"Phisherman" wrote in message
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On Sat, 22 Sep 2007 07:52:12 -0700, wrote:

As a new homewner I need a drill/driver for occasional weekend use. I
am on the budget $100 but the less I spend the better if quality is
sufficient for my tasks.
The options I've been looking at are
1) 18v Skil 2887, $79 (or 59 refurbished)
2) Panasonik EY6405FQKW, $99
3) Ryobi 18V Reconditioned $75

Any other options? I realize it would be a waste to buy anything pro
in my case. I want the drill to last however. So based on reviews
Panasonic is aa clear winner but does it worth extra $?


Just about any electric drill will outlast most cordless drills. But,
you will get a far better value for your dollar with a corded $100
Milwaukee and, if not abused, chances are excellent it will still be
running 10 years from now. All of my cordless drills died. If you
have to get a cordless, a DeWalt or Panasonic would be your best bet,
a big plus if it included two battery packs.
I'll second that. For occasional household use, a corded is definitely the
way to go. Under occasional use, rechargeables die young, and 3-4 years
later the odds of finding a matching battery pack for less than the cost of
a new drill are slim. Corded are also more powerful, in my experience. And
they definitely are cheaper. Unless you drill often, and drill more than 20
feet from an outlet, the convenience of cordless is more than offset by the
short life, IMHO. Now if I was still making a living on construction sites,
my answer would be different- I'd have a rig like some cabinet installers I
saw- 2 cordless in belt holsters, one with a drill bit, and the other with a
clutched screwdriver head, and a backup load of batteries in the charger.
But these were commercial-grade drills, not DIYs, and for a pro, time is
definitely money.

I do own a cordless (24v B&D), and like it, but it was a $25 impulse
purchase off the remainder table at the borg, marked down from about $60. It
is great for small 2-3 hole jobs hanging things on walls and such, but when
I tried to do production with it (deck screws on a couple of replacement
boards), it wimped out after 4-5 screws, and would not dog them down. I went
out and bought a corded Makita 3/8 variable/reversing for about 50 bucks,
and zipped through the rest of the 30-odd screws in short order. Since the
corded would easily do anything the cordless does, but the reverse is not
true, if I had to choose between them, I would definitely keep the corded
one.

Under light household use, any brand name corded should easily last 15-20
years. Both of my current drills replaced an extremely cheap B&D 3/8 that I
had used for over 25 years, but smoked the bearings on drilling through 45
year old framing, running wires. (it still spins, but overheats quickly. I
use it for wirebrushing rust off the car now.)


aem sends...