Cordless drills, what are you using?

[96dreamer]

My trusty old nicad 14.4 dewalt died on me Tuesday drilling out the frame on my jeep for long arms. I still have an old porter cable kit that came with a drill driver sawzall and circular saw but those batteries are dying as well. Circular saw is useless, chuck on the drill doesn't hold tight sawzall eats up batteries.

Looking for suggestions, reviews, dos, don'ts on cordless drills. I will most likely pick one up that is a drill driver combo. I use my porter cable driver all the time but the nicad battery is on its way out and very heavy.

Right now im leaning towards the dewalt 20v XR system which i think accepts the new "smart" 60v batteries they have

 

[oldmodman]

I still have my five year old Milwaukee 18 volt drill and impact set. Only got them due to a pricing error at OSH. $62.00 for the entire set.

But today I would never get anything less than a 20 volt system. Higher voltage the better.

 

[7upstang]

Currently have 5 Dewalt 20v XR Brushless drills. The only flaw we had in two years have been the chucks. They are used roughly 8 hours everyday (5 Days a week) for two years. Also have 2 Dewalt 20v XR hammer drills (only 8 months) one has been fixed, the other will go for repair soon.) I'll order two more XR Brushless to replace those. I have one set of Milwaukee drills, but I've had them for a few months, I do like them. Bought those for the attachments.

 

[Blown 89]

I use Rigid. At the time a few years ago theirs had the best specs that I could find and the batteries have a lifetime warranty. I have both a drill and an impact drill, both have worked great.

There are better prosumer drills out there but as a weekend warrior I couldn't justify the price.

 

[HudsonFalcon]

Currently have 5 Dewalt 20v XR Brushless drills. The only flaw we had in two years have been the chucks. They are used roughly 8 hours everyday (5 Days a week) for two years. Also have 2 Dewalt 20v XR hammer drills (only 8 months) one has been fixed, the other will go for repair soon.) I'll order two more XR Brushless to replace those. I have one set of Milwaukee drills, but I've had them for a few months, I do like them. Bought those for the attachments.

This. I have a 20v brushless dewalt that has been going strong for years. From driving lags to removing lugs it has passed every test ive thrown at it. It has a great battery life too. I also have the corded dewalt hammer drill and its been solid as well.

 

[Coiled03]

I have an old school Milwaukee cordless. I can't even remember how many volts it is. I'm quite certain it's less than today's uber-voltage drills, though.

 

[getsomebeyatch]

I have been managing business for mechanics for many years now and have bought at least a hundred different types of drills/impacts. From my experience and what my dozens if mechanics have told me Milwaukee is where its at. It is more $$ but the quality of the product is better along with delivering better results. I have had to send out countless numbers of dewalts back on warranty.

Hope this can help out in your decision.

 

[Black02GT]

This. I have a 20v brushless dewalt that has been going strong for years. From driving lags to removing lugs it has passed every test ive thrown at it. It has a great battery life too. I also have the corded dewalt hammer drill and its been solid as well.

+1 I have their shorty impact and love it. The guys that work in the field for us use Dewalt. I've seen one take the quick way down off a 2 story roof onto concrete and be fine.

 

[NastyNate420]

Cant go wrong with dewalt. Im still rocking my old hitachi kit since it still works after 8 years.

 

[Double"O"]

Dewalt...my porter cable drill sucks balls compared to my 20v Dewalt impact and drill

My old man has a milwaukee that is pretty stout too

 

[Buckwheat 1]

I went from using dewalt to Milwaukee.I went to Milwaukee because the Dewalt 18 volt batteries sucked.I now have 2 broken Milwaukee drills in my van.One with a broken chuck and the other with bad motor.The 18 bolt batteries from Milwaukee are way superior the tools not so much.The broken drills are around a year old.

 

[joshcarp81]

I have almost every 20v tool Dewalt sells and they are top notch. impact driver and drill/hammer drill get used everyday. hold a charge and have plenty of power for a pro.

 

[AustinSN]

Ridgid over here.

I used to work in maintenance and used a drill quite often. I had a nice Milwaukee that gave up on me out of no where. I ended up swapping it out for a Ridgid and I think it was a decent upgrade. The Ridgid seemed to punch holes through concrete a bit better than the Milwaukee. One night I had to set 40 or so 1/2" x 6" anchors and our big corded hammer drill gave up almost immediately (it was like 11pm too). I ended up running 4 batteries on chargers at once drilling these holes with this tiny little hammer drill. It got so hot it melted the vents on the drill body but that thing still worked a few years after until I left that job.

I spoke so highly of them my dad bought me a Ridgid drill/impact set Christmas of 2013. I don't really work on stuff anymore unless it's cars and I always have air for that so they go mostly unused now. The cool thing is I had to drill a hole the other day for a guitar hanger and both batteries still have a really strong charge. It's been over 2 years since they have seen a charger.

If I ended up needing to use a drill for work again, it would probably be a Ridgid.

 

[SweetSVT99]

I started using Ryobi One+ stuff about a year ago. I love that they make a crap load of tools that all use the same battery/chargers.

 

[Never_Enough]

In to read later

 

[03cobra#694]

20v dewalt here, and as mentioned above, the chuck has become less than friendly. Great drill though.

 

[4a7191a]

Ryobi + series here as well. One drill fried after 8 years of use. Other than that no problems

 

[blk02edge]

I've been using Milwaukee fuel since the day they came out. Same drill and impact. You can not go wrong and in my experience noticeably more power than any of the competitors

 

[FocusSTGuy]

20v Dewalt here, works like a champ.

 

[smashedheadcat]

I've got the Milwaukee Fuel 18v drill/impact combo and I absolutely love it. Very powerful and the batteries seem to last forever between charges.

http://www.cpomilwaukee.com/milwauk...=miln2797-22&gclid=CJfL_87q3c4CFcsV0wodYPQOcw