Cordless Screw Drivers/Battery Drills

[j90xxx]

The Makita you mention is on Ebay.
Brand new £8.50 with 2 days to go.

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The DeWalt brand new £26, 2hrs to go.

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And the Hitachi battery seems very expensive!

[pidgeonpost]

I agree with Addo that we're really looking at home use rather than commercial in the price ranges mentioned, but usually it's a hell of a price hike to go for the 'professional' range, especially when you start looking at makes like Festool. Great if you need 'em for your work, but I'd never get one signed off by 'er indoors.
Aren't DeWalt now owned by Black and Decker btw?

[steve valentine]

Aren't DeWalt now owned by Black and Decker btw?

They've been owned by B&D for a while now. Some people are under the impression that because B&D own Dewalt, they also make their products. Dewalt continues to be a seperate company.

[Johnnypf]

I was looking to get a new Cordless Screw Driver/Battery Drill and was looking at the following:

1, Makita 8391DWPE
2, Dewalt DC100KA
3, Hitachi DV 18DCL2

All are similarly spec'ed with two battery’s and for just under £100. Which would you recommend??

We have had all three of these at some point where I work, sign company.

1+2. Both still going after 2/3 years but the batteries are showing their age and not holding full charges now and chucks are on the way out too.
3. We have had a few of these, we returned 2 within 6months of purchase as they started to slip gears. One was replaced with the lithium batteries but I wasnt impressed with the marginal increse in power/battery life over the Ni-cd.

We have also tried the AEG that you can also get from B+Q (guessing thats where you saw these drills) but wouldnt recommend them.

If you budget is set at sub £100 I would go with the Makita but if you could push it up a little bit I highly recommend getting a drill with Lithium batteries like the DeWalt XR DCD785C2SF-GB or the Makita BHP453SHE both £149.99 at Screwfix. I have the makita in my kit and one of the lads at work has the dewalt, both are good drills but I would probrably go for the dewalt as it feels better in the hand (if i was buying new kit, too much makita kit now to replace).
Another option would be Bosch GSB 14.4 2-Li 14.4V, only £89.99 with 2 batts at Screwfix (clearance line). Tempted to get some for work to replace the above makita Ni-cd's

[ffrenchie]

I've had the Makita for about 3 years now still on the original batteries and no problems. 1/2 hour charge with two batteries gives plenty of use.

[prunty]

I was looking to get a new Cordless Screw Driver/Battery Drill and was looking at the following:

1, Makita 8391DWPE
2, Dewalt DC100KA
3, Hitachi DV 18DCL2

All are similarly spec'ed with two battery’s and for just under £100. Which would you recommend??

We have had all three of these at some point where I work, sign company.

1+2. Both still going after 2/3 years but the batteries are showing their age and not holding full charges now and chucks are on the way out too.
3. We have had a few of these, we returned 2 within 6months of purchase as they started to slip gears. One was replaced with the lithium batteries but I wasnt impressed with the marginal increse in power/battery life over the Ni-cd.

We have also tried the AEG that you can also get from B+Q (guessing thats where you saw these drills) but wouldnt recommend them.

If you budget is set at sub £100 I would go with the Makita but if you could push it up a little bit I highly recommend getting a drill with Lithium batteries like the DeWalt XR DCD785C2SF-GB or the Makita BHP453SHE both £149.99 at Screwfix. I have the makita in my kit and one of the lads at work has the dewalt, both are good drills but I would probrably go for the dewalt as it feels better in the hand (if i was buying new kit, too much makita kit now to replace).
Another option would be Bosch GSB 14.4 2-Li 14.4V, only £89.99 with 2 batts at Screwfix (clearance line). Tempted to get some for work to replace the above makita Ni-cd's

Is the only differance in the two drills you are recommending at £150 over the one's I mentioned is the Lithium batteries, as I've just realised that the Hitachi DV 18DCL2 I mentioned above also has the Lithium battery where as the other two have the Ni-cd batteries...

[trevp]

I was told to beware of buying anything with ni-cad batteries apparently they are no longer allowed to import them so you won't be able to get a replacement when yours fails. I think that's why you get some good deals with power tools fitted with them at the moment

[prunty]

I went mad and bought the Hitachi the evening. It looks good and will give some feed back later in the year when I try it out.

Thanks to all for your comments...

[ffrenchie]

I was told to beware of buying anything with ni-cad batteries apparently they are no longer allowed to import them so you won't be able to get a replacement when yours fails. I think that's why you get some good deals with power tools fitted with them at the moment

The ban was implemented in 2008 and there's been no shortage of them yet, new ones are available on ebay.