Im getting ready to purchase a new cordless drill and need some recommendations, please. I would like to stay around $180 give or take $20 and would like to have at least 14.4 volts. Ive been looking into Milwaukee, Hitachi, and Porter Cable. Also a drill with a separate flashlight would be great but noy essential. THANK YOU!!
P. S. Whats an amp/hour and what does it do for a cordless drill by the way of power and run time?
Replies
Ah = Ampere*hours is a measure of how much electric charge a battery can store. Runtime of a fully charged battery will be proportional to the Amp Hour rating of the battery. E.g. a 3Ah battery should give twice as long runtime as a 1.5Ah battery on the same drill.
A battery with a one amp hour rating will run a load of one amp for one hour, a load of two amps for 1/2 hr., etc. Useful to compare the run times of various tool/battery combinations.
I have DeWalt drills. Won't buy them again. The gears strip pretty easily. Makita gets good reviews, as does the Milwaukee.
Mike Hennessy
Pittsburgh, PA
Mike,
Doesn't DeWalt brag about having all metal gears? They never have, however, specified which metal they use. I'm surprised with your experience.Chris @ http://www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
You know, I never opend the things up, so I guess I can't really say it's the gears themselves that are plastic. Maybe it's just the housing they're mounted in or something. All I know is that once these tools get a few harder miles on them, they start to skip and stutter like the gears are jumping teeth when the torque demand is high.
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Edited 6/2/2008 6:52 am ET by MikeHennessy
An amp-hr is a measure of electrical charge*. As far as a battery is concerned, you can think of it as being approximately equivalent to the amount of energy stored (when fully charged).
An amp-hr represents an ampere of current flowing for one hour. So, for example, if you have a tool that draws 5 amps, and it's powered by a battery that stores 10 amp-hrs, then you can run that tool for 2 hrs (5 amps × 2 hrs = 10 amp-hrs). In principle, at least--other factors will tend to shorten the run time from that ideal.
-Steve
*Roughly 22,500,000,000,000,000,000,000 electrons, in case you were wondering.
I just switched from an old NICAD 14.4 Porter Cable
to a 18V Milwaukee (the small compact).
The PC was a 2.5 amp while the Milwaukee is only 1.5.
The battery technology has more then made up for it. More power,
less weight. Plenty of run time, and really as long as it charges faster then you kill it-no problem.
So my $.02, don't sweat the amp. hours all that much.
Rather define your needs better. If your in the shop, weight and balance
probably mean more then extended run time. If your climbing up on ladders, changing batteries can be important.
Thank you guys I understand now and am better prepared to go buy my drill. Oh, I have to put up a privacy fence and do some framework if your wondering what it will be used for. I think ill get a milwaukee 'cuz makita is having trouble with their batteries after some research.
I bought Bosch's 14.4 Compact Tough drill/driver with a 1/2" ratcheting chuck for $150. It's a great drill so far - I've had it for about 4 months, though it hasn't seen much abuse yet. Some guys like Milwaukee's reversible battery, others don't.
Regarding the flashlight, most that come with portable power tools are not much more than an afterthought. I bought a LED trouble light and it is awesome. Charges on a 12V adapter and is bright enough to light a room. I paid $40 on sale.View Image
Chris @ www.flairwoodwork.spaces.live.com
- Success is not the key to happines. Happiness is the key to success. If you love what you are doing, you will be successful. - Albert Schweitzer
For $150 more you can look at the Festool C12. It comes with a second battery that charges in about 20 minutes — the time it takes to run down the first one. This is a large outlay for a drill and especially if you are not earning a living from what you are doing. I wanted a lighter drill that I could use to mount cabinets and drive screws with.
I can't remember the price of the 18V Dewalt that I owned, but I know that replacement batteries are $80 each. I was unwilling to invest $160 in that drill. It was heavy and bulky - hard to reach into some locations. I have used the Festool for driving screws and mounting window blinds and the performance was exceptional. It is much lighter than the DW and very easy to use in tight quarters. I haven't had any task where I needed more power than it could provide..
Greg
•••••••
Exo 35:30-35
Dear F,
No idea about amp hours, but as a contractor, I can tell you what works and what doesn't. The Makita "compact" 18V Lithium- ion is quite the gun. It is the first drill that I have seen since Porter Cable's 12v "Magnequench" that consistently gets borrowed on job sites. I have had mine for over a year now and it gets daily use/abuse from drilling 1/16" pilot holes to diving 10" lag bolts. It is light, powerful and reliable. the batteries charge very quickly, say 15 minutes and it just goes.
http://www.tools-plus.com/makita-bdf452hw.html
Best,
John
Thank you guys and J I've heard the Makita has battery problems and their life is short. Thats just what Ive heard and ill take pros word for. THANK YOU ALL AGAIN!!!
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