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I need a cordless drill

Rakehellion

Rakehellion

Lifer
I bought this three years ago and now the battery lasts about 2 seconds before dying.

It uses Ni-Cad, but I'm reluctant to upgrade to Li-ion because those batteries have even worse of a useful life, don't they?

Is there a battery type that will last more than a few years? Apparently the drill I bought has a "high performance" battery pack, whatever that means.
 
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Man, you get what you pay for. What did you expect for a $40 dollar drill?

My dad has some Makita drills (Ni-Cad) that are over a decade old and the batteries still last a pretty long time. I just bought a pair of newer brushless Makita drills (18V Li-Ion), so far so good.

If you want something that will last anything from Makita, Dewalt, or Milwaukee, are the best options. They are more expensive initially but will be cheaper in the long run.
 
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No batteries required, and has a virtually unlimited life span.
 
Check in home and gardens, some good info there. My company uses tons of big-boy cordless tools, and although you can't go wrong with most new ones, try sticking to the big 2 and a half (dewalt, milwaukee, and kind of makita). I encourage all my guys to use dewalt 20vmax so that chargers and batteries can be swapped. The dcd995 drill with 4ah batteries is amazing. ~$120 for the tool and $150 for a 2 pack of 4ah batts.
 
lithium ion makitas are great for home use, been using those for 10+ years

the better charge life with lithium is worth it
 
Cordless is handy for those small little jobs, but nothing beats corded. Nothing worse than a dead battery in the middle of a job. Corded tend to have more power too.
 
freeskier93 said:
Man, you get what you pay for. What did you expect for a $40 dollar drill?

My dad has some Makita drills (Ni-Cad) that are over a decade old and the batteries still last a pretty long time. I just bought a pair of newer brushless Makita drills (18V Li-Ion), so far so good.

If you want something that will last anything from Makita, Dewalt, or Milwaukee, are the best options. They are more expensive initially but will be cheaper in the long run.
Click to expand...

It was good for 2 years. I'd say that's worth the price. I'm willing to pay a little more this time around.



Should I get Ni-Cad or Li-ion?
 
I bought a cheapo NiCad Black & Decker years ago. It got a very little bit of use and was pretty good for the whole $40 I paid. Trying to drill through a wall resulted in a massive fail though.

However, I started getting paranoid about the NiCad battery -- specifically the cadmium portion and having to deal with a leak. On the other hand, crappy lithium-ion batteries can catch fire or explode. You gunna ded.
 
Bosch's 12V Li-Ion series is awesome if you're not doing professional work 40 hours a week or some big DIY remodeling job. I have both the Bosch and a DeWalt 18V and 99 times out of 100 I grab the Bosch. Can't beat the size and weight.

Maybe the best value: Ryobi.
 
I think the key is to use them all the time/keep them charged.

I'm about to throw out 2 string trimmers that well only got used in the summer. 1 Lithium, 1 Ni-Cad.

I have similar drills that get used all the time and never have any battery issues.
 
paperfist said:
I think the key is to use them all the time/keep them charged.
Click to expand...
I think you are right. When I bought my first home back in 2000 I got a DeWalt cordless drill/driver with two NiCd batteries. I never seemed to have a job that required more than one battery and it got recharged routinely.

Then after 11-12 years that battery died. I grabbed the second one, which I can't honestly say that I ever tried to charge and as expected it wouldn't charge at all. I replaced it with a Ryobi (ahem, disposable) with two Lithium Ion batteries.

I used it, let it sit for ~3 years and broke it out three weeks ago to do a small job. To my surprise both batteries charged up just fine. I think I paid <$50 for it, while the DeWalt cost me $100 on a special HD deal where it was originally $130-140.

The OP's link to what he had bought looks like a dead knockoff (pun intended) of the Ryobi I bought.
 
paperfist said:
I think the key is to use them all the time/keep them charged.

I'm about to throw out 2 string trimmers that well only got used in the summer. 1 Lithium, 1 Ni-Cad.

I have similar drills that get used all the time and never have any battery issues.
Click to expand...

That's been my experience with batteries of all kinds. They work until you shelve it for awhile, and then never work again.
 
Red Squirrel said:
Cordless is handy for those small little jobs, but nothing beats corded. Nothing worse than a dead battery in the middle of a job. Corded tend to have more power too.
Click to expand...
I also own a corded DeWalt drill. That mofo will probably live for longer than any of us on this forum. Also have a deck gun, but I have no use for it.

Now that I think about it, I have a lot of tools I probably don't have a use for. Porter-Cable Router set and bits, Milwaukee Sawzall, DeWalt Circular saw, and so on and so forth. I did finally sell my table saw (300 pound behemoth) and DeWalt 12" compound sliding miter saw.
 
paperfist said:
I think the key is to use them all the time/keep them charged.

I'm about to throw out 2 string trimmers that well only got used in the summer. 1 Lithium, 1 Ni-Cad.

I have similar drills that get used all the time and never have any battery issues.
Click to expand...

The pain of battery maintenance.

As far as I know, every battery technology from NiCad to NiMH to Lithium-Ion suffer from self-discharge and they need to be cycled. Batteries hate being empty and may even leak once their charge goes too low -- they end up destroying the device...
 
Ni-cd is the technology that remembers how far you discharge it and will only go down that far. You should regularly use nicd to FULL discharge every time and alternate between your batteries so that they ALL get used regularly. Lithium ions die of old age at three years old whether they have been used or not.
 
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