Hi Hivemind,

What are the best bets for 18v Bushless cordless drills?

I have a wired heavy-duty SDS drill, but do not want an overly weedy cordless. Also good quality is an aim.

What does the hive mind recommend?

Cheers

Sam

Pick a battery and be a dick about it. For what it’s worth, I bought into Makita and am happy enough with my choice so far.

Batteries are the important bit i think.

As in, if you buy into Dewalt, (as i did, and the drill/driver is fine) and then decide you want a…… battery powered tyre compressor, youre only option is 100 quid bare..
Where as the makita ones are 50 quid.

want a battery powered water pump?
none on dewalt or makita, but Bosch do one.
And Ryobi do 3!

As a Dewalt owner, i regret not getting makita. The tools are just as good (debateably better), but they have a better range of tools on the system.

Makita 18V system has a great range also including 2x 18V garden tools. All are reasonably priced once you have a few batteries and great quality. I think they’ve a new range out now which is presumably even better, but the 18v / 36v tools work very well for me.

Similar theme to above, i have Bosch 18v system, 2010 drill still going strong, expanded to SDS, mitre saw, planer and jigsaw over the years and as usage has required. All good and perform well.

Can’t comment on the quality of others but slightly frustrated that bosch gardening stuff is a different battery system.

Do see wider avaliabity of other brands on screwfix etc, but Bosch own sites clearance, refurb, warehouse seconds second has provided most of my purchases

I fully agree with Olly – got the DeWalt, wished I got the Makita for the rest of the tool range. Problem is the DeWalt driver and drill are really well built and going strong 8years and two house renovations later

Bit of a curve ball and not ‘home DIY trendy’ but I’ve got a Stanley Fatmax 18V 2Ah one and it’s ace, batteries last for ages and it’s got more than enough power to drill up to 10mm dia holes (biggest I’ve tried) into brick walls, I used it when I built the boys cabin bed and it coped easily with the wall fixings, drilling and screwing involved. I’ve had it a couple of years and its the best compact battery drill I’ve had.

If it helps,

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cordless-drill-kits-100ish-budget-any-recommendations/

https://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/cordless-drill-recommendations/

And many others. There was one a couple of months back I think, but I can’t immediately find it.

Badaptor Duo DeWalt / Milwaukee to Makita 18V Battery Adapter

.
Are things like that any good?
Also the Dewatering and Milwaukee batteries are apparently the same,might give a few more options.
I’m on DeWalt FWIW and I’ve been happy with them, just drill jigsaw and reciprocating saw, durable and nice to use. Only complaint is the two saws really get through the batteries quick!

I bought in to the makita range for work and am pretty impressed. We have a mix of tools, all get hammered in pretty grubby environments and are still 100% reliable. Some of the kit is pro, some diy and it’s all good. I’m using 4 and 5ah batteries – for a combi they seem to last for days so for domestic use probably way to big but then if you get on the bandwagon and buy a strimmer you’ll be glad you had them. Bare makita stuff isn’t too pricey i don’t think until you get into the big 36v breakers.

I’ve got shed loads of Makita.
Brilliant stuff.
I think the colour is the nicest too.

They’ll all do the job, but as above it’s mostly about the ecosystem. Makita have a great range of tools, quality batteries, lots of “aftermarket” ie knockoffs, and they tend to support each battery size well and stick with it for a long time, so I went with them. The basic drill is a real workhorse, it’s not super powerful but you can abuse it, I’ve had mine literally smoking after doing some heavy work with metal, dropped it a load of times, drowned it in water and it still works.

The knockoffs add a lot for me- for a mainline tool I’ll always buy genuine, they’re just better. And I’ve not had good experiences with knockoff batteries. But I also have a couple of chinese “for makita” angle grinders, a leaf blower, a strimmer, and a wee reciprocating saw that I use for trailbuilding- cutting roots etc. They’re all cheap and cheerful but they do the job, and I wouldn’t be able to (or want to) get all those in genuine makita. The grinders especially- I’d have bought one, and be endlessly swapping tools, instead I have 3 with a grinding wheel, a cutter, and a wire brush fitted. The strimmer is shit but it was £40! And I’m happy getting the reciprocating saw muddy which I wouldn’t be so much with the real thing.

So basically the knockoffs add a whole useful extra set of options so you can combine the quality of the makita tools and batteries with the cheapness, and it ironically makes me buy more makita stuff.

