Looking for suggestions to buy cordless drills (for contractors)?

[e-spark]

My sds is 8 years and still going!, combi about 4 and impact driver 2, multi tool same, ive built up decent amount batteries so wont change any time soon.

 

[nicebutdim]

I actually heard for years the standard was 18V, but that has now gone up to 20 volt batteries?

Just another means of designating nominal voltage. They're all Lithium cells and no manufacturer is tweaking Voltage +/- 2V.

 

[PEG]

I got some nice jobs round Gretas,due to the fact, that when i quoted,i showed her me compact wind turbine powered battery charger.
We had to open all the windows,to keep the 12 Ah batteries up to speed,and she had to put more coal on her fire,so i'm not doing anymore work,for her ? ....it's all blAh blAh blAh (see what i did...)

 

[LastManOnline]

18v is the standard now, I don’t think going to 20 will make much difference.

In fact in some cases going even higher makes no difference. I have just bought the Bosch 36 volt "professional". Its a replacement for its long serving 24 volt cousin that has done seriously hard graft over 20 years. I find the 36 volt inferior in every respect to its predecessor

 

[LukeD]

Fan of Bosch blue myself. Never had a motor failure, however hot I've run them. unlike the Dewalt I had for a short while. All my batteries are going strong, right from the ones that came with my first drill 10+ years ago, although one did die, and then come back to life again.
Latest batteries have a 'fuel gauge' on them.

I have Blue , battery and mains >Used the mains today to put a 12 x 900mm through a very old basement wall. brand new SDS bit. Piece of cake !

 

[DefyG]

everyone seems to be in love with combi drills...wondering will it be foolish if i just buy the bare tool

Without batteries? does seem rather foolish!

 

[brianmoooore]

Depends how many batteries you have acquired over the years.
I have seven 18V Bosch batteries in full working order, so my last purchase, a 115mm grinder, was just the bare tool.

 

[nicebutdim]

Depends how many batteries you have acquired over the years.
I have seven 18V Bosch batteries in full working order, so my last purchase, a 115mm grinder, was just the bare tool.

Rarely buy tools any other way - in fact the last time I bought a tool with batteries was because it was cheaper than buying batteries separately - the tool was sold on ebay to further reduce costs.

 

[Mikegh]

Another Bosch Blue man here, been using them forever , they haven't given much trouble but are a little pricey

Starting out again I'd be looking at other brands like DeWalt and Milwaukee for comparison.I think they're big names in the US according to home depot when i was looking