Brushless Combi Drill or Brushed Twin Kit?

[Dan Hayter]

Hi there

I’ve got a bunch of DIY needed on a house we’re buying so I’m using the opportunity to buy a combi drill. I need it to be able to penetrate brick, but I’ve got a corded hammer drill for anything that needs more power. I’m mainly wanting something that will work for general drilling and lots of screw driving.

I’m thinking of the dewalt 18v xr brushless combi drill sold here: https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dcd77 ... lsrc=aw.ds

But alternatively I’m wondering whether it’s a better idea to go for a twin kits with both combi drill and impact driver as I’ll be doing lots of driving screws in. I noticed this one at b&q: https://www.diy.com/departments/jcb-cor ... 265_BQ.prd

The twin kit has brushed motors but the specs look good (and I like the fully metal chuck). So my question is: for DIY purposes, is it better to go for a twin pack (even if brushed) or better to go for a high quality brushless combi drill and trust it will be good at driving screws too.

Any thoughts? £120 is my limit really

Cheers

Dan

 

[blup]

Judging from the reviews the dewalt is aimed at the diy market, it is generally a good brand but this model won't be designed for every day industrial use, so it may well suit your needs. The battery run time won't last long relative to the 5Ah batteries on the professional market but you will have a spare.

I have not tried a JCB (other than the real thing) but would not buy the drill.

A combi drill like the dewalt will meet your screwdriving and masonry drilling needs.

In my opinion this would be a good buy although a little pricier, but I am biased towards Makita design and quality.

https://www.screwfix.com/p/makita-d...-ion-lxt-brushless-cordless-combi-drill/6407p

Blup

 

[^woody^]

Get a 10.8v unit from any of the main brands. Your hands will thank you.

 

[nickjb]

Pretty much agree with what blup said. A better quality single unit will be better. I'm sure the dewalt is fine but if you can stretch to a makita lxt then its worth it. It'll allow you to pick up other bare tools cheaply as well.

 

[stealthwolf]

I bought a brushless twin combi and impact driver kit. I can count the number of times I used the impact driver on one hand. It's not used often. I'd prefer a second combi drill so I can use one for drilling holes and the second for driving in screws.

 

[kingandy2nd]

I bought a brushless twin combi and impact driver kit. I can count the number of times I used the impact driver on one hand. It's not used often. I'd prefer a second combi drill so I can use one for drilling holes and the second for driving in screws.

Why wouldn’t you use your impact driver for the screws? I have the dewalt 18v combi pack and use my drill and driver in exactly that way.

Going back to the OPs post - I’d rather have a quality drill than the jcb combo pack to be honest

 

[stealthwolf]

Why wouldn’t you use your impact driver for the screws?

I find it's overkill. The impact driver doesn't have any reasonable sort of variable speed or torque settings. It's either all or nothing.

 

[SammyInnit]

I find it's overkill. The impact driver doesn't have any reasonable sort of variable speed or torque settings. It's either all or nothing.

I've never found this to be the case; almost every impact driver I've used has had at the very least a variable speed trigger. Unfortunately even today with all the technology that goes in them I still see apes that consider them only to be either on or off and pump the trigger as a means of control.

For most DIY applications an impact driver isn't necessary but for those who want one should learn greater control over it and it will work well for them.

 

[kingandy2nd]

I agree with Sammy...well I don’t have the ape experience myself.

With my dewalt 887 impact driver I can put any screw into any surface with pulling and releasing the trigger, I’ve never changed the settings other than forwards or backwards. In fact I don’t even know if it has settings

 

[^woody^]

Looking around site, it seems that you are not a real man unless you use your impact driver for everything, even fitting the door handles.

Scaffolders particularly have to have the most massive 18v driver they can find dangling off their tool belt 20' up in the air. Anyone who invested in simple scaffold spanners is now homeless.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

Going back to the OPs post - I’d rather have a quality drill than the jcb combo pack to be honest

I'm an impact driver user (however, multi speed), but if budget or noise were an issue I'd go for a combi drill and a drill/driver (or even an SDS drill and a drill/driver if there were lots of holes in brick or concrete to do) over a combi and impact driver. Most of the impacts I've used are one speed with very poor torque/speed control (that's Makita, Milwaukee and DW). The only reason for using an impact driver is if you are doing lots and lots of timber framing or the like. I tend to avoid using my impact at home simply because it is so damned loud.

As far as brushed vs. brushless goes, a tradesman using tools heavily all day long can reap the benefits of brushless designs, namely extended running times and slightly lower weight. Would a DIYer gain substantially from brushless? I doubt it

Looking around site, it seems that you are not a real man unless you use your impact driver for everything, even fitting the door handles.

Well, you can get multi-speed impact drivers which will drive even 3.0 x 16mm screws (the sort they use on kick plates), but they tend to come in at around £200, bare, so not many guys buy them (or, let's face it, understand why you'd need one). Most people trying to use a one speed basic impact driver in that situation will just round-out the recesses in the screw heads and incur the finishing foreman's wrath. The basic impact drivers are also terrible at dealing with self-drilling fastenings and TEK screws (both into metal) with far too great a tendency to snap them like carrots. The current generation of 6-speed impact drivers (at £250 or so, bare) overcome this with technology, but we aren't talking about these here

One thing I have found about impact drivers is that they struggle to consistently sink countersunk screw heads into plywood flooring - because they just don't spin fast enough. Just did some repairs and overboarding of flooring last week with a colleague who was having a helluva time trying to sink drywall screws into 9mm hardwood ply (DW 1-speed brushless impact, 2500rpm - my Makita, brushless 3-s[peed 2500rpm, was little better). I had no problems, though, because I was using a cordless drywall screw gun with a depth sensing nose piece (4000rpm) instead. Sank faster, sank more consistently too with very few screws needing attention. At about 180/200 screws per sheet this becomes a significant time difference over a large floor and is just another example which shows why impact drivers aren't always the bees knees