What kind of drill should I buy?

[Brian Briggs]

I need to buy a new drill.  I am thinking of buying a corded drill as I have a lot of problems with batteries, either not charged when I need it or batteries that don't hold a charge.  I know that battery ones are more convenient, but........   Any suggestions as to what kind (Brand) to buy? What power is the best? 

[Bob Sanders]

I've always been a DeWalt man. Lithium Ion is the way to go as far as new batteries are concerned.

[Ben Socratous]

LiOn is definately the way to go for a cordless drill, NiCd and NiMh start to lose charge after 2 or so weeks, so if you don't use your drill that often you will find the batteries never seem to last that long. 18V would be the power to go for.

As for corded drills, as Bob said, DeWalt is quite good. I've always used a Makita (bday pressie from mum years ago) and its never let me down. Also good as the hammer action on a mains powered drill is more powerful than that of a cordless one, ergo making short work of drilling through concrete, rock, etc. Something around the 500W mark will suffice for most jobs. Keep in mind though that we use 240V over here, don't know if dropping down to 110V would change the power needed (very early in the morning, coffee hasn't kicked in, remembering high school physics not good right now!).

[Larwyn]

If I only need to drill a couple of holes a battery drill is more convenient. But these days I actually prefer using corded tools when power is available. For drills I like Milwaukee and DeWalt and actually prefer a keyed chuck.

Though this DeWalt has a keyless chuck it hangs in reach of my workbench, plugged in and ready to go at all times. So it is naturally the one I use most often when working in the shop. If you notice there is a jigsaw blade visible in the picture too. My Porter Cable worm drive jig saw is also in reach of the workbench always plugged in and ready to go.

[Mike rignola]

Depends on what you plan on using it for, hobby, daily work, or just to have. I only use my corded drills when I have todo heavy drilling the rest of the time I'm using my cordless drills, i own a porter cable 18v, Dewalt 18v and 14v, craftsman 18v. It all depends on you which one you like and the price you want to pay.

[Dan]

Corded drills are less expensive than not-corded. I purchased a Hitachi corded drill not too long ago. I wanted another drill for the Kreg Jig so I didn't have to keep changing the the drill bit with the driver bit, plus drilling a lot of pockets taxed the battery quite a lot. The new drill has a speed rating of 2500 rpm which fits the recommended speed for drilling pockets.
It was just undr $50 at Lowes - I almost bought the low end DeWalt for more but decided I didn't need to spend more money for a drill I will mainly just drill pocket holes with, I am very happy with it- it does the job I bought it for.

[Samurai1833]

Doesn't matter to me just make sure its got a good clutch, especially if you are working with MDF. It's easy to strip the pocket hole if you overdrive in some materials, I learned this the hard way. Its better to have too little power than to start off too strong. I actually use a driver and a drill separate from one another so I don't have to change the bits in-between actions.

[Jonathan Lyons]

I just don't like being tied to a cord, except for my drill press. If I'm going to use a handheld drill, I prefer cordless. I agree with the others who suggest using a Lithium ion batter. They hold a charge well and recharge quickly. Keep an extra charged battery and put the dead battery in the charger as soon it's used up. I'm on my second Milwaukee drill and I really like it a lot and charge time is about 30 minutes, so I can usually keep swapping batteries if I need to as I go. I suppose the next step would be a third battery if I was burning through power any quicker.

Again a reliable clutch and an 18V drill should handle just about anything you throw at it.

[KregRep]

Our Facebook community had some input for you, Brian!
http://www.facebook.com/posted.php?id=54208550837&share_id=1259...

[Brian Briggs]

Thanks to everyone for your input. Now I will have to get out the catalogues.

[Greg J Powers]

Festool makes some nice drills. Some say they are pricey. But when you look at all you get, the systainer, the special purpose chucks like the right angle for tight places, Eccentric Chuck for tight corners even the Depth Stop Chuck, regular chuck plus it is a driver and a drill. They all work together in a system. Unique design. Nice stuff.

[Steven Goldberg]

I just bought a DeWalt DC759KA. It doesn't have the Li-Ion but it was on sale at lowes for only $119 for the kit with 2 batteries and charger. I would like the Li-Ion since they seem much better but they are much more expensive so I'll have to decide in the next few days. Does anyone know if I could just purchase Li-Ion batteries for the drill that I bought or do I need to get a whole new drill?

[evan court]

I use a Milwaukee and its a total beast.