's post, green is the cheap version of the tool, blue is the trade version - buy the blue.

Originally Posted by Waldo

G'day Metal Head,

Like Groggy says, Makita. And 13mm over 10mm chucks.

Avoid GMC, unless you want cheap and dodgy. You'll spend more money replacing cheap tools with cheap tools than buying quality in the first place.

My personal preference is always a keyed chuck, keyless seem to pack it in very quick.

I agree with Walso thats the way too go Cheers Sam

If you want one with a decent keyless chuck, have a look at the Metabo with the metal chuck. About $200 but I doubt you will need to buy another for a long while.

As Waldo said, dont waste your time with a 10mm chuck. Cant use hole saws and obviously the larger bits.

Gidday MetalHead

I've got a Bosh GSB 20-2 RE (Blue) and is one of the workhorses of my Shed. I love the dam thing and have counted my lucky stars I've had it on a number of occasions.

I've thrown everthing at the Big Blue including a saw tooth forstner bit 38mm into some concrete I was trying to clean up in hammer mode (Don't ask) So far she keeps going and delivering the goods.

I keep away from keyless chucks like the plague for this kind a tool and would't go anything under a 13mm chuck. If you buy cheap she'll basically fall apart in your hands or melt from the inside out.

Its one a those things thats worth putting a few bucks into and will always be handy to have. Really though I reckon any of the trade quality tools like Bosch, Dewalt Makita etc etc will do the job. Look round a bit n snavvel up the best buy you can find (You'll end up seeing it cheaper just after you buy it no matter what you get!!!)

REgards Lou

Metal head,

Have a close look at the Hitachi Range, Good stuff

Regards Mike.

Makita, but look for the magic words on the label: "Made in Japan".

The nuisance of a keyed chuck is still 25% better than a drill-bit spinning under duress in a keyless chuck.

Metabo and Hitachi are also top notch.

Hi Lads,

Thanks for all the replies much appreciated. I returned to Bunnings this morning and purchased a Makita HP1620 drill/hammer, 13mm diameter with a key chuck for $xxx - it also had a set of drills inside. The next one up in the range there was the one I use at work. As much as I like keyless chucks I know I have had my occassional problems with the drill slipping when going into concrete and masonary.

Btw, it is made in England, so being a "POMMIE" that suits me. Actually only one of the other 4 Makita's was actually made in Japan:eek:.


Cheers
David