Looking to replace my aged cordless drill, and wow what a lot of choice there is now!

Any thoughts on battery types Nicad vs Lion?

I want to spend maybe £150. I want 2x batteries. A fast Charger (1hr or less, current one takes 4hrs!). Uber reliability. POWER.

My current drill does drill / screws and hammer drilling.
The latest kit seems to do much much more! Do I need all this, but just never knew!?

Do makita / dewalt etc. have a "cheap and yet duff" range of tools, or are they all pretty good?
Anything specific I should be looking for in terms of build features?
Anything to avoid?

This is the only cordless tool I need, so I don't need a battery which would work with anything else.

What about this one? With a 10% off voucher it's within budget

Bosch 18v Li-Ion Combi + 3 batteries

_________________
Cheers,
Darren

Property Refurbishment & Maintenance Dorset

i would recomend the panasonic any day

i own this cordless

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DEWALT-DW997K-DW9 ... 1e59cfcb57

i paid almost £200 for it a couple of years back. its an older model with nicd batteries. but theyve lasted me 2 years now and i use it regularly. Im a joiner. i sometimes have little breaks from joinery if we have say an extension to start then i end up labouring so its not every day use but its doing fine.

my dad owns an elu model of this drill. its ancient and altough now knackered it was hammered for about 10 years

i also own one of these

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/DEWALT-DW056-18V- ... 20aec6e97c

i bought a spare battery so i have 3 that get cycled between the 2 tools

Yes as per the above the Panny is good. To be more specific in answering your question don't be fooled that Li-ion is the bees-b0l0cks, they are not. You can get a bl00dy good Nickel-Metal Hydride powereed machine such as a Makita 18volt.

They were around a couple of months ago for a sprightly £99 wit two batteries. Hammer and torque settings, two speed, a really underrated drill to be certain.

Li-ion win on charging, in so much as memory is not an issue nor is time. TBH I can't tell much difference between my Makita 18volt NMH and my Makita 18volt Li-ion.

If you are not bothered about giving yet more profit to BQ, they have a fairly good 18volt Li-ion 2 spe.ed hammer but with just one battery for £88 or thereabouts. Two would give you two batteries and a spare bare unit.

Dewalt have a NMH available for much the same dosh and it aint alf bad.

If you are not a daily user then I would steer you towards a NMH 18volt 2 speed hammer, mainly because of the price. If you are a daily user then perhaps you should think again.

Mozzy

i wouldnt touch another dewalt cordless after the last it didnt even last a year and got told i would have to pay to have it repaired what a joke i paid for a drill to be used not just sit there as an ornament. I have had the panasonic 14.4lit ion now for over two years and its going as strong as the 1st day i bought it it has now outlived and out worked my bosses makita 18v lit ion. Just my own opinions and memories plenty have good stories i dont

You dont see many of the panasonic tools in the shops and i have never read a bad review so far, they seem to be one of the best makes. ITS tools sell them, do a google search and contact them to get a catalogue or just look at their website.

I live in ireland and most of the shops stock panasonic here gleaves in manchester will also order panasonic in for people. I seem biased which iam i had a bad experience with a dewalt drill but i recomend dewalt for most of the other tools. Plus the panasonic 14.4 lit ion has 2, 3.5 ah bats with it great drill i use mine for drilling locks out when there is no power for me.

Thanks for the feedback, The panasonic drills get good reviews on this site.

nimh/lion probably is not an issue

does the voltage matter?

this is for weekend and evening use only, and my existing screwfix ferm has done pretty well over the years.

I'll have a look at the specific models suggested so far. thanks

Phill

Screwfix are promoting "site tools", which they say....

"The Site power tool range is designed and manufactured by Makita with all the professional performance and reliability you would expect from this heritage."

anyone tried one? are they as good as makita? seems to good to be true......

I would recommend Makita , I have a really old one which still works well, and a new one that came with two batteries etc, and it gets a hrad time and keeps coming back !

I bought mine at a Trade shop rather than a DIY shop - it was on special so price was similar to the DIY models, but seems to be slightly better build quality.