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Need a new drill

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joshboogie

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Jan 11, 2008
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138
Location
SC
OK so I was drilling out a few rivets in a door today and my Dewalt drill started spitting out sparks. I've been smelling electric burning for a few weeks now so I'm not really surprised. Anyway need to replace it. I was looking at hitachi but wanted to get a few suggestions from everyone.

This is the newer version of what I have now but it's over kill for what I use it for.

http://www.sears.com/shc/s/p_10153_12605_00981830000P

I'm considering this

http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=182091-67702-DS14DVF3&lpage=none
 
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fourfeathers

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Oct 5, 2007
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QUAD CITIES, IL
That Dewalt is very top heavy, and the last Hitachi I had ran the batts out REAL quickly.

I'd pick an 18 volt compact Dewalt, or get a kit.
 
K

kythri

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Jan 3, 2007
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Lebanon, OR
Take a good look at the Ryobi 18V stuff.

For less money, the NiCad stuff is great. If Lithium-Ion is important to you, it's still cheaper than most of the competitors.

If you don't like the ugly green, buy a NiCad drill (or combo kit), and buy the Lithium-Ion "upgrade" kit for it.

You should be able to try them all out at Home Depot and see what you like best - they carry Ryobi, of course, but they have the Makita, Milwaukee and DeWalt stuff, as well as a number of other brands.
 
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CAT_serviceman927

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Jun 25, 2008
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Michigan
Oh yeah I forgot about those. The little 12volt Ryobi Li-Ion was pretty slick too. Think the size of a 7.2 volt drill with 12 volt power.
 
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J

joshboogie

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Jan 11, 2008
Messages
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SC
I'm boycotting Home Depot right now. (long story) I'm hitting Lowes in the morning. I still need another less powerful drill than the Dewalt I have. I'm going to take billymade's suggestion and have it looked at/repaired if possible. I've liked the drill for the last 8 years I've had it. This is the first issue I've had out of it.
 
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boiler7904

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Apr 4, 2006
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NW IN
The Hitachi you posted only has 1.4 aH batteries so they won't run for long on a charge.

If you're committed to brands that you can get at Lowe's, take a look at Bosch. I've had a 14.4V for about 4 years with no problems. I've also had their 12V cordless impact driver for about 3 years and have had no problems. Same goes for all of my other Bosch tools (2 sanders, router, jigsaw)

DeWalt is the only other brand of cordless tool I'd consider from Lowe's since they don't have Milwaukee anymore.

Does your store have any Milwaukee tools their trying to clearance since they lost the line?
 
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Stuey

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Jan 8, 2008
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28m above sea level
I've had very good experiences with Hitachi drills. They're not industrial-quality tools, but for the money they're great!

If you want to get the 14.4V version, I'd suggest looking at amazon.

Hitachi 14.4V Cordless Drill

If you need a tad bit more power or a drill with a 1/2" chuck, check out the 18V version.

Hitachi 18V Cordless Drill

What I like about the Hitachi is that it's lightweight, and has a lot of power for its size.

Boiler mentions that the Hitachi batteries don't run that long. I've actually been getting some decent runtimes with them. The kit comes with two batteries, and it's never been the case where both were fully depleted. They run for about the same amount of time as most other consumer-grade batteries.

Amazon had some great prices on the Lithium Ion version of these drills a few months ago, but they went up somewhat recently. Li-Ion batteries are smaller and lighter, but they don't offer that much greater capacity. The Li-Ion version has 1.5 Ah capacity instead of 1.4.
 
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Coach James

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Jun 24, 2005
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Sandhills of North Carolina
My 4 year old Hitachi 14.4v has been great for me. Many hundreds of screws up to 3 inch #12's and no problems. The light that came with it still works too despite being a favorite target of my 2 and 4 year olds affections.

Coach
 
D

ddawg16

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Jul 11, 2008
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S. California
I have to give my vote to the Ryobi 18V drill as well. I have two of them...along with a lot of their other tools....The drill is holding up well and I use the dog **** out of it.
 
E

eschoendorff

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Feb 6, 2005
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Michigan
boiler7904 said:
The Hitachi you posted only has 1.4 aH batteries so they won't run for long on a charge.

If you're committed to brands that you can get at Lowe's, take a look at Bosch. I've had a 14.4V for about 4 years with no problems. I've also had their 12V cordless impact driver for about 3 years and have had no problems. Same goes for all of my other Bosch tools (2 sanders, router, jigsaw)

DeWalt is the only other brand of cordless tool I'd consider from Lowe's since they don't have Milwaukee anymore.

Does your store have any Milwaukee tools their trying to clearance since they lost the line?
Click to expand...

I forgot about Bosch! They also carry Bosch at Menards, so you are not stuck with just one store carrying a brand (like Home Depot and Ridgid - STILL kicking myself over that one!:mad:).
 
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hamburglar

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Mar 10, 2008
Messages
523
If I were buying drills from scratch, and I mean drills not impact drivers, I'd probably get a 0234-6 Milwaukee corded drill from Amazon for 90 bucks...and if I still felt the need for portability, I'd get one of those smaller (so at least it's a somewhat different application) battery powered drills like the PS20 or the Milwaukee compact cordless drill.

The thing is that both of those together costs about the same amount as a larger cordless, and that Milwaukee corded drill will still be useful in 20 years.

The whole lifetime thing on batteries makes me crazy.
 
A

a390st

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Jun 9, 2008
Messages
920
The following was all 14.4 to 18 volt. Not 12 or 20 volt units. There were a lot of us working on projects, and most of us brought our own stuff. Had a Hitachi and the batteries did run down faster than our others over a day's time. Had a DeWalt, and it was very reliable. The batteries did go bad after a while, but they lasted as long as anything else. It was very good, actually. One guy had a Porter Cable and it seemed OK. The Panasonic drill had a battery on it that seemed like it never ran down, but I don't think it had as much torque. I want to try one of the Ingersoll Rand D550 drills one of these days, but I haven't seen enough of them working to feel comfortable with it. I have used Milwaukee for years, but never once have I used one of their corkless models. Oh, there was also a Makita, but the batteries were so worn out that it was hard to tell.
 
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joshboogie

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Jan 11, 2008
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SC
Well I bought the Hitachi 14.4v combo I posted originally. It was just under $83 with the lowes $10 off coupon. It's seems to be pretty strong for what I need it for. As long as I can put a hole on a firewall, run a few self tappers into sheet metal, and mount subs in a box I'm all good. I still took my DeWalt to one of the places listed on their site. From what I told the guy he thinks it may just be the brushes and if so I'm looking at around $50-$60 to have it repaired. I'm good with that because a new one is around $300. Thanks for all the replies.
 
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rsanter

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Dec 22, 2007
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18,523
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visalia ca
HD has a 18v dewalt drill kit (case, charger, battery, drill) on sale for $150 (reg $200)

otherwise I have a spare I could sell off

bob
 
B

born lucky

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Apr 29, 2007
Messages
165
I just purchased the PANASONIC 18Volt. I am very happy with it.
Just go to Amazon.com and read all the reviews. You just may consider it!
 
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J

joshboogie

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Jan 11, 2008
Messages
138
Location
SC
OK so the repair shop called me and said it needs a new motor. It's gonna run me about $65 so I told them to go ahead and fix it. I got a chance to play with the Hitachi I got and I think it's going to work for what I need it to.
 
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