Best Battery drill?

[Kram]

It doesn't have regular screws, has like odd shaped tamper proof ones or something.

Oh one other mildly annoying thing with it is the batteries are often are an absolute **** to try and pull out.

 

[Bazzar]

Long time ago Panasonic was the Rolls Royce of battery power drills becauce what was available to the public was 2nd or 3rd generation technology developed by Panasonic/NASA as they were the first commercial company to use drills in space. The competition has caught up and many brands have passed them.

If price is a factor and you're a a bit of a handyman/serious hobbyists Ryobi is a perfect choice, for the more serious handyman and tradie, Makita, Dewalt and Milwaukee are hard to go past. Festool, Hilti and Mafell are for those who want a high end product at a high end price.

The main thing to look at is get a combo kit first up, it's the cheapest way to get into a particular brand, that way you have a charger and a few batteries then buying future skins is more economical.

 

[RU_]

Started out with Makita and bought a combo kit (standard drill, impact driver and 2x 3A batteries), slowly bought up to their heaviest version drill, SDS hammer drill, grinder and a radio. Ended up sending the heaviest version hammer drill back 3 times - trigger wouldnt come back out and then the next one let the smoke out and the final time it just wouldn't work. It's now making grinding noises when the trigger is in and last week my battery charger shit the bed.

Used a guys Bosch gear while away for work a few months ago and loved it. Felt good in the hand, isn't heavy, has some serious torque and power behind it and the bloke couldn't fault them at all. Decided i'm going to change to Bosch and just bought this: https://www.totaltools.com.au/power...-2-piece-8-0ah-brushless-combo-kit-0615990l24

Got the free grinder with the redemption clause and selling my 4 year old Makita stuff to a guy at work for $400, going to go and buy the Bosch hammer drill next and maybe a smaller battery as the 8's are good for lasting but pretty inconvenient with how large they are.

Oh and also comes with a 6 year warranty.

 

[Bazzar]

Started out with Makita and bought a combo kit (standard drill, impact driver and 2x 3A batteries), slowly bought up to their heaviest version drill, SDS hammer drill, grinder and a radio. Ended up sending the heaviest version hammer drill back 3 times - trigger wouldnt come back out and then the next one let the smoke out and the final time it just wouldn't work. It's now making grinding noises when the trigger is in and last week my battery charger **** the bed.

Used a guys Bosch gear while away for work a few months ago and loved it. Felt good in the hand, isn't heavy, has some serious torque and power behind it and the bloke couldn't fault them at all. Decided i'm going to change to Bosch and just bought this: https://www.totaltools.com.au/power...-2-piece-8-0ah-brushless-combo-kit-0615990l24

Got the free grinder with the redemption clause and selling my 4 year old Makita stuff to a guy at work for $400, going to go and buy the Bosch hammer drill next and maybe a smaller battery as the 8's are good for lasting but pretty inconvenient with how large they are.

Oh and also comes with a 6 year warranty.

Great drill, and the anti kickback is brilliant, shame it's not standard on all decent drills.

 

[Kram]

Question, what are de Walt drills like these days? Was thinking of buying this.

https://www.bunnings.com.au/dewalt-...r-drill-kit-with-2-x-3-0ah-batteries_p0036587

Would only be for a lot of house maintenance, small electrical jobs for mates/family atm but do need something decent enough in case I did go back to being a full time sparky.

Also I've never used an impact driver, how useful would it be? Very nearly bought the above drill with one of those include at the Easter sale for $300, did only have 2ah batteries and no hard carry case though.

https://www.totaltools.com.au/dewal...jmLCH5J8No_ye4ULi4fucCZ-v21O1G_QaArsVEALw_wcB

Actually might go this, for only an extra $140 get a better drill with a metal chuck I think, impact driver and better batteries. Even free postage out to the country for me.

Massive overkill for us but I can afford it and should 100% cover us for anything for years hopefully.

 

[Kram]

https://www.totaltools.com.au/dewal...jmLCH5J8No_ye4ULi4fucCZ-v21O1G_QaArsVEALw_wcB

Actually might go this, for only an extra $140 get a better drill with a metal chuck I think, impact driver and better batteries. Even free postage out to the country for me.

Massive overkill for us but I can afford it and should 100% cover us for anything for years hopefully.

FMD, Get Tools Direct had this combo at $300 ($100 off) this morning, almost thought it was too good to be true but checked reviews and they seemed fine. Off course when I go back home to order it at lunch time it's off special and it's back to $400.

edit - never mind found it somewhere else.

 

[Casper89]

I had a set from Bosch, which had a pretty powerful screwdriver, check out the review - https://drilling-it.com/bosch-ps21-2a-review/
Sometimes it saved me, when I had to urgently repair something in the backyard, but as for me, wireless screwdrivers are not always an alternative to usual drills. It's difficult to find a tool with higher power, they usually are about 12V. Dewalt and Bosch are really good, especially the latest models.

 

[darcytiger]

I'm a 4th year sparky apprentice in a controls mob. Using Dewalt stuff, love it. All my gear is about 2/3 years old Brushless stuff and get good reviews off some of the older blokes with slightly dated gear. I'd say my company of about 14 sparkies is 30% DeWalt, 50% Milwaukee 20% Makita

I've got:

Impact driver
Drill
Rotary Hammer
Grinder
Recip saw
Circ saw
Blower
LED Torch
Bluetooth Speaker
Hand held vac (getting delivered next week)

I started with a 6 piece kit (the first 6 in that list) which came with 2 5aH batteries. I've since bought 2 genuine 2aH batteries from eBay for about $30 each and 2 generic 5aH ones for about $38 each that work just fine. I try to only use the generic ones if I have to on my drills/grinder and just use them on torch/radio etc. There should be no reason not to trust them though. From an authorised Australian reseller with 1 year warranty.

 

[Kram]

Used the impact driver first on some long tech screws altering an old fence, think I'll only use the thing occasionally but a pretty impressive tool.

Drill seems pretty good, did notice today though that the brake is often very 'clunky' sounding which I thought seemed a quite dodgy for a brand new drill but then read in a few places that apparently this is normal for a deWalt.

 

[Bazzar]

Used the impact driver first on some long tech screws altering an old fence, think I'll only use the thing occasionally but a pretty impressive tool.

Drill seems pretty good, did notice today though that the brake is often very 'clunky' sounding which I thought seemed a quite dodgy for a brand new drill but then read in a few places that apparently this is normal for a deWalt.

The cluncking noise is normal, it's the electronic brake kicking in and lockout pins in the shaft engaging. The lockout pins are what stop the motor changing direction when the motor is spinning and also locks the shaft when opening and closing the chuck to change bits. It happens on my festool and makita drills as well.