Christian McArdle wrote:

Everyone has a different opinion on this.

Most definitely! :-)

Personally, I would recommend buying ultra cheap SDS and impact mains drills
and spending lots on a really decent battery drill (non-impact). I might
even consider having two battery drills, to prevent the need to keep
changing bits.

I suppose that's about where I am. I have an old (Bosch) mains hammer
drill that I rarely use except when in the workshop (where it lives)
as 'another drill' when both cordless are in use for something else.
It's also useful for (crude) sanding with a sanding disk.

I have two (fairly cheap, a Bosch and a Skil) cordless drills which
are my workhorses everywhere. I have two batteries for both of them.

I also have one of the big very cheap Ferm cordless hammer drills, I
tend to use that only when I need a hammer drill somewhere that mains
isn't easily available.

I have (what was a) cheap Stayer SDS drill that I use for all holes in
walls.

I rarely use the standard mains drill. When I do, it is because

(a) I have a huge job that would empty a battery, such as screwing down a
floor.

I still use the cordless - two batteries.

(b) I'm mixing up mortar/plaster/concrete

I never do this.

(c) I can't find my battery drill

Me too probably.

(d) The battery drill isn't charged

Two batteries, rarely happens.


I do ALL masonry work with the SDS, including drilling 7mm holes for brown
plugs (I don't use red or yellow). Throw away the chuck adaptor and only use
genuine SDS bits.

I noticed this in another thread, it surprises me how many people use
such big plugs. I have moved from using red nearly all the time to
using yellow nearly all the time with 4mm or 4.5mm Screwfix TurboGold
(or the SS equivalent) screws. I find this works very well for all
but the very heaviest fixings. It took me a while to find 4.5mm SDS
drills but I have a couple now.

Some people have had real reliability issues with the cheap (i.e. NuTool)
SDS drills. Personally, I've found mine to be totally reliable, if unsuited
to large core drills.

My Stayer has certainly served me well.

--
Chris Green