Looking for a cordless drill for general DIY (nothing too prolonged or full-on!). I’ve seen a few but kept being drawn to the Makita 8391DWPETK – £115ish with a 101 piece accessory set…

Any thoughts on the Makita? anything else i should be looking at for no more than £115?

please don’t get too technical btw – i hate DIY and the less i need to learn, the better – a yay or nay would be good 😉

I would go with Makita personally every time. I have had one of these which has lasted me 4 odd years, been dropped and alsorts. Battery life not brilliant but power good

I would recommend this though at screwfix.
Better battery and will last between charges longer compared to the single ncd battery.

Makita DHP453RFW 18V 3.0Ah Li-Ion Cordless LXT Combi DrillProduct Code: 7186F

I have a Makita cordless drill I bought a few years ago and it has been battered something rotten on a fair few projects.. 6 month house renovation just finished and it’s still going strong as ever. No idea what the model number is but they make decent gear

Silverline tools, via toolstation.com, should be around £35.

Bloody hell that silverline gear is competitively priced! Just been on toolstation and I can feel some new powertools coming on..

Thanks guys

muppet4 – that looks good, but i’d have to factor in the costs of all the bits etc – i’ve got a list of jobs that need doing, from masonry to wood, and removing rust from my van!

honeybadgerx – is it a case of buy cheap, buy twice though? i’m happy to pay for quality if it means i won’t need to buy again for ages. i asked my dad for advice, but the last drill he bought was back in the 70s for the equivalent of around £300 in todays money, and its still going strong..!

silverline – doesnt have the nickname bluebox of death for no reason.

every single thing ive bought from them has gone back except for a lazy tong rivet gun.

i stopped buying it.

Silverline are like a poor man’s Draper- same random build quality, there is some good stuff but there’s also a lot of absolute crap and you can never be sure what’s what.

(my brashing saw is randomly excellent- the handle keeps coming loose but it cuts like a lightsaber)

For irregular DIY, you’ve got to bear in mind possible battery lifespans, you can expect to get 10+ years out of a lightly used drill or driver but almost certainly not the battery. Corded obviously has drawbacks too though.

No no no no no to Silverline. They do have an better green Silverline brand but not tried that. Regard the normal silverline as something that might last long enough to do the job, but will probably do the job badly as it’s rubbish. You would be better off with something from Lidl or Aldi IMO.

Draper also poo but their Expert stuff is a lot better.

Drills – cheap but reliable – Bosch Green (DIY)
More expensive but more power and more reliable undr harsh use – Bosch Blue or Makita (preferably LXT). I mix and match between the two.

I did recently look at a JCB compound mitre saw and it was very well made and I thought it was a Dewalt.

Dewalt and Metabo also very good. Milwaukee good but very expensive.

I think if I had to walk into a shop and buy a drill tomorrow it would be a Makita LXT with 3Ah battery.

In that sort of price range the Makita is good, but don’t be swayed by the bit set, particularly if you want to use the masonry bits. The general bits in those sets are ok, but the masonry bits are made of cheese.

Big fan of makita drills here. Mine has lasted well. Just be wary of the the b&q special that uses different batteries. Get an LXT model. Should be around £100. I can see the benefit of those big accessories sets so go for it if you want but I’d get the bits separately. You need a lot less than you think for 99% of jobs.

honeybadgerx – is it a case of buy cheap, buy twice though? i’m happy to pay for quality if it means i won’t need to buy again for ages.

Agree with the above. I had a Makita ni-cad drill for years. The drill was great but the accessory set that came with it was indeed made of cheese, most likely brie.

Get decent quality masonry bits.

I’ve just bought this Hitachi drill from Screwfix To replace my ageing Makita.
it’s currently £99, comes with two lion batteries and has a hammer function so is great for light masonry work too.
Hitachi at Screwfix

The cheaper battery drills are limtited by their battery life.
They’re great for woodwork ,but not so good for prolonged work ,like removing rust on a van or masonry.IMO.
Like AndyL ,I mix up the blue and green Bosch.
Look out for weekly offers in screwfix, I picked up a cheap blue bosch sds drill last year.£125 I think.
Our builder loaned me his v expensive dewalt 18v for a weekend and it Pi$$ed all over my green bosch one…..

Get a cheap Li Ion dril from lidl / Aldi and a proper corded SDS drill.
Its the hard work of drilling into masonry that will kill a combi drill, plus using an sds makes it all so much easier..

Something like this makita sds
http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B007M8NUHI

and a £30-40 cordless

No no no no no to Silverline.

And that’s a NO NO NO from me as well.

I just hope to high heavens that the Athertons don’t fix their bikes with Silverline tools.

Hth
Marko

Blue bosch, lasts years and isn’t a current fashion brand.

Can’t help but feel that makita is just the latest fad after dewalt was a few years ago.

Blue bosch is like a timeless classic. 8) 😆

Don’t bother with Silverline – market stall crap.

I’d just buy whatever is on offer for around £100 at either Screwfix or toolstation – probably be either DeWalt or Makita.

I’d steer well clear of Silverline. I’ve bought a couple of their handtools and they’ve been crap. I can only assume their powertools would be equally bad.

I’m sure there are better budget power tools out there if you can’t justify the Maikta/Dewalt/Bosch Blue etc.

Bloody hell that silverline gear is competitively priced!

That’s because it’s all really badly made.

Makita is good, had one years ago at work and I was impressed with it.

Currently have a Dewalt and its been very good. Copes well with drilling holes for anchor bolts which was impressive, also charges quickly.

+1 on the makita.

The 453 is enough drill for most DIY*, I’d say for occasional use the big 101 set IS useful, but if you’re drilling more than the odd hole in a given task get some better bits for it. It’s a handy kit in that when you suddenly realise you need a Xmm hole in Y at 9pm you can make it happen. You can normally get a kit with the 453 for about £130, try screwfix or FFX.

I’ve since got a 10.8v makita (also excellent and the light weight is good for some tight applications and general screwing), a 10.8 makita impact driver (awesome bit of kit, sort of thing I wonder how I did without), and a big 5kg corded SDS. But then I’ve been doing enough work that the time savings for having exactly the right kit pay off for me, I could’ve done all the same jobs with the 18v makita, just some would’ve been a PITA or taken ages.

For a cheaper decent 18v cordless look at the Hitachi kit at screwfix, I have one at work and it’s fine. The makita’s nicer and where my own money would go, but also more expensive.

*i’m renovating a house so my kit’s getting a workout.