I’ve got the Bosch 18V drill.
It’s great – fairly light, compact and feels good in the hand, was on a Screwfix offer and generally does exactly as you’d expect. The other tools in the range that we’ve had in work have been great too, which is why I went for Bosch.
However, as I’ve been looking to add a few more tools for more irregular use, I’m kind of wishing I went for Makita, as there’s much more availability second hand. Plus, Makita do gardening tools on the same battery system.
So if I was going again, I’d probably go Makita.

I’d look through the rest of the ranges for what else you might want – Makita and Ryobi are both decent for good value garden tools (hedge trimmer, strimmer, etc).

I went Makita and been very happy. I have one of the Badaptor things for a couple of Ryobi tools like the gluegun, works fine but you lose any intelligence on the tool/battery to prevent it running too low so you have to be a bit more careful.

Screwfix are doing this: https://www.screwfix.com/p/makita-dhp485t001-18v-2-x-5-0ah-li-ion-lxt-brushless-cordless-combi-drill/412xt

Batteries are overkill just for a drill but a bargain if you’ll get more tools in the future.

5 Ah or 6Ah batteries are a bit heavy and overkill for the drills / drivers but perfect for bigger tools and essential for garden tools like strimmer, chainsaw, leaf blower etc.

I’ve got Makita, had some of it for years, some more recent. The 18v range has been on the same battery interface for at least 12 years, so the rarely used kit still has a supply of new batteries.

I’ve got a 240v corded hammer drill that’s 25 years old. Apart from changing the chuck to a old fashioned key one, the tool less one was junk, it’s performed faultlessly. No battery drill has ever out performed it.

I have the Bosch, it’s good and I’ve had no problems but I wouldn’t buy Bosch again. Makita seem a better bet with a wider more versatile range.

I went with Makita, when I needed a new lawnmower at the start of last year. Also bought a hedgetrimmer at the same time. The lawnmower came with 2 5ah batteries, which will do our lawns easily from full.

Since I’ve got the garden stuff, I’ve also bought a vacuum cleaner and a tyre inflator. If I was in need of a new drill, I’d be getting that one up there, that Simon_g has linked to.

In short, I chose Makita LXT, and have been happy with the quality.

My 18v Bosch brushless drill and impact with bit/socket drive chuck have been faultless. Mix of little2.0 and big4.0 batteries depending on workload.
I added a 12v flexiclick driver recently and wish I’d done so earlier as it’s a really handy bit of kit.

Milwuake now seem to be king of the battery ecosystem over here at the moment though.

Makita 18v. I have bought a few others over the years and regretted it when the batteries or chargers went bang. It was always cheaper to buy a whole new drill.

My Makita Multi-tool is brilliant. I have used it for so much. I am keen DIY’er btw

Also, ill leave this here again:

get the Makita two pack set thats currently on offer on screwfix (theres always one deal or another).

I’m a huge Makita fan especially cordless. My sds cordless is a 5amp battery DeWalt it’s utter crap in the cold and the batteries take hours to change.
But having said that if outdoor and cold working conditions are expected like -5 cold chill rooms the look at Milwaukee M18 stuff despite the horrible colour and the bobbins advertising claims of torque ECT they work well.
I feel dirty saying it, it’s like I’m cheating on my wife…. Makita have done me proud for 30 years right from the 7.2v cordless I first used.
Cost wise Makita still win hands down even the white and black edition ones work fine I’ve got 2
Both have iffy chucks thou.

My next sds cordless might be M18 if the price drops a bit and I can handle yet another charging system

My de Walt charger went pop when I switched batteries over without isolating the charger. Won’t do that again because a replacement charger costs almost as much as a full drill/batteries/charger set. I got the full set.
Drill is OK but not strong enough for masonry.

The basic drill is a real workhorse, it’s not super powerful but you can abuse it, I’ve had mine literally smoking after doing some heavy work with metal, dropped it a load of times, drowned it in water and it still works.

Yep, the Makita drill takes a proper hammering.
Had my ‘work’ drill smoking drilling out rotten fence posts in my garden. It went on relentlessly and never seems to run out before the other battery is charged.
Which is important when I’m using it for my actual job.

The twin pack with the impact driver I bought comes with a case that’s quite handy for drill bit storage etc, but it’s a starting to break after being lobbed in and out of a van a few too many times. I noticed it had leaked a few smaller bits the other day. Probably not an issue for domestic use.

