What's your favorite cordless drill?

[onthebeam]

Panasonic, Hilti, and Metabo are the best of the best, but they're not too common and they're a little expensive. After that, there are a lot of good companies. I might put Milwaukee, Porter-Cable, Makita, and DeWalt all on the next level. I've heard Hitachi is going downhill, and I'm not sold on Ridgid stuff yet. After that come the junk brands like B&D, Ryobi, Skil, etc.

Agreed that the Ryobi drills are not for long term contractor use, but they perform well and are an excellent value. This has been borne out in several woodworking magazine reviews, Consumer Reports and others. For the non-pro, they are fine drills and I haven't had a bit of trouble with either of mine. So, "junk brand" they are not. Agreed that the B&D (same company as Dewalt, by the way), and Skil do not generally fare well in independent reviews and often have slow three hour chargers. You also make a good point about the most powerful drill not always being the most comfortable to use in the long run. Ryobi drills are a pretty good product with great weight characteristics and ok, but not superlative ergonomics.

[guntotin_fool]

as a contractor. DeWalt has fallen on hard times, bad BAD battery life, and at 55 to 89 dollars a battery pac, not cheap to replace 30 battery pacs.

Milwaukee has retrieved some market share, I however prefer the Makita black battery series. The Hitachi's are pretty good too, if you buy the contractor grades and not the homeowner specials. I have currently 18 makita's on the book, 4 metabo's and 12 hitachi's. most are 12 volt models which the guys prefer for most jobs because they are lighter and strong enough to strip any screw. I have a closet full of Dewalts that I no longer use because Dewalt would not warrantee the battery pacs that started to die only 8 mos after purchase, I found out later Menards dropped Dewalt for the same reason, refusing to accept RTV's for credit.

Seven corners Hardware for years has been one of the largest retailers of power tools in the country and they recommend and sell a lot of panasonic, makita, bosch and hitachi. I do not like panasonic and bosch only for feel in my hands, although I have two guys who are new who both want them so i am looking at setting up their truck all bosch.

[Makarov]

Guntotin, I guess you can find somone on this forum that can help you or point you to someone that can help you change the batteries in the Dewalt batterypacks.
I believe you could get high capacity batterypacks for cheap that way.

[allxring]

Panasonic 15.6-Volt, NiMH batteries andrebate good through the end of the year gets you the 15.6v flashlight for free too.

I have this exact drill, but with the hammer option. It is by far the best drill that I have ever used, owned, or borrowed. Panasonic makes some really good stuff.

[springnr]

I almost went for the hammer option. It is a nice size with good power.

[CLHC]

Just looked up Metabo and they sure are impressive! Seems like they really know what power tools should be and for it's users.

[jeep44]

I'll chime in here,too. As a pipefitter, I only use Milwaukee stuff-at home I have a 14.4 drill that replaced a 10-year old 12V Milwaukee. We have some specialized Hilti tools at work that are tough and durable. Being a pipefitter, all my wrenches and plumbing tools are Rigid brand, but their power tools like drills all seem to be made in China. I'll stick with Milwaukee.

[cdf]

The ridgid brand is not made by ridgid themselves , it's a liscencing deal that allows the Home Depot to use their name . They are a higher end offshore POS . DeWalt batteries are not consistent , until very recently they didn't spec. amp hours . I guess they buy whatever's on special that week . I've noticed that DeWalt owners start out satisfied , satisfaction drops off rapidly . A buddy of mine in the plastics industry advises me that the plastic in the casings is C@#p !

In recent years Bosch has been all over the map . ( probabably due to being owned by Skil - POS vendors {with the narrow exception of their worm drive saw }.

Hopefully Milwaukee quality will stay high , their stuff is pretty rugged . If you have good local dealer support , Panasonic and Hitachi are worth a look . The problem with Makita is that the have various levels of quality present in their various lines . You have to be up to date to know who's who . Panasonic is reputed to have the best battery quality of the lot .

Chris

[onthebeam]

Is anyone using an impact driver for their drilling too??

[cy]

(The DeWalt in the photo is the largest 18V hammer-drill they make. The other one really is that huge--12amp, 3/4" chuck)

Dewalt makes a 24V hammer drill. but like you stated, it's too large for most aplications.

my fav is 18V dewalt, best overall size to power ratio and just about largest size I can tolarate for general duties.

like the 12V dewalt better for size, but batt puked out too soon.

[RA40]

Wish you had a 12V choice. That said, my 12V Panasonics are compact and easy handlers with adequate torque for most my applications. I have smallish hands so the Panasonics are perfect for me.

