I’m looking for a decent quality but not stupidly expensive cordless screwdriver for general household work, but including bigger garden projects like sheds and fencing and gates, so needs to be able to get big long screws into meaty bits of wood witout the battery dying after 15 minutes

What does the panel recommend?

Cheers

IME cordless screwdrivers are a bit pants, not enough grunt and poor battery life (unless you spend loads) – a cordless drill/driver with a good range of speed/torque adjustment is much better tool and the batteries last loads longer – and you get two tools in one!!

Can’t recommend a specific one though as its been a while since I had to buy one.

Yeah, compact drill would be my shout too. I’ve got a wee bosch 18V one which is small enough to be easy to handle but still plenty powerful, But pricey though. I do have a little black and decker screwdriver too but it’s not very good, I wouldn’t recommend it to anyone tbh.

Cordless. Screwdriver.

not stupidly expensive

How much have I got to spend ?

http://www.powertoolsuk.co.uk/webcat/details.asp?ProductCode=DC740KA&ID=3944

needs to be able to get big long screws into meaty bits of wood

Then, just find the deals screwfix are doing on 18V…if you need it to be able to do any kind of work, then 18V is minimum. Avoid buying anything for less than £150, it’ll be crap.

Bought myself a Makita 18v with Li-Io battery from Screwfix about 3 months ago on a special deal. Well impressed – great torque, great battery life and recharges from empty in 30 mins. For anything like drills, drivers etc you can’t go wrong with either Makita or Hitachi

For anything like drills, drivers etc you can’t go wrong with either Makita or Hitachi

Yep, second that one. Using a Hitachi 18V at the moment which cost me around £200 – but it’s one of the ones with the newer lighter batteries, that charge faster and don’t age too much…I think it’s LiIon rather than NiCd or NiMH. But if you’re not using it every day, there are loads of deals where companies are flogging off the stock with the older batteries…like Capt says above, you can’t go wrong with Makita either.

In fact look here, this looks like a bargain and is Lithium Ion:
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Sorry, don’t know how to make the link shorter

the 18v lion makitas are brilliant. Screwfix often have a special deal on.

Because lithium is the new thing theres lots of good deals around for ‘yesterdays’ NiMH batteried stuff.NiMh is perfectly good, Lithium just weighs a bit less and charges a bit faster. But charge times aren’t that important if you’ve got more than one battery. Theres some very good deals out for Makita stuff, loads cheaper than they were a year or so ago and usually with extra batteries or bodies or gizmos thrown in. Although they are rubbish for almost everything else B&Q prices for power tools are as good as you’ll get anywhere, but choose entry level quality kit over feature-laden cheap stuff. Screwfix’s own brand ‘Site’ drill drivers are makita-built and plenty good enough.

The other thing about NiMh batteries is that they suffer from memory effect and lose life if you don’t keep them full charged, and discharge fully before recharging

this is a great driver from screwfix for £65.
Its made for them (Site is their in house brand) by Makita – so superb build quality.
2 speed, reverse, clutch. 2x Batteries that last well.
nice balance too – Ive used mine for loads of home bodging DIY, like decking and studwork. Reliable.
http://www.screwfix.com/prods/83288/Power-Tools/Cordless-Drills/Site-SMB600-14-4V-Cordless-Drill-Driver

….and studwork

You want to learn how to swing a hammer mate.

Second the Site, I bought one for £50 when they were on special after my Makita charger broke, it was cheaper to buy the drill then it was to buy a new Makita charger, the best thing is they use the same charger so I now have two drills. 🙂

Screwfix are doing an 18v DeWalt with torque settings for £99 at the mo’ too (with two batteries and carry case).

Saying that, I have just built a load of decking using my father-in-law’s Black and Decker that he got from Homebase (£70 with similar package as above) and it quite happily drove the screws in with no pilot holes. So I would say, for general occasional home use, something like that would be fine.

This is a bargain… CLICKYLINKY

another Makita fan here – I’ve got one of the 18v cordless screwdrivers and Liion batteries and it’s worked a treat for the last couple of years during our house renovations…

You want to learn how to swing a hammer mate.

Cowboy

It’s really worth spending the extra and getting one with a lithium battery. We’ve just done up our house and it’s been absolutely invaluable. The NiMH ones suck IMHO.

nowt wrong with NiMH for DIY stuff. The 14v Makitas are a good buy. Light enough round the house but still with enough welly. Good ergos too.

If you are predominantly driving screws rather than drilling, have a serious look at a cordless impact driver over a drill driver.

It produces much higher torque for much less weight/power and has no torque reaction – i.e. it’s not trying to spin itself out of your hand.

Hitachi 12V drill driver – 26Nm
Hitachi 12V impact driver – 130Nm!!

