Thread: Battery drill recommendation

G'day All
My son is an apprentice eleco and his 21st is coming up and I was thinking about getting him a good battery drill. I'm looking around the $500 mark.
Does anyone have any recommendations? He says the tradies he works with don't recommend Makita anymore so I'm thinking maybe De-walt, Metabo, Milwaulkee, Hitachi.

thnaks in advance
bollie7

I've got a Metabo with the Lithium Ion batteries and it's fantastic. Whatever drill you get him, make sure it's got fast-charge batteries. I've found you can discharge a cordless drill battery much faster than you can charge it, especially when the batteries have been used a bit.

And if you buy him a top-of-the-line drill, tell him not to take his eyes off it, or some b****rd will steal it.

Edit: Given that this is a 21st present, how about something that will last him a lifetime? maybe nice a Fluke multimeter with the rubber housing (assuming he hasn't already got one of course).

DeWalt. I've got a couple of Makitas, they're nice drills but the DeWalt 18V units are a lot better, plus the availability of batteries is heaps better.

Only reason I bought Makita was, where I was working we had a ton of DeWalt gear and every so often some of it would grow legs & walk. I wanted to make sure that, as manager in charge of it all, nobody could ever consider I'd taken any of it home.

As both of my Makita batteries have died I may buy myself a DeWalt for Christmas.

Metabo, don't know, their 240V grinders are outstandingly good but I expect their batteries etc are going to be seriously expensive.

PDW

Hi Bollie,

I've got Makita and Dewalt, and don't really like either of them, the Dewalt (older nicad style) is too heavy, Maybe the newer Dewalt with Lithium Batteries might be ok, and while the Makita was good for a while, the chuck has started to play up, I think Makita quality has dropped away in recent years.

I'm seriously looking at Metabo for my next one.. Get two batteries and one is always fully charged.

Regards
Ray

Bollie,

Have a look at the Sydney tools website. They have some nice trade combo packs (drill & impact driver) around the $500 to $600 mark.

I thought AEG was considered to be the top of anything in the power tool market. Interesting about LITHIUM. One of those crackpot corrupt 3rd world countries in South America, has most of the worlds known LITHIUM supply . With mass produced electric cars now more than likely in the near future , everyone is falling over themselves to access the Lithium . Mike

Panasonic?

Nev

Originally Posted by morrisman

I thought AEG was considered to be the top of anything in the power tool market. Interesting about LITHIUM. One of those crackpot corrupt 3rd world countries in South America, has most of the worlds known LITHIUM supply . With mass produced electric cars now more than likely in the near future , everyone is falling over themselves to access the Lithium . Mike

AEG...????mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

AEG is Tectronics as is Ryobi..

If you go back through the different product lines over the years AEG is Ryobi in a different colour and Ryobi is AEG in a different colour..
They just release the differing models at different times..........

PS
I'm not allowed to tell you how I know.

Hope this helps...

I recomend Hitachi, Bought a second hand DS18DL that was well used when I got it, I reckon i have put in over 8000 tek screws in the past 12 months and is still going strong. Easy to get batteries and skins off ebay. Also comfy and easy to use.

i think Panasonic is the top brand. there a little dear but are worth the extra money. they keep going and have all the grunt needed. no joke these drill have to be one of the best.
i dont think dewalt is as good as it used to be.
aaron

Originally Posted by jack620

Edit: Given that this is a 21st present, how about something that will last him a lifetime? maybe nice a Fluke multimeter with the rubber housing (assuming he hasn't already got one of course).

I was thinking about that as well but I think he needs a drill more than a fluke at the moment.

Thanks to everyone who has replied. I'm leaning towards the Hitachi as I've read a few good reports about them.
I've looked on the sydney tools site and they are not much cheaper than what I can buy it for at Gasweld here in Newcastle and then you have to add delivery.
I'll do some more research before I make a decision.
thanks everyone
bollie7

dewalt!....

milwaulke are overpriced for what they are

Originally Posted by RayG

I've got Makita and Dewalt

Same here... both got mistreated... the makita is still going (although one of the batteries is about to give up the ghost) and it is an old 9V version. I still use it every day and is the best tool I've ever had in terms of reliability. Can't comment on the new ones though.

Originally Posted by RayG

Get two batteries and one is always fully charged

definitely.

I bought a large set of 18V Makita li-ion tools when I was in the US a few years ago. While half the price to what they're asking for them, it was still a very significant investment and at the time I certainly remember being very nervous about dropping that much money on battery tools, as until then I rarely used the ones I had and thought them next to useless. Having said that, the price is soon forgotten and I don't regret it for a second now. I think the precise same model is sold now (it was a newly released model when I bought them), and I honestly can't find anything bad to say about the drill ... maybe that the batteries are expensive to replace??? I have a very good Metabo 230V drill and now never use it.

Another vote for always keeping 2 batteries charged.

Pete

you know my mate brought a 17b fluk from hong kong for around 100 bucks