Cordless drills, the unsung heros of the toolbox

I've been regularly using a Bosch 3610 ($100 factory refurbished if I remember correctly) for almost 20 years and numerous drops and other than oiling the motor bearings once after some smoke escaped she's never needed a thing. Always appreciated the ergonomics, precise action of the chuck and trigger/speed switch, reliable torque setting and the smooth, powerful motor and gearbox. It's the E39 BMW of drills.

However, for a while she's been getting less and less run time out of her original(!) 14.4V ni-cad battery so over the last week I've been on the hunt for a replacement. Actually just found new batteries on Ebay for ~$30 (plus any other part you could need which is somehow comforting) so will get one and keep her as a back up, but it's been a while since I bought a new tool so....

Played around with various brands/models at Sears, HD and Lowes and tonight brought home a brand spanking new 18V Bosch DDS181 with two 2A Li-On batteries. For an extra ~$40 got the combo pack with a 1/4" impact wrench that I don't know when I'll use but seemed cheap enough to have around. Bosch makes a 1/2" drive impact wrench with 600 lb-ft of torque that shares the same batteries so may pick one up someday for lugnuts and such.

The 20V Porter Cable was $50 cheaper and felt like a quality piece but didn't fit my hand as well, had slightly lower speed&torque specs and looks a bit too wacky IMO. Plus, after serving me so well over the years felt Bosch earned my repeat business.
Harbor Fright drills aren't bad actually (have one since 2 yrs ago and use it frequently when the Bosch's battery was dead or I had one set up with a drill bit and the other as a screwdriver) but always feel like that use may be it's last.
Craftsman just doesn't cut it, Hitachi's are a bit vulgar, Dewalt's and Milwaukee's are nice but a bit more than I can justify spending.

Anyone else enjoy using their cordless drill as much as I do? Whattaya got?
Any "pros" out there who use them day in and day out?
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I have an OLD Milwaukee system, kept far past it's prime as I rebuild the batteries and the Milwaukee Factory Repair is about two blocks away!!!

And my grinders...I'd be lost without my grinders....

Good thread!!

 

Just because you drive a fancy car doesn't mean you need a fancy cordless drill. Some years ago I built a 53 foot wooden boat using a number of Harbor Freight drills. When they went on sale, I would order one or two. Sometimes the price was so low it was a laugh and I sometimes ordered a drill from H.F. when I didn't actually need it. They lasted longer than expected and I drilled countless holes and drove many thousand fasteners using these cheap tools. Having several on hand meant I never had to look far to find one. Highly recommended, especially when they're on sale.

 

I went all in on the Milwaukee 12v system...started with a drill, then hackzall, (mini sawzall w a 1/2" stroke), then their 'dremel', their right angle drill and finally, their version of the Fein multitool.
I rarely pickup the 18v stuff anymore. 12v handles 90% of what I need to do, and the weight savings is appreciated working overhead.

 

I broke down a while ago and got a Lithium Ion 18v Makita 2 speed. It is SO VERY nice. I shouldn't have waited so long. Charges fast too! Great XMAS gift if you know a needy handyman.

 

No kidding, didn't know Milwaukee had a shop downtown. I read a while back that most if not all of their stuff has been made in China for years, but they still apparently are very good tools.
How do you rebuild batteries?!

Brother my dd is a Chrysler minivan, wife's is a 14 yr old BMW 528 and I LOVE me some Harbor Freight!
HF 10" miter saw (with a Makita blade that cost 1/2 as much as the saw, and mounted on a rolling HF cart) is solid tool I use all the time, love their 3 ton rapid-pump aluminum jack (at the $69 they're advertising next weekend it's a steal), rolling tool cart is worth multiples of the $99 I paid, angle grinder, circular saw, plus I go there all the time for little stuff from AA batteries to utility knife blades to locking pliers (a pair broke after 4 years of fairly hard use 2 weeks ago, they happily swapped it for a brand new pair - updated with strengthening on the part that broke - no questions asked). The $99 18V tool set I got 3 years ago is so-so though: recip and circular saw are weak, but at least the flashlight and drill are decent.
But I hear you, latest circular advertises this set for $18.99 which is hard to argue with:
Cordless Drill/Driver and Flashlight Kit, 3/8", 18 Volt

Still, it really is like comparing a Chevy Impala (the old one) with a BMW 5er. They both get you around but you clearly feel where the extra money went in every single part of the beemer.