This the impact action also means it’s far less likely to cam out of fixings and round out screw heads. Also, it’s light – you can use it in one hand, at arms length and still drive coach bolts into timber. Since it’s compact, it also does things like fit between floor joists where a big 18V drill driver would struggle.

Get one with 2 batteries. Hitachi are great. Awesome bit of kit – every time I use mine, I’m glad I bought it. It’s paid for itself several times over now.

expensive though g-s.

expensive though g-s.

Make up for it though, with the time spent saved pumping screws into your studwork.

expensive though g-s.

I paid £150 for a 12V Hitachi with 2 batteries, case and a decent set of bits. In terms of my spend, I put that in the ‘investment’ bracket for tools, but it’s definitely paid for itself. When it packs up (hopefully not soon), I’ll get another impact driver.

Cordless impact driver and corded hammer drill for the tougher stuff is my perfect combo.

makita from screwfix here – came with fast charger and 3 batteries for under 100 notes. corded hammer drill hasnt been out its box since – plenty powerful for most duties.

Depends what you want really.

I’ve got a little Bosch 10.8V Li-ion screwdriver that I’m really impressed with – its not up to properly big stuff, but it’s surprisingly torquey and I have used it for drilling 1″ holes in wood with a flat bit.

That said I also have a heavy duty cordless (an old 12V one) and a whacking great SDS drill that can deal with the really heavy stuff. If you want one drill to cover everything, then yes, spend some proper cash on a 14.4V or 18V industrial rated cordless. If you just want something small and light to bang in lots of screws, the little 10.8V ones are pretty handy. (I’m about to get the impact driver version too)

Check ebay for good prices too.

I put that in the ‘investment’ bracket for tools

I agree.
All a matter of useage really.
For DIY though….?

I put that in the ‘investment’ bracket for tools

But what angle brackets for studwork ?

i can strongly reccomend one of these

http://www.diy.com/diy/jsp/bq/nav.jsp?action=detail&fh_secondid=10256482&fh_view_size=150&fh_eds=%3f&fh_location=%2f%2fcatalog01%2fen_GB%2fcategories%3c%7b9372015%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b9372047%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b9372203%7d%2fcategories%3c%7b9392094%7d%2fspecificationsProductType%3dcordless%2ffeaturesBrand%3dBosch&fh_refview=lister&ts=1243860602047&isSearch=false

24 volts, 2 batteries

when doing deck screws, it’d run in about 150 per charge of battery. With big (150mm) coach screws straight into undrilled wood, you’re looking at more like 20 before the puff’s gone. bit bulky – i’ve got a small 3.6v screwdriver to get akward screws in

And I can strongly recommend http://tinyurl.com/ 5lab

😉

Thanks for the ideas guys

I LOL very loudly at you weekend warriors with your “site” drills…does it make ya feel tough eh? Working with a big RED drill that says “SITE” on it…??? 😛

I LOL very loudly at you weekend warriors with your “site” drills…does it make ya feel tough eh? Working with a big RED drill that says “SITE” on it…???

Lol @ ‘a tradesman’ feeling superior to me, you win ;o)

That’s a bit rude deadlydarcy 😯

Have we been drinking ? 😕

You sound p*ssed as a fart.

Have we been drinking ?

Nah ernie, I is just high on life (and feeling particularly annoyed at the weekend warrior who wasn’t ready for me to start today) 👿

Only joking though, you know me…right old geeezer 🙄

Lol @ ‘a tradesman’ feeling superior to me, you win ;o)

Now that ernie, was what I call rude…I wasn’t feeling superior to any badger 😯

weekend warrior eh?

the guys need a driver for DIY.
He’s being recommended good DIY drivers by fellow DIYers.

They dont cost £500 and come with a certificate for wearing your jeans low down your arse crack and a penchant for doing VAT free jobs for cash. That somehow makes them not fit for his needs does it?

You can be a twit sometimes DD.

You can be a twit sometimes DD.

[indulge in a little internet name-calling]So can you Stoner[/indulge in a little internet name-calling]

I really must remember that sarcasm and irony is lost…but I deny being a twit. If you check a little higher up in the thread before you waded in, you’ll see I provided some reasonably constructive advice…and even found a good deal on screwfix, before taking the mick after the OP had thanked everybody for his or her advice.

They dont cost £500 and come with a certificate for wearing your jeans low down your arse crack and a penchant for doing VAT free jobs for cash. That somehow makes them not fit for his needs does it?

That’s a bit of a generalisation but hey, you’ve got me down to a tee there…hairy arse and all.

So don’t you “twit” me…you, you, you, you…twit yourself

Bosch 10.8v Drill/Driver, with a free Impact Driver for the toughter jobs where more torque is needed, bargain.

Click me!