Cordless drills suck...

[JulesMaximus]

I’ve purchased three of these things lately, all of them DeWalt brand. The first one is a 20v to replace an old 14v model I’ve had for years. The batteries just won’t hold a charge anymore and rather than spend more money on new batteries I decided to just replace the entire drill. Anyway, the one I bought doesn’t seem very powerful, just a glorified screwdriver, so I bought another one that I thought was their most powerful XR model. It wasn’t. So I returned that one and bought the top of the line hammer drill.

I had some concrete to drill into on Saturday so I broke out my trusty $300 hammer drill and proceeded to drill a couple holes in my patio. It took me 10 minutes to drill the first hole and I started thinking the bit was too worn for the task. Then I broke out my 20 year old Mikita corded hammer drill and it drilled the second hole in about 30 seconds.

I’m thinking of returning the DeWalt and just keeping the glorified screwdriver although that one had difficulty drilling through a pine 4x4. I’m sure the cordless hammer drill would have no trouble with that.

My son and I replaced the center post on this patio cover. I had to drill four holes in this 4x4 and that 20v DeWalt couldn’t handle it.

 

[lxskllr]

Cordless is good when you *need* cordless. Otherwise, it'll always come up second to hardlined devices.

 

[skull]

I'm a milwaukee guy myself but my new helper has a 20 volt dewalt impact. That thing is so powerful it drives me crazy. It strips screws in sheet metal faster than you can let go of the trigger. If your screwing through multiple layer of sheet metal it has so much torque it breaks the heads off the screw. He doesn't have the drill but my trusty 5 year old 18 volt milwaukee would have no trouble doing any of the things you described. I prefer my 18 volt rotary hammer for concrete though.

 

[s0me0nesmind1]

Pretty sure I have the Dewalt XR - and they have served me pretty well. Definitely way better than my old Makita ones. Defective model maybe? Or high expectations?

Either way I agree if you need the best power for stuff like drilling into concrete - corded would serve better overall.

 

[Oyeve]

I have 2 Stanley drills from the early 70s. The metal body ones that spit sparks out the side. Never failed me yet. Keep them well oiled.

 

[skull]

Pretty sure I have the Dewalt XR - and they have served me pretty well. Definitely way better than my old Makita ones. Defective model maybe? Or high expectations?

Either way I agree if you need the best power for stuff like drilling into concrete - corded would serve better overall.

My cordless SDS plus is the bees knees drills a 1/4" hole in hard brick in seconds and can keep going down the side off the house for anchors on a long service cable and the bit will still be good on the next job. A regular corded hammer drill can't even compete with that. It'll do a 7/8 bit for water spigots but tend to grab the corded SDS when the hole goes bigger than 5/8.

 

[dave_the_nerd]

Corded, for maximum powah.

 

[DietDrThunder]

Yeah, I have a Ryobi 18v cordless drill. The NiCad batteries pretty much suck. I went to HomeDepot to buy replacement batteries a couple of months ago. I was looking to replace with NiCads, but they were $70 a piece, so I started looking at the Lithium Ions. They were $99 each and I'd have to buy a new charger. While I was deciding what I wanted to do, a HomeDepot employee pointed something else out to me. He didn't know why they were priced this way, but they had a Ryobi 18v One+ Lithium Ion two pack with charger for $99. Needless to say I bought the combo. Another plus is that the new charger kind of reconditioned my old NiCad batteries. Another words they hold a charge and can be used again, but can only be heavily used for about 30 minutes. But that is still better than 0 minutes.

 

[shortylickens]

YOU SUCK!

 

[TXHokie]

I'll stick with corded drills for big jobs. Last time I charged my Dewalt in the garage the damn thing started melting and smoking. For all I know it could've caught on fire if I wasn't around to see it. I'm paranoid about those rechargeable batteries.

 

[Ken g6]

I'm a milwaukee guy myself but my new helper has a 20 volt dewalt impact. That thing is so powerful it drives me crazy. It strips screws in sheet metal faster than you can let go of the trigger. If your screwing through multiple layer of sheet metal it has so much torque it breaks the heads off the screw. He doesn't have the drill but my trusty 5 year old 18 volt milwaukee would have no trouble doing any of the things you described. I prefer my 18 volt rotary hammer for concrete though.

I think there's supposed to be a clutch in most modern drills that you can adjust so they don't deliver more torque than you want. It makes an awful noise, but it doesn't damage screws that way.

 

[Viper GTS]

This honestly sounds like you doing something wrong. What exact drill model was this? Is the hammer functionality switchable?

https://youtu.be/23aayTYJ3Bo?t=5m36s

Modern cordless tools are fucking awesome. I have several thousand dollars worth of Dewalt 20V and every last one of them is great.

You do, unfortunately, still have to know how to properly set them for your task.

