My trusty, but well well used Bosch 240v drill, has died, and is now in the bin!!

which new one should i buy ?

It will only be used for household/car related uses, so industrial quality not required


whats the verdict ?

Steve

Bosch again.

I went with a Makita as they were on offer 18v for £99 with two batteries.

Pete.

This is what I've got:

BOSCH DRILL

ARGOS BOSCH DRILL

Cracking little drill, and small enough to fit in tight spots. IIRC it's the best DIY one Bosch do before the case size goes up one and they get almost 2" longer.

I think they are about the £35 mark new from the staff shop in work (I work for Bosch) So both of those are good price.

I'd be inclined to pop to argos for that one as there's no postage cost and if it knackers up you can return it easily

ATB
Stott

That one looks like an up to date of the one ive just thrown, so off to Argus to get one!!

thanks

Steve

Have you considered a cordless one? The Bosch ones are stonking for working on the car....

Yeah - but sometimes you just need that 240v power

Haven't used my mains powered drill except for mixing plaster etc since buying a cordless.

I went cordless about 10 years ago, not took my mains one out of its case since.
I made the (huge) mistake of getting a cheapy cordless drill. When I moved upto a Makita 18v combi drill it puts the corded and the cheap cordless to shame. Best £80 I had spent in a long time.

The linked one is what I got from Homebase a couple of months ago (I think it was about 35 quid on offer).

Absolutely superb drill IMHO.


I echo everyone's suggestion that if you get a semi-decent proper cordless you don't need a 240v jobbie, but that depends on what you want to do.

I needed to make a fair few holes in concrete and the 240v handled it no problem. The cordless I used did it, but took at least 5 times as long per hole. Similarly with cutting large diameter holes in wood/steel - it's nice to have the extra torque of a proper drill.

Life would be intolerable without a cordless. Slower but taking set up time into account quicker.

Makita are the best I've had

The new cordless drills with Li-ion batteries are great. None of the battery memory/running down problems of old and they fast charge - and hold the charge. Just like mobile phone batts. Got a bosch from B&Q which is great.

I've got 3 cordless, 1 small mains (as posted above) and an sds.

Cordless are great but if you're building a decking and putting 12mm flat wood bits through posts all day, you need the mains one.

But the biggest reasons for the mains IMO are drilling small diameter holes (which our cars require lots of) because, for instance my bosch 24v cordless only does 1800rpm, whereas the mains does 3000rpm, meaning cleaner holes, quicker, and with half the wear on the bits. Cordless drills just don't go fast enough.

The second reason is when using wire brush/mop accessories, these are pretty useless in a cordless.

IMO mains drills are indispensable, cordless ones are great and you can manage with them, but if you could only afford to buy one, it would be a mains every time for me.

Cheers
Stott

A lad in work bought an Aldi / Lidl special.

Everyone took the p1ss. After probably 6 years it's still going strong!

Spend a little extra and get a Makita. That's pretty much all you see on site these days.

thanks for the respons's were would we be with out this site !

I have a 12v cordless for winding the caravan legs up an down and menial jobs
around the house

but a 240v in the tool box allways (to me) seems the way to go

quote:

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Originally posted by Stott
I've got 3 cordless, 1 small mains (as posted above) and an sds.

Cordless are great but if you're building a decking and putting 12mm flat wood bits through posts all day, you need the mains one.

But the biggest reasons for the mains IMO are drilling small diameter holes (which our cars require lots of) because, for instance my bosch 24v cordless only does 1800rpm, whereas the mains does 3000rpm, meaning cleaner holes, quicker, and with half the wear on the bits. Cordless drills just don't go fast enough.

The second reason is when using wire brush/mop accessories, these are pretty useless in a cordless.

IMO mains drills are indispensable, cordless ones are great and you can manage with them, but if you could only afford to buy one, it would be a mains every time for me.

Cheers
Stott

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I've got an Aldi 240v one, which was £12 ish and Lidl cordless for £35 with 2 batteries. Both are spot on for the money. IMHO Bosch are crap. But Hitachi / Makita if you want quality.

Stu

All the batteries died for my cheapo cordless drill, so now it's got a 4mtr lead to a spare car battery. Lasts forever! Ok, so it's not exactly cordless anymore, but it's still easier than trying to find a long extension lead in a hurry.

I've also got a £20 B&Q cheap corded drill and it's fantastic for the price. The last one I had lasted about 4 years until the bearings died and it help build 1 kit car, 2 workshops, a chicken run and countless other projects so it didn't do too badly.

In the end, I'd rather chuck a worn out cheap drill than an expensive one. My wife has got one of those posh Makita Li-On 18V jobbies and it's brilliant, but I daren't use it on my stuff in case I break it. I could buy 15 of my cheap 240V drills for the price of one of them...

Ed.