Hi all,

Wanting a power-drill for general DIY/hobby use – wood, plastic, thin sheet metal, maybe driving in screws – nothing crazy at all. I already have a table-top pillar drill (although not where I live at the moment, partly prompting wanting a hand drill).

Would like;
Adjustable speed (ie not on-off)
Forward and reverse rotation
Around £30 – no more than £50.

Is it pointless looking for cordless? Will the power be abysmal for this price – obviously won’t get li-ion batteries.

Anything wrong with this kind of thing?
http://www.screwfix.com/p/energer-enb463drl-710w-percussion-drill-230-240v/99423

Or trawl gumtree for a used Makita or similar?

Ta,
Duane.

At that price, in all likelihood, you’ll get a better spec’d cordless than you would a mains drill. The manufacturers aren’t fighting over the mains drill market in the same way as they are with cordless so mains drills can be a bit expensive for what they are. The world is full of barely used drills though (its thought the average drill in the uk gets 12 minutes use in its lifetime) , you could probably get something mains powered and decent quality second hand

If you are going to be doing screws I would say cordless.

I’ve got a £50 Bosch green 14V lithium 14V that has been brilliant for the last 5 years or so.

You can now pick up the 18V lithium ones for about that on offer which is what I would go for.

Far better than they should be
http://www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-2491.htm?action=showDetail&id=20183

3 year warranty, I’ve got one and its become my got drill/driver over my Lithium Bosch.
i’d get one on thursday and get £19.99 hammer drill for the bigger jobs.

I’ll second what speshpaul says. Had mine for 2 years and it’s great for jobs around the house and at £30 you can’t go wrong.

Avoid Ryobi at that price. I bought one in sale, first one the charger nearly burst into flames on first use, battery 1 lasted a couple of months, battery 2 just died on me after a year. Absolute tosh.

Thanks for the replies.

Would that Aldi drill be happy drilling, say, a 20mm hole through a 25mm sheet of ply?

How would it stack up against this;
http://www.screwfix.com/p/energer-ene456com-18v-1-3ah-ni-cd-cordless-combi-drill/61895

or this
http://www.screwfix.com/p/titan-ttd272ddh-14-4v-1-5ah-ni-cd-cordless-drill-driver/36869

It looks good, I’m just a little put off by it being only 10.8V!

I would avoid the 10.8V and also the nicad ones. Look out for 14V+ lithium.

there is a Macalister in B&Q for £50 but not sure what it’s like. 3yr warranty from a high street bricks and mortar store though so not a lot to lose.

Blah, to go for the Aldi one or not..? Any more thoughts?

Spotted this on B&Qs site;
http://www.diy.com/departments/black-decker-cordless-18v-li-ion-hammer-drill-1-battery/808918_BQ.prd

Which I believe is this, which has good reviews;
http://www.amazon.co.uk/Black-Decker-Lithium-Hammer-Drill/dp/B00DSJWV4I/ref=sr_1_2?s=diy&ie=UTF8&qid=1421864688&sr=1-2&keywords=black+decker+18v+drill

So think I might go with that one..

EDIT: although I think it can only take up to 10mm drill bits? Which is a bit small…

Anyone? 🙂