Cordless Drill Preference

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Best Cordless Drill


  • Total voters
    19
  • Poll closed .
I love my Dewalt 20v tools. I have the hammer drill (DCD996), as well as the impact driver (DCF887). They are torque monsters, both with 3-speed transmissions.
Love 'em both, especially the driver, which is my go-to for any twisting tasks. It'll break loose even 3/4" bolts. The drill is wicked powerful and the speed is easily modulated, perfect for drilling through SS kettles.

The grips are awesome especially if you have big hands and they're nicely balanced. And the battery life is exceptional - I've had this set for a few years and have only recharged them a half dozen times - and they do get used plenty.
Two thumbs up...

Cheers!
 
It's hard to go wrong with DeWalt. I also have the 20v Porter cable and like it very well too. The PC is lighter duty than the DeWalt, but has some features I like better, such as an all metal Chuck, magnetic bit holders on the drill body, and battery indicator.
 
The first cordless drill and impact set I bought was a Ridgid set from Home Depot. The main reason I bought it is because of the Lifetime Warranty you get on the tools and batteries. Since then I've bought a Ridgid hammer drill for some concrete work for tapcons. I also have a Dewalt cordless drill I keep in the house that works well and bought a Dewalt reciprocating saw to trimming trees around the yard. The Dewalt items I got for a great deal new, otherwise I probably would have just went with some more Ridgid tools.
 
Depending on your use--I use my Milwaukee 12V drill way more than my 18V unless I'm running a large auger bit or something like that.
 
I currently have the Bosch cordless drill and hammer drill. Love them and use them all the time. I have a Bosch jig saw also and man is that a smooth, accurate, easy to use tool as well. I have also had the Dewalt drills several years ago (not 20V) that were good also.


John
 
I have a Craftsman. With only light duty household usage and milling grain it's lasted my entire adult life, so I can't really compare it to the other brands.
 
Cordless??? Ha..I've got an old corded Craftsman that is still ticking..unbelievably.

But to the op's question, we've somehow become a Ryobi household. Drill, jigsaw, inflator, weedwhacker, blower...freekin Lawnmower very recently....looking to replace my also pretty dang old Skil circular saw soon too.

Having said that, we're also not a heavy hitting project people either. The tools are sufficient for every household task I've ever put them through, but I'm not building, framing, doing major remodels, etc. If that were case, I'd probably lean towards Makita having had nothing but good experience with their tools..but I never had to foot the bill for any of those tools either..
 
I second the Ridgid stuff. I had a driver for work with the lifetime agreement. I abused the hell outta that thing. Got the batteries replaced once after about 4 years. The second time I went to replace the batteries (about 5 years later) the brushes went out in the driver itself. They didn't have parts for the older model so they replaced the batteries, driver, and charger with all brand new stuff. Since then I have gotten a small collection of Ridgid tools knowing I'll probably never have to buy another one again.
 
The first cordless drill and impact set I bought was a Ridgid set from Home Depot. The main reason I bought it is because of the Lifetime Warranty you get on the tools and batteries. Since then I've bought a Ridgid hammer drill for some concrete work for tapcons. I also have a Dewalt cordless drill I keep in the house that works well and bought a Dewalt reciprocating saw to trimming trees around the yard. The Dewalt items I got for a great deal new, otherwise I probably would have just went with some more Ridgid tools.
Thanks, I've added Ridgid to my list. I'll take a look at reviews and see how things compare.
 
Cordless??? Ha..I've got an old corded Craftsman that is still ticking..unbelievably.

But to the op's question, we've somehow become a Ryobi household. Drill, jigsaw, inflator, weedwhacker, blower...freekin Lawnmower very recently....looking to replace my also pretty dang old Skil circular saw soon too.

Having said that, we're also not a heavy hitting project people either. The tools are sufficient for every household task I've ever put them through, but I'm not building, framing, doing major remodels, etc. If that were case, I'd probably lean towards Makita having had nothing but good experience with their tools..but I never had to foot the bill for any of those tools either..
I thought about going with a cord, especially with milling grains, but cordless seems a better option for now (no extension cords to get tangled up in all the hoses on brew day :) )
 
I thought about going with a cord, especially with milling grains, but cordless seems a better option for now (no extension cords to get tangled up in all the hoses on brew day :) )
For milling grain you want slow speed and lots of torque. That is not a combination available in cordless drills. IMO, you really want a corded slow speed drill for milling grains - I picked up one from Harbor Freight, and returned it since it didn't have a trigger lock. I went with this one (they call it a mud mixer) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0771PM16R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and it has been great (very noisy though), much better operation than my regular corded drill.
Hopefully you can find something similar in your neck of the woods.
 
