I have an 18v. DeWalt LI-ion, a bit pricey but I'm pleased with it. I don't use it a lot so if I were buying again, I think I'd look at the likes of Aldi etc. For DIY, I find a single battery OK. 2 batteries increase the price quite a lot.

Ni-cads supposedly suffer from memory effect, which needs to be kept in mind for charging. Li-ion and ni-cad chargers aren't interchangable AFAIK.

I have given up on cordless drills for the simple reason that I don't use them enough for the battery to be charged/hold charge when needed. I did once buy a 24volt drill but found it a bit big and bulky for DIY use.

I have some of the Parkside 20V tools from Lidl, the batteries are cheap and the three drills I have work very well. One is an SDS and will drill concrete up to 10mm, the second is a combi, two speed with torque control and percussion, and the third is a drill/driver, two speed with torque control. I am pleased with all of them, and the batteries are available separately, as are the chargers. I also have a multi tool saw, a jigsaw, a car vacuum, and a larger vacuum cleaner. The batteries are 2 and 4 AH.

Lidl did make a huge mistake in bringing out a couple of brushless 20V tools which had a similar battery which was not interchangable with the X20V Team type. Fortunately for most of us, they quickly reverted to the X20V Team type. I use the large vacuum cleaner at the museum to suck up swarf from the mill. The batteries do not last long with the vacuum and that means they get charged regularly and will have a longer life, hopefully.

I think the 20V 4AH batteries cost £25.

Edited By old mart on 21/10/2020 18:32:07

I bought my Dewalt LION on a Screwfix offer as well, many years ago, and its been fantastic. Battery drills used to be such a compromise, if you had anything hefty to do you would grab a corded drill. These are really flexible, last ages on a charge and are quite robust. The batteries are now small enough to not be an encumberance too.

When mine oneday goes beyond economical repair I'll probably replace it with the same brand.

Its arguable that the ordianry home shop / DIY person needs better than inexpensive bottom of the range battery kit as such should be better able to cope with infrequent use. In our hands age out is more likely than wear out.

A better breed of machine should look after its batteries better than a made to a low price device. This was especially so with NiCad batteries. Modern lithium batteries are more tolerant of sitting around but better breed charges do look after the batteries better.

Round about the time Screwfix started selling their own brand Embreur(?) tools a friend of a friend switched to those for onsite building work. He reckoned that good breeds, professional DeWalt, Makita et al weren't value for money as they would get broken or nicked long before batteries or drill wore out. The cheaper ones he treated as throw aways. New ones every few months.

I went Makita NiCad for my home kit, special offer price of course, and never regretted it. A friend who went the lower end route, Screwfix in house or similar, ended up spending more than the difference on batteries which rarely managed a year.

I've done the open the pack up and fit new NiCad cells thing on my old Makita battery packs. Marginally worth it. Once.

I've since gone all Makita 18 volt sharing four batteries between hammer drill, 1/4 hex impact driver, twin battery hedge cutter, twin battery strimmer and 1/2" drive heavy duty impact wrench. 18 months in and "Quality remains long after the price is forgotten" seems to apply. Works for me. The big Makita 1/2 drive impact wrench is a total beast!

Never understood why all the cordless drills have such crappy chucks that self loosen when using hammer action.

Clive

Hammer action in drills is poor compared to SDS, alright for very soft walls. Of course, SDS drills are poor for drilling wood so its horses for courses.

Over the last twenty years or so I have purchased a five different makes of drill in 12 and 18 volt. The makes are Black and Decker, Ryobi, a couple of questionable make from B&Q and Wickes and the main one I use for the last 12 years a professional blue Bosch one. Whilst the cheap ones are fine in wood they take for ever to drill anything tough like brick. I prefer to buy a good tool once if I am going to use it more than the odd time. I bought a cheap SDS Plus to speed up the ripping up of floor tiles knowing I wouldn’t be doing it again, it took me ten minutes to finish the job I spent four hours on the day before I decided to get it. You definitely get what you pay for in both the tool and the battery.

One of my old cordless drills was a Bosch 14.1 volt but now have a Ryobi 18v drill which is much more powerful. Had it for more than 5 years with no problems. Gets used regularly every week. Also a Ryobi hammer drill, both of which have a 13mm chuck and enough torque to drill steel. Having 2 batteries is an advantage with cordless drills, charge one while using the other.

With Ryobi (and some other brands) you can purchase the drill, grinder, blower, etc separately, without a battery for half the price of a complete package and share the batteries that you already have.

Paul.

I ran 12V Ni-Cad and then Ni-Mi for many years then it became hard to get the DeWalt batteries and replacement brands were not as good so got one of their 18V Li-Ion brushless compact drills and it is so much better being lighter, smaller, more powerful and the battery life is many times that of the older ones. Where I might be charging several times a day I can go a couple of days between charges when doing similar work. Also got a circ-saw for these which has plenty of power though is a bit more bulky than the old one I used to run and throws the dust out a bit more.

When buying look at what Ah batteries you get as they often keep the costs down with 2Ah ones which are probably OK for less intense DIY use rather then the 4 or 5Ah that I now use.

I am on my second 12 V Panasonic drill. About 25 years ago, it was rated the best by a trusted consumer organisation. It cost $400 back then. I do not want an 18 volt drill as they are too heavy and I don't need the power. I use it to tap small holes, mostly 8 BA and even 10 BA but I accept that I will occasionally break one, usually when I get greedy and don't back out often enough. I'm not sure they even make drills anymore.