I need to buy a new drill/driver but the choice is so vast that it's
hard to make a decision. The only firm requirements a that it's
Li-Ion, is not too heavy or big, and comes with 2 batteries. I'm
concerned that the 10.8V versions might be a bit weedy and the 18V ones
a bit heavy, so probably it will be a 12V or 14.4V. Price up to about
£170 or so.
Are there any good deals anywhere at the moment, or recommendations?

wrote:
I need to buy a new drill/driver but the choice is so vast that it's
hard to make a decision. The only firm requirements a that it's
Li-Ion, is not too heavy or big, and comes with 2 batteries. I'm
concerned that the 10.8V versions might be a bit weedy and the 18V ones
a bit heavy, so probably it will be a 12V or 14.4V. Price up to about
£170 or so.
Are there any good deals anywhere at the moment, or recommendations?
Aldi,when they have them.

On 13/05/2014 00:20, wrote:
I need to buy a new drill/driver but the choice is so vast that it's
hard to make a decision. The only firm requirements a that it's
Li-Ion, is not too heavy or big, and comes with 2 batteries. I'm
concerned that the 10.8V versions might be a bit weedy and the 18V ones
a bit heavy, so probably it will be a 12V or 14.4V. Price up to about
£170 or so.
Are there any good deals anywhere at the moment, or recommendations?

I find 14.4v does everything I need. Personally I'd go for Makita.

--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On 13/05/2014 07:03, F Murtz wrote:
wrote:
I need to buy a new drill/driver but the choice is so vast that it's
hard to make a decision. The only firm requirements a that it's
Li-Ion, is not too heavy or big, and comes with 2 batteries. I'm
concerned that the 10.8V versions might be a bit weedy and the 18V ones
a bit heavy, so probably it will be a 12V or 14.4V. Price up to about
£170 or so.
Are there any good deals anywhere at the moment, or recommendations?
Aldi,when they have them.

I've recently been using the £200 Bosch 14.4V I bought for my partner*.
Significant differences between that and my Aldi 14V cheap (£15)
drill/driver:

Chuck easier to use and lock. Also, the Aldi often seems reluctant to
centre the bit, so some faffing usually ensues;
Batteries charge more quickly, hold their charge, and last longer;
Fair bit more powerful. Made short work of 6mm holes in masonry, and
driving pretty good. The Aldi doesn't have hammer, so direct comparison
there not possible.
Lighter and nicer to use - balance, switches engage nicely.

Overall, it's the battery - always being ready - that would matter most
to me. As it is, I have to plan a bit, and use a mains drill for masonry
and heavy stuff.

* This one:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-prof...bi-drill/10173

Bought 3 years ago. Never taken it out of the box. I'm only using it to
check the batteries. I would hasten to add it was bought unprompted on
request.

--
Cheers, Rob

In message , The Medway Handyman
writes
On 13/05/2014 00:20, wrote:
I need to buy a new drill/driver but the choice is so vast that it's
hard to make a decision. The only firm requirements a that it's
Li-Ion, is not too heavy or big, and comes with 2 batteries. I'm
concerned that the 10.8V versions might be a bit weedy and the 18V ones
a bit heavy, so probably it will be a 12V or 14.4V. Price up to about
£170 or so.
Are there any good deals anywhere at the moment, or recommendations?

I find 14.4v does everything I need. Personally I'd go for Makita.

With the XLT range the batteries are interchangeable with any other
device in the range.
--
bert

I've recently been using the £200 Bosch 14.4V I bought for my
partner*. Significant differences between that and my Aldi 14V cheap
(£15) drill/driver:

Chuck easier to use and lock. Also, the Aldi often seems reluctant to
centre the bit,

My Makita is the same in that respect

RJH wrote:
On 13/05/2014 07:03, F Murtz wrote:
wrote:
I need to buy a new drill/driver but the choice is so vast that it's
hard to make a decision. The only firm requirements a that it's
Li-Ion, is not too heavy or big, and comes with 2 batteries. I'm
concerned that the 10.8V versions might be a bit weedy and the 18V ones
a bit heavy, so probably it will be a 12V or 14.4V. Price up to about
£170 or so.
Are there any good deals anywhere at the moment, or recommendations?
Aldi,when they have them.

