Whats the deal with drills now, any ideas?

[stranded]

Evening all,

Been having a look at cordless drills for a while now. Im only starting out, so this will be my first .

Im probably going to go with Makita(i think)... but the thing is...

The new Li-ion ranges are out across Bosch, De-walt, Hilti etc etc, then there are the old Ni-Cd's.

I have read mixed reviews, benefits and problems of the new Li-ion batteries and drills. More power and longer lasting seems to be a benefit, but some of them dont have the "stop from running completley dead feature", because apparently if you run them completley dead, they dont function right again, oh and i looked at the price of a 3.0ah 18v for a makita drill on screwfix, and its £149.99, for the battery?! I can get a Makita drill, with two Ni-Cds, 18v on screwfix for 99.99, that charges in 30mins? Then, they say that the Ni-Cds have a memory effect which effects their charge capacity?

Seems a hell of a lot to consider.... Anyone used Ni-cds or/and Li-ions, whats your experience, and what do you reckons worth doing?

Cheers,

Mike.

 

[Adam W]

Re: Surley im not the only one that thinks this about drills?!

I have an Ni-Cd drill and a Li-On impact driver. Next drill I get will definitely be Li-On.
I reckon you'll have a job getting the batteries to run completely flat, which is good for Li-On, bad for Ni-Cd.
The batteries have always been the expensive bit, hence why it makes sense to get all the same make and same voltage cordless stuff.

 

[shanky887614]

if your handy with a soldering ion then go for makita nicad/ni-mh

if you unscrew the batteries packs when they die you can desolder and solder in new batteries and its as good as new.


if i remember right its 12 c batteries at around £1-2 each so much cheaper than li-ion batteries


make sure to get a drill with at least 2 batteries though no matter what you do.

 

[davidcaulfield]

Milwaukee!!!!

 

[shanky887614]

Milwaukee!!!!

not worth it for a first drill, there expensive compared to the competition and they wont last any longer.

overpriced imho

 

[davidcaulfield]

I wouldn't say there any more expensive really.

 

[Sharpend]

Milwaukee from Toolmonkey.co.uk buy as bare unit for £189 then add batteries 3.0Ah for £55 each. Three year warranty jobs a Goodun.

 

[shanky887614]

I wouldn't say there any more expensive really.

how much are you looking at then for a 18v 3ah milwaukee? with 2 batteries?

 

[davidcaulfield]

I just paid £250

 

[shanky887614]

I just paid £250

that says nothing though because there are different spec ones and the is a very big difference in there spec. which one or link to it?

this milwaukee is good spec

http://www.protrade.co.uk/category.asp?id=240378

for 238.

i picked up the makita one with more torque for 270 with fast charger etc

 

[davidcaulfield]

There is no difference between the heavy duty and the compact to be honest. Get the red lithium batteries they last much longer and more charges. Tool station actually had them I think. Ill has a look

 

[davidcaulfield]

http://www.tooled-up.com/product/milwaukee-c18pd-32c-18v-cordless-combi-hammer-drill-2-lithium-ion-batteries-3ah/189121/?Referrer=googleproductlisting&gclid=COb14OvMzbYCFWbKtAod-TAADQ

Beware this isn't red lithium tho. It's the old style I think.

 

[shanky887614]

http://www.tooled-up.com/product/milwaukee-c18pd-32c-18v-cordless-combi-hammer-drill-2-lithium-ion-batteries-3ah/189121/?Referrer=googleproductlisting&gclid=COb14OvMzbYCFWbKtAod-TAADQ

Beware this isn't red lithium tho. It's the old style I think.

the link i just posted was with the red li-ion batteries.

to be honest when i was looking i never found them that cheap

http://www.protrade.co.uk/category.asp?id=240378

 

[davidcaulfield]

(null)

Makita batteries burn out for fun! The suppliers can't send them back quick enough

 

[shanky887614]

Makita batteries burn out for fun! The suppliers can't send them back quick enough

?

not actually true, the problem with the batteries is the charging circuit is powered by the first cell and if that dies then the whole battery dies.

but if you swap it out when you see the first error on charger it will be fine (3rd party batteries are not affected)

and the reason some die and others don't is probably to do with there quality control but you are covered on batteries for at least a year so you would have taken one back by that point. (ive been using mine for months and no problems)

it just starts to gets a little warm after about 30*20mm continuous holes in steel

 

[1Justin]

Stranded,

Don't get carried away with "18V". What decides how long your drill will last and how much you get from your batteries is the capacity in Watt-hours. (Multiply amp-hour by voltage).

Any quality brand (read expensive, because with tooling you NEVER get something for nothing sadly) drill with Lithium batteries should contain necessary circuits to prevent you from knackering your cells by over discharging. The drill will quickly loose power because the controller won't let the battery fall below about 3V/cell. (Lithiums die totally if flattened, Nicd/Ni-mh can put up with that treatment a little better).

So if you buy a cheapo brand, look at the battery capacity as well as the voltage. In the consumer market "Voltage" is used the same way by Marketeers as "Megapixels" is in the camera world. - More must be better and sod the consequences (which are often bad, unless everything else improves alongside). A well designed 12V tool could have much more torque and battery life than a cheapo 18V tool.

Lithiums are good though, you won't go wrong with Makita, expensive yes, but you soon forget the cost when it just works..

FYI "Memory Effect" is vernacular for nickel crystal growth which happens between the plates in Ni-mh and Ni-cd cells when they are over charged or over discharged too much. They partially or fully short out the cell. Ultimately the crystals can puncture through the separator layers and short out the cell totally. - Henceforth it becomes useless cell which will have 0V across it and won't accept any charge. Any oldies about might be familiar with "zapping" such cells with a high current kick to blow away the filament. (This is emergency treatment and at best will get a little more life from the old Nicd/Nimh battery before it fails again).

 

[gigawatt]

Makita know their early batteries were a bit of an issue and will fix it if you have a genuine UK battery with a receipt. Li ion has won this war so you will probably go down that route

 

[phil 01]

Makita know their early batteries were a bit of an issue and will fix it if you have a genuine UK battery with a receipt. Li ion has won this war so you will probably go down that route

Milwaukee for 18v range brushless that’s the way to go, minimum battery you want is 4ah I think they now go to 9

 

[Zerax]

Holy old thread resurrection Batman !!!