Quote:
Originally Posted by BigV
Brand? -- Whatever feels comfortable in your hand. Oddly, the Black and Decker 18v has an insane amount of torque. I used one of my co-worker's on a job once and it nearly broke my arm. I was impressed. It also held up very well over the years.
Lithium-ion batteries versus Nickel-cadmium. I don't think anyone does NiCad any more. It's either NiMh or Li-ion. Of those two, NiMh are all that I have experience with. They are much better than NiCad
LED lights for illuminating the work area. Fuck yeah. What kind of stupid question is that? Especially if your eyes are not 16 years old.
18volt vs 12volt vs 9.8 volt vs 28 volt (I kid you not). - - I use a 12 volt Panasonic almost all the time. It's about 20 years old and is great, I also have a 14 V Rigid that is alright, but not great. IF I need more firepower I go for corded tools like a Milwaukee Hole Shooter or Right Angle drill. I don't really see the need to have a ball busting cordless drill. 90% of the holes I drill are less than an inch in diameter and into wood. Even If I am using 4" hole saw the 14 volt is ok though it uses up most of the battery's charge. IF I'm doing a lot of that kind of shit I use the Milwaukee. If I were crawiling around in crawl spaces or on roofs all day drilling enormous holes then I've think about a bigger battery.
Variable speed versus single or multiple fixed speeds --again, I don't think they've made a single speed drill in about 30 or 40 years. Most are Variable and have a hi-lo range and most have torque/clutch settings.
Different chuck designs, one handed, keyless, etc. For cordless drills a good keyless chuck is awesome. Most of them are keyless. You don't really need a chuck key for most drilling operations. For the big guns, chuck keys are needed
variable clutch, including drill setting. Yes. Not sure what drill setting is
* Here's another area of ignorance -- what kind of tool at all?
Drill These are great if you have a ton of drill bits already. Otherwise get new bits that fit into an impact driver and buy one of those.
Driver/drill Not really different from a drill
Impact driver (these look very cool) --These are the hands down shit. I love my Panasonic.
Screwdriver (powered, cordless) - -Don't bother. Get an impact driver.
Combo Kit -- ?they tend to be over priced and include shit you don't really need and will never use.
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Ok, that's a good start. We'll worry about price later, I can justify buying quality.... once.... or at least infrequently. I will shop local so, that's a constraint on price for me. I look forward to your input! |
Yeah, quality is deceptive. Every brand has certain trade offs and you decide what matters more to you. Dewalt are very reasonably priced for the features and work OK but the batteries DIe quickly and they fall apart rather quickly. The finish isn't all that great.
Makita tend to be a little more money, fewer bells and whistles and lighter weight/duty but last forever. I still have a makita drill from 1979. It's perfectly fine. I just killed the bearings on a Makita router from 1974.
Milwaukee is the industry standard for tradesmen and take an enormous amount of abuse and they tend to be a little pricier. Also Lowes and Home depot carry lighter duty versions of popular tools so be sure you are comparing apples to apples. (Note the amps on the motors)
Hitachi have some good stuff especially if you are into Transformers and Japanese cartoons. There stuff looks like it was designed for 8 year old boys. Some of their stuff is really crap. I tend to avoid Hitachi, myself.
Porter Cable makes some very good tools, I love my Panasonic stuff, Rigid also has some good tools.
You can really tell a lot by the feel of the tools and go into a tool repair shop and find out what they service the most frequently and don't buy that brand. joking, it may be that there are more of that brand in use but you can always ask them what think is well made. Finally, consider how much you are going to use it and for what.
But seriously, no cordless drill at all? WTF? The good news is you can get an impact driver!