Veteran

Have purchaed a house and it needs a lot of work. I am looking for an overall great drill thst will hold up and last me a while. I've heard that bosch is the best while black and decker are not. Please help.

nealtw

Welcome to the site and congrats on buying the house. Are you thinking cordless or corded drill.

Wuzzat?

If it's cordless, the question is: Do you want to drill many holes (energy) or drill a hole fast (power)?
Batteries are optimized for one or the other and not both at the same time.
A Ragone Chart can help you pick the battery technology for your particular needs.

Sometimes you can go through several cheap drills for the price of one good one and still come out ahead.

My drills are all corded and I've lengthened the cord on them so that most of the time I don't need a separate extension cord.

CallMeVilla

Lets be practical ... As a rookie, you need a basic drill. You also will need an impact driver at some point because they are superior at shooting screws and small lag bolts (think fences).

Your best buy is to invest in a cordless combo pack containing both. Makita makes a superior product in their "Black & White" series .... preferred by professionals. Go to Craigslist and buy it used to save BIG MONEY or pop for the $200 at HD. http://www.amazon.com/Makita-LCT200W-18-Volt-Lithium-Ion-Cordless/dp/B000V2DSE2

You can get a new Ryobi (crap) drill and driver bit set for $30 and you are good for most homeowner tasks.

Now, it's tme to MAN UP!

Wuzzat?

18v can deliver approx. (18^2)/(12^2) = 2.3x the power of a 12v drill.

For a 1/4", 4" lag screw into a pilot hole into a 2x4 you might need 15 lb-ft (180 lb-in) of torque.
BTW, ft-lb is energy, lb-ft is torque.

You might want to get a hammer drill - I certainly should have. You need special bits but it goes through masonry faster.


You pay a lump sum for the drill but batteries will be a continuing cost.

Taking the first two batteries from
http://www.nextag.com/drill-batteries/stores-html
as an example
the first gives you
14.4v x 3 Ah = 43 W-h for $22 so you pay about 50 cents/W-h
and the second gives you
36 W-h for $44 so you pay $1.20/W-h

Seems like the first is a better buy, assuming reliabilities are equal.

CallMeVilla

Thanks for the exquisite calculations Wuzzat ... I just abuse the tools!
I have driven 1/4" lag bolts with my Makita driver plus a whole lot of screws ranging from simple decks screws to TAPCONs into concrete.

Sure, you can pop for a dedicated hammer drill too. I was just trying to think back to when I was a rookie, starting out, and trying to give Veteran-dude some practical "start up" advice.

Wuzzat?

Math is God's language (some believe).

Veteran

Thank you all. I Am going with either an 18 v como set for rigid or bosch. Both bring a standard and impact drill. Which do you all prefer and why?

Prettygoodist

If you haven't chosen yet I would highly recommend Bosch. I've been using them for 12 years in home repair and they get moderate to heavy use. I use the 18 volt series and they've handled everything I've asked. I have the corded Bosch hammer drill and it's still going strong after almost 10 years.

If you don't want to spend quite that much I would recommend the Craftsman 19.2 volt cordless. One of the few China-made tools that I buy. I tend to use the Craftsman for the drilling and the Bosch for the driving.

I'm still using 2 older style Bosch batteries and 2 blue-cores. I haven't tried a Bosch lithium yet. I have one Craftsman lithium and it's held up well for about 18 months.

I won't buy Black & Decker and I've been less-than-impressed with Dewalt.