On Sat, 26 Feb 2005 10:49:06 +0000 (GMT), "Dave Plowman (News)"
wrote:

In article ,
Andy Hall wrote:
I have a Makita 14.4v and a larger 18v, but neither are hammer action.
The 14.4 will comfortably do up to mid range masonry holes - e.g. 8mm
hole for a wall fixing, with no hammer action. The 18v will do
somewhat more. I don't have or use a hammer action on either of
them because for masonry work above that level I occasionally use a
corded drill or more typically an SDS. Either will do a far better
job than a cordless hammer drill, even with decent batteries and
mechanics like Makita produce.

Yup. I can't see the benefit of the added complication and weight of
hammer action on a cordless, given that most common bricks etc can be
drilled OK with a decent bit and no hammer action. For engineering bricks
or concrete you need SDS anyway. And an SDS cordless is for even more
specialised needs.

I can think of one person that I know who has and benefits from one of
these, and that is a professional antenna and satellite dish
installation guy.


He has a cordless Bosch SDS of nominal 2kg IIRC. The battery pack
doubles that I would think. He has a harness for when he's climbing
ladders etc. to prevent the drill from getting caught.

He tells me that he feels a lot safer with it than a corded model,
although still has to deal with feeder cables, of course. Plus he's
more productive for sure.

For him, it was certainly a worthwhile buy, but I believe he paid over
£300 for it at the time.





--

..andy

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