antgel wrote:
Cue chorus of "told you so". My PPPro 12V drill/driver is annoying me.
I have been using it to drill through joists with a 16mm flat wood bit
- I thought wood drilling was the least tiresome form of drilling, but
apparently not in this case. After a full charge, it's running out of
puff after intermittent use over a couple of hours.

To be fair, this is the first PPPro tool that I have been dissatisfied
with, and there have been quite a few over the last couple of years. I
generally find the performance quite acceptable.

Are my expectations of a 12V cordless too much or is the product not
performing as well as I might expect? Put another way, should I return
it and get a beefier cordless drill / driver, or just get a cheapie
variable-speed mains drill?


Mains drill may be an option.
However.
Sharp bits are essential for good battery life.
But flat bits don't really cut, they scrape.
This uses lots more power than the equivalent sharp auger bit.
A 16mm auger will run for many more holes than the flat bit.
I would say that you should get a cheapie mains drill.
At best, the better cordless one will last 2-3 times longer than the
existing one.
You will still come up against jobs that it won't really do easily, without
lots of spare batteries.
IMO, a cordless drill is half the tool, the other half is a mains drill,
for extended jobs, and ones that need higher powers than teh battery can do.

Cheap cordless + cheap mains can do more than one expensive cordless.