I've recently been using the £200 Bosch 14.4V I bought for my partner*.
Significant differences between that and my Aldi 14V cheap (£15)
drill/driver:

Chuck easier to use and lock. Also, the Aldi often seems reluctant to
centre the bit, so some faffing usually ensues;
Batteries charge more quickly, hold their charge, and last longer;
Fair bit more powerful. Made short work of 6mm holes in masonry, and
driving pretty good. The Aldi doesn't have hammer, so direct comparison
there not possible.
Lighter and nicer to use - balance, switches engage nicely.

Overall, it's the battery - always being ready - that would matter most
to me. As it is, I have to plan a bit, and use a mains drill for masonry
and heavy stuff.

* This one:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/bosch-prof...bi-drill/10173


Bought 3 years ago. Never taken it out of the box. I'm only using it to
check the batteries. I would hasten to add it was bought unprompted on
request.

Not talking about the cheap aldi stuff, the aldi stuff with the lithium
batteries is a cut above.
I have had an aldi drill with lithium for a couple of years and I give
it as much curry as Trade use would and it has held up.

In article m, F Murtz
writes

Not talking about the cheap aldi stuff, the aldi stuff with the lithium
batteries is a cut above.
I have had an aldi drill with lithium for a couple of years and I give
it as much curry as Trade use would and it has held up.

Did it come with 2 batts? I've been put off most of the Lidl/Aldi
battery tool offering due to them having just one.

--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

"fred" wrote in message ...
In article m, F Murtz
writes

Not talking about the cheap aldi stuff, the aldi stuff with the lithium
batteries is a cut above.
I have had an aldi drill with lithium for a couple of years and I give
it as much curry as Trade use would and it has held up.

Did it come with 2 batts? I've been put off most of the Lidl/Aldi battery
tool offering due to them having just one.

i posted this ages ago, but might be relevent again....

i helped my dad assemble his new shed, it's something like 14 feet long by
10 feet wide, lots of smaller panels to be screwed together,

He had his makita niMh battery drill, with 3 x batteries and the stock
charger,

I brought over my makita drill with the li-ion battery and stock charger,

I could drive almost 3 times as many screws on a single charge than he
could, and at once point he had one battery on charge, one exhausted and was
almost running out of power in the last battery, so had to stop a few times
to wait for the batteries to charge.... once this cycle was set up it
remained, a battery discharging a lot faster than one of them charged.

When my battery ran out, i put it on the charger, 15 minutes later it was
fully charged again,

I found i could last about as long as a battery charge before wanting a
break, and a 15 minute tea break was ideal,

My dad was getting fustrated and kept on working as he was just constantly
changing batteries and waiting for them to charge.


So check out how long the battery takes to charge before deciding you need 2
batteries,
of course there is the battery capacity thing to take into account, but most
lithium drill batteries can charge in 15 minutes nowadays, if not faster?

When i first got into lithium polymer batteries for my planes, they had a
strict 1C charge regime, so as long as you could feed the battery the
current, i would take at least an hour to charge,
Nowadays the li-po batteries for model planes can charge at 5C or more, some
claim 10C charges, but the problem is finding the 50 amp charger supply for
the 5AH battery pack.

fred wrote:
In article m, F Murtz
writes

Not talking about the cheap aldi stuff, the aldi stuff with the lithium
batteries is a cut above.
I have had an aldi drill with lithium for a couple of years and I give
it as much curry as Trade use would and it has held up.

Did it come with 2 batts? I've been put off most of the Lidl/Aldi
battery tool offering due to them having just one.

I have two different Aldi lithium drills of different voltage both came
with two batteries.
they were not as cheap as the old nicad Aldi drills Near or over $100
AU.compared with $30 or so for nicad.
You would probably have to wait as they come a couple of times a year here
PS I just got one of those new fangled rattle gun type screw drivers
(Lithium) from Aldi Originally listed for $129 AU but waited and got it
marked down to $59 AU

On 13/05/2014 00:20, wrote:
I need to buy a new drill/driver but the choice is so vast that it's
hard to make a decision. The only firm requirements a that it's
Li-Ion, is not too heavy or big, and comes with 2 batteries. I'm
concerned that the 10.8V versions might be a bit weedy and the 18V ones
a bit heavy, so probably it will be a 12V or 14.4V. Price up to about
£170 or so.
Are there any good deals anywhere at the moment, or recommendations?


