Best Cordless Drill?

[kojimep]

You can get battery converters to use say Porter Cable batteries in Dewalt tools from Amazon. I do it for a number of tools since I started out with Porter Cable 20V and found a couple of Dewalt tools on sale that Porter Cable did not offer. If you need a number of tools at the same time, Dewalt will sometimes put together package deals that can be a good deal but you really have to watch pricing since sometimes their sale pricing is not that great or you could get stuck with a tool or two that you have no use for.

You have to be careful with this if you go the other way. Most of Stanley B&D cheaper tools (PC, B&D, Stanley) have the battery management in the battery pack, but dewalt puts the management in the tool, so if you use a Dewalt battery with a converter on a PC (or other) tool it is possible to drain the battery too far and brick it where it won't charge back up.

[kailor]

I have Milwaukee, Rigid and DeWalt. I rank them in the order listed.

[Milehibird]

100% Makita. Just redid the fence on the side of my house with a new gate so I can actually keep my boat at home (even beat the HOA on that one!) and never needed to charge the battery. The extra was on the charger the whole time.

[Thomasj]

I have had a Milwaukee corded 7 1/4 inch circular saw forever and I absolutely love it - used one in Vocational Technical school and had to have one of my own. That being said, I've had a corded DeWalt drill for probably 20 years and have abused the heck out of it and it still works great. You can't buy Milwaukee stuff at Lowes - they are only at Home Depot which may make the decision easier. There is a Lowes within 5 miles of my house while the nearest Home Depot is nearly an hour away. For the convenience of being able to see it before I buy it and to be able to pick up batteries and additional tools it may be DeWalt for me.

I am anxious to see the life of the lithium batteries compared to the old NiCad ones. I've never seen how professionals or even homeowners working on larger products could use cordless because in my experience, even with extra batteries on the charger, I would run out of power and have to bring out corded tools. I'm hoping that I can use the new drill to assemble my deer blind without running out of power.

[D.O.C. 989]

My favorite cordless drill.

[Axkiker]

Another brand that I dont think has been mentioned is Hilti. I dont own any but have used several different items. There is a reason that the rental shops have lots of Hilti.

[Mark Perry]

Have a had a regular old Dewalt 18V Ni-CAD since 2012. Finally had one of the batteries crap out a few days ago.

[grandbassslayer]

This.

Yup. Dewalt is fine, but its a step below.

[jeffro855]

Milwaukee Fuel.

Its all you'll ever need.

And mine get used everyday; for work and at the house.

↑ This
Same here...

[fishinFamily]

Milwaukee Fuel...........nothing else matters

second!

[1781ccT]

I started with Bosch, but have now moved to Dewalt as they have more tools and better prices. Dewalt also makes many of their tools in the US, especially their high volume drills/drivers. I'm not a big fan of Milwaukee's parent company (TTI, same as Ryobi), but Stanley Black & Decker really isn't any better at this point lol.

All that said, you can't go wrong with either. Neither one really has any technology the other doesn't.

I’m not a fan of TTI either!

DeWalt for me

[WWDIII]

I have Porter Cable at my Houston in town, got a deal on a set and kept adding to it. Can get generic batteries on ebay check for Porter Cable too. Works good for my weekend stuff. I also have some Hitachi I've had for a while, they work good too. Can get cheap batteries for Hitachi on ebay too.

At my lake place on Sam Rayburn there is a lowes in Jasper, Tx., therefore I buy Kobalt 24 volt. I have to admit the Kobalt is strout and I can get batteries on sale.

If I had to start over from stcratch for weekend projects and I had Home Depot nearby I would go Ryobi, great selection. Holds up plenty good for home use.

If I was working for a living, then I'd go with higher end, Ridged or DeWalt etc.

[Stumblebum]

I have two 18 volt Dewalt drills powered with ni-cad batteries and have used them for years. It should be mentioned that there are different capacity batteries available for them.
I also have a 20 volt Dewalt impact drill-driver. It is awesome for driving and removing screws and bolts. I hardly ever use the drills unless I need to drill holes bigger than the impact driver has bits.
The lithium-ion batteries for the impact driver also are available in different capacities.
The small battery that came with it has been very adequate for my needs.

[wareagle24]

I like my Dewalt 20 volt brushless. I caught the drill and impact on sale at Home Depot.

[Tom B]

i got this combo from sears about a year ago for 99 - does everything i need for around the house and comes with two batteries

https://www.sears.com/20v-drill-and-...t/p-A027414469

[DrewFlu33]

I've got a Ridgid Octane that is fantastic. Milwaukee is probably top of the heap, but I was able to snag mine "free" with the purchase of a 9 ah battery and charger kit; total cost was around $180. At the time you couldn't sniff a Milwaukee Fuel with really any decent sized battery for less than $300. Add that to the lifetime battery warranty for Ridgid and it was a no brainer for me.

I've beat on it pretty good using it for light to medium duty household stuff throughout the year and punching 8" holes in thick ice in the winter time and never had the first issue. The toughest day I had with it that 9 ah battery turned an 8" auger bit through 19-20" of ice 40 or more times in one day and still showed 40% charge in the app. I had another day where I drilled 15 or 20 holes through over 3 feet of ice and had no issues there either. I have no idea how anything could be harder on a drill than turning a big auger bit through lake ice over and over, so I'm confident in saying that it'd hold up to whatever you want to throw at it. For what it's worth, Milwaukee, Ridgid, DeWalt, and Makita are the drills guys commmonly use for this purpose and they probably use them in that order from most common to least common.

[catchatoad]

Dewalt 20 volt for me

[Parnell]

Milwaukee

[charg295]

Milwaukee Fuel Brushless. Five year tool and three year battery warranty.

[billnorman1]

You generally get what you pay for. The more money you sprnd the better the quality. I have several brands. If it's 20+ volts and Lithium, I will probably buy it.
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One thing I seriously would love is for manufacturers to standardize battery sizes and styles so they would interchange.