Cordless Question DW Drill 14 V

[Chuck Fischer]

A while back I read a cordless drill review in wood mag and they said that the DEWALT DC983KA was the best drill out there. I got some birthday money and was thinking it might be time to go grab a cordless drill. (my makita 12 volt won't hold a charge and the batteries aren't rebuildable) Do you guys think the DW is a good drill? I've never owned one, but I do have a Dewalt planer, and its sweet. When I worked at the hardware store it seemed like the pros all used dewalt drills... I'd usually buy a milwaukee or a makita, but wood mag made this drill sound like the best one out there, but that was over a year ago now.

Any advice would be great guys.
Chuck

[Bruce Page]

Chuck, I have the DeWalt 14v and so far, (1½ years) it has been bullet proof and I would buy it again. The DW replaced a very old PC 12v.

[Doug Shepard]

I've got a DW 14.4V drill. The drill is fine, but I'm thouroughly unimpressed with their batteries. One of the two that came with the drill has died already after just a couple years. I had pretty similar results with a DW 12V drill. I know DW isnt alone in battery life expectancy problems, but I just haven't had a lot of luck with their batteries. You also might want to look at Panasonic. Pretty much every drill review I've seen has listed them at the top of the list. I ended up getting one for my dad for Christmas. It has a 1/2" instead of 3/8 chuck, 15.6V but with the weight and balance of a 14V. I haven't had a chance to personally use it, but according to dad, it's got enough torque to just about twist your arm out it's socket and so far at least, no battery problems. For now I'm going to keep using the DW and get the bad battery rebuilt, but will probably look at the Panasonics when it gets time to buy a new drill.

[Mike Kelly]

I have had a DW 14.4V for three or 4 years now, and I love it, but the best on the scene now is the new Makita 18V Lithium Ion hammer drill. They have a neat deal right now for $595 for the drill, impact driver and circular saw flashlight combo and they send you a recipro saw. It is as light as a 12V machine and it lasts much much longer than NiMH or NiCad devices. The balance and features are great too. LED lights to light up dark spaces, belt hangers etc. Great deal.

[Jim DeLaney]

I like the 14.4 volt tools. They've got good power, and are still light enough to not wear your arm out by the end of the day. I have the 14.4V drill (983), the angle drill, the light, the circular saw, recip saw, and just recently got the impact driver. 'Twixt and among the tools, I have seven batteries and three chargers. The 983 is about four years old, as is the angle drill and the saw. They've all seen quite a bit of (hobbiest/homeowner) use, with no problems.

[Rick Christopherson]

I like the features of the DeWalt but I am not pleased with the engineering of them. During a test I ran a few months ago, I smoked several DeWalt drills in just a few seconds of heavy use. The troubling aspect of these drills (any voltage) is that they didn't design the motor to handle the voltage of the battery. I don't want to sound biased, so I won't say which drills didn't smoke, but the orange ones and yellow ones smoked.

[Larry Norton]

Well, let me muddy the waters even more. I had a Dewalt 14.4, the switch had a dead spot in it and I sold it at a yard sale. I have 2 Dewalt 9.6's, a Dewalt 12, and 2 Porter Cable 12 volts. I absolutely love the Porter Cables. The Dewalts are OK, but for some reason the P.C. just sound and feel better.

The reason I have 2 Dewalt 9.6's is because the batteries were almost dead and I got a deal at Lowes on another one. Since the batteries in the new one fit the old one, I now have 2 with a fresh battery for each.

I bought my first P.C. and later found 2 batteries at Homey for $29 each. Then I found a bare 12 volt P.C. on ebay and got it for $28.

I don't think I'll be buying another cordless drill any time soon!

[PeterTorresani]

I've had my Dewalt 14V for almost ten years and am quite pleased with it. I've built two garages, three decks, and numerous small projects without a hitch. I can also attest to the fact that it can handle a 12 ft drop onto cement. To top it off, I'm still using the original batteries, although they are starting to go.

All that said, I would buy a Panasonic over the DW in a heart beat if the cost was the same. There's a reason that all the professionals use them. I've used one a couple times and it has more torque than the DW, and better batteries (reputation anyway)

If you have an abundance of money, the new Milwaukee 28V tools seem pretty cool at the display case (reminds me of a great joke).

Good luck with the purchase

[Chuck Fischer]

Thanks for all the great advice. I checked out Amazon too for reviews and the DW had some negative reviews, some posative ones as well, but when you're talking about a 200 dollar investment you gotta be sure. It surprises me though that Wood mag would have given it such a high rating if it really had the flaws people claim it to have, but what can you do?

Anyway, thanks again for the advice. I'm going to look around some more, I can stick with my milwaukee corded drills for now, no rush. What do you guys think about the Bosh? I've got one their routers, and its ok, but its been in for repairs twice (the housing corroded and the switch went bad) it was a 1617evs, I bought it the first year it came out, so obviously its going to have bugs right? They do seem to make some nice tools, but you know, the more I think about it, the only tools that have never let me down have been my milwaukees. Maybe I should stick to them. However I have heard a negative review of the new 28 volt drills already, I can't remember from where, but I heard one of the drills burnt up right out of the box. Seems a bit unlike Milwaukee, but who knows? My dad has a 9.6 volt cordless milwaukee that he's had for... its got to be like 15 or 20 years now, its on its second or third round of batteries, but it still runs like a champ, he loves it. Maybe I'll just get a bit brace and drill by hand.

