Hi everyone. Looking to get a cordless combi drill and looking for some recommendations. Not looking to spend too much – it’s only for home use – and see from previous forum searches that Makita and DeWalt are both generally seen as solid choices.

I’ve seen an 18V Makita set at Screwfix that comes with a 3Ah Li-ion battery, a fast charger, and a pretty extensive set of drill and screwdriver bits, for £150. (See link here.)

Any reason why I shouldn’t get that, or anything else better for the price?

Thanks!

id go for the makita as the chuck onthe cheaper dewalt stuffs a bit pish….. although swapping it out for a jacobs as we did makes it much better.

How much use is it going to see?

I’d be worried that the battery will be duff unless you store and cycle it properly.

My experience with Li-ion batteries is that they’re bullet proof and hold their charge really well – great for occasional or frequent use – bosch in may case.

Long periods of non-use are the hazard with Liion. With home use you can easily stick it in a drawer for a year or so without noticing the time pass, and if you’ve got two batteries one can give you months of around the house work on one charge, meanwhile the other is sitting doing nothing

My neighbour has just had to bin two 18v hitachi liion batts that had hardly been used, a change of work meant she wasn’t doing as much handiwork as she used to (she’s a 4th generation engineering blacksmith) so in the past year she’s hardly touched her tool kit and perfectly good batteries have fossilised as a result

Go for a kit with one battery and try to be mindful about actually making sure you use it from time to time. I favour makita for the quality of the other tools you can use with the same battery – their circular saw, grinder and multcutter are all ace and affordable ‘bare’ once you have a batt and charger and it means theres more occasions when the battery will get some action

I bought that Makita and although only had a month of light use, it’s a nice job. The bits included are pretty good too, all bar the masonry bits which are crud!

I have probably posted before, but I have that exact Makita set.

We have been doing some house renovation, so it has seen a fair bit of use over the past year or so, (drilling and screwing in window frames, studwork, ceilings, door linings etc.) and has even spent some time at the hands of our carpenter friend who has come around to help, and he is not exactly gentle on power tools. It’s kept on going, no problem.

You will need a proper drill for masonry though. I have an el cheapo corded SDS from Screwfix for that.

Edit: And not a lot of the 101 piece set gets used. PZ2 bits, and something to drill a pilot with mainly.

I wonder if that’s a Hitatchi thing – I cheaped out and bought a Hitatchi combi with Li-ion and it’s awful. Avoid.

But I have a small Bosch driver with Li-ion and they even advertise it’s ‘leave in a toolbox for a year and it’ll still be charged… ability’ – great little tool.

I wonder if that’s a Hitatchi thing

Its just as much a makita thing

The issue stems from there being little bits of electronics and circuitry in the batteries that monitor charge and use and communicate with the charger. Stricktly speaking the cells themselves don’t self-discharge but that bit of electornics is alway drawing a small current. Its also (in some batteries) not connected to all the cells. So if you leave a battery for months/years the cells attached to that circuit run down but the rest don’t and the charging all goes wrong the next time its plugged in and every thing gets borked.

In the early days this wasn’t much of an issue as liion cost such a premium only trade users were using them, and they’re not people who buy stuff then leave it in a drawer. As the price has fallen, and tool-box-top-trumps means DIY users want to have the more-betterer technology, thats where the battery failures started. You’d hope that newer bits of kit will have designed that out, but the stuff being offered at the keenest prices isn’t usually the newest spec.

You’d hope that newer bits of kit will have designed that out

Unfortunately you can’t design out this particular problem with li-ions (yet). At low voltages (i.e. going flat in a drawer), the chemistry of the membrane gets permanently altered. Hence the battery becomes bricked. Right now, there are no commercial available chemistries that avoid this.

IMO nicads are the better choice. Half the capacity (by weight) of a li-ion but tough as nails.

Incidentally, there are four or five different chemistries of li ions. Cheap batteries are unlikely to have the most appropriate one for any given application. The moral is, don’t buy batteries from ebay.

So you’d say nicad would be a better option? Any recommendations around the £100-150 mark (ideally with bits)?