Also, with Makita you can get the battery charger to play popular classical music when its finished charging instead of just beeps, if that’s important to you.

https://youtu.be/ISwW7H5B_fU

Bushless cordless drills

There’s not only one model from each manufacturer- there’s at least 3 models of 18v makita BL (plus likely some older stock around). The “premium” drill has more than twice the torque of the cheap one. We’ve got a 453 and a 458 nonBL. The 453 is fine for wood but drilling anything into metal or concrete the higher speed and torque of the 458 makes a huge difference.

I tend to try and buy DeWalt because they’re designed and made in the UK not far from me in the NE (Drills at least), which is nice. Makita is also good and as above they do offer more tools in a bigger price range, but TBH my DeWalt tools are nicer for the same price point, cheaper Makita stuff is pretty run of the mill.

Bit of a curve ball and not ‘home DIY trendy’ but I’ve got a Stanley Fatmax 18V 2Ah

I think they’re often last years Dewalt. Same factory/owner. Not sure on cross compatibility of batteries before anyone asks.

Makita here – the 501Z cordless circular saw is an awesome little tool, replaces a handsaw for a lot of jobs. I’ve also got a 36V cordless mower which is also great in comparison to the flimsy plastic jobs you see in DIY stores – will deal with knee-high coarse grass.

Thanks @Olly that’s a really useful video 👍

Thank you all, I have gone with Simon_G’s suggestion.

Cheers

Sam

Always worth looking past Screwfix and Toolstation for tools, ITS do some fantastic deals, particularly on bare units once you’ve got a few batteries. https://its.co.uk/

Thank you all, I have gone with Simon_G’s suggestion.

Cheers

Sam

When you say ‘drill’ by the way, is it just drilling holes you’re wanting? Otherwise, if banging in screws, an impact driver is handy too.
An extra £100 on top of that deal gets you an impact driver too. Though you might find cheaper than Screwfix.

I bought an Erbauer from B&Q recently. I know nothing about drills but this one makes holes in things which is a good sign. I did look at reviews at the time and it seemed to be ok.

https://www.diy.com/departments/erbauer-ext-18v-2ah-li-ion-cordless-combi-drill-2-batteries-included/5059340337807_BQ.prd

Deos anyone have Einhell gear?
I’ve been looking at this fir ages and Einhell seems a good compromise bwtween Aldi/Lidl specials and the premium kit, seems decent quality and they have a huge range, in the same way Makita but cheaper.

Festool.

Would you have a suntour fork on your trail bike ?.

Exactly.

At work we use Hilti SDS and above. (Used some Milwaukee grinders as they have a deadmans trigger)

At home I have a load of Ryobi stuff. I needed some 16mm holes in concrete so cut the SDS tabs off a SDS bit and stuck that on. The drill struggled and drained the batteries but the holes were drilled.

DeWalt cordless user here – drill, multi-tool, jigsaw, sander and circular saw. Happy enough with all of them. I have a Makita 18v drill that I picked up years ago when I built our decking – still going strong, although it’s a bit lacking in torque compared to the newer DeWalt. On the strength of the corded Bosch blue kit I have, I’d be happy enough with any of those three for regular DIY use.

This one just popped in my emails.
Thats £120 worth of batteries right at the cheapest place you can buy them….
Add in a charger, and thats a “free” drill

https://www.screwfix.com/p/makita-dhp485t001-18v-2-x-5-0ah-li-ion-lxt-brushless-cordless-combi-drill/412xt?utm_source=email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=E22W34TU_NLX3_S_D&utm_content=combi-drills&utm_term=makita-dhp485t001-18v-2-x-5-0ah-li-ion-lxt-brushless-cordless-combi-drill&utm_block=placeholder01

These look good value too…

https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dcd778d2t-sfgb-18v-2-x-2-0ah-li-ion-xr-brushless-cordless-combi-drill/268fx

https://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-gsb-18v-55-18v-2-x-5-0ah-li-ion-coolpack-brushless-cordless-combi-drill/588pv

Deos anyone have Einhell gear?
I’ve been looking at this fir ages and Einhell seems a good compromise bwtween Aldi/Lidl specials and the premium kit,

I bought an Einhell 10.8 drill just to use to power my rise and fall on my table router.

It cost £30 with a single battery.
It works, but it’s cheap feeling and looking. Just like the Aldi ones I suppose.
It drills holes(probably) but the speed was not adjustable and its slow.