New Cordless Drill Driver quandry

[^woody^]

I'd go for a small light 10.8v unit from one of the main brands. They will come with high capacity lithium cells which will last in use and hold charge when not used.

Look for a deal with two batteries.

 

[Rykard]

I'd go for a small light 10.8v unit from one of the main brands. They will come with high capacity lithium cells which will last in use and hold charge when not used.

Look for a deal with two batteries.

what would you call a main brand these days? I know that some 'household' names aren't as good as they used to be...

 

[big-all]

to be honest my bosch blue 10.8v kit is what i turn to by default rather than my 18v ryobi or dewalt mainly because you can get 12 tools in 2 boxes so less organization
now in general 10.8v will perform nearly as well as 18v but tends to be lower geared so slower to push above its weight
so it will do 90% off the jobs a 18v equivillent but at perhaps 25-30% slower speed

if you plan on extending your kit to circular saw for example then 18v will be more appropriate although the bosch 10.8v mini saw is truly brilliant as a compact saw making free hand cutting a dawdle as the the blade front and cutting guide are fairly close together and the saw is very compact

do you plan on extending your kit to further tools ??

 

[Rykard]

at the minute i only plan on using a drill / driver. If i am going to be doing sawing I will go to a corded tool on the drive, rather than in situ.

I am however mindful that if i buy right now, i will be able to extend in the future and with battery and motor technology advancing hand and fist it may be a good investment.

If I need a 'big' drill I will drag out my metabo.

 

[big-all]

well keep in mind with 10.8 you are restricted to a maximum 10mm and would struggle in harder masonary as not all 10.8v do hammer/percussion action

 

[^woody^]

what would you call a main brand these days? I know that some 'household' names aren't as good as they used to be...

Without going through the names, if you look at any site selling tools to the trade then they will tend to sell the main brands. But TBH, even the cheaper consumer focused makes will be good for DIY.

There are many 10.8v tools aimed at the DIY user that are coming out now. The likes of Aldi and Lidl will guarantee you 3 years of drilling or screwdriving for less than half the price of a leading brand unit.

I suppose it depends if you are going to want other tools to fit the same battery though. Stanley also have an interesting range of 10.8v tools, which should be OK.

 

[Rykard]

i suppose then, considering the type of tasks i am doing, it may pay me to wait for aldi/lidl to do a li-ion drill/driver as like you say - keep the receipt and it should be fine..