While doing a cabinet and closet install, a buddy grabbed my Panasonic because it was set-up for the one task. He was amazed how well it performed. The size allowed him to work within the compact cabinet where his 14.4 or 12V PC wouldn't fit.

[wylde21]

Another vote for Panasonic. I had used to use Makita and BD, which were decent tools for homeowner type work, until I was between jobs last year and took some side work doing home remodeling. All the other workers on the jobs I worker that used a cordless drill all day long - carpenters, electricians, HVAC etc - used Panasonic drills. The liked the quality and relative weight/power ratios. I saw that the furnace installers used Milwaukee (drills and saws), and the cable guy used DeWalt. I purchased a “remanufactured” Panasonic from Amazon, and could not be happier with the quality, weight, power, and battery life compared to my Makita drills, or to the other comparable units (PC/DeWalt/Ridgid/BD/ Milwaukee) I tried out at Lowes and Home Depot before I made my purchase. One point, I would get the NiMh over NiCad battery models.

[vandrecken]

Best drills in the world ?

Hilti.

I can't afford them, so I buy Metabo (next best)

For top quality precision power tools, checkout festool.com too

The others brands aren't in the same league but at 24v the bosch GBH24 VRE from their industrial range (the blue ones, not the green DIY range) is a pretty good tool.

RIDGID don't exist in the UK but I checking out there range it's interesting to note that part of their range - corded drills, grinders, jigsaws, and sanders - are using body mouldings and castings that are IDENTICAL to models from the metabo range.

Cheers

[hayhauler]

In DeWalt you will find two qualities. A DeWalt drill that has a completely yellow body is a piece of junk. A DeWalt Drill that has the black insets in the hand grip is hard to beat.

[CLHC]

After posting in this thread almost six (6) years ago, my favorite is still somewhere in this bag:



Since buying my first home last year and getting a quote to install blinds of some $3000.00USD on five (5) windows, I opted to do it myself for roundabouts $800.00USD. All the while using my Milwaukee M18 Cordless Drill!

[OCD]

I had a 12v Dewalt that my dad gave me. It was used pretty hard but still did the job. A few years ago, I picked up a new, display model 12v Dewalt from Sears for $60. They said it didn't have the case or charger, just the drill and one battery. I went to check out and they bring the case and charger out from behind the counter. SWEET! I don't use it very hard, but both drills have been very good. My only complaint was the 3/8" chuck. My dad was getting rid of his 18v dewalt after replacing it with a 14.4 dewalt. I took the 1/2" chuck of the 18v and it fit my 12v. Now I'm in business.

[RBR]

Got a Makita 6317DWDE which did a great job when modifying my house some years ago.

Compact, light weight and strong enough for some serious jobs, didn´t manage to ruin an akku so far.

Quality and hard to kill tool in my opinion.

Cheers

RBR

[DisrupTer911]

My Craftsman 19.2v C3 drill, air pump, impact driver and soon impact wrench are my favorite cordless tools.

the C3 batteries have lasted me a long time and a lot of use.

[Umbria]

I have the Milwaukee. It is a good drill but the batteries that came with it weren't performing well so the store replaced then for me. I have had an18 volt Dewalt for ten years and it still works well. My favorite however is the Festool although the Hilti is probably better at heavy masonry work.

[tbenedict]

My advice is to stay say from nimh. Do with Li or ni-cad.

I gave away my Makita 14.4 because the batteries lost their ability to hold a charge (even a replacement) way too quick. Like the brand, but the batteries were not Eneloops...

Haven't had a problem with my Dewalt 12v ni-cad in the last few years.

[Wrend]

I only use it as a drill some of the time, but my favorite would have to be my Dremel Stylus. It's very handy to have around. I think it's a 2 cell Li-ion though...

[gearhead1972]

In DeWalt you will find two qualities. A DeWalt drill that has a completely yellow body is a piece of junk.

I would disagree, I have an older (98 or 99) all yellow 18 volt. This drill was used daily in commercial construction (I'm a sheetmetal worker) for many years. It has fallen off the top of 12 foot ladders, kicked off of scissor lifts, been soaking wet in the rain and snow. It has never failed me.

[LMTRocks]

I've been using Dewalt 997 18v Jacobs 1/2" carbide chuck drills for 11 years now.

Just replaced the chuck on one of them and both have been run hard but still run remarkably well. Neither have the side-handle though.

[eh4]

I used to be ok with DeWalt.
I trust Bosch and love the tools of theirs that I have, a tablesaw, jigsaw, planer and circular saw.
My cordless drill is an old 18volt Ryobi that should be replaced but refuses to die, I don't really recommend it but it has survived well, the batteries hold a decent charge for work but won't hold a charge overnight.

I'd love to get an 18volt Bosch.