Hey all,

My sister and I are thinking about going in on a cordless drill for my
brother's birthday. He would mainly used it for weekend projects. To that
end, Amazon has a $25 rebate until 4/30/04 on a purchase of $150 and we're
interested in the Porter-Cable 14.4v Cordless Drill/Driver kit. The problem
is, amazon has two different drills: "Porter-Cable 9978 14.4-Volt GTF
Cordless Drill/Driver Kit" for $179.99 and "Porter-Cable 9878 14.4-Volt 1/2"
Cordless Drill Kit" for $189.95. First of all, I can't figure out what "GTF"
stands for. Second, The two drills have similar specs: the 9978 has
420in/lbs torque while the 9878 has 360in/lbs; the 9878 has spindle lock
while the 9978 does not, otherwise they are the same. The model numbers lead
me to believe that the 9978 is the new version of the 9878, if so why is it
more expensive? Also, the 9878 has tons of good reviews at Amazon while the
9978 has one poor review related to the batteries only lasting a year (I'm
not sure if that is a reoccurring problem for the 9978 or if the guy just
got a bad one). Any experiences or suggestions you could make would be
great.

Also, does anybody have any experience with the "Bosch 32614 14.4-Volt
Compact Tough Drill/Driver" or "Porter-Cable 9824 14.4-Volt Cordless
Drill/Driver"? Also, any experiences with the less expensive Black and
Decker or Skil models such as the "Skil 2867-03 18-Volt 3/8" Drill/Driver
with Stud Finder"? Links to the drills at Amazon are a follows:

http://tinyurl.com/2k4uh

http://tinyurl.com/2mt6e

http://tinyurl.com/2bv3q

http://tinyurl.com/3xr92

http://tinyurl.com/2e7b7

Thanks, Greg M

PS. I just noticed that the 9878 is not eligible for the rebate for some
reason. Never the less, any insight you could give me would be appreciated.