I am about to buy this cordliss drill, but was wondering if anyone has
any experience/opinions on how much of a difference there is between the
15.6V and an 18V (panasonic has an 18V for ~$40 more, but I like the
idea of lighter/smaller). I know the 15.6 volt will serve most of my
needs, but occasionally I want to drill though studs (for running wires,
e.g.) or 3/4" plywood, treated lumber, etc., and have found my old Ryobi
12V inadequte for such tasks (well, the batteries are pretty old in that
one). Will the 15.6V have the torque to accomplish such tasks, in
anyone's experience?
thx

"chester" wrote in message
...
I am about to buy this cordliss drill, but was wondering if anyone has any
experience/opinions on how much of a difference there is between the 15.6V
and an 18V (panasonic has an 18V for ~$40 more, but I like the idea of
lighter/smaller). I know the 15.6 volt will serve most of my needs, but
occasionally I want to drill though studs (for running wires, e.g.) or 3/4"
plywood, treated lumber, etc., and have found my old Ryobi 12V inadequte
for such tasks (well, the batteries are pretty old in that one). Will the
15.6V have the torque to accomplish such tasks, in anyone's experience?
thx

Its better to have too much power than not enough. For a high end drill like
Panasonic $40 difference is not that much more but the 18V maybe too heavy
for all around use. If it was me I just get a 14.4V drill (or keep the 12V
Ryobi and get new batteries) and grab my corded drill for heavy duty
drilling. I have a couple of older Panasonics and those batteies are
expensive and only good for a few years.

"chester" wrote in message ...
I am about to buy this cordliss drill, but was wondering if anyone has
any experience/opinions on how much of a difference there is between the
15.6V and an 18V (panasonic has an 18V for ~$40 more, but I like the
idea of lighter/smaller). I know the 15.6 volt will serve most of my
needs, but occasionally I want to drill though studs (for running wires,
e.g.) or 3/4" plywood, treated lumber, etc., and have found my old Ryobi
12V inadequte for such tasks (well, the batteries are pretty old in that
one). Will the 15.6V have the torque to accomplish such tasks, in
anyone's experience?

For drills, volts don't matter. Amps do. 5A or more should
be enough for studs, treated lumber or any other home job.

chester wrote:
I am about to buy this cordliss drill, but was wondering if anyone has
any experience/opinions on how much of a difference there is between
the
15.6V and an 18V (panasonic has an 18V for ~$40 more, but I like the
idea of lighter/smaller). I know the 15.6 volt will serve most of my
needs, but occasionally I want to drill though studs (for running
wires, e.g.) or 3/4" plywood, treated lumber, etc., and have found my
old Ryobi 12V inadequte for such tasks (well, the batteries are
pretty old in that one). Will the 15.6V have the torque to accomplish
such tasks, in anyone's experience?
thx

I just bought this drill this morning the 15.6v EY6432. I did my homework,
it was picked as the top drill by the editors of Fine Homebuilding in the
March 2003 issue. By all accounts it's awesome. NiMH batteries with a SMART
Charger -- alleluia! . It has the feel of a precision instrument. The only
down side is the price. But I finally got tired of buying a new drill every
two or three years. I'm hoping I'll get at least 5 or 10 years out of this
one. I'm going to try to rebuild my old drill's battery packs (see my post)
to use as a back up or as a spare.

"chester" wrote in message
...
I am about to buy this cordliss drill, but was wondering if anyone has any
experience/opinions on how much of a difference there is between the 15.6V
and an 18V (panasonic has an 18V for ~$40 more, but I like the idea of
lighter/smaller). I know the 15.6 volt will serve most of my needs, but
occasionally I want to drill though studs (for running wires, e.g.) or 3/4"
plywood, treated lumber, etc., and have found my old Ryobi 12V inadequte
for such tasks (well, the batteries are pretty old in that one). Will the
15.6V have the torque to accomplish such tasks, in anyone's experience?
thx

The Panasonic will do wonders compared to the Ryobi. Great drill, nice feel
to it.

On 09/06/05 03:58 pm chester tossed the following ingredients into the
ever-growing pot of cybersoup:

I am about to buy this cordliss drill, but was wondering if anyone has
any experience/opinions on how much of a difference there is between the
15.6V and an 18V (panasonic has an 18V for ~$40 more, but I like the
idea of lighter/smaller). I know the 15.6 volt will serve most of my
needs, but occasionally I want to drill though studs (for running wires,
e.g.) or 3/4" plywood, treated lumber, etc., and have found my old Ryobi
12V inadequte for such tasks (well, the batteries are pretty old in that
one). Will the 15.6V have the torque to accomplish such tasks, in
anyone's experience?

I've drilled through that kind of stuff with my 9.6V Black & Decker.