My Milwaukee 18V did a good job milling grain (and mixing mud) but its a bit of a beast and I rarely use it because of that. On the trigger lock, a zip tie works well and lets you fine tune the speed pretty well as long as you don't go too far. Depending on the shape of the handle, you may be able to slide it up and down to turn the drill off.
 
For milling grain you want slow speed and lots of torque. That is not a combination available in cordless drills. IMO, you really want a corded slow speed drill for milling grains - I picked up one from Harbor Freight, and returned it since it didn't have a trigger lock. I went with this one (they call it a mud mixer) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0771PM16R/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1
and it has been great (very noisy though), much better operation than my regular corded drill.
Hopefully you can find something similar in your neck of the woods.
I like that speed dial on the trigger! :D I would rethink corded, but at some point I'm going to motorize my mill and after that I would only need the drill for house projects. Thanks for the suggestion!
 
Love getting secondary info on threads that I decide to post in. Guess I will not be getting rid of my craftsman drill after all as it has variable speed (not all that novel) but a locking mechanism as well. Hadn’t considered that I could vary speed with the trigger pulled on the corded vs needing to stop and adjust the chuck on the cordless tho..

I’ve kept it all these years in the event that I had a job that required more torque than the ryobi could handle. Thus far, it just continues to sit on the peg wall, superman pose and inviting me to call upon it should the need ever arise.
 
What you need is a combo kit: hammer drill/impact driver. I have the DeWalt one that comes with the DCD796/DCF887. It retails for $299, but goes on sale every now and then for $219. Getting one of these newer drill/drivers results in one of those "where have you been all my life" moments. I thought my 10 year old 18V black and decker drill was fine until I borrowed one of these from a contractor friend. You really can't appreciate how much better these tools are, you will invent projects just for the joy of using them. They make corded drills obsolete. The drill is for drilling holes and the driver is to drive screws. Since many projects involve both, you have the luxury of not having to stop and swap drill bits and driver bits on the same tool. Some key features are the led light, though most all comparable products have them, I would guess. For the drill, make sure it has a hammer setting so you can drill into stucco/bricks/concrete. Love this feature and even some DeWalt drills don't have it. I think this is the cheapest DeWalt drill that does.

You will need to also upgrade the bits to impact grade. I would guess most of the brands have somewhat equivalent products at the price point, but I'm very satisfied having gone DeWalt. Also, keep in mind you are not only buying a tool, you are buying into the whole family of tools that operate off the same batteries.
 
I like Dewalt for power and battery life but am considering a switch to Milwaukee. I have a few Milwaukees and they are awesome. With Dewalt I have had four tools now that the switches have failed and were no longer available or were as expensive as a new tool. That just pisses me off.
 
Cordless??? Ha..I've got an old corded Craftsman that is still ticking..unbelievably.
I thought about going with a cord, especially with milling grains, but cordless seems a better option for now (no extension cords to get tangled up in all the hoses on brew day :) )
For milling grain you want slow speed and lots of torque. That is not a combination available in cordless drills. IMO, you really want a corded slow speed drill for milling grains - I picked up one from Harbor Freight, and returned it since it didn't have a trigger lock. I went with this one (they call it a mud mixer).

I prefer corded. In the world of having a couple dozen pieces of electronic gear that I have to keep charged on the off chance I'll need it, the last thing I need is to add tools to that.

Plus I use it for milking grain.
 
Voting for bosch (blue) or makita, bosch if you like simple machines that are durable, makita if you want a big line of machines that can use the same battery.
 
Thanks all for your input. I went with the Dewalt 20v and got a package with drill, 6in circular saw, reciprocating saw and light with 2 batteries. The batteries are only 2 amp hour, but I may order one of the 5 amp hour for bigger jobs.

Thanks again
 
Just milled 16 lbs in a barley crusher with DeWalt 20v - I don't miss hauling out a cord!
 
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