Chuck

[Marc Ward]

I have this one:
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00009KDGX.01._PE44_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Which you can see here:
AMAZONTOOLS (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009KDGX/qid=1142945730/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/102-5541789-7540909?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=hi&v=glance&n=228013)

I read quite alot about this before I bought, and it seems many think the Panasonic battery technology is about the best available. So far, many months of hard use and I am still very impressed with it.

[Ken Belisle]

I agree on the Panasonic 15.6............I have an older one (3.0 AH) and the newer (3.5 AH) model and would recommend to anyone. Lighter than most 14.4's but more torque than most 18V. Good chuck, great clutch and the best batteries you can find.

Just my opinion..........

[Byron Trantham]

For those of you are having problems getting replacement batteries or having them rebuilt, you might check out this site: www.primecell.com

I had my DW 9.6V batteries rebuilt by them for $25 each and I couldn't happier. The drill runs better than new they hold a charge a lot longer. My DW 14.4 batteries will be going to them for rebuild when they are ready.

As far as using the 14.4, I love mine. I've had it for a couple years now and it runs and runs and runs.

[Steve Clardy]

I'm upgrading all my older 862 12v to Bosch 14.4
They have the blue cell batteries, 50% more run time, and------
drumroll------3 year warranty on the batteries.
I purchased two units in february. Very pleased with them.
I didn't like the way the newer pc drills have their battery slide in, out. I have two of those and really do not like them. I am a dedicated pc fan, but just am not happy with the changes they did on them.

[Dave Dionne]

then returned it, it was not a performance issue but of ergonomics or maybe I should say fit. When I used it I can't remember if it was my thumb or my hand that kept hitting the reverse button and either making the drill sound not healthy or just not operate. NOT DW's fault I have had a couple of wrist surgeries and probably hold it a little different then others. I bought the Mikita and love it, I have had it for about a year and half and have put it through some hard use and no complaints.

Hope this helps Dave

[Jim Becker]

While my primary drill/driver is now my Festool 12v, I still like and use my Dewalt 14.4 drill/driver. But like others, I'm not happy with the batteries and will have to have them rebuilt or replace them in the very near future in order to continue using it...they last only a very short time between charges at this point after about 4 years or so.

[Tom A Walker]

I've had my DW 14.4 for nearly 10 years. The drill itself is great and has survived a night in a bucket of water (some idiot left the valve open on the garden hose in his garage). I've never had a power issue with it.

However, I did have a problem with the charger/batteries about 3 years ago. The charger blew out both batteries in a messy little battery explosion. I think it had something to do with the wall outlet it was plugged into since I'm still lusing the charger with a new battery but I was still disappointed the charger didn't have a fail safe.

My biggest problem with the batteries is the cost. I still haven't replaced the back up battery because I find it hard to justify the extra $70 or so for it. I would buy another in a second though.

[paul meli]

You could do like I did and wire a cord to an old battery after removing the cells and connect it to a 12v tractor or marine battery. I use a lighter plug/receptacle to make the connection. This is semi-cordless since it's easy to carry the battery (in a bucket or battery holder) to where you're working and you can also plug it into your car lighter socket, not much more inconvenient than continuously charging cordless batteries.

I use the cordless batterries when I have them charged but the tractor battery lasts weeks between charges.

Regards,
Paul

[Doug Shepard]

I have this one:
http://ec1.images-amazon.com/images/P/B00009KDGX.01._PE44_SCMZZZZZZZ_.jpg
Which you can see here:
AMAZONTOOLS (http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00009KDGX/qid=1142945730/sr=1-3/ref=sr_1_3/102-5541789-7540909?%5Fencoding=UTF8&s=hi&v=glance&n=228013)

I read quite alot about this before I bought, and it seems many think the Panasonic battery technology is about the best available. So far, many months of hard use and I am still very impressed with it.

You just had to go post a pic with a 44% off label didn't ya?:D
This got me wondering if the last Amazon 10% storewide promo they emailed me was still in effect. Nope. But in the small print I notice they have another 10% off deal on select tools thru 3/27. So after checking and realizing the Panasonic is included in this offer I went ahead and ordered one - at 54% off. Ended up costing me less for the 3.5 Ah version than the 3.0 I bought for my dad for Christmas. Only drawback is they're not going to be in stock for about 5 wks or so. Looks like I can put off getting my bad DW battery rebuilt for a while.

[Stephen Dixon]

Comparing the Dewalt batteries to the Panasonic batteries is like comparing apples to oranges. The Dewalt and most other drills, have Ni-Cad batteries, while the Panasonic uses NMHds, the nickle metal hydrides will produce a longer run time on a charge, and more power (torque), but it also has fewer charges in the battery life, and is more expensive.

Ni-cads have a charge cycle life of nearly 2000 charges, NMHds have a cycle life of around 1500 charges, and the new Lithium batteries, have much better charge life and power per pound but are limited to about 500 recharges. If you get one of the newer Lithuim Ion devices make sure that you use as much of the battery as you can before recharging, because you have a limited number of charges to work with.

Thats my $0.02 opinion of battery life
Steve

[Jim Bell]

I have an 18v Milwaukee cordless. If it breaks I'll get another no questions asked. Also have 2 Dewalts, compared to the Milwaukee it's not even a race.
Jim

[Art Moore]

I'm gonna blaspheme here... I've had (2) cordless Makitas (3/8 and 3/8 right-angle) and a corded Bosch 1196 (1/2 hammer drill) for over 15 years and have just about worn the Makitas out ( I don't think you could hurt the Bosch with a hammer and anvil). BUT, when I replaced the cordless drills earlier this year, I went with the Craftsman DieHard 19.2 volt series. Excellent torque, excellent battery life, and the price is hard to beat at $129.00 for the pair. We'll see how long they last, but so far I'm impressed with'em.