So I bought a new drill to replace the much (ab)used one that finally died.
There was a Ryobi One+ 18v on sale nice n cheap.
Brought it home, plugged battery into charge.
Cue an exciting entry to the kitchen by middle son – who found the charger emitting clouds of smoke, some small flames and a nice ‘sizzling’ sound 😯
So, what drill and all that for a reasonable cost…

Makita or Dewalt. Just see what is on offer. Expect to pay £100-130.

I would prefer under £100…if possible. Old drill was Black and Decker, and it built/renovated three houses and generally was used a lot with only a couple of batteries giving up the ghost until a colleague dropped it and cracked the handle.

Screwfix always have Makitas on specials. You’re unlikely to go wrong with one.

My brother’s been using Ryobi for a while, and his kit takes an absolute kicking (spends a lot of time being loaned to enthusiastic amateurs). At the end of the day anything can fail to be fair but yep it’d freak me out.

I’d go Makita because I’m a terrible snob.

I’ve been in construction for 25+ years and have never had a Makita drill/ driver. Cheap tat as fsar asI’m concerned. Mate had one of the Screwfix specials £99 with 2 batteries ( not lithium ) took it back every couple of months as batteries were shot. I’ve had a Dewalt 18v ni Cad for 10 years of hard proffesional use paired up with a Hitachi 14v impact driver. Both died last November and i’ve replaced with a Milwaukee 18v Lithium Ion which seems to be holding up well. It has 51Nm of torque. My soon to be next purchase will be this Hitachi DV18DSDL with 2 4Ah bats & 92Nm of torque.

If its just a drill your after This is fantastic.

Ditto.

I’ve worked on and off in construction for years and have used the same Dewalt 18v XRP all that time.

It’s had a LOT of use and its been faultless.

Well, the hitachi model there is fantastic. I oughta know as I have one, its just that it’s nearly two and a half times the OP’s budget.

I’ve got the 115v version of that Hitachi – great piece of kit. Takes a hammering;-)

Ive had afew ryobi’s and theyve been ok, there are better though i reckon next time ill be going down the Makita line

The Hitachi’s are fantastic, got 8 years use out of mine, batteries won’t charge any longer 🙁 but I will definitely be getting another one.

I’ve just changed all my old dewalt xrp kit for makita lxt and wish I’d gone dewalt again. it’s just not in the same performance league and it’s all the top of the line kit. the site dab radio is excellent however and can’t recommend it enough

aren’t there questions over new Dewalt stuff being unreliable?
So whilst your 10-yr old drill is fine the new ones won’t be?

I don’t work in construction, but I am an engineer who’s just painted his kitchen and I have a Makita which is awesome.

aren’t there questions over new Dewalt stuff being unreliable?

Funny you mention this.

yesterday I happened to be in a large national DIY store ready to buy the 18v lithium version Dewalt .

One of the staff came up to me and quietly said – don’t, we’ve had loads back from this batch.
so i didn’t

local b&q have a display of ryobi, hitachi, makita and dewalt that you can try. all about 100quid. absolutely hands down the dewalt one feels the best, in terms of ergonomics/balance and trigger action/control.

btw, i had a ryobi that melted a battery whilst charging.

Someone put me off buying this:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Makita-BHP456RFWX-2-Speed-Battery-Anniversary/dp/B008CP3TD0/ref=sr_1_3?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1369138267&sr=1-3&keywords=makita

Very close to buying it when I’m sure something else would do

but I am an engineer who’s just painted his kitchen and I have a Makita which is awesome

You painted your kitchen with a drill? 😯 Respect!

For £100 you’re not going to get a top notch drill, or more correctly top notch batteries. I’d steer well clear of the £99 Makitas, they’re general NiCd batteries and not good value for money. A £99 Ryobi with a 1.4ah LI-ion battery is better value. I’ve two Ryobi drills and an angle grinder, they’re fine. 1.4ah battery is a bit weak but you can also buy a 2.4 ah battery and recently they’ve released a 4ah monster battery.

I’ve also got an extremely good Hitachi with 3.6ah 18V batteries but that was £300 quid.

Edit rwc03, looks a good deal for an 18V 3.0ah LI-ion battery

All depends on how much you intend to use it.

rwc03 looks like an ok price. Afaik the LXT models were the better ones in the Makita line-up.
A metal chuck would of been a bonus. Quite often you’ll see a Hitachi DV18DSDL on the bay of E’s for £185 + £15 delivery with 2 x 4Ah batteries. Bargain!

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Hitachi-Cordless-Combi-Li-Ion-Batteries/dp/B008EQS82Y/ref=pd_sim_sbs_diy_1

£230 on Amazon, sounds great with 92(!) Nm of Torque but way off budget for me.

Looks like £200ish for a metal chuck

Someone put me off buying this:

do it 👿 its a great bit of kit. I use mine almost daily.

Really no need for a metal chuck unless you want to bang nails in with it.

I picked up a Makita from ScrewFix last year with a Li-Ion battery and about a millions bits.

Very pleased with it indeed. The charger is an ultra-fast one that pours so much juice into the battery it needs a fan to keep it cool, and it plays the Fur Elise when it’s finished charging. I mean, sign of class or what?

Took the plunge and got the anniversary one, sadly the metal box tipped me over the edge

Picked up a Makita a few months ago 18v 2 batteries etc for just under £100, great bit of kit after a series of cheaper drills which I killed before warranty was up.

We have a whole load of Ryobi One+ 18V LiIon tools at work. The staple/nail gun is useless (jams constantly) but the rest are faultless. Always have one battery in the charger so whenever a tool runs flat there’s always a battery ready to go.

Have a cheap Makita Screwfix special. It’s not been well looked after (had a fair bit of use, left out in the rain, dropped off ladders etc) but it’s still going strong.

Had a problem with the chuck but it was quickly sorted out under warranty (collected and returned, free of charge in about 48 hours).