Cordless drills

Brian H · Dec 10, 2006

Dewalt 18v. Its plenty strong and works well. I was installing some seats in my box truck the other day and the drill bit caught and the dam thing almost broke my wrist.

GrandZJ · Dec 10, 2006

This will probly mean some flamadge but Ryobi's out last everything, the makita's break at the handle if dropped more than a few feet. dewalt has enough torque to break itself just tightening sh!t.

TrikeKid · Jan 21, 2007

I'm going Dewalt when I have the cash. Tool King has re-man kits for cheap (taking a real hard look at the 14.4 volt drill/sawzall combo). My dad bought a 14.4v Craftsman, and it worked great for a while, till the charger simply decided to stop working after maybe 4-5 charges (I know I only used the drill one time, and my dad only ran a pack or three through it)

Rock-N-Ruin · Jan 21, 2007

Dewalt 18volt XRP, I have 2 of them and one PorterCable 14.4V and it's ok, but not as torquey as my dewalt's... JMO...Jeff

64FJ40 · Feb 11, 2007

GrandZJ said:
This will probly mean some flamadge but Ryobi's out last everything, the makita's break at the handle if dropped more than a few feet. dewalt has enough torque to break itself just tightening sh!t.

You asked for it... Ryobi stuff only lasts because the engineers underpowered them from the factory. I've had 2 12V (both still work, but the chargers kept dying and I got tired of buying nes ones). I also have an 18V kit (drill, sawzall, circ, flashlight). It still works fine (only had to buy one new charger), but the battery life is crap compared to just about anything else and none of the tools has anywhere close to the torque of the others mentioned in this thread. But, batteries and chargers are comparatively cheap (which WILL come in handy).

My buddy Dave has a business building high-end (like $25K+) decks. I work for him on my days off. I now have 2 18V DeWalts (gotta have one for pre-drilling and one for screwdriving) and I love them. The battery life with the XRP packs is much improved, and the torque of the 3-speed hammerdrill is amazing. The other one I have is the compact 18V 2-speed and I really don't have any complaints about it either. They are heavy, and not as "friendly"-feeling as a Hitachi/Bosch/Makita/Panasonic, but they definitely get hte job done and I don't worry about leaving them out in the rain.

Dave uses the Ridgid drills from Home Depot. He's had to have both of them in for service (free of course) in the past year. They're great drills to work with though. Torque is definitely on par with my DeWalt, but the chuck sucks. The electric brake stops it so fast that the outer shell of the chuck (the part you grap to tighten it) keeps spinning and gradually loosens up until your bit falls out. The DeWalt doesn't do this. Dave got a drill bit stuck in some ironwood the other day and couldn't tighten his chuck enough on it to get the bit out. My DeWalt got it out easily - the DeWalt hammerdrill keeps the chuck locked when it's off, so you can really tighten it down. The Ridgid dual charger is way better, but the internal cooling fan is annoying - we kept moving it out of earshot.

All in all, for the same money, I'd be torn between the Ridgid and DeWalt. I like the use of the DeWalt a little better, but the lifetime no-questions asked warrantee of the Ridgid is tough to beat cosidering the kind of punishment a cordless drill is likely to endure.

skrause · Feb 11, 2007

Makita 6v or 7.2v for small stuff, corded Dewalt for big stuff.

Remember, the more cells that battery pack has the faster it's going to go bad on you.

tj40ounce · Feb 12, 2007

GrandZJ said:
This will probly mean some flamadge but Ryobi's out last everything, the makita's break at the handle if dropped more than a few feet. dewalt has enough torque to break itself just tightening sh!t.

Ryobi...

uke:

Batteries suck, tool is heavy, shitty warranty. Ryobi's fit the bill if you are looking for 10 tools (gotta have the beard trimmer, chain saw, bs.. too) for $200 and you use the tools once a month. Otherwise, you are waisting your $$$$

cheesemaker · Feb 12, 2007

I inherited two Porter-Cable drills from my dad and he used them for the last 5 years in construction! And he had dewalt before that and talk about junk compared to the porter cable ones!

tj40ounce · Feb 12, 2007

cheesemaker said:
I inherited two Porter-Cable drills from my dad and he used them for the last 5 years in construction! And he had dewalt before that and talk about junk compared to the porter cable ones!

DeWalt owns Porter Cable....

64FJ40 · Feb 13, 2007

tj40ounce said:
DeWalt owns Porter Cable....

Hadn't heard that one before... Black-n-Decker owns DeWalt though.

tj40ounce · Feb 13, 2007

64FJ40 said:
Hadn't heard that one before... Black-n-Decker owns DeWalt though.

B&D created dewalt. I think it was the best marketing strategy they could have done at the time. Black and Decker/dewalt also owns Delta....

The Jeep · Feb 19, 2007

We wore out a DeWalt 18V XRP here at work in about a year, but it went through 3 packs a day every day on setting 2-15 before the batteries caught fire and the trigger got hosed. We bought another one just like it to replace it. It still works, sorta, the trigger is just sticky.

wazz · Feb 21, 2007

I'm going on around 5 years of home use for my Ryobi 18V 1/2" it gets used pretty much every week for at least 1 project or another I guess for the price and how many times I dropped it I cant complain its still ticking, plus I actualy like that the saws-all and flash light all take the same batteries.

For you battery life haters, think I'm gonna try this trick on a dead solder hopefully it works.:corn:

http://www.instructables.com/id/EPV474YLF3EV2Z8V9V/ <------link to charging your battery with a welder lol