I was in B&Q today, they have a Makita combi 18v with 2 x 1.3a Li Ion
batteries - £138.

--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

On 13/05/2014 13:47, Gazz wrote:

"fred" wrote in message ...
In article m, F
Murtz writes

Not talking about the cheap aldi stuff, the aldi stuff with the lithium
batteries is a cut above.
I have had an aldi drill with lithium for a couple of years and I give
it as much curry as Trade use would and it has held up.

Did it come with 2 batts? I've been put off most of the Lidl/Aldi
battery tool offering due to them having just one.

i posted this ages ago, but might be relevent again....

i helped my dad assemble his new shed, it's something like 14 feet long
by 10 feet wide, lots of smaller panels to be screwed together,

He had his makita niMh battery drill, with 3 x batteries and the stock
charger,

I brought over my makita drill with the li-ion battery and stock charger,

I could drive almost 3 times as many screws on a single charge than he
could, and at once point he had one battery on charge, one exhausted and
was almost running out of power in the last battery, so had to stop a
few times to wait for the batteries to charge.... once this cycle was
set up it remained, a battery discharging a lot faster than one of them
charged.

When my battery ran out, i put it on the charger, 15 minutes later it
was fully charged again,

I found i could last about as long as a battery charge before wanting a
break, and a 15 minute tea break was ideal,

My dad was getting fustrated and kept on working as he was just
constantly changing batteries and waiting for them to charge.


So check out how long the battery takes to charge before deciding you
need 2 batteries,
of course there is the battery capacity thing to take into account, but
most lithium drill batteries can charge in 15 minutes nowadays, if not
faster?

When i first got into lithium polymer batteries for my planes, they had
a strict 1C charge regime, so as long as you could feed the battery the
current, i would take at least an hour to charge,
Nowadays the li-po batteries for model planes can charge at 5C or more,
some claim 10C charges, but the problem is finding the 50 amp charger
supply for the 5AH battery pack.

I'd second that opinion. I bought an 18V Makita with a 3Ah battery a
couple of years ago and it's been superb. A charge lasts for ages in
normal day to day use. On a bigger job, when it eventually runs out, it
only takes 20 minutes to recharge, which is no more than a tea break or
time to attend to something else for a little bit.
So far, it's shown no sign of losing battery capacity. If I dropped it
off a ladder tomorrow, I would definitely buy the same again.

On 13/05/2014 20:12, The Medway Handyman wrote:
On 13/05/2014 00:20, wrote:
I need to buy a new drill/driver but the choice is so vast that it's
hard to make a decision. The only firm requirements a that it's
Li-Ion, is not too heavy or big, and comes with 2 batteries. I'm
concerned that the 10.8V versions might be a bit weedy and the 18V ones
a bit heavy, so probably it will be a 12V or 14.4V. Price up to about
£170 or so.
Are there any good deals anywhere at the moment, or recommendations?


I was in B&Q today, they have a Makita combi 18v with 2 x 1.3a Li Ion
batteries - £138.


Thanks, that looks interesting. I was put-off the combi drills because I
don't need the hammer function and I thought it would make it longer and
heavy than one without.
The Metabo Powermaxx Li-ion Drill Driver gets good reviews despite only
being 10.8V, the removable chuck and angle drive look like they might be
useful features so I'm now wonderng about a 10.8V Metabo for general use
and a cheapie 18V (Titan, Aldi, etc) for the grunt moments.
Any opinions on Metabo?

In article ,
The Medway Handyman wrote:

....

I was in B&Q today, they have a Makita combi 18v with 2 x 1.3a Li Ion
batteries - £138.