Also, in terms of manufacturer, any difference between Bosch and Makita? Or any other makes I should be looking at for the price?

No idea TBH. The current trend of li-ion means you’ll probably get a better deal with a li-ion based number anyway.

Bosch / Makita / Dewalt probably quite similar in terms of quality IMO.

depends if your idea of DIY is the 12 minutes the average DIYers drill gets used for …. or my idea of DIY where you actually do it your self. While also begging my 18v li-ion bosch to die so i can get something lighter for most of my work ….. 10.8 V impact driver would see me fit for 90% of my work and the corded unit for the rest.

10.8 V impact driver

Awesome bits of kit, these.

TBH you’d be cooking on gas if you have one, as well as the 18V combi.

i dont – but i can see the benifits.

my dads a sod, comes round here with all his flash gear (hes the aforementioned tradesman) and lets me use it when we are jobbing ….. then he leaves and im left with my 18v combi and its a bit “meh” as well as being huge when trying to get into tight spaces!

http://www.onlinepowertools.co.uk/prod/milwaukee-12-volt-drill-driver-689?utm_source=Google+Shopping&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=Google+Shopping&gclid=CIXesPrk4r0CFQnpwgodzhEA8g

These are very good, ive had mine 10 months and its been used every day

Yup, drill driver for pilot hole, impact to pop the screw in. Done a couple of stud walls recently with this – motored through the fixing work (not a fan of nails).

Out of interest, what does your dad do – chippie?

I’ve got one of these,

Worx drill

I’m sure the tradesman will say it’s rubbish but for my average joe putting pictures up and the occasional few wood screws when I get adventurous it’s great.

depends if your idea of DIY is the 12 minutes the average DIYers drill gets used for …. or my idea of DIY where you actually do it your self.

Probably somewhere in the middle, I guess. I’m still a relative newcomer when it comes to DIY (just bought my first house so never really had to deal with it before), but do like to get stuck in and try things myself (have recently done some lighting/electrics, some minor plastering, etc).

So I’d like something that is decent enough, but certainly don’t need anything too fancy.

EDIT: No doubt a stupid question, but what’s an impact driver?

I have this Bosch one for £100ish. Does the job very well, comes with two batteries and charges fairly quickly.

http://www.diy.com/nav/fix/power-tools/drills-drivers/hammer_drills/-brand-BOSCH/Bosch-PSB-18-LI-2-Combi-Drill-with-2-Batteries-11227751

That Makita is a good bit of kit. Well worth it for the money. In reality probably anything ‘will do’ for DIY, even that green Bosch 🙂 but the Makita will feel better. LIon is fine if you use it a few times a year and much, much better than NiCad if you plan use it most weekends.

EDIT: No doubt a stupid question, but what’s an impact driver?

short answer on thread topic; drives in (or out) screws and bolts. can put an enormouse amount of torque on the fixing.

slightly longer answer; it does it by hammering a magic widget that provides a small amount (few degrees) of twist every time it gets hammered. you can get massive girt big manual ones that you smack with a big hammer, or in this case, shiny electrical ones – here the hammer is tiny and repeatedly hits the widget many many times per second. they’re quite loud, but very effective – provide much more torque than a drill driver can

Dads been various trades after getting bored on the diggers mostly foundations and big pours on slew excavators , had a stint working for a brickie , roofer , and roughing out/kit errecting.

These days hes doing all of the above for him self and sub contracting out finishing and final fix plumbing and sparkying

Get the Makita.
Then…when you’ve got some more money to spend buy the DAB radio which runs off the same battery.
Then get the impact driver as you’ll use it more than any other tool you’ve got.
You know you want to.

No doubt a stupid question, but what’s an impact driver?

Same sort of mechanism as the big guns they take wheel nuts off with in kwikfit. – looks otherwise like a regular drill driver (but has a little hex socket rather than a chuck) and as described above it hammers / vibratrates the screw round rather than just twisting it. Compare it to tapping a nail into wood with lots of gentle taps rather than just trying to push the nail in one go. It means a pretty tiny driver can punch above its weight in terms of the screws it can drive in, it also makes it sound like you’re working much harder than you actually are. zzzzzzzzzBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRAAAAAAAAARRRRP!!!

Eventually though, someone (a work colleague, your wife, a neighbour) will bludgeon you to death with it as the noise really, really gets on peoples nerves. At this point you’ll appreciate that they weigh a lot less than regular drill drivers. But they’ll keep on bludgeoning and eventually you’ll realise thats a moot point. Then you’ll be dead.

I sold mine

FFX has some good deals, as usual. My money went on a Bosch 10.8v drill driver/impact driver set. Came with a case, two batteries and two chargers for £189. Batteries are cheap enough not to worry if they pack up but, if you aren’t using them that often, I’ve heard they can be stored in a fridge to preserve their life. Probably an urban myth, so don’t take my word for it.

Edit : Once you use a little 10.8v jobbie, whatever the brand, I doubt you’ll reach for anything larger again – too cumbersome and very little difference in overall grunt, IME.

Makita all the way as others have said a couple of batteries and then buy the other tools bare.

Makita LCT204W Cordless Drill Plus Impact Driver Kit – White £139.

(£76.18 / kg)

Well that’s useful to know.

make sure you get the new makita DK1493WX kit which has the hammer version HP330 as a combi drill

Hmm, okay. Seems like there are lots of deals to be had on Amazon. But getting a bit confused by all these options now!

So, there is the original one on Screwfix:

18V 8Ah Li-ion BHP453RFTK combi with lots of bits for £150.

Or there is either of these two Makita 10.8V combi drill and impact driver sets:

Makita DK1493WX for £146.

Makita LCT204W for £140.

And I could then get one of the bits sets, like this for £28:

Or this for £36:

I’m sure that any of those would be more than good enough for my meagre requirements, but what would people suggest?

I have the Makita 18V 8Ah Li-ion BHP453RFTK combi with lots of bits for £150 at work. Happy enough with it.

OP – FFX is cheapest for the Makita kit, I believe…

http://www.ffx.co.uk/tools/product/0088381098151%20makita%20lct204w%2010.8v%20twin%20impact%20drill%20driver%20in%20aluminium%20case

For me it boils down to – do you have a corded drill already . If so get the makita . 10.8drill and impact driver

If not get the 18v – it will at least make an effort to drill concrete/brick – not ideal mind but itll do it .

Wouldnt waste your money on the accessory set .

Get wera impactor bits and try irwin for drill sets as you need em , amazon were cheapest – they might not be the best drill bits but they are leagues ahead of those in similar sets to what you show that i have.

I bought the Makita 18v 3ah drill a couple of weeks ago, to get round the battery issue I also bought the portable vacuum cleaner which runs the same battery and is great for odd bits of floor cleaning on wood floors and kitchen etc we have two dogs and it’s great for getting dog hairs up even if it is very basic it keeps the battery in use
Vacuum was around 40 quid off ebay( new) and I got the drill from Wickes for £129 with one battery

I’d go for the bigger makita. Those little ones are great and make a good addition to a tool set but the 18v is a fantastic all rounder. It’ll do lots of things the little ones can’t.

to get round the battery issue I also bought the portable vacuum cleaner

That’s an excellent idea. I’d been meaning to get a portable vacuum anyway, so that’s perfect. It’s also £35 in Screwfix.

Right, I’ll pick those bits up today. Thanks everyone for all your help.

I’d been meaning to get a portable vacuum anyway, so that’s perfect. It’s also £35 in Screwfix.

Is it in stock? None round here.

when I looked, the cheapest on the makita 10.8 pack of combi drill + impact + 2 batts + charger, was £135 at buyaparcel.com

linky

^ that’s the pack with the combi drill. The hard case (LCT204W) pack has the previous model drill which isn’t a combi. These (the combi drill) are excellent IF you already have a big corded drill – the little 10.8 will only stick a 6mm in hard masonry, 8mm at a push in blocks or softer bricks.

Otherwise, get the 18V drill.

And I could then get one of the bits sets, like this for £28:

Same in B&Q at the moment for £20