Best cordless screwdriver .

[jfc]

What do you guys rate as the best drill driver on the market ? I want something to replace Hilti and Hilti wont supply to the people replacing my tools .
I rate Hilti as the best as i have burnt out a few Defaults , Makita , Altlas copco and Bosh ;D But the Hilti has gone on without a problem for a good few years .

I dont want to do heavy maisonary drilling with it i just want a screwdriver and something that will do pilot holes .

Over to you

[wizer]

I have an Hitachi and am very pleased with both it and it's better life battery life. Seems Makita always gets good reviews, but I could never get on with mine.

[engineerone]

whilst i have dewalt, jason i gave a mate an old ryobi which he still uses. 18volt, and the battery fits many other similar tools
worth looking at.

otherwise borrow the one from colin and see if you like it ;D

paul

[jonnyd]

I have a couple of metabo drill drivers in 12 and 15,6volt and they just keep on going. I also use a couple of blue bosch drivers for lighter weight stuff.

jon

[gazza]

Panasonic take some beating
Maybe a bit heavy duty for you Jason ;D
Would you not consider an impact driver ??
Brilliant for driving screws, Trend snappy drill bits fit easily and drill pilot holes well, smaller, lighter than a drill driver.
I have the 18v dewalt (got them cheap on ebay) i find i hardly ever use the drill now except for drilling masonary.
Cheers,
Gazza.

[jake]

I'd say Festool or Fein (given you aren't looking for huge grunt or a combi), but they are still on Ni-Cad or NiMH, and I like Li-Ion (largely for the lesser weight, but also for not having to worry about nursing batteries in terms of when to charge them).

I've got Hitachi which I'm happy with, but Panasonic seem to have the best reputation of the Japanese firms for drill/drivers.

I'd get an impact driver and a drill which share the same batteries.

[mikeb]

Milwaukee have just released a new 18v Li Ion which looks worth a look...

[engineerone]

also you have the choice of aeg these days too.

paul

[nickw]

Another vote for Panasonic.

[jfc]

I'd get an impact driver and a drill which share the same batteries.

Whats an impact driver used for My Hilti has lasted that long i havnt had to look into it .

[cadas]

I vote for dewalt, Having finally knackered my old 14.4v set after 3 years hard use I tried the following:

Milwarkie........weigh more than my my dog, solid metal gearboxes, ok, and quite a nice tool but the 18v is a seriously heavy lump.

Festool, ok I only borrowed the 12v version, and it was ok, heavy but very slow rpm for some reason. Not worth the cost.

Makita, got this as a set with an impact driver with each driver. Impact drivers are great fun, use hex bits and drive 4" screws all day. BUT, battery life is appalling, I constantly have the charger on the go. This has been relegated to a workshop tool. I do keep the impact drivers in the van for studding and roofing work, can't beat them for heavy work.....but I find to get the best use hex bits.

Dewalt, 18v , heavier than the 14.4 which I prefer but the batteries have really good life and best of all they are cheap, 149euros(about 120 pounds) each for the ones with the metal chuck. I have three of these and by and large a battery lasts a day on site.

[gazza]

Aug 22, 2008 17:20:48 GMT jfc said:

I'd get an impact driver and a drill which share the same batteries.

Whats an impact driver used for

This might explain a bit.
Cheers,
Gazza.

[Stree]

Panasonic. no ifs, no buts, they are the best.

[jfc]

Hmmmmmmm so they drive a screw in fast , is that a good thing

[engineerone]

didn't know you were into long slow screws ;D

paul

[scraper]

Another vote for DeWalt here!

The 14.4v is a really handy size and we've used them for about 12 years now.

I think the 18v version is just too heavy for all day driver use, and for an impact driver the 12v is perfect.

We've just got a new Dewalt 12v metal gearbox drill/driver and it is really impressive - even over my previous 12v ones.

Makita just seem too plasticy now. We have old and new in them, and for build quality the older is much mode solid feeling.

Bosch? - well the last three went on Ebay (along with the cordless jigsaw and planer!) as the battery life per charge was rediculously short.

And yet Mrs. Scraper bought me one of the small Bosch Li-ion 10.8v drivers last year, and boy, is it a great tool. they also do a pocket-sized impact driver that uses the same batteries.

[mel]

although ive had over the years many of the above drills id go for makita li-ion in 18v , add to your list an impact driver {that even you jason . cant break}
this will save you swapping bits all the time
i got the li-ion makita to fill a gap in drilling capacity , and use them all the time
never been lucky enough to own a festool or panasonic
but it appears that everyone who owns one loves um

all hail to the king of drills HILTI

[gazza]

Aug 22, 2008 18:54:35 GMT jfc said:

Hmmmmmmm so they drive a screw in fast , is that a good thing

Believe it or not they can also drive a screw in slowly ;D ;D

yes mate they are fast but they also have a variable speed through the amount of squeeze you put on the trigger
They are also lighter (most important if your driving alot of screws)
smaller (also important in restricted access)
Quick change between bits,
Powerfull,
can drill holes (with a snappy bit), better than a drill driver (IMHO)

need i go on.............
my 2 15.6v panasonic drills are almost redundant now, something i thought would never happen
Cheers,
Gazza.

[Keith]

Another vote for DeWalt.

I think I have about 8 ;D the oldest is about 10 and the batteries with the latest drill fit it.

I don't think there is much point paying vast amounts for a drill driver, someone is going to nick it or you'll drop it from a great height.

[jfc]

Or in my case throw it at the wall when i have a hissy fit

[cadas]

In that case, check out the Fisher Price range

[engineerone]

he's not grown up enough to be trusted with fisher price ;D

paul

[mailee]

I will suggest a Makita with a rubber coat! ;D

[mel]

come on then jason
what drill did you end up with then ??

[Scrit]

Aug 22, 2008 17:20:48 GMT jfc said:

I'd get an impact driver and a drill which share the same batteries.

Whats an impact driver used for My Hilti has lasted that long i havnt had to look into it .

Great for assembly, faster than a regular drill/driver, however you need to be careful not to overdrive or use them on screws which are too small because they'll shear screw heads for the fun of it. In comparison to a conventional drill/driver they are "dead" wioth little feedback. That's why I use a 12volt impact; 120Nm torque as opposed to the 140+Nm of the 18volt drivers - so I'm less worried about shearing screw heads. Pity that the batteries don't last so long. I've recently been doing a lot of MF- and MR-MDF and the impact really speeds the job up so long as I pilot the holes first. If you get an impact driver you still need a conventional drill/driver with something like a flip-drive bit because it's not a replacement for the drill/driver

Oh, and my "weapon of choice" is the Makita, partly because the impact driver has user-replaceable brushes.

Scrit