Perce

On Tue, 06 Sep 2005 20:23:31 +0000, Jeff G wrote:

"chester" wrote in message ...
I am about to buy this cordliss drill, but was wondering if anyone has
any experience/opinions on how much of a difference there is between the
15.6V and an 18V (panasonic has an 18V for ~$40 more, but I like the
idea of lighter/smaller). I know the 15.6 volt will serve most of my
needs, but occasionally I want to drill though studs (for running wires,
e.g.) or 3/4" plywood, treated lumber, etc., and have found my old Ryobi
12V inadequte for such tasks (well, the batteries are pretty old in that
one). Will the 15.6V have the torque to accomplish such tasks, in
anyone's experience?

For drills, volts don't matter. Amps do. 5A or more should
be enough for studs, treated lumber or any other home job.

How do you think you get amps? Power (V*A) is really the metric of
interest (power = torque*RPM) . There will be less loss in a
higher-voltage drill, given the same power. Higher voltage = more power,
but heavier.

--
Keith

"Edwin Pawlowski" wrote in message
. ..

"chester" wrote in message
...
I am about to buy this cordliss drill, but was wondering if anyone has
any
experience/opinions on how much of a difference there is between the
15.6V
and an 18V (panasonic has an 18V for ~$40 more, but I like the idea of
lighter/smaller). I know the 15.6 volt will serve most of my needs, but
occasionally I want to drill though studs (for running wires, e.g.) or
3/4"
plywood, treated lumber, etc., and have found my old Ryobi 12V inadequte
for such tasks (well, the batteries are pretty old in that one). Will the
15.6V have the torque to accomplish such tasks, in anyone's experience?
thx

The Panasonic will do wonders compared to the Ryobi. Great drill, nice
feel
to it.



I bought the Panasonic 15.6V drill in July and it's great. Based on
published reviews and
hands-on shopping, my choices were down to the 15.6V Panasonic and the 18V
Milwaukee.
I bought the Panasonic because it was lower cost, lighter and smaller to get
into tighter
places. I am in the process of remodelling our lake cottage and spent a lot
of time
this summer rewiring the place. I've been using 3/4" spade bits to drill
through doubled up
studs and top plates to pull romex wire. Plenty of torque for that job;
enough to almost
break my wrist when the bits catch unexpectedly. The charge in the batteries
last forever.
I also used it to drill through 4x4 treated lumber for some dock repair. No
problem.
Got it for $175 (+S&H) through Amazon on one of their sales.

"keith" wrote in message news
On Tue, 06 Sep 2005 20:23:31 +0000, Jeff G wrote:

"chester" wrote in message ...
I am about to buy this cordliss drill, but was wondering if anyone has
any experience/opinions on how much of a difference there is between the
15.6V and an 18V (panasonic has an 18V for ~$40 more, but I like the
idea of lighter/smaller). I know the 15.6 volt will serve most of my
needs, but occasionally I want to drill though studs (for running wires,
e.g.) or 3/4" plywood, treated lumber, etc., and have found my old Ryobi
12V inadequte for such tasks (well, the batteries are pretty old in that
one). Will the 15.6V have the torque to accomplish such tasks, in
anyone's experience?

For drills, volts don't matter. Amps do. 5A or more should
be enough for studs, treated lumber or any other home job.

How do you think you get amps? Power (V*A) is really the metric of
interest (power = torque*RPM) . There will be less loss in a
higher-voltage drill, given the same power. Higher voltage = more power,
but heavier.

While it's true that for both volts and amps, more is better, in the
context of power drills the relationship between voltage and "more
power" is ambiguous. Drills can be geared to run at any range of
speeds, and voltage doesn't tell one anything about how much
_torque_ they can generate, which is the important spec with
regard to drills (at least for purposes of this discussion). Amps
on the other hand is a much better spec to determine the amount
of torque drills can generate. E.g. 5A is 5A, regardless of how
a drill is geared or its range of speeds.

"Jeff G" wrote in message
nk.net...
"keith" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 06 Sep 2005 20:23:31 +0000, Jeff G wrote:

"chester" wrote in message
...
I am about to buy this cordliss drill, but was wondering if anyone has
any experience/opinions on how much of a difference there is between
the
15.6V and an 18V (panasonic has an 18V for ~$40 more, but I like the
idea of lighter/smaller). I know the 15.6 volt will serve most of my
needs, but occasionally I want to drill though studs (for running
wires,
e.g.) or 3/4" plywood, treated lumber, etc., and have found my old
Ryobi
12V inadequte for such tasks (well, the batteries are pretty old in
that
one). Will the 15.6V have the torque to accomplish such tasks, in
anyone's experience?

For drills, volts don't matter. Amps do. 5A or more should
be enough for studs, treated lumber or any other home job.

How do you think you get amps? Power (V*A) is really the metric of
interest (power = torque*RPM) . There will be less loss in a
higher-voltage drill, given the same power. Higher voltage = more power,
but heavier.

While it's true that for both volts and amps, more is better, in the
context of power drills the relationship between voltage and "more
power" is ambiguous. Drills can be geared to run at any range of
speeds, and voltage doesn't tell one anything about how much
_torque_ they can generate, which is the important spec with
regard to drills (at least for purposes of this discussion). Amps
on the other hand is a much better spec to determine the amount
of torque drills can generate. E.g. 5A is 5A, regardless of how
a drill is geared or its range of speeds.