Recently picked up one of these combi drills from Screwfix:

http://www.screwfix.com/p/hitachi-dv...bi-drill/43195

Though it was a good deal; it was a tenner less that the advertised
99.99 pounds price. Special offer on a new store opening. Have yet
to use this drill.
--
Dennis Davis

On 13/05/2014 23:05, wrote:
On 13/05/2014 20:12, The Medway Handyman wrote:
On 13/05/2014 00:20, wrote:
I need to buy a new drill/driver but the choice is so vast that it's
hard to make a decision. The only firm requirements a that it's
Li-Ion, is not too heavy or big, and comes with 2 batteries. I'm
concerned that the 10.8V versions might be a bit weedy and the 18V ones
a bit heavy, so probably it will be a 12V or 14.4V. Price up to about
£170 or so.
Are there any good deals anywhere at the moment, or recommendations?


I was in B&Q today, they have a Makita combi 18v with 2 x 1.3a Li Ion
batteries - £138.


Thanks, that looks interesting. I was put-off the combi drills because I
don't need the hammer function and I thought it would make it longer and
heavy than one without.
The Metabo Powermaxx Li-ion Drill Driver gets good reviews despite only
being 10.8V, the removable chuck and angle drive look like they might be
useful features so I'm now wonderng about a 10.8V Metabo for general use
and a cheapie 18V (Titan, Aldi, etc) for the grunt moments.
Any opinions on Metabo?

Exceptional build quality from what I've heard.

--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

In article , wrote:
On 13/05/2014 20:12, The Medway Handyman wrote:

The Metabo Powermaxx Li-ion Drill Driver gets good reviews despite only
being 10.8V, the removable chuck and angle drive look like they might be
useful features so I'm now wonderng about a 10.8V Metabo for general use
and a cheapie 18V (Titan, Aldi, etc) for the grunt moments.
Any opinions on Metabo?


You might be dissapointed. some of the cheap 18V machines have no more
power than a quality 10.8V machine...

Darren

I've just ordered one of the Hitachi 18V drills mentioned above from Screwfix - it says on the their website 10 in stock at my branch but when I order it for collection (and pay) it tells me I can collect it the day after tomorrow!!!!

On 14/05/2014 15:12, D.M.Chapman wrote:
In article , wrote:
On 13/05/2014 20:12, The Medway Handyman wrote:

The Metabo Powermaxx Li-ion Drill Driver gets good reviews despite only
being 10.8V, the removable chuck and angle drive look like they might be
useful features so I'm now wonderng about a 10.8V Metabo for general use
and a cheapie 18V (Titan, Aldi, etc) for the grunt moments.
Any opinions on Metabo?


You might be dissapointed. some of the cheap 18V machines have no more
power than a quality 10.8V machine...

Darren

Agreed. My 14.4v Makita will run rings around an 18v cheapy.

--
Dave - The Medway Handyman www.medwayhandyman.co.uk

In article om, F
Murtz writes
fred wrote:
In article m, F
Murtz
writes

Not talking about the cheap aldi stuff, the aldi stuff with the lithium
batteries is a cut above.
I have had an aldi drill with lithium for a couple of years and I give
it as much curry as Trade use would and it has held up.

Did it come with 2 batts? I've been put off most of the Lidl/Aldi
battery tool offering due to them having just one.

I have two different Aldi lithium drills of different voltage both came
with two batteries.
they were not as cheap as the old nicad Aldi drills Near or over $100
AU.compared with $30 or so for nicad.
You would probably have to wait as they come a couple of times a year here
PS I just got one of those new fangled rattle gun type screw drivers
(Lithium) from Aldi Originally listed for $129 AU but waited and got it
marked down to $59 AU

Useful info ta.

Despite the comments about 1 lithium being ok, I think I still want 2
:-).
--
fred
it's a ba-na-na . . . .

Murmansk wrote:
I've just ordered one of the Hitachi 18V drills mentioned above from Screwfix - it says on the their website 10 in stock at my branch but when I order it for collection (and pay) it tells me I can collect it the day after tomorrow!!!!

I've had a pair of hitachi 18v L-ion drills since last November and been
very satisfied with them.

On Wednesday, 14 May 2014 15:12:52 UTC+1, D.M.Chapman wrote:

Some of the cheap 18V machines have no more
power than some 10.8V machines.

My 2nd hand De Walt 18 volt does two doors on 1 battery 1.? amp hours. I wish it had more powerful batteries but for 60 quid I can't complain.