A perfect topic for the STW chat forum...
My dad brought home a Dewalt DC740KA (£70). Just looked at it and it uses Ni-Cad batteries. I didnt think anything used Ni-Cad batteries these days, but I just looked and see that a lot of low cost cordless drills use them.
Is this the norm (and we are spoilt in bike lights with nimh and li-ion)?
So what cordless drill for around the home handywork...?
hilti 36 volt here....
big bloke, big drill........... 
15, 18 & 36 volt hilti
Use Hitachi all the time at work these days. Excellent tools.
For the DIY-er how about the Bosch PSR 18 LI-2 18V
Cracking drill for the odd job, even used for mixing adhesive with a paddle.
Whatever you do don't buy one of those cheap Site drills from screwfix, you will be ridiculed for evermore, even though they are made by Makita & and are actually (money aside) pretty good 
for DIY look at the Site range from screwfix. Made for them by Makita to pretty much identical specs as the Makita green units, but half the price. NiMH batteries last well and charge fast.
Sure its not an 18v Li-Ion Hitachi or Hilti or impact driver but fine for the home.
for best value get a cordless drill driver but for big stuff a cheap corded hammer action drill. A decent hammer action combi drill would cost too much to get one worth having.
£60 (half the price of the equiv makita branded one)
amazingly the same one is on sale at B&Q for only £40
http://nextday.diy.com/app/jsp/product/productPage.jsp?productId=83288&utm_source=Homepage&utm_medium=Banner&utm_campaign=HomepageBanner83288
although B&Q online and screwfix are two brands under the same umbrella
hahah - your post just beat me 2unfit
EDIT, I bought one as it had the same charger as my Makita & was cheaper than buying a new charger alone (which had failed), bonus as I got a the same charger for l/2 the price of a Makita one, but I also got the driver & 2 batteries thrown in, good DIY kit!
boys...1 word when it comes to big boys tools! makita!!! 18V Li-ion...the dogs danglies!!!
22mins to fully charge a battery, and the impact driver has enough torque to remove the wheel nuts from the car!!!
NiCad batteries hold their charge, whereas NiMH ose it all in a matter of months, so if you only use tools occasionally and don't want to have to charge them every time you use them then NiCad probably works out better
I didnt think anything used Ni-Cad batteries these days
Yep, it's big heavy NiCad batteries for big tough building workers who climb up scaffolding in sub-zero conditions, and lightweight li-ion batteries for limp wristed weekend DIY mouse-pushers.
Nah .... only joking, although there's nothing much wrong with NiCad batteries imo, and DeWalt still make perfectly good tools which use them, though Bosch seem to have gone for li-ion powered tools in a big way. I certainly have no plans to replace my two 14.4v NiCad Bosch drills, and should the need arise, I would consider replacing with simular - if I got a good deal. Despite the fact that I also have a li-ion powered Bosch driver which I am extraordinarily pleased with......different tools, different jobs.
And yes, I've also got the Hilti 36v ...... and the Bosch 24v SDS. Although I wouldn't recommend the Hilti 36v as imo, it's over-priced and new batteries are just silly money. However, the Bosch 24v SDS is an excellent tool imo. Having said that, unless there is actually a good reason, I only ever use corded SDS drills.
The Dewalt DC740KA with NiCad batteries sounds ok to me.
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