Combination drill & countersink tools - good?

[Neil Brooks]

+3 on the Snappy set.

I'm a big believer ... that there is a small place in this world ... for cheap tools.

I've gotten good mileage out of them, and they've met my fairly high standard (that is: I haven't sworn at them yet).

Now ... WHO got me looking at the Amana bits ????

[Brandon Weiss]

I almost got that insty drive set from Rockler, but I wasn't interested in tapered bits. I got the set from Snappy, and I am very happy with it. For countersinks that have to be perfect though, I use stand-alone counter sinks on the drill press...

+1 again on that. Remember that tapered drill bits are for screws whose shank above the threads is the same diameter as the thread major diameter. For most screws used nowadays, straight bits are the way to go, in my opinion. If it has to be a perfect countersink, use the dedicated c/s as many have mentioned. 90% of the time when I use a drill/countersink combination it is the Kobalt combos from Lowes. They are cheap and do a more than decent job until the dull. At which point the replacement is cheap. I bought the Rockler set you are looking at. It's a great set. Used one of the bits to make a deck with. The end of the drill bit is still in the deck.... My fault though, not the set's fault. The self-centering bits are an excellent thing to have around.

One other thing to consider. Of all the countersink/drill sets I've purchased I mainly use the #8. Make sure that if you buy the variety set you'll actually use all the bits. Otherwise jut buy the bits you actually need. Might save you some bucks.

Last note: I've heard the jackrabbit is an excellent system. Haven't pulled the trigger yet, but one of these days I will.