After a lot of discussion on here I finally decided to go for this drill

I got it from Axminster, as it was on special (still is if you want one)
http://www.axminster.co.uk/product.asp? ... e=1&jump=0
Cost £160 and come with a tool belt, which I flogged on fleabay for £22 plus delivery!

Basic specification
• Supplied in a metal case with 1 x 3.0Ah battery
• Li-Ion batteries reduce weight for less user fatigue
• 22 minute optimum charger
This version is the 'white' which is to celebrate Makita's 35th Anniversary, whatever.

I opted for the single battery, as 22minute charging is amazing.

It's light weight and feels balanced, there is a groovy little led which aims at the work which stays on for about 10 seconds after you press the fire button. Of course it does not actually light up the business end, but it's a nice feature. You can't turn it off, but I don't think you will notice the drain on the battery!

The drill is light weight and powerful, and has the usual selection of features:
drill
driver
hammer
Its got 2 speeds and a vari speed trigger. The driver has loads of settings for the clutch if you don't trust yourself with letting go of the fire button.

When I started the research I was worried about the batteries and it seems that the "pack" contains a bunch of these expensive li-ions and some clever electronics to detect dodgy cells, it also seems that this electronic stuff is wired directly across 2 cells. this is not a major issue, BUT if you don't use it for ages then the tiny power drain will drag these cells down, and then it will detect that they are faulty, the charger will then refuse to charge the pack!
The cure would seem to be to use it more! And if you don't intend to use it bung it on charge anyway.

The case it nice, better than the standard issue plastic thing, and there is room for an extra battery if you decide to buy one later (the foam stuff is pre-cut.

And here's a picture of someone else's drill, mine looks pretty much the same.

The grip is nice - it feels like it was designed by someone with normal hands.

In use it drives screws into wood like you would not believe, and yet it is smooth, and controllable in use.

Its got a new fangled keyless chuck, with some sort of clutch thing so you just twist it. very simple to use. My old drill had the type where you fire the drill to lock it, which always seemed to end up slipping and warming your palm a bit more than you wanted.

So far I'm very happy. see!

Got mine before xmas /very impressed ...went back for angle drill , disc cutter and site radio ....bought a second drill as a cheap way to get batteries /angle drill was £395 /bare body was £95 ...so bare body plus another anniversary drill was cheap way to do it.

Where did you get the bare body angle drill from for that price? I could do with one of those.

_________________
Cheers,
Darren

Property Refurbishment & Maintenance Dorset

Having spent a weekend shoving up plasterboard I have a couple of comments.
Battery life superb, if not better than superb. and with a 20 minute re-charge it's the biz.
After a while it is a little weighty, so maybe a smaller drill would have been a better bet for all the overhead work (or I could go down the gym!)
If anything it's way to powerful for plasterboarding, I did sink a few more screws than usual through the board, this is probably because I did not use the clutch setting (I can't seem to get on with it, some times the wood is way softer than other times).
I like the light, even though it does not shine on the bit.
Phill