Cordless Drills

[Dryfli]

I use dewalt I would recommend going to tool king off of 6th and Simms they have all the major brands and better prices than the box stores. You can also buy reconditioned tools that still have warrantees. If you have a bunch of batteries you can buy the bare tool which I really like because I have 7 batteries and don't need any more.

[ben4372]

Someone touched on it a bit. You need the kit. Bought a DeWalt impact driver last year. Heavy but tough, and I get free DeWalt batteries at work. My Buddy had a Hitatchi and it was the most user friendly tool I've seen. Lasted 8 years till gravity got it. Back to the impact driver. The best thing for driving screws ever. You can sink more deck screws and lag bolts per charge. And it is fast. The Bosch drill/ driver is nice too.

[Richard K]

I've gone through Makita's, Ryobis's and Dewalt's. Went to Home Depot to find a replacement and picked up a combo pac of an 18 volt 3/8" drill/driver and an 18 Volt impact. What swayed me was the lifetime warranty on ALL components, drills, chargers and batteries! I had previously found it cheaper to buy a new Ryobi with batteries and charger than to replace batteries. The Rigid combo pac was $179. With the impact driver I can drive a 6" 3/8" lag screw all the way into/through 5/8" drywall and a 2x6 edgewise (did it as a test) and still have plenty of battery left.

[Graves]

My 18v li-ion makita has probably seen close to 2-300 complete charges (still somewhat new) and I mainly use it for drilling (or reaming) on sheet metal pretty much daily; no problems. I've had that sucker too hot to touch more than a few times.

[Jer]

I was an electrician for a brief period and what I bought and what everyone else had on their belt was a 12v compact Dewalt Impact. Next up was probably Milwaukee and third most common was Hitachi. Do NOT fall for Rigid's battery warranty at Home Depot. I almost did and was SO glad I didn't. The M18 fuel stuff is solid if you don't mind weight and the new 20v brushless impact from Dewalt is the cat's ass! So, in closing, Dewalt 12v compact impact for carrying around and the 20v brushless for large jobs that require more grunt and weight isn't an issue. There are kits with both of those in them and the tools included are probably the best in the business aside from maybe the comparable Milwaukee kits. You would be hard pressed to find a trade that relied on their drills more and anything other than those three brands in the hands of electricians to burnt up within weeks/months. There are a couple others (mostly German made) that are better but they're in a different price bracket than the stuff I listed so unless you're using them all day every day to earn a living it wouldn't be worth the investment.

BTW, having left my 20v at work I used my 12v impact to built this entire bench using 3" screws:



Chewed up a boat load of batteries (this is where the 20v brushless shines!) but handled it like a champ and went back to work with me Monday morning.

[Richard K]

". Do NOT fall for Rigid's battery warranty at Home Depot" Please elaborate. I've not needed to use it but do they not honor it?

[Jer]

". Do NOT fall for Rigid's battery warranty at Home Depot" Please elaborate. I've not needed to use it but do they not honor it?

The batteries are poor quality & you'll be using the shit out of the warranty. In addition the drills themselves are sub-par & the motors crap out regularly. They attempt to fix them at the store but will then send them off for repair. When I reach for a drill I want it to work. I don't wanna have to deal with regular trips to Home Depot. Again, my experiences are from those who use them daily & with heavy use so they may not fail as often but it's a better indication of long-term reliability.

[Sparky]

The batteries are poor quality & you'll be using the shit out of the warranty. In addition the drills themselves are sub-par & the motors crap out regularly. They attempt to fix them at the store but will then send them off for repair. When I reach for a drill I want it to work. I don't wanna have to deal with regular trips to Home Depot. Again, my experiences are from those who use them daily & with heavy use so they may not fail as often but it's a better indication of long-term reliability.

I disagree. My rigid is awesome and I use it everyday at work.

[Jer]

I disagree. My rigid is awesome and I use it everyday at work.

I considered going down that path (free batteries for life for someone who goes through a ton of batteries is a pretty good selling point) and after researching on several Electrician forums & similar it seems as though you are the exception and not the rule. I'm glad you've had bad luck but based on everything I've heard I couldn't personally suggest others take that chance. Again, your first-hand experience certainly trumps the 3rd party experiences I've compiled but it's very difficult to find electricians praising their Rigid drills.

[tmleadr03]

I was an electrician for a brief period and what I bought and what everyone else had on their belt was a 12v compact Dewalt Impact. Next up was probably Milwaukee and third most common was Hitachi. Do NOT fall for Rigid's battery warranty at Home Depot. I almost did and was SO glad I didn't. The M18 fuel stuff is solid if you don't mind weight and the new 20v brushless impact from Dewalt is the cat's ass! So, in closing, Dewalt 12v compact impact for carrying around and the 20v brushless for large jobs that require more grunt and weight isn't an issue. There are kits with both of those in them and the tools included are probably the best in the business aside from maybe the comparable Milwaukee kits. You would be hard pressed to find a trade that relied on their drills more and anything other than those three brands in the hands of electricians to burnt up within weeks/months. There are a couple others (mostly German made) that are better but they're in a different price bracket than the stuff I listed so unless you're using them all day every day to earn a living it wouldn't be worth the investment.

BTW, having left my 20v at work I used my 12v impact to built this entire bench using 3" screws:



Chewed up a boat load of batteries (this is where the 20v brushless shines!) but handled it like a champ and went back to work with me Monday morning.

I am in serious need of a work bench at my shop, when can you come by?


ETA: As to the OP, I used this set for over a year now and it is really very good. I know it is an impact gun set but if the cordless drill set is anything like it you would be very well served by it. Even now that I have a shop and an air compressor I still use them as my go to impact guns.

http://www.amazon.com/Milwaukee-2696...ordless+impact