Cordless drill suggestions

[Brian C.]

A couple of years ago I bought a combo pack of DeWalt cordless drill & reciprocating saw. The drilll and the saw work fine, but the batteries are a POS. and I am looking to replace. New batteries are nearly as much as a new drill. I have read that the super gee whiz lithium batteries are no better than the original.

Any suggestions on what to buy? These are certainly not daily users for me, but it would be nice to have them hold a charge between uses.

[AJinNZ]

Well...........in my biased opinion the old Nicad batteries worked well and lasted a long time if you treated them right.

I have two drills with two batteries each that have given up. I am going to buy new cells and re-pack them myself. Way cheaper and then am back to years of hard use again.

The nickel metal hydride that was touted as the wonder battery was total crap.

[rustythe4x4]

I had dewalt, ryobi, and off brands.
I personally prefer Ridgid. They offer lifetime warranty - even on their batteries! They are made by Milwalkee too. Metal gear case and metal gears.

or... buy cheap stuff, and when the battery wears out, throw out the whole drill.

[milomilo]

If your battery case is OK this place will replace the batteries in your old case cheaper than you can buy a new one.

P.S. I bought the batteries myself and did the swap myself. Was a cheaper route.

[JWS]

12 volt? Solder wires to it and run it off of your truck battery.

[dubby]

There was a recommendation a while back on here to get a Hitachi 18v drill.

I got one that day and havn't regretted it for a moment. Sure the price helped a lot, but it's really a good working little drill. I got the compact one and with the new style batteries it's super light.

[Shade Tree Welder]

I have had good luck with DeWalt 18V XR2 batts. Run then down until they
are dead. Charge em full over night then pull them out of the charger store
them full. I have 3 that I rotate...

[Bolt]

I had a few DeWalt XRP drills, then a brief stop with a pair of Makita Li-Ion drills, not overly impressed.

Then a few years back I bought my first Milwaukee M18 drill. I have never looked back. I used to think cordless tools weren't that handy. Now I have over a dozen. Several 1/2 drills. 1/2 impact (awesome, air compressor and service truck stay in the shop). 1/4 driver impact. 4 1/2 grinder. Flood lamp. Hackswall.
Then a few M12's. Grease gun (best cordless grease gun on the market, yet I'm in line for the new M18 model), right angle drill, mini hackswall, oscillating tool, that's all I can think of right now. Wait, I forgot the heated jacket, complete with cell phone charger!

I'm very impressed with their entire lineup. I recently had to warranty an older drill, along with one newer battery pack. No questions asked.
I also dropped the 1/2 impact from 16 feet the other day, got lucky and did it no harm.

The Milwaukee tools can be found on sale and good deals on combo packs often. I pick em up as needed, and then wonder how I ever lived without.

[Bender]

Originally Posted by MAC702

Are they Ni-Cd or Li-Ion? The former should limit the charges when not depleted, and should not stay on a charger unless the charger is specifically designed for "tune up" mode.

Ni-Cd, they seem to do ok, but I've never bought another brand.

Originally Posted by Brian C.

Thanks for all the feedback folks.

Glad we could narrow it down for you

[rmack898]

We are making the shift at work to the 20v li-ion DeWalt tools from the 18 v XR tools and I'm not at all impressed. Battery life on the XRs is much better.

Sent from my iPhone using SFT