Best portable drill driver??

[Dave Lehnert]

I will go against the grain. I am a fan of the Ryobi drills. I have used my set (14.4 volt) for 6 or 7 years now. We have an 18 volt Ryobi at work (Retail environment) and it has lasted the same amount of years with no problems.

[matt swiderski]

I have the dewalt 18V drill and impact. Got the drill as a set and then got the impact so i that I didn't have 2 different batteries, never looked at a different brand or size of battery. I would really give the impact driver another look. Now that I have one, whenever I go to drive a screw I am always going with the impact. When using the impact it starts out like a regular drill, but the impact part will kick in when it senses that it needs more torque. The only draw back I have with it is that it only takes hex bits, but i think you can get an adapter so that it will take regular bits. Hope this helps.
Matt

[whit richardson]

I bought the Bosch 10.8V Cordless Litheon™ Impactor Fastening Drive 1 yr ago and love it. How good a tool is can be measured by how much it's used. Anytime I have brought this tool to a shared project or a work day in the data center it's always in somebodys hand and somebody is always looking to borrow it while the heavier drills lay on the floor. I'm not saying it has to be Bosch but the smaller grip and Litheon batteries make it very popular. Guys ususally ask me how much I paid for it after using it a few times. The drill/driver version is as nice and the impact driver without the limits if the impact action (no drilling). I have smaller hands and the lighter, smaller grip is great. I think any top brand in this style would be a good choice. I'll probably add the drill/driver to the kit.

[Tom Hargrove]

There are two grades of Makita 18v Lithium tools. The "compact" model numbers begin with "LCT," have smaller batteries (1.5 ah?), and are lighter duty. They are cheaper, and are the ones generally found at homecenters. The marketing focus is on lighter duty and homeowners.

The heavier duty version has model numbers that begin with "LXT." They have bigger batteries (3.0 ah?) and cost more money. I have never seen them at a big box retailer. They cost more money, but are designed for trade usage. I used a friend's LXT drill and driver when we worked on a large deck project last spring. All I can say is "wow."

From what I have seen, the LCT tools generally receive poorer reviews than the LXT. The Makita customer service person told me the heavier duty batteries will not fit in the LCT tools.

I see you live in northern Illinois. If you have a Berland's near you, they have all the tools mentioned in this thread on display. Most of them have charged batteries in the display models, so you can touch and listen to all of them before you buy.

[James Carmichael]

This is starting to resemble a "best sharpening method" thread.

Personally, I''m unimpressed with cordless tools. For anything more than incidental drilling or driving, I'll pull out a tailed drill. If building a deck or fence, I'd run extension cords and probably and have a cordless or two sitting around for incidental work, but a tailed tool would do the heavy lifting.

Impact drivers are fairly awesome for their ability to drive the heaviest lag screws. That's the one cordless tool I would not be without.

Cordless saws are a waste of money, IMO. My DW recip is OK for the occaisional nail cutoff, but that's about it. I find the flashlights that come with cordless kits more useful than a cordless circular saw, quite handy for camping and power outages.

[whit richardson]

[QUOTE=James Carmichael;1157439]This is starting to resemble a "best sharpening method" thread.

Personally, I''m unimpressed with cordless tools. For anything more than incidental drilling or driving, I'll pull out a tailed drill. If building a deck or fence, I'd run extension cords and probably and have a cordless or two sitting around for incidental work, but a tailed tool would do the heavy lifting.

Impact drivers are fairly awesome for their ability to drive the heaviest lag screws. That's the one cordless tool I would not be without.

/QUOTE]

I'd have to agree when it comes to professional work or big projects. I use corded makita when handling a lot of drilling and driving. That said there is one cordless tool maker for commercial construction that could change your mind.. Hilti Tools. My older son worked commercial construction for a few years and used their tools. Battery life was unreal, plus power, plus the Hilti tools outlasted every "commercial" grade tool makers tools by years. But they are not cheap and you don't find them at your local hardware or home store.

[michael osadchuk]

Many votes for the Makita 18v lithium but in checking tools of trade website and their review, the MAKITA is in the last/lowest rated category.
Several friends here also reco'd the Makita...What's up?? I realize Milwaukee, Bosch, Festool, etc are in the ballpark too..Hmmmmm. Plan to get in tool stores later today..

