I'd appreciate recommendations for a high quality cordless drill please. It must have a 13 mm or 1/2" keyless chuck, a 4AH Lithium-ion battery (preferably two), plus hammer and screwdriver functions.

I'll be using it for occasional DIY around the house and garden.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

On 07/02/2014 12:24, wrote:

I'd appreciate recommendations for a high quality cordless drill
please. It must have a 13 mm or 1/2" keyless chuck, a 4AH Lithium-ion
battery (preferably two), plus hammer and screwdriver functions.

Pretty much any of the higher end Makita combis with 14.4V or more. Blue
Bosch, and DeWalt also worth a look.

e.g:

With 3 and 4Ah batts:

http://www.lawson-his.co.uk/makita-d...ite-co-p158394

http://www.lawson-his.co.uk/makita-d...s-comb-p158500


I'll be using it for occasional DIY around the house and garden.

You may be restricting your choice unnecessarily by specifying 4Ah batts
- those are a relatively new addition the market, and 3Ah or even 2.6 Ah
give ample usable capacity in practice. In many respects a decent
charger is more important. Also note that several high capacity
batteries will add greatly to the cost of a package (three new 2.6Ah
batts for my drill were £150 recently)

For long battery life, having three batteries is better. If you do need
to work continuously, then you can have one charging, one cooling, and
one in use. That way you don't need to charge a hot battery which will
reduce its life a bit.


Terry, East Grinstead, UK



--
Cheers,

John.

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On 07/02/2014 14:33, John Rumm wrote:
For long battery life, having three batteries is better. If you do need
to work continuously, then you can have one charging, one cooling, and
one in use. That way you don't need to charge a hot battery which will
reduce its life a bit.

He said DIY.

I've got two batteries, which is all I need. I've never flattened them
both in one session - I use it, when it goes flat, swap and charge. I've
also never used it enough for the battery to be hot.

Mine's a Site. I understand this to be a cost-reduced version (nylon
gears) of something better - but enough for me.

Andy.

On 07/02/2014 23:11, Vir Campestris wrote:
On 07/02/2014 14:33, John Rumm wrote:
For long battery life, having three batteries is better. If you do need
to work continuously, then you can have one charging, one cooling, and
one in use. That way you don't need to charge a hot battery which will
reduce its life a bit.

He said DIY.

Which was why I was highlighting the conflicting requirements... "high
quality cordless drill please" and "4Ah" are not traditional "DIY"
territory tools. (although that does depend on ones definition of DIY!)

I've got two batteries, which is all I need. I've never flattened them
both in one session - I use it, when it goes flat, swap and charge. I've
also never used it enough for the battery to be hot.

Not sure assuming that everyone will use it the same as you helps much...

E.g. mixing a couple of bags of redimix mortar was one battery fully
used in a few mins for me the other day.

Core drilling a double skin wall was several complete batteries worth...

Mine's a Site. I understand this to be a cost-reduced version (nylon
gears) of something better - but enough for me.

Site branded tools were in most cases "last years" Makita - no
indication that they were particularly cost reduced (in build terms)
even if they were cheaper at retail. With the couple I have there is no
obvious difference from the Makita version other than the plastic colour.


--
Cheers,

John.

/================================================== ===============\
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|-----------------------------------------------------------------|
| John Rumm - john(at)internode(dot)co(dot)uk |
\================================================= ================/

On 07/02/14 14:33, John Rumm wrote:

You may be restricting your choice unnecessarily by specifying 4Ah batts
- those are a relatively new addition the market, and 3Ah or even 2.6 Ah
give ample usable capacity in practice.

Seconded. My drill has 4Ah batteries, one charge lasts me a good couple
of weeks of fairly frequent use. You only _need_ that capacity if you
drill absolutely has to last you a whole working day of intensive use.

On 07/02/2014 14:33, John Rumm wrote:
On 07/02/2014 12:24, wrote:

I'd appreciate recommendations for a high quality cordless drill
please. It must have a 13 mm or 1/2" keyless chuck, a 4AH Lithium-ion
battery (preferably two), plus hammer and screwdriver functions.

Pretty much any of the higher end Makita combis with 14.4V or more. Blue
Bosch, and DeWalt also worth a look.

e.g:

With 3 and 4Ah batts:

http://www.lawson-his.co.uk/makita-d...ite-co-p158394


http://www.lawson-his.co.uk/makita-d...s-comb-p158500



I'll be using it for occasional DIY around the house and garden.

You may be restricting your choice unnecessarily by specifying 4Ah batts
- those are a relatively new addition the market, and 3Ah or even 2.6 Ah
give ample usable capacity in practice. In many respects a decent
charger is more important. Also note that several high capacity
batteries will add greatly to the cost of a package (three new 2.6Ah
batts for my drill were £150 recently)

For long battery life, having three batteries is better. If you do need
to work continuously, then you can have one charging, one cooling, and
one in use. That way you don't need to charge a hot battery which will
reduce its life a bit.


+1, also 4 Ah batteries are *heavy*.

wrote:
I'd appreciate recommendations for a high quality cordless drill
please. It must have a 13 mm or 1/2" keyless chuck, a 4AH Lithium-ion
battery (preferably two), plus hammer and screwdriver functions.

I'll be using it for occasional DIY around the house and garden.


http://snipurl.com/28jvow2

I've recently been using a Ryobi 18v hammer drill with li-on batteries which
fits your criteria, very pleased with it too.
Used it for almost 6 hours just screwing plasterboards on a cieling and it
is much quicker than the ni-cad version and seems to have more raw power.
The one mentioned in the link comes with two 1.3ah batteries but B&Q also
sell the 4ah ones if you want to upgrade, although for D-I-Y purposes, the
1.3ah would be more than enough in my opinion (the one I used (not mine) is
used daily for trade purposes) but it's up to you.

On Friday, February 7, 2014 12:24:26 PM UTC, wrote:

I'd appreciate recommendations for a high quality cordless drill please. It must have a 13 mm or 1/2" keyless chuck, a 4AH Lithium-ion battery (preferably two), plus hammer and screwdriver functions.

I'll be using it for occasional DIY around the house and garden.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

I find a couple of 1.3Ah batteries is fine. One can charge before the other goes flat. But I dont do what John does, use a cordless for core drilling & mortar mixing.


NT

Thanks all, much appreciate those helpful replies.

I see now that my 4 AH requirement was naively ambitious and I've dropped it.

Terry, East Grinstead, UK

wrote:

I see now that my 4 AH requirement was naively ambitious and I've dropped it.

I got three 3Ah batteries with my 18v Makita drill driver plus impact
driver set, they've have served me well by adding the multitool and
sabre saw, I have often run two batteries flat in one session.

Presume you've noticed SF have a "combi drill showdown" on today?

http://www.screwfix.com/search.do?fh...sCombiShowdown

On 07/02/2014 12:24, wrote:
I'd appreciate recommendations for a high quality cordless drill
please. It must have a 13 mm or 1/2" keyless chuck, a 4AH Lithium-ion
battery (preferably two), plus hammer and screwdriver functions.

I'll be using it for occasional DIY around the house and garden.

So ignoring your battery requirement now.

I randomly picked up one of these at Screwfix when it was on offer:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dc1...bi-drill/73596

Batteries recharge in 15 minutes, though I've yet to run one down in the
course of a day. Nice and light, has more torque for screws than my
wrist and does OK on masonry. Given the two batteries, I don't bother
charging proactively, but instead swap the batteries when they run out
and plonk the other one on charge.

Jon