Drill and impact Combi

[tomsutton529]

Hi all, after some recommendations for the above.

After our drill packed in half way though a job we have retired it ( it has done 8 years service and been dropped a few times).. We borrowed a Dewalt drill from stores and although a little on the heavy side it certainly got the job done but I am a fan of makita. In a ideal world it needs to charge quick, have two batteries and be able to with stand the day to day abuse of being on site and come with a hard case (but I have seen these sold separately for £20.

As per usual we want to pay as little as possible for the kit. I have seen the makita gear with red batteries is not worth the money (mainly sold in B&Q) and the white makita batteries have a bad rep..

Some advise and recommendations would be nice. I have seen some of the combi sets on the bay for around £160 - £180 and the dewalt ones asking for above the £200 mark.

 

[sparkysy]

Hi we have the makita and bosch 18v kit with drill impacter saws ect had both for about 2 years, both excellent quality and very hard working ever day! Makita is a lot lighter than the bosch but as you say we have had battery issues with it not too bad though had about 2 new ones I think and one of those needs replacing again, the bosch has had one set of new batteries since new and new brushes In the drill but other than that not that much difference tbh. I went to a trade do the other week and had a play with some milwaki kit and was amazed by how much power it had so personally when I next upgrade mine I will be buying that, bit more expensive but for our sort of work if it saves time on every job I think its worth the investment.
sy

 

[tomsutton529]

I heard a few bad things about the Milwaki stuff burning out quite quickly. Whats the difference in all the Dewalt combi sets? millions of different model numbers but same spec.

 

[sparkysy]

Yes I have a mate who has had a couple of drills pack up on him in the past but were replaced no quibble by milwalki but that was a good while ago and he is still using their kit, the rep at the show said that they had got over the teathing troubles, we will see you know reps! Mm dewalt stuff not used any for many years I sort of gave up on it in favour of makita and none of my tradesmen mates use it either so cant really comment on it.

 

[ukracer]

It depends on what you are doing with it IMHO. "I have seen the makita gear with red batteries is not worth the money" I am not sure I agree with that statement. I had two sets of these 7 years ago and they have done loads and been abused. Never been very powerful and batteries are all but dead now. But for the money "they dun well"

I have used better drills with lots more power and they last all day but you have to shell out lots of money for those.

 

[blenkie1]

What about Metabo? I use a lot of Metabo gear and its great. 3 year warranty on the batteries.

 

[mike os]

Makita with lithium batteries

 

[SmartWerks]

Lithium batteries are an absolute god send and half the weight.

 

[Kayos]

I was a huge Makita fan until I was given a Dewalt drill to borrow

Switched everything to Dewalt and never looked back (except for a bosch 36v sds)
They were abused daily fitting central heating, and outside doing soil pipes and gutters
The best ones are the all metal gearbox ones, same "spec" but more cash, can feel the difference when you hold them

A friend has a brand new (well 3 months old, so batteries are upto full capacity, but latest style) Makita 18v impact driver, new years day he helped me fit a flat roof on my garage, his impact needed the batteries changing and charging regular, but the dewalt that's a few years old had the same battery all day, put the screws in faster and did more work
that alone would keep me away from Makita again

 

[hotrodder]

I've had the 3Ah predecessor to this Hitachi for a good few years http://www.ffx.co.uk/tools/product/Hitachi Dv18Dsdl Jj 4966376228416 18V Combi Drill 2 X 5.0Ah Li Ion loads of torque, well balanced, all metal gearbox and the newer model supposedly is running in needle bearings rather than bushes

As well as the lower spec battery trick with screwfix/B&Q "bargins" all the brands do similar things with chucks... FFX are listing several 3Ah Makitas for less than the Hitachi but they all look to have cheaper chucks than the single sleeve Rohm fitted to higher end models. Hitachi use (or at least used to) Jacobs 5000 series all metal single sleeve chucks on their higher end models which isn't quite as good as the Rohm fitted to Dewalt/makita etc

 

[tomsutton529]

These are getting properly abused, Drilling holes in fans for balance weights, drilling out old weights, the impact gun will be used for anything and everything, sometimes 30 bolts to get an inspection hatch off, removing stubborn jacking points on motors and the even more stubborn feet bolts.. We can work on up 10 fans a day in dusty confined space ovens or outside on a windy roof in the snow or rain. Obviously everything gets dried out and looked after once back at the van but its the abuse it gets on the job it needs to withstand.

The Dewalt drill did impress me and one the lads that left had a dewalt impact gun that was good. The dewalt drill I borrowed survived a decent fall off a walkway on the top of an oven.

 

[chunkolini]

I have a dewalt 14v combi drill and have no complaints.
When buying keep an eye on battery power, there are loads on sale by the big makes with 1.3AmH batteries.
I would say go for the 3AmH batteries, I dont see any point in having two small batteries for not much extra get two bigger batteries.