Good try but I have to go with Keith. Power=VxA as stated by him and there
is no getting around that. Gearing down does not give you more power, just
more torque but less time to do the work given the same amount of power.

"Fred" wrote in message ...

"Jeff G" wrote in message
nk.net...
"keith" wrote in message
news
On Tue, 06 Sep 2005 20:23:31 +0000, Jeff G wrote:

"chester" wrote in message
...
I am about to buy this cordliss drill, but was wondering if anyone has
any experience/opinions on how much of a difference there is between
the
15.6V and an 18V (panasonic has an 18V for ~$40 more, but I like the
idea of lighter/smaller). I know the 15.6 volt will serve most of my
needs, but occasionally I want to drill though studs (for running
wires,
e.g.) or 3/4" plywood, treated lumber, etc., and have found my old
Ryobi
12V inadequte for such tasks (well, the batteries are pretty old in
that
one). Will the 15.6V have the torque to accomplish such tasks, in
anyone's experience?

For drills, volts don't matter. Amps do. 5A or more should
be enough for studs, treated lumber or any other home job.

How do you think you get amps? Power (V*A) is really the metric of
interest (power = torque*RPM) . There will be less loss in a
higher-voltage drill, given the same power. Higher voltage = more power,
but heavier.

While it's true that for both volts and amps, more is better, in the
context of power drills the relationship between voltage and "more
power" is ambiguous. Drills can be geared to run at any range of
speeds, and voltage doesn't tell one anything about how much
_torque_ they can generate, which is the important spec with
regard to drills (at least for purposes of this discussion). Amps
on the other hand is a much better spec to determine the amount
of torque drills can generate. E.g. 5A is 5A, regardless of how
a drill is geared or its range of speeds.



Good try but I have to go with Keith. Power=VxA as stated by him and there
is no getting around that. Gearing down does not give you more power, just
more torque but less time to do the work given the same amount of power.

Efficiencies and battery quality vary across brands, and even
within models of the same brand. E.g. it's easy to find 15.6V
drills that have both more torque and longer capacity than
some 18 and even 19.2V models. The point is, an amp (or
at least ft/lb) rating is a much more accurate bottom line for
torque, whereas voltage isn't.

On Wed, 07 Sep 2005 21:35:11 +0000, Jeff G wrote:

"Fred" wrote in message ...

"Jeff G" wrote in message
nk.net...
"keith" wrote in message
news On Tue, 06 Sep 2005 20:23:31 +0000, Jeff G wrote:

"chester" wrote in message
...
I am about to buy this cordliss drill, but was wondering if anyone has
any experience/opinions on how much of a difference there is between
the
15.6V and an 18V (panasonic has an 18V for ~$40 more, but I like the
idea of lighter/smaller). I know the 15.6 volt will serve most of my
needs, but occasionally I want to drill though studs (for running
wires,
e.g.) or 3/4" plywood, treated lumber, etc., and have found my old
Ryobi
12V inadequte for such tasks (well, the batteries are pretty old in
that
one). Will the 15.6V have the torque to accomplish such tasks, in
anyone's experience?

For drills, volts don't matter. Amps do. 5A or more should
be enough for studs, treated lumber or any other home job.

How do you think you get amps? Power (V*A) is really the metric of
interest (power = torque*RPM) . There will be less loss in a
higher-voltage drill, given the same power. Higher voltage = more power,
but heavier.

While it's true that for both volts and amps, more is better, in the
context of power drills the relationship between voltage and "more
power" is ambiguous. Drills can be geared to run at any range of
speeds, and voltage doesn't tell one anything about how much
_torque_ they can generate, which is the important spec with
regard to drills (at least for purposes of this discussion). Amps
on the other hand is a much better spec to determine the amount
of torque drills can generate. E.g. 5A is 5A, regardless of how
a drill is geared or its range of speeds.



Good try but I have to go with Keith. Power=VxA as stated by him and there
is no getting around that. Gearing down does not give you more power, just
more torque but less time to do the work given the same amount of power.

Efficiencies and battery quality vary across brands, and even

No one raised "efficiency". Even then, a lower voltage (thus higher
current) battery at the same power will be less efficient. There *are*
loses in the battery, controls, and motor. Voltage *does* matter.

within models of the same brand. E.g. it's easy to find 15.6V drills
that have both more torque and longer capacity than some 18 and even
19.2V models. The point is, an amp (or at least ft/lb) rating is a much
more accurate bottom line for torque, whereas voltage isn't.

No it's not. A high torque rating doesn't mean more power at all. Power
is torque *times* RPM. You really do need both, which is why any decent
cordless drill has two gear ranges. AFAIK, there isn't a standard for
torque measurement either. Stalling a drill isn't exactly recommended.

--
Keith