School me on cordless drills
 

Hey guys,

My POS drill from canadian tire crapped out today. Looking to get a better one for random around the house shit.

I want a drill that will drill through wood(wall studs), sheet metal(garage shelf kind).
My old one couldn't do either of them - it was good enough for dry wall.

Would a 14.4v drill be good enough/adequate for what I want need to do?



MOD: Wasn't sure if this was the right section or Home Reno was right. Took a gamble and posted here. feel free to move if needed.

check out Home Depots selection of the new Lithium Ion cordless drills, battery is twice as small and light but lasts more than two times the regular batteries...

I have the lithium ion set from Ryobi I think almost two years now, still rocks to this day all types of work.... pick up the whole set though, including the hammer drill, I love my hammer drill it fckin pounds through some tough shit without a hitch

Buy Ridgid. Same company as Milwaukee. Lifetime warranty including batteries

Wait till Home Depot has a sale or clearance on drills.

Last time, they had a clearance on a Ridgid drill and impact gun kit that also came with one charger and 2 batteries and a carrying case.
I sold the impact gun on ebay for enough money to cover the cost of the kit so i ended up the drill, charger, 2 batteries and carrying case for free. And I get lifetime warranty on the batteries. Yay!!!!

So far, I've used the drill for dry walling, building Ikea furniture, and taking paint off rusted metal with a paint stripper attachment.

Rigid is garbage

IMO the best impact/cordless drill combo is dewalt, spend the extra on those instead of makita etc that is inferior IMO

im looking on craigslist for dewalt see if i can find a deal. but seems no deals to be had.

IMO it is also worth it to get both the impact and cordless

Unless you are using it for a living, I don't think I could justify paying the extra $$$ for Dewalt over Ridgid.
I rarely see Dewalt drills on clearance price at HD. They do go onsale once in a while at CT, but they are never that cheap.

I've used my drill maybe 5 times since buying it. That is a whopping once every 2-3 months.

I'd get an 18.8v version over the 14.4v.

You're wrong. The best impact/cordless drill combo is by Milwaukee. They are the pioneers of Lithium. You can read the reviews in any trade mag. Milwaukee is consistently on top.

Ridgid is not garbage. You get PRO performance for a consumer DIY price, and they stand by their product with a lifetime warranty.

all depends on how much you want to spend, i'd recommend looking for a drill/impact driver combo at kms tools sale then getting home depot to price match it and get another 10% off

i personally have a milwaukee 18V li-on combo and the impact driver is a beauty

There's an honest question you should ask yourself, do you really need a cordless?

Yes, it's nice not to have the cord dragging behind you, but it's also nice to never worry about charging batteries. I'm assuming you aren't doing significant construction projects and rather just simple DIY tasks every once and awhile, and if that's the case the cord won't slow you down much if at all. Corded tools are more powerful, way more affordable, and never need batteries replaced. If you're looking for value, buy corded.

If you absolutely must have cordless, go with the 18v.

Very accurate.

Milwaukee is the definitely the best impact/cordless drill combo, Festool aside.

Rigid tools are good, they aren't the best, but they would serve a homeowner very well.

18v makita

Was going to say the same thing.

Sure cordless is convenient but unless you really need it, get a corded tool. A lot of times, they're lighter too.

i wanted cordless so that when I mount a tv or something, I wont need an extension cord.

its convenience.

i use my drill maybe 1-2 times a mo for random shit. I also use it outside on the rare occasion (tightening fence bolts etc..)

You just described wants not needs. How often are you going to mount a TV?

I have a corded Craftsman single speed drill from the mid 80's that I still use on a regular basis. The torque will almost break your wrist if it binds up. I use it in the garage with a wire wheel to polish wheels with leaky beads, brush off rusty parts, drill through steel etc. and all over the house and yard. I use my cordless DeWalt hammer drill for concrete and a small cordless Makita for drywall work cause it's light and has adjustable torque/speed settings. Point being, for general use, the corded one does 95% of the work I have.

We have had nothing but problems with our Milwaukee impact including the batteries themselves falling apart, also the Milwaukee impact has much less torque than the dewalt equivalent

Also nothing but problems with the rigid 18V lithium batteries maintaining a charge

I have no allegiance to any brands, this is just what I have experienced working in the construction industry working with many brands and tools

If you can wait keep checking redflagdeals.com tool deals pop up all the time.

IMO unless you are using it everyday for work or something, a cordless drill is a bad idea.

I figured this out a number of years ago. Nothing is more annoying then getting ready to do a weekend project, and having a drill with dead batteries. So you charge them for a few hours, get halfway through the project before the battery dies again.

The hassle of plugging in the charger and keeping track of what battery is charged, and which needs to be is more than just plugging in the drill (which you can't do with a cordless).

Corded drills are cheap, light, always powerful, and if your doing something indoors there should always be an outlet around.

With 2 batteries there should be very few projects where you can't continue to swap/charge batteries and be out one and dead on the other

I own this drill and it's a beast. Not that light but it's very powerful.

Milwaukee | Milwaukee Tradesman Drill, 7.5 Amp - 3/8 Inches | Home Depot Canada

maybe I should look for a corded drill and 20ft extension cord.

is there a Voltage (14.4/18/24/28) I need to be able to drill through studs/ light sheet metal/ etc..?

Also remembered, I have $20 to Canadian Tire - any recommendations from there? How is Mastercraft?

http://www.tnt-audio.com/jpeg/tim.jpg

Did someone ask about tools that aren't snap-on? Yes!

I absolutely love my dewalt 18v set with the impact driver. I use the impact driver all the freaking time. Ok, yes, I do this for a living, but hot damn, its the most useful thing I ever bought.

Here's a tip...Home Depot is great to have around, but never buy molding in significant quantities or tools from them.

Summit tools is better than watching flyers from hd, rona or ctc. It's on 1st avenue a couple blocks past boundary.

Sample item...my table saw. Was $389 at HD(still is any time I see it). The EXACT same item at summit? $299, regular price.

The best part about summit is they have a huge selection of cordless dewalt tools for cheaps...no batteries...but the batteries are interchangeable. Buy whatever tools you want, use the same batteries and charger that you have. Yeah, you wear out the batteries faster...who cares! Go buy a new battery once every 5 years, or until they discontinue that style of battery and you're hooped.

if you have had problems with your canadian tire drill before, get one from a trusted brand instead of mastercraft

dewalt, milwaukee, makita, bosch, hitachi, if you're getting corded they'll all be resonably priced and have tons of power. An 18V cordless with run you 300ish but a corded will cost under 100 for a name brand and more power, you're paying a ton just for batteries, if you ever watch the flyers the bare tool with no battery is actually quite cheap. Technique also matters, if you havent been drilling pilot holes before using wood screws you'll never get the penetration you want

Cordless are garbage, batteries only last a year before they crap out