Jerry,

...the makita 18v./1.5amp combo kit that I bought and am well satisfied with is the BDF 452 driver drill and the BTD 142 impact driver......

toolsofthetrade recently did a review of 18v impact drivers and the above makita impact driver was top rated; see here

http://www.toolsofthetrade.net/indus...05143&artnum=3

that same website did not not review the makita driver drill and for comments on this item I used amazon.com end user reviews.......

good luck

michael

[Mitch Barker]

I've been looking at 12V Li drills from Bosch and Ridgid. I think a 12V Li will have plenty of power (~200 in-lbs IIRC). The Ridgid has a lifetime replacement policy on its batteries which puts it ahead. A Milwaukee rep told me they are coming out with a similar model. (Their 12V model doesn't have a chuck).

Mitch

[Bill Huber]

I've been looking at 12V Li drills from Bosch and Ridgid. I think a 12V Li will have plenty of power (~200 in-lbs IIRC). The Ridgid has a lifetime replacement policy on its batteries which puts it ahead. A Milwaukee rep told me they are coming out with a similar model. (Their 12V model doesn't have a chuck).

Mitch

I have the Milwaukee and one thing I really like about it is the chuck. You can just pull it out and drop the driver and put another one in without using 2 hands. The Bosch I had, you had to use 2 hands to get the bit out.

I have a Ridgid at work and it the chuck does add a lot of weight to the unit.

I guess if you are doing more drilling then driving the chuck is better. But for a driver the Milwaukee is really great.

[Peter Gregory]

A couple of years ago, it was surely Panasonic, a few years before that someone else, before that someone else. I see DeWalt has Lithium cells that fit my old 18V stuff. The choices are many, good, expensive and changing. Good luck.

[Jerry Olexa]

Wow..You all have educated me. I will jump in the water and upgrade to the current state of the art., I was able to actually use a Makita 18V Lith in wood with different fasteners @ the local Borg. Wow, the power/torque is impressive compared to my old 12V PC (of course, when the PC was new at that time, I was impressed by its torque). Tools are evolving and constantly improving...Thanks for your help in this. I won't start my project for several weeks so now I am informed and will try to find a competitive deal in that time. Thanks again...

[Mike Rees]

These videos, albeit tilted in DeWalts light, DO show a lot of the differances between the manufacturer's drill technologies.

I think there is a reason that DeWALT warrants their drills for 3 years and 2 years on the batteries.

http://www.dewalt.com/dwassets/engli...ries/index.htm

I just picked up the 14.4 DCD920KX XRP drill/driver. When these Nicads go, I will replace them w/ DeWalt's 14.4 Lithium Ion batteries. The drill should last a long long time.

FWIW.

[Jim Finn]

I like to look at what the pro's use in the way of tools. I am a retired sheetmetal worker and we used drill drivers all day long, every day. Running screws into metal and 3/8" x 4" lags into wooden beams. Also used them to tighten nuts and bolts a LOT. All of us used Makita impact drivers and abuse them badly.( the boss buys them) They are so strong I have broken a 3/8" bolt with them more than once. Mine is old and is a 9.6V Nicad and it is still going strong after 9 years. Same batteries too. So Makita gets my vote.

[Mike Rees]

These videos, albeit tilted in DeWalts light, DO show a lot of the differances between the manufacturer's drill technologies.

I think there is a reason that DeWALT warrants their drills for 3 years and 2 years on the batteries.

http://www.dewalt.com/dwassets/engli...ries/index.htm

I just picked up the 14.4 DCD920KX XRP drill/driver. When these Nicads go, I will replace them w/ DeWalt's 14.4 Lithium Ion batteries. The drill should last a long long time.

FWIW.

Scratch that, went with the DeWALT DCD960KL. 18V Nano Lithium. Now that I'm on the 18V bandwagon, I need to see what else I can plug those puppies into ....

[Paul Simmel]

Look at your history channel or any of the other shows that run through the Great Factories type specials. I've been not surprised that on many of these shows they clearly depict assembly men using the Makita 18 volt XLT drivers on multiple assembly lines.

My Dewalt 18V driver is heavy and old ( though after all these years it still works fine... the issue is with the batteries! 3 of them have died ($70.00 a pop).

Now I only use the last (good/new) battery for the $400 laser.

Makita 18v Ion ALL THE WAY. Drill and driver... all the way.

I'll sell the lazor when I'm done with it on about a year. Will sell the old Dewalt drill too. NO WAY I'm spending $120 for an ION Dewalt.

Dewalt severed me well for many years... time are a changing...