The Medway Handyman wrote:

Without entering the quality/longevity argument again, does the panel think
that a 'quality' make has performance advantages over a cheapie?

In other words, would a 12v Bosch/Makita/Hitachi perform as well or better
than say a ｣25 Argos/B&Q 14.4 volt jobby?

Without any shadow of a doubt!

Obviously voltage isn't the only performance criteria, a two speed DD with a
gearbox must have higher torque than a single speed, but will you get a
performance advantage going for a 'quality' brand all other things being
equal?

OK ignoring the longevity issues etc and focusing on the difference in
useage:

Battery cell quality will dictate the torque, run time, and importantly
the discharge curve. Better cells also tend to be better matched (i.e.
one cell will have a discharge profile very similar to the next).
Ideally you want all the cells to be perfectly matched so that they all
discharge together, and you get full performance from the tool for
almost all of the discharge of the battery followed by a "cliff effect"
discharge at the end. A poor battery that has a few cells discharge
several mins before the others makes for very unsatisfying performance
(and also causes the battery to knacker itself in short order)

Better tools often have better fast chargers - some doing 15 or 30 min
recharge rather than one hour.

Speed controllers are another big difference area. More finesse of
control in general, and most importantly, significant torque available
at very slow speeds.

Torque limiters tend to be more accurate and repeatable on the better
quality tools, so you can set a limit and drive to it repeatedly always
ending up with a screw set at the same depth.

Weight and compactness: odd one this. If you are comparing 12V quality
with 12V budget the budget will tend to be bigger, but maybe lighter
given the lower quality cells. However to match the performance you may
need to go up a voltage or two which then raises the weight again.

Chucks: Decent ratchet action is nice - high end tools often have auto
brake and spindle locks that mean they can be used one handed. Note
however even some of the top end tools have been reducing chuck quality
of late.


I commented on a fair bit on some of these in the FAQs:

http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/powertools/cordless.htm
http://www.diyfaq.org.uk/powertools/drill.htm

--
Cheers,

John.

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