Battery Powered drills

[skyhightree1]

Does anyone have a good suggestion as a good powered long life good charge battery powered drill ? I had a makita 18v which was good for the last 2 years but im tired of buying batteries and it doesnt have the same power it use to have.

 

[Bigfoot]

You've already owned the best.

 

[dun]

The one that I've had the best success with is an 18v Firestorm. Batterys charge in less then an hour but will hold a charge longer then any others I've tried. The only negative is that the keyless chuck doesn;t stay tight if you tighten it my hand. If You tighten it using a vice for the last bit it will stay tight. I can;t hold a hammer anymore so I use screws for everything, usually 3 inch screws.

 

[wbvs58]

Hitachi, built my steel frame house with it about 7 years ago. It is an impact drill, came with 2 batteries is only 14V but heaps of grunt. I was never waiting for a battery to charge, by the time I needed to change batteries the spare was fully charged. One battery died a couple of years ago but I am still using it regularly with the other original battery although it is starting to get tired. It is very nicely balanced in the hand which was important for me as I have problems with my hands and could comfortably use it all day.

 

[TennesseeTuxedo]

I like my DeWalt.

 

[highgrit]

I like DeWalt myself, but always heard that Makita was real good.

 

[Anonymous]

Dewalt

 

[lavacarancher]

I personally have three Sears 19.2v drivers and have had very good service from them and still have the original batteries from about 10 years ago. Don't know if everyone can say the same. I have used the DeWalt 18v drivers and find them much more powerful than the Sears but since I don't own one I can't say how long the batteries last. If I have to buy another one it will be a DeWalt.

 

[dun]

The first one I had was a Makita. Had to have a screw driver handy so I could put the screws back in that kept falling out of it. 2nd was a SKIL, decent drill but the batterys don;t last. Fully charged fresh off the charger if you leave them sitting around not even in the tool for a day the battery is dead. New batterys do the same thing.

 

[dcarp]

I had a Hitachi 18 vt for about 3 yrs, it 's been great. Lots of power, long battery life before recharge. Batteries recharge quickly. Relatively low price and it doesn't weigh a ton. :2cents:

 

[presmudjo]

We have Rigid 18v. Happy as can be, had it less than a year, but it will hold the charge between uses very well. And we use it for a very long time before we have to charge battery. I'm sure we don't have the heavy use you all do, but happy clams here with it.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

We wear out a lot of battery, drills, impacts, and screw guns and dewalt, is the best, Milwaukee is probably the next best thing, then Makita. We have never had much luck with hitachi or skil.

 

[MartinFarms]

I have been using Rigid products for over ten years. We have 3 18 volt drills and 1 24 volt drill all are are hammer/drill combos. They are all still working after heavy daily use. Rigid has a life time warranty on the tools and batteries. The few batteries that have went bad we traded out free of charge at a local service center.

 

[skyhightree1]

I liked the makita but I used it a ton so maybe i just wore it out and was looking for another kind to try out. I think I may try Dewalt or Hitachi... Dun I saw the one you have and liked it but the keyless chuck thing would be a P.I.T.A I need to get one I am gonna build a deck onto my house probably over winter.

 

[denvermartinfarms]

On dewalt you want xrp, and you don't want lithium ion.

 

[1982vett]

Dewalt

 

[shaz]

milwaukee 18V.

Got the impact wrench too.

 

[dun]

I liked the makita but I used it a ton so maybe i just wore it out and was looking for another kind to try out. I think I may try Dewalt or Hitachi... Dun I saw the one you have and liked it but the keyless chuck thing would be a P.I.T.A I need to get one I am gonna build a deck onto my house probably over winter.

I like the keyless chuck WHEN THEY WORK. The one on the SKIL works perfect, I wish there was some way to put it on the Fire Storm. The Fire Storm is also a hammer drill, I've used the snot out of it for putting anchors in existing concrete walls.

 

[kerley]

The one that I've had the best success with is an 18v Firestorm. Batterys charge in less then an hour but will hold a charge longer then any others I've tried. The only negative is that the keyless chuck doesn;t stay tight if you tighten it my hand. If You tighten it using a vice for the last bit it will stay tight. I can;t hold a hammer anymore so I use screws for everything, usually 3 inch screws.

Dun I have the same problem and I bought the three inch deck screws, they have a recessed hex head instead of a phillips head. They require a Hex head driver [$2.00] which also has a Hex head end that fits your screw gun bit and will not slip as It is not round. You can buy them at the local lumber yard. They beat the H out of driving nails and If you make a mistake just screw them back out.
Good Luck, Tom

 

[dun]

The one that I've had the best success with is an 18v Firestorm. Batterys charge in less then an hour but will hold a charge longer then any others I've tried. The only negative is that the keyless chuck doesn;t stay tight if you tighten it my hand. If You tighten it using a vice for the last bit it will stay tight. I can;t hold a hammer anymore so I use screws for everything, usually 3 inch screws.

Dun I have the same problem and I bought the three inch deck screws, they have a recessed hex head instead of a phillips head. They require a Hex head driver [$2.00] which also has a Hex head end that fits your screw gun bit and will not slip as It is not round. You can buy them at the local lumber yard. They beat the H out of driving nails and If you make a mistake just screw them back out.
Good Luck, Tom

The screws I use are torx head. My adapter for the hex shanked bits is hex shaped too and it still wobbles loose and falls out.
What I like about the SKIL is I also have a recip saw that uses the same batterys.