Viper GTS

 

[JM Aggie08]

I live by my 20v Porter Cable driver and impact hammer. Plenty of horse power for any of my needs, and still holds a strong charge 4 years later.

 

[bruceb]

Try the Hilti brand of power tools. Very good. Also as mentioned Milwaukee is pretty decent as well.
https://www.hilti.com/content/hilti/W1/US/en/services/power-tools/cordless-power-tools.html

 

[JulesMaximus]

This honestly sounds like you doing something wrong. What exact drill model was this? Is the hammer functionality switchable?

https://youtu.be/23aayTYJ3Bo?t=5m36s

Modern cordless tools are fucking awesome. I have several thousand dollars worth of Dewalt 20V and every last one of them is great.

You do, unfortunately, still have to know how to properly set them for your task.

Viper GTS

It is the Dewalt 20v XR lithium ion brushless hammerdrill combo. I suppose it could have been user error but I moved the bit to my Makita hammer drill and it worked just fine. The bit was a 5/8 masonry bit.

 

[snoopy7548]

Agreed. "Cordless power tool" is an oxymoron to me. Running an extension cord or plugging something in is nothing compared to the hassle of using awkward and heavy batteries.

 

[Darwin333]

This honestly sounds like you doing something wrong. What exact drill model was this? Is the hammer functionality switchable?


Modern cordless tools are fucking awesome. I have several thousand dollars worth of Dewalt 20V and every last one of them is great.

You do, unfortunately, still have to know how to properly set them for your task.

Viper GTS

I came here to post this. We use Dewalt exclusively at my company and I personally have 6 20V cordless Dewalt tools and they work great. You are never going to get the power of a corded tool but for the tasks the OP is doing I have to assume he is just doing it wrong. A 20V hammer drill with even a half charged battery should chew right through those tasks.

 

[Darwin333]

I live by my 20v Porter Cable driver and impact hammer. Plenty of horse power for any of my needs, and still holds a strong charge 4 years later.

His problem isn't with the brand, even if one of those was 10% better than his Dewalt, which I would find very hard to believe, it would still have taken him 9 minutes to drill one hole that his corded took 30 seconds. As I said, you are never going to get the power of a corded out of a cordless but it sounds like it shouldn't take more than a minute with a properly set/used 20V cordless.

 

[Fir]

We have over $20k invested in Milwaukee's 18V fuel system. No regrets whatsoever. The new 12Ah packs are incredible. They provide decent runtimes and corded power for real! The 20V DeWalt should be fine as well. The newest are using 21700 cells in series parallel and are wicked strong. Super SDS hammerdrill? I was a skeptic at first. Granted I wouldn't buy them for termite control where you're drilling nonstop for hours in thick slabs, but for most work they're more than adequate. And the 1/2" impact wrench is awesome.

 

[zinfamous]

My son and I replaced the center post on this patio cover. I had to drill four holes in this 4x4 and that 20v DeWalt couldn’t handle it.

It's called a Pergola, damn it!

 

[jlee]

Here's the budget line brushless drill (two speed, not the XR model) and the three speed XR brushless impact driver. Just for you, Jules.

https://youtu.be/FiFFbasH7NI

 

[Red Squirrel]

I started on my shed with corded, but then bought a Cryobi cordless when I was doing the roof, was too much of a pain dealing with the cord while going up and down the ladder etc. Cordless is fine for putting in screws but anything serious like using auger bits to make big holes you definitely want corded. The cordless just won't chooch hard enough.

As a side note I swear by spade bits now for making big diameter holes. I find auger bits are too hit and miss. Too often they stop eating half way through the whole and it's very hard to get it going again as it will just spin.

 

[jlee]

I started on my shed with corded, but then bought a Cryobi cordless when I was doing the roof, was too much of a pain dealing with the cord while going up and down the ladder etc. Cordless is fine for putting in screws but anything serious like using auger bits to make big holes you definitely want corded. The cordless just won't chooch hard enough.

As a side note I swear by spade bits now for making big diameter holes. I find auger bits are too hit and miss. Too often they stop eating half way through the whole and it's very hard to get it going again as it will just spin.

This is a fun game.

https://youtu.be/B4FfzpNj2a0

Who's next?

 

[dave_the_nerd]

This is a fun game.

https://youtu.be/B4FfzpNj2a0

Who's next?

Is... is he using an impact driver to drill that hole?

 

[Aikouka]

I like my DeWalt 20V XR cordless drill, but I don't use it for concrete. I have a separate Makita corded SDS-plus hammer drill for that. On the other hand, I have done plenty of wood-related tasks with the DeWalt including 1"-1.5" boring. That can be a hefty task for a smaller, battery-powered unit, but putting it on the third torque setting is usually enough to handle it. ...just make sure to turn it back down before you attempt to use it as a screwdriver.