Any pics of the boat? Sounds awesome!

Bosch has one of those hackzalls that'll share batteries with my drill. Seems pretty useful for quickly lopping off smaller pieces of wood rather than putting it in a vice and getting out the handsaw. How much have you used yours?
I've seen those Fein-type tools everywhere, must REALLY come in handy when you need one I just haven't had such a job yet.

My new Bosch is more compact than the ~17 yr old one but not much lighter at ~3.5lbs. Would be a bit of a workout drilling a bunch of holes overhead, but since I don't get to the gym much these days at least it would build some muscles

Didn't play with any Makitas but have seen them around. Dig their color scheme
Fast charging is definitely a bonus with li-on batteries. The Bosch's batteries also have a button that when pushed tells you about how much charge is left (one to three bars) which is neat. Also a slick little LED spotlight for drilling in the dark
That would be a very thoughtful gift, but IMO a drill is something that a guy needs to pick out for himself. Check out a bunch, fiddle with the keyless chuck and reversing switch, see which ones fit the hand best, etc. Kinda like choosing a handgun I imagine.
Then again I'm really picky about certain things lol

 

I use a Bosch impact driver (similar to the one shown above) in my motorcycle shop every day. I use it to remove screws, and bolts with 12mm or smaller heads. (larger than that and I usually need more torque).

It's a great tool, and surprisingly inexpensive.

 

Must save a lot of time for tasks like that. Since there's no control over the tightening torque except for the trigger I imagine that you hand tighten everything with wrenches/ratchets though?
I envision mostly using mine as a screwdriver to go along with the drill, nice to not need to swap out a drill bit for a phillips drive, and back and forth.
Also with 3 front firing LEDs blazing it could serve as a decent (but noisy) flashlight in a pinch!

 

You'd be amazed what the mini hacksall gets used for, from trimming PVC under the house to cutting frozen/rusted bolts on bikes and wagons...we added 1500 sf to the beach house last year and the milwaukee "fein" multitool was great for cutting sheetrick, trimming molding in doorways, etc, plus it's replaced mu Bosch detail sander.
The fullsize Sawzall is the "Hatchet"...push a release on the handle and it pivots 90 degrees...fits inbetween studs.
V handy design.

 

The Makita 3/8" impact and the drill are probably the most used tools in my box. Really are awesome. My dad has the full DeWalt kit, circular saw, drill, reciprocating saw. It's awesome too. Great for working on things away from the house and batteries last a decent time.

 

They are great tools and you can't have too many!
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When we were dating, my wife gave me a Milwaukee 14v drill as a birthday present. One of the best tools I've ever had. Now batteries are NLA from Milwaukee but I've found the aftermarket 18V replacements work great. Later I added a sawzall, circular saw,
hammer drill and a portable shop vac. They see more use than my heavier duty corded tools.

But last year did some horse trading and ended up with the Makita 1/4" Li-ion impact/circular saw/drill/flashlight package...WOW! The batteries last forever, and that impact drove every single fastener in my 40x54 metal barn without complaint.

I even managed to accidentally melt half the flashlight with a torch and its still going strong

The worst cordless tools? Ryobi. The tools themselves are fair, but battery life is minimal.

 

TEN drills?! LOL I bow down to you, Drill King!
Assume some are hammer drills, and all look like ni-cad batteries?
Very sweet storage/charging set-up. Gives me some ideas for my own (much smaller) one in the new garage.

ooooooh portable shop vac.... I want that!

Unfortunately Bosch doesn't have one (yet) and their mini-Hackzall is for their 12V system but I've put the cordless jigsaw on my Christmas list, and even though I'd very rarely use them can't help but covet the portable bandsaw, planer and nail gun
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Makita won me over with the extra room inside their plastic cases (as I have seen this far). If I have to thoughtfully wrap up a power chord to get it to fit inside and hope that the lid will snap shut you have lost my business forever. Good By Porter Cable!

