Cheapest place to get a drill

[BrokenBiker]

so I have a DeWalt 18V 4Ah combi drill at the moment, and its awesome. but im getting fairly fed up of having to change the drill bit for a screw driver bit all the time, so looking for another combi drill.

I don't want an impact driver, for the sime reason that if for any reason the batteries die or it get broken I would like to have another I can rely on, but obviously I don't want to spend 300 quid on the spare.

so have been looking at a dewalt 18V 1.3Ah in b and q for 85 quid. only down side I can see is Ni-Cad batteries, but it does come with 2. all the usual something like 22 torque settings, 2 speed and reverse, keyless metal chuck etc. pretty much the same as my 4ah drill but the batteries don't slide so aren't interchangeable.

anyone got any good sites to get a decent 18V combi drill fairly cheap?

 

[jackjosh]

I got one of those Dewalts with the 1.3ah batteries and if you just keep charging them up and swapping regular they are fine. It is about 4 years old and still works great.

 

[BrokenBiker]

cheers. that's built my confidence a bit. roughly how long do they last on a battery? the last ni-cad drill I had was 14.4v and it didn't have the power to drill a breeze block, and the batteries lasted about 10 mins before it got that hot it started to melt the base of the handle

 

[tlovatt]

Just check that the smaller and bigger batteries are interchangeable, a number of manufacturers stop this happening. I purchased a Makita LXT 3AH battery drill but found they are not interchangeable with the Makita 1.3ah Li-Ion drills

 

[BrokenBiker]

these wont be interchangeable anyway, my 4ah is an xr li-on battery and this one is a ni-cad 1.3ah battery, and they fit differently.

im not looking for a bare drill that will accept my batteries, I looking for a spare drill to be used primarily as a screw driver, but also to use if for any reason I cant use my bigger drill

 

[MattF]

I'd say somewhere like B&Q would be a good heap to try.

 

[BrokenBiker]

cheers, hadn't noticed that lol.

ive just seen a hitatchi 18V 1.5Ah li-on drill in screwfix for 100 quid, tempted by that for the li-on batteries, of which there are 2

 

[Hitch]

Have a look at FFX Tools, last few power tools I've bought have been from there.

 

[BrokenBiker]

cheers hitch, will have a look on break

 

[jackjosh]

II only use it round the house/garage but one battery is still going by the time the next one is fully charged so ok for me. A Hitachi is a good bit of kit though and £100 seems good value.

 

[daleyd]

I know screwfix don't have a good rep on here but if you keep your eye open and use them to your advantage you can get some decent deals. They usually have at least a couple of some sort of cordless drills on offer at any one time, but as always a quick check on google before you commit is always worth doing.

I've heard good things about Hitachi, a guy I used to work with had one for several years with no issues.

Edit: If you already have a decent combi drill would a drill/driver not be cheaper and smaller/easier to handle? Or a bare dewalt (Ie just drill, no batteries/charger and share the batteries with your existing)

 

[TAITSIE]

cheers, hadn't noticed that lol.

ive just seen a hitatchi 18V 1.5Ah li-on drill in screwfix for 100 quid, tempted by that for the li-on batteries, of which there are 2

Have had one of those Hitachi drills for years and its been really good Good battery life and decent power Had to renew the chuck this year but it had seen a lot of use and abuse !!

 

[BrokenBiker]

Have had one of those Hitachi drills for years and its been really good Good battery life and decent power Had to renew the chuck this year but it had seen a lot of use and abuse !!

now that is the sort of review i like reading. Gonna get the hitatchi i think. Its got 2 batteries with it. Better specs compared to the dewalt and looks better made

 

[anjum]

Might be worth reconsidering the interchangeable battery option. Two batteries cost nearly as much as the drill kit.

 

[TAITSIE]

now that is the sort of review i like reading. Gonna get the hitatchi i think. Its got 2 batteries with it. Better specs compared to the dewalt and looks better made

Just checked , got the drill in 2007 !!!

 

[BrokenBiker]

awesome. I have had about 6 between 2007 and now lol, but they have all been 30 quid to buy apart from the 300 quid dewalt i have now. Can definately see where the extra money went though

 

[Sean]

seems contrary to normal, where you go for a battery system and get the gear to fit it. Youll have 2 systems 2 sets of batteries and 2 chargers cluttering up the workspace

Makes a great deal of sense to have a drill for drilling and a driver for screwing screws and one set of batteries ......I put up a car port type lean too on the side of the house on Sunday and did it all with battery gear, cutting the timber, sds drilling, driving bolts and screws - makes life so easy just swapping over the battery if one is on charge.
Id really recommend a driver if you do a lot of screws.

 

[TAITSIE]

Worst cordless drill I bought was a Ryobi, terrible battery life front bearing went very quickly, suffered an agonising death one day with a bfh

 

[BrokenBiker]

I have had Ryobi, witht he Ryobi one system. had a drill, jigsaw and a multi cutter. all 3 were crap and the batteries were pathetic. I preferred my performance power 18V to the Ryobi.

decided to go with the hitatchi. none in stock in my local screwfix so will be collecting it tomorrow before work, and as I am stopping in screwfix anyway I might treat myself to a new tape measure and bolster as my tape measure looks like it has been used on a brick laying scheme in iraq and the bolster is just tired lol

 

[Robotstar5]

, and as I am stopping in screwfix anyway I might treat myself to a new tape measure and bolster as my tape measure looks like it has been used on a brick laying scheme in iraq and the bolster is just tired lol

I tend to treat tape measures as consumables, probably got half a dozen different makes/types.