The Medway Handyman wrote:
RubberBiker wrote:
Anywho, decided to buy something decent & put another �20 into
buying a Hitachi FDV16VB2 which is also a 550w jobby with a 13mm
chuck. What a nice tool, very light, plenty of welly, very positive
chuck.

I'm curious what role this has for you. I have a chunky combi cordless
(or use the impact driver with wood augers) - or an sds with an
interchangeable 3-jaw chuck (which rarely gets used, only for really
heavy timber drilling like holesaws) - I don't have a role for a mid-
size corded drill.

I do. I have a 12v Mak driver & a 14.4v Mak combi which take care of most
options, two Mak impact drivers one mains, one cordless mainly used for
decking - I don't consider an impact driver suitable for drilling and two
SDS drills - one 'clean' green Bosch for posh interior use & one 'badgers
arse' Wickes/Kress for rough outside work.

The mains drill is for use with larger holesaws, big auger bits, large flat
bits or anything else which would knock seven bells out of a cordless, but
is much smaller than an SDS with a chuck adaptor.

Doesn't get over used, but comes into its own when needed. Battery drills
simply don't have the sustainable welly of a mains.


If you want a basic mains drill for occasional use, ancient B&Ds are
dirt cheap and pretty good reliability wise. Such things are good when
drilling & screwing a lot of holes, multiple mains drills saves
changing bits all the time. Also useful for teamwork jobs. OTOH having
far more decent drills plus the time it takes to dig the old ones out
means they dont see a lot of use.


NT