My daughter just bought her first house about 40 miles away. She is
very handy, but I need to give her some or her own tools so she stops
borrowing mine...

1st item is a small(ish) 3/8" electric drill. Various thoughts &
concerns:

1) Keyless chucks: She is small (~ 110 lbs), and doesn't have a ton of
handstrength. I have a 12 year old DeWalt that has one, and unless I
crank on it, it slips occasionally. Are the new ones better enough that
I should go that route? She is not the sort to lose a chuck key, but
keyed chucks are getting scarce on the better brands of drills.

2) Cordless vs corded. She will probably use a drill once a month tops,
and maybe every 6 months after she gets settled in. When she needs a
drill, she isn't going to want to wait to charge up a battery, which
means leaving one on the charger. Are the chargers & battery
chemistries good enough that it's not a big deal now? My DeWalt has
NiCd's, and they are not very reliable for intermittent use. I've had a
couple packs rebuilt with NiMH, but I don't have enough mileage on them
to compare. I know most vendors seem to have gone to lithium, but I'm
guessing they need to live on a charger or they will self discharge.
Going corded would work, but they are getting scarcer. A keyed chuck
corded drill is a very rare beast.

3) Brands: I know this is a bit like Ford vs Chevy. Between the
batteries & the slipping chuck, I'm not real happy with DeWalt, but that
is old news. I'd like to get her something with some of the niceer new
features, like levels & LED lights.

Suggestions & comments?

Thanks!

Doug White