Just struggled through a fencing job with dying batteries on my old bosch, no real power and not lasting an hour, having to drag extension leads and the plug in drill in the end.

Looking at a drill and driver combo pack to keep me going, I’m a landlord doing my own management and repairs, so jobs may be random, few and far between, or a hectic few weeks getting big jobs done between tenants or while they are on holiday.

Not tied in to any favourite manufacturer, the only other recent cordless thing I bought was a 20V WORX strimmer. Is brushless a big benefit? Is 3Ah battery enough for me? Last time I bought one, cordless impact drivers weren’t really a thing.Makita/DeWlat/Hitachi/Bosch?

Thanks

I bought the driver that was in this kit when doing our garden – it’s very good.

https://www.dm-tools.co.uk/product.php/section/10518/sn/DEWDCK2059D2T#.W2GzTvlKjGg

Should have bought the full kit as my drill batteries are on the way out…

I like the makita stuff. There is a big range of compatible tools and the bare units are pretty cheap. In your situation I’d get a brushless LXT drill driver (with battery and charger), a bare unit impact driver (The DTD154 if budget will allow, but the cheaper ones are still good) and maybe one extra battery. That’ll give you a decent set to start with. Might find all that in a kit although it will almost certainly be a cheaper model impact driver. Have a look on FFX for starters

The brushless stuff is better. A bit more power and battery life. If you find a fantastic deal on the brushed kit then its still good but if the price isn’t that different then get the brushless. 3Ah batteries are plenty. They last for ages and charge quickly

If you’ve already got one Word item, probably worth looking at getting everything in line, that’ll give you maximum flexibility for when unexpected jobs pop up, especially if you’re a landlord so need to keep tenants happy – flat batteries are a bad thing to delay a tenant job that’ll doubtless happen at the worst possible time!

Just seen a combination pack with drill/driver, spare batteries and rapid charger for under £120.00 HERE – is that of use?

3Ah batteries are plenty. They last for ages and charge quickly

all chargers / charging times are not equal though. Charging time is one of the least-quoted factoids you see when comparing tools. Makita LXT stuff charges in about 20mins – for a lot of purposes you can get away with just one battery as it doesn’t take more than a cup of tea to recharge. I’ve also got some dewalt stuff – even their lowest capacity batteries take 90 mins to charge.

flat batteries are a bad thing to delay a tenant job

With newer Li-ion stuff though you don’t have to wait the whole charge time – older style batteries would be harmed if you didn’t fully recharge them before use but with li-ion is cool to charge for a bit and used for a bit. Makita stuff reaches 80% charged very quickly indeed.

I’ve also got some dewalt stuff – even their lowest capacity batteries take 90 mins to charge

Odd. Mine is nothing like that. I’ve got the same drill as in the 2nd post down and the batteries charge amazingly quickly.

I’ve got that dewalt set aswell with an extra 4 Ah Battery and the 4 Ah didn’t take 90 minutes to charge yesterday.

The small ones take about 30 minutes at most.

So far been ultra reliable while I’ve been working on a house renovation and loft conversion for a friend.

Odd. Mine is nothing like that. I’ve got the same drill as in the 2nd post down and the batteries charge amazingly quickly.

All depends what charger Dewalt include in the bundle. Some of the higher cost stuff (I use their nailers) they shave the price down a bit by including a cheaper charger. Similarly Screwfix/B&Q have ‘deals’ where they’ve slipped a cheap charger in too. As a buyer you won’t necessarily know which you are getting as a lot of retailers don’t mention charge time in their specs.

For instance – 30min charger

https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dck2060s2t-sfgb-18v-1-5ah-li-ion-xr-brushless-cordless-twin-pack/5742x

versus 90 min charger in a higher spec kit

https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dck209p2t-gb-18v-5-0ah-li-ion-cordless-combi-drill-5-angle-grinder-twin-pack/6208p

I think they’ve just got confused there, I would expect the 5 Ah batteries to take 90 minutes to charge and the 1.5 ah a lot less, they’re much smaller batteries.

they’re different chargers – no fan/cooling/control in the slower one. The cheap version is 70 mins to charge  even on a 1.5amp/hr battery. Its daft really as theres hardly more a tenners difference between the two types of charger (£18 vs £30) but the cheaper one can take 2 – 3 hours to charge 4 and 5amp batteries.

EDIT -in fact they do a third charger thats even faster and still only costs 30 quid so I’m going to bloody buy one

all chargers / charging times are not equal though. Charging time is one of the least-quoted factoids you see when comparing tools. Makita LXT stuff charges in about 20mins

Yes, It was Makita LXT stuff I was recommending. Good, fast charging as standard

for a lot of purposes you can get away with just one battery as it doesn’t take more than a cup of tea to recharge.

I’d agree with that, certainly when doing DIY around the house. For site work its handy to have two so you can carry on once you’ve got set-up. Also handy to have two if you are drilling and screwing so you can use two tools. I’d say you can get away with one battery but if budget allows for two then its a nice bonus.

I saw an 18v brushless combi drill in Aldi earlier for £50.

Gotta be worth a punt with their 3 year warranty.

Screwfix always seem to have an offer on – currently £180 for a DeWalt pair with 1.5Ah batteries and charger.

I’ve been picking up smaller ones for my Makitas, the 1.5 or 2Ah batteries are much nicer for a small drill or driver than a chunky 4+Ah one and unless you’re doing something like decking and putting in hundreds of screws at a time then the smaller batteries are fine.

I do a lot of drilling and driving.  When I started a few years back I bought a Makita LXT with 3ah battery.  Still going strong, still takes 20 mins to charge.  I prefer an impact driver for driving, I prefer a corded drill for concrete, an SDS drill for big holes and a 10v lightweight job (I got the Festool) for small jobs and tight spaces.

But if I wanted just the one, it would be the Makita LXT.  (See if Screwfix or B&Q Tradepoint are doing a Combo deal).

it would be the Makita LXT.  (See if Screwfix or B&Q Tradepoint are doing a Combo deal).

be wary of ‘looks like LXT but not actually LXT’ deals in B&Q, usually on ‘offer’ by the door of the Tradepoint counter – theres a budget Makita model that looks very similar to the LXT range (in fact it looks deliberately similar where as in the past they did their budget models in different colours and under different sub-brands such as ‘Maktec’), the only give away is the batteries are two-tone black and white rather than the all black LXT ones. Different battery and charger technology and despite looking so similar they’re not cross-compatible with other makita tools. They can seem like a good deal if you think what you’re getting is LXT but they’re sufficiently cheaper to make it a good idea to choose them over the the proper stuff.

there should have been a ‘not’ somewhere in that last sentence 🙂

I prefer an impact driver for driving, I prefer a corded drill for concrete, an SDS drill for big holes and a 10v lightweight job (I got the Festool) for small jobs and tight spaces.

Yep, the baby Festool is a brilliant bit of kit.

I’ve also got 18v Bosch drill/driver and Impact driver plus Monster Bosch mains powered SDS with clutch for core drilling..

Add in the demolition hammer (ok, not really a drill) and an old mains powered Bosch I never use and you end up with quite a set….