 

I buy a new kit about every two years, batteries and tools get weak over time as I use them daily for work. But the old ones go home and last until they get replaced. Good system to have.

 

Maybe it's just me but I hated my 18v cordless drill and "upgraded" to a corded one. Having full power 100% of the time is so nice!

 

With daily use 2 years out of a battery isn't bad at all. From what I've read li-ons are better than ni-cads when it comes to recharging, with no worries about "memory" if you don't run them all the way down or just have time for a partial charge.

They recommend discharging lithium-polymer batteries for RC planes down to ~70% if not using for more than week or so, but haven't read any such thing about li-ons.

Even though it got used more on a weekly basis than daily I'm still amazed the 14.4V NiCad in my old Bosch was useable (with slowly decreasing capacity) for over 15 years.

LOL I think it may just be you
Which one did you have?
If I had to drill 500 holes in old 8x8s with a 1" spade bit yeah a good old corded drill is the one to have, other than that a couple biggish batteries should get me through 99.9% of what I have to do.

 

Talking about the charger cord I imagine, and yeah that was the ONE thing that bugged me about the old Bosch. Getting the hardcase to close was a hassle, but rarely do I need to take the charger anywhere.
New Bosch fixed that with a soft canvas case.

 

It's just an 18v Craftsman. I went out and bought the corded drill while trying to refinish a set of headlight lenses. Probably just a battery problem but the corded drill was a life saver and I haven't touched my cordless since.

 

The lithium ion ones are a giant improvement over other 18v units.

 

I cannot figure this out. Either you are constantly unsatisfied with your purchases, or you go to the store and think, I need a cordless driver/impact so I'll buy one. Either way, I dig it!

Hat tip to you, and I thought I was in overkill with three myself. All sears, various models in the last five or so years. They hold up well until they break and then the warranty is done through some third party. With one of them, I had it all wrapped up ready to go and thought... let me give it one more shot, and hit it on the ground HARD... and it started working again. Ridiculous.

 

Anyone moved up to Festool products yet
Truly the pagani of power tools

http://www.festoolproducts.com/Drills-s/62.htm

 

Festool products are amazing - I use their vacuum, cordless drill, & rotary polisher. Worth every penny!!

 

Yes, it is a great boat. It's a Biloxi Lugger, a type indigenous to the Gulf Coast which feature shoal draft, a hard awning covering most the boat (from days before air conditioning), and never a flying bridge; i.e. they don't look like a "wedding cake" so they're quite seaworthy in spite of the shoal draft. My boat was a modern interpretation of the type and was cold molded from mahogany plywood rather than using heavy planked and caulked construction. Therefore it was much lighter, faster, and had good fuel economy. It had all the comforts of home including two huge freezers, water maker, 850 gallons of fresh water plus a water maker, SAT TV, powerful hydraulic system, etc. It only had one stateroom, so we didn't have to put up with guests inviting themselves to go with us, the bane of many cruisers. After I built it, my wife and I lived aboard full time and logged 28,000 miles in 5 years, mostly along the Gulf Coast and in the Bahamas plus a trip up into the Canadian canal system and back down through the U.S. river system.

Harbor Freight not only supplied many of the cordless drills I used both during and after construction, but many of the other tools as well. Here's a photo I took at "two palm cay" in the Jumentos in the south part of the Bahamas a few miles north of Cuba.

http://www.ferrarichat.com/forum/attachment.php?attachmentid=1807868&stc=1&d=1385635942
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BTW are the blue ones Bosch, and what's the grey on on the end? Next time you're out there with your phone please snap a few more pics!

WOW
I'd love to see a build thread on THAT! Any interior pics?
What motor? Did you follow plans closely, or design it yourself (or a bit of both)?

10 of my family spent a week on a 72' houseboat last June on the Green River Lake in Kentucky and we all fell in love with "living on the water". Being able to go where yours can opens up a whole new world. Plus you built it yourself. Bravo!