On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 21:16:32 +0100, Andy Hall wrote:

On Thu, 12 Aug 2004 20:37:06 +0100, Britannica
wrote:

The battery on my old B&D cordless drill/driver seems to have packed
up.

I'd like to replace it with a cordless combi but most of them seem a
bit expensive for the use I'd find for it. Two cheapish examples I've
found are the Ryobi CMI-1202 - 12v Maxi Combi Cordless from Machine
Mart (£88) and the Erbauer 14.4V Combi Drill from Screwfix (£99).

I'd be grateful for opinion on which is the better of these two....I
can't really afford deWalt or Makita.

TIA


You would be far better off with something from Makita's range that is
one voltage step down and perhaps becoming end of line and therefore
on offer - e.g. a 12v Makita product rather than an OEM 14.4v.

The Makita motor, battery and speed control is far better than these
other OEM products.

To illustrate this in a different part of the market, there was a
review in the U.S. of 18v cordless products. Panasonic's entry was
a 15.6v tool and for the reasons mentioned is outperformed the 18v
products by a very long way in terms of power, number of holes and
number of screws that could be driven on a charge.

Otherwise, if you can stretch to £120, you can have a Makita 8228
14,4v drill. I have one and use it for a wide range of jobs from
screwdriving to drilling up to quite substantial holes in wood to
masonry holes for most fixing purposes. Beyond this for say 12.7mm
holes and above in masonry I use an SDS drill.

The hammer action on the smaller cordless drills really doesn't
achieve a lot. For it to become useful, you need to go to the 18-24v
products - then you are better off with a mid range cordless and an
SDS for the big jobs.


I agree with most if not all of the above.
You'll also find that a 'combi' drill is heavy and unwieldy to use whereas
a non-combi drill/driver is quite sufficient.
In fact I use my 12v 2nd hand Makita with quality (JoRad) bits to drill masonry
holes in everything except really hard brick and concrete.

If I wanted to get a new drill driver I'd look at a non-combi Makita/Blue
Bosch or DW product.

--
Ed Sirett - Property maintainer and registered gas fitter.
The FAQ for uk.diy is at www.diyfaq.org.uk
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