"Grunff" wrote in message
...
IMM wrote:

Wickes have a run on a 18v hammer DIY 2 year guarantee job for around
£30-35. One battery 1 hr charge. They also have a 14.4 v drill/driver
too.
The battery has a charge indicator on the side.

You trying to be funny? Have you ever handled one of those
things?

It is normally about £50, with "one" battery, so not a cheap and nasty
affair. Wickes don't sell crap power tools. An extra battery may take the
price up to £70.


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Grunff,

May not be what you're looking for since it doesn't hammer, but Wickes
have cut the price of the 15.6V Kress ABS156 from £125 to £75 (this
isn't the non-Kress 14.4 hammer at £75). Bought one of these a few
weeks ago and it got sustained and heavy use for a fortnight. Turned
out to be a really nice piece of kit. The automatic spindle lock's
one of those features you don't want to be without once you've used
it. Felt the battery life could be better but as I say it was really
getting some stick, and the spare and 1-hr charger got round that.
There's a magazine review of it on Kress's website.


Incidentally, at the cheapie end, there's a decent 14.4V 1.7Ah drill
driver kicking around under various names. I got the PPPro screw gun
version with two batteries (no chuck) for £40, and the DP Tools
rebadged drill version from Focus (bundled with a clone of the PPPro
Rotozip) for £40 the pair. There's no variable speed on the DP
version (contrary to what it says in the instructions) but it's pretty
nifty at whacking in big screws. The Champion version from Focus is
another variation and I think they've just knocked twenty quid off the
price. Dunno who makes it but it's the one with the slide battery
pack so may be a different manufacturer to the other PPPro drills -
certainly feels better than the 18volters I fondled in the local
branch.

Mike

mike wrote:

May not be what you're looking for since it doesn't hammer, but Wickes
have cut the price of the 15.6V Kress ABS156 from £125 to £75 (this
isn't the non-Kress 14.4 hammer at £75). Bought one of these a few
weeks ago and it got sustained and heavy use for a fortnight. Turned
out to be a really nice piece of kit. The automatic spindle lock's
one of those features you don't want to be without once you've used
it. Felt the battery life could be better but as I say it was really
getting some stick, and the spare and 1-hr charger got round that.
There's a magazine review of it on Kress's website.


Thanks for your thoughts Mike. Unfortunately, cordless hammer is
something which I really do need; there are some occasions when
I can't trail a lead to use my SDS.

I ordered the Axminster 24V White.
http://www.axminster.co.uk/default.asp?part=AW240CD

It arrived today, and is going back tomorrow. I'm really
disappointed with the overall quality. The gear selector is very
sloppy, there's huge amounts of play in the torque selector, the
forward/reverse switch doesn't have nicely defined positions, etc.

It actually makes the PPPro tool look really good in comparison!
The only thing it has over the PPPro is a good speed controller.

After my disappointment, I realised that I was being silly - I'd
completely overlooked Bosch. This is particularly odd since most
of my power tools are Bosch.

B&Q are currently doing the Bosch PSB24VE at £95, which sounds
like a pretty good deal to me. I know a lot of people here don't
rate the Bosch green range, but I have quite a few tools out of
that range, all of which get used regularly, and I've yet to
have a problem.

--
Grunff

In message ,
Grunff wrote:


I ordered the Axminster 24V White.
http://www.axminster.co.uk/default.asp?part=AW240CD

It arrived today, and is going back tomorrow. I'm really
disappointed with the overall quality. The gear selector is very
sloppy, there's huge amounts of play in the torque selector, the
forward/reverse switch doesn't have nicely defined positions, etc.


I have recently taken delivery of an 18V White cordless - exactly the
opposite problem - the gearbox selector is stiffer than... well... a
stiff thing. Even if you try to follow the instructions to "rotate the
chuck a little so that the gears line up". However, apart from that it
appears reasonable so far, and was within the budget. I nearly went for
a non-hammer 12V Makita having used a few in the past and been
impressed, but tbh I'm going to need the cordless hammer too often.

Hwyl!

M.

--
Martin Angove: http://www.tridwr.demon.co.uk/
Don't fight technology, live with it: http://www.livtech.co.uk/
.... When I grow up I want to be a message.

"Martin Angove" wrote in message
...
In message ,
Grunff wrote:


I ordered the Axminster 24V White.
http://www.axminster.co.uk/default.asp?part=AW240CD

It arrived today, and is going back tomorrow. I'm really
disappointed with the overall quality. The gear selector is very
sloppy, there's huge amounts of play in the torque selector, the
forward/reverse switch doesn't have nicely defined positions, etc.


I have recently taken delivery of an 18V White cordless - exactly the
opposite problem - the gearbox selector is stiffer than... well... a
stiff thing. Even if you try to follow the instructions to "rotate the
chuck a little so that the gears line up". However, apart from that it
appears reasonable so far, and was within the budget. I nearly went for
a non-hammer 12V Makita having used a few in the past and been
impressed, but tbh I'm going to need the cordless hammer too often.

A cordless SDS and a 12v drill/driver is the best option, if mains are not
available.


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