Cordless Drill/Driver

[mickey cassiba]

My old PC has given up the ghost, and batteries wer just too high anyway. Looking to buy a new one, in the 18 volt and up range. Hammer-drill capability required. Not all that concerned with combo sets and battery interchangeability, as the driver and my recip are the only cordless tools I use.
Haven't really looked at the market for a long time..whats the best out there now?
Need to add that it will be used constantly in an industrial environment so weaklings need not apply.

[John Pratt]

Others may disagree, but I like the Dewalt line of cordless. In our carpentry shop we do an extensive amount of work with cordless and the new 28V Hammer drill/drill/driver works great with the Lithium batteries. We also have a lot of the 18V line but for what you stated the 28V may be more up your alley.

[David Freed]

http://www.popularmechanics.com/home_journal/tools/4292657.html

Makita 18V BHP454 wins easily in the 18 volt comparison. That is what I am getting when I get a few other things squared away.

[Kevin Groenke]

Panasonic

'nuff said

[Mike Reinholtz]

Another vote for the Makita, I got mine in a kit with the impact and can't rave about them enough. I do commercial refrigeration for a living and can attest to the beatings I have given both drills since I got my set about 3 years ago. Neither have showed any signs of fading and we use them daily. The hammer drill feature works great, I regularly use it to drill 5/8" holes for drop-in anchors (3" deep) and have never had a problem.

Nothing against Dewalt, just haven't used them to compare.

[mickey cassiba]

The Makita looks pretty good. How's the weight...hows your arm at the end of the day?

[Darrell Bade]

Not sure that Popular Mechanics test tells you anything. They are comparing drills with 3.0 A/H batteries to drills with 1.5 A/H batteries. That is not even a fair comparison. They are also comparing hammer drills to regular drills.

Wish I could help with your decision, but I have the Milwaulkee and it is not a hammer drill so anything I could add would not be relevant.

[Prashun Patel]

You might consider getting a 'regular' LiIon 18v drill (my fave is the Makita compact set) and a corded hammer drill. Personally I only use a hammer drill for drilling in concrete.

There's a Hitachi recond hamm drill for $19.00. Check out the Deals and Discounts forum here.

[mickey cassiba]

Thanks Shawn, but corded won't work. Generator wont fit on my lift truck. We've got a big DeWalt rotary for the floor work, though and it's a HAWG.
MC

[Mike Reinholtz]

I find the Makita to be very light, coming from Nicad and NIMH batteries the 18V Lithiums are much lighter. Fatigue is definitely at a minimum for me.

[Kent A Bathurst]

Based on everything I have read, if I was in the market (my Milwaukee stuff still doing fine) I would go for the Makita Black stuff - but $$$ - 18v 1/2" hammer @ amazon for $190.

[mickey cassiba]

Based on everything I have read, if I was in the market (my Milwaukee stuff still doing fine) I would go for the Makita Black stuff - but $$$ - 18v 1/2" hammer @ amazon for $190.
Hey Kent,
Did I miss something? All I can find is blue. Do they have an industrial line?
Mickey

[Phillip Marsh]

We have a lot of cordless drills as we wanted to test out the lithium-ion powered models before getting a lot of new ones for the trucks. The Makita are great for overall use and they recharge very fast - under 15 minutes. The DeWalt DCD970 is the most powerful 18v in term of "drill power" as it is the only one we have found with a 3-speed gear box and it really makes a difference to be able to pick the best gear for the task. The DeWalt also has a battery charge time well under 15 minutes and is faster than even the Makita to recharge.

The Milwaukee M18 is excellent in terms of power and rated by the manufacturer as having about 80 in.lbs. more torque but due to the 2-speed gear box and the overload shutoff control for the lithium batteries it cannot be used in high torque situations where the DeWalt is fine. The M18 has the best chuck of any of the drills we have used. The DeWalt tends to lock up and the Hitachi slips a lot, especially with 1/8" or small drill bits.

The Milwaukee and the Ridgid X3 both have similar side handle mounts which look neat but mean the handle can only be mounted at a 90 degree angle - often fine but a lot of the time I like a different location for the supporting hand when I am worried about the cutter catching and the drill twisting. The Milwaukee lithium batteries take more than 30 minutes to recharge and after drilling a single 2" hole in OSB it took more than 25 minutes to get back to full charge. The Ridgid take 45 minutes to recharge.

With the fast 15 minute recharge time of the Makita and DeWalt drills a smaller and lighter drill and battery pack can be used. The DeWalt hammer drill with the 3-speed gear box is the equal of a lot of higher voltage drills, especially the ones powered by NiCad batteries.

If you do want the hammer action the Bosch seem to be the best and only Bosch and Makita (as far as we have determined) provide a depth rod to limit the drilling depth when installing expansion bolts and anchors.

I don't have one hammer or one saw and see no reason to have only one hammer drill. The Makita is my favorite for light duty, the M18 for medium duty, and the DeWalt is for the really touch jobs like putting a 6" hole through brick or stucco or driving deck screws through ipe.

One thing that gets me with all the drill reviews is that they don't compare how well the drills perform in real world situations or give people any idea of what hole cutting tool options are available. It takes a lot more torque to drive a self feed bit than a hole saw and a TCT hole cutter can make a hole twice as big as a self feed bit and use 1/10 as much juice from the battery. Since we switched to the Blue Boar TCT big gullet hole cutters I can use even the baby Makita cordless on projects where I would have needed a 1/2" corded drill in the past. Using a super duty drill to drive an inefficient drill or hole cutter is not the best use of one's time or money.

[Leo Graywacz]

Hey Kent,
Did I miss something? All I can find is blue. Do they have an industrial line?
Mickey

The blue is the industrial line. The black and white is the DIY/industrial line.

[mickey cassiba]

Thanks all...probably going with a DeWalt recon. My company has a DW franchise, so that'll keep the bean counters happy. Recon because a reconditioned tool actually has a technician work on it rather than 12-14 min wage assemblers trying to survive another boring night on the line. Reckon what the minimum wage is in Mexico anyway? Besides, the company is paying...the PC died on the job. Part of my contract.
Mickey