Drills for ~$100

[Monochron]

Originally Posted by BenSterling

I honestly love both Dewalt and Makita tools.
For a corded drill you defently don't need a hammer drill for metal.

Yeah, the majority of the time we can just go through metal with a regular drill but there are rare occasions where having a team with a hammer drill nearby saved us. We had a shaft snap off and get bound in a special coupler at an off season competition, and the only way we were able to get it out was to drill out the shaft piece stuck in there. As far as I can tell, the hammer drill made the process only take 15 minutes instead of much more.


Also, I updated the OP with a couple more questions. I am thinking that there are so many different drills out there that maybe asking for general guidelines for what to look for in a drill might be more helpful.

[Steven Smith]

I only have an older 18V battery Dewalt at the school and the 20V MAX.

At one point, DeWalt released a 36V MAX version that was based around the A123 system's advanced LiIon battery. I actually used 10 of these as part of a Formula SAE Hybrid car ~5 years ago. At the time, the big thing was they had an extremely high discharge and recharge capacity versus their amp-hour ratings (~10C as I recall).

I haven't researched it fully, but I think the 20V MAX is essentially the same battery technology. I know A123 went bankrupt a couple years back... but I get the impression that the nice thing about the 20V MAX is it is very powerful for the size or alternatively very light for the power... and that it might be a similar battery technology.

It all depends on how you use it whether it is worth the money. For all the home projects where I was screwing drywall into a ceiling, or any project where I'm working overhead with a drill... every pound I cut down was very much appreciated. For general robot or shop work, the little extra weight from an 18V might be fine. If you are using the drill how it is supposed to be used and not abusing it.. the 18V might be fine.

As I said, I can't say that Dewalt is better than Milwaukee/Makita/Ridgid etc... just that for $99... I sure love mine

[ToddF]

Nowdays, any major manufacturer (there are about 5) is going to make good powerful drills that hold a charge for a reasonable amount of time. To differentiate, you need to look at the failure modes which are most likely to effect you.

For me, in my personal shop, I take very good care of my tools. Over the years, I have ended up with several cordless drills which were physically perfectly fine except the batteries no longer would hold a charge. What good is a wonderful high quality drill with a dead battery which costs 75% of the cost of a new drill to replace? I did research and found that the only major manufacturer with a lifetime guarantee on batteries is Rigid. What that means is that if a battery dies for any reason, you get a free replacement.

Now, for our robotics team, the most common failure mode of our cordless drills is for a drill to be sitting on a workbench and someone to bump it off onto the floor. The drill flips in the air and lands on the chuck, bending the shaft that the chuck threads onto. At this point, I think we have four cordless drills (all dewalt) and at least three of them have wobbly chucks from bent arbor shafts. For students who are struggling to develop their hand drilling skills anyway, a wobbly drill is just worthless. To date, I haven't identified a suitable solution to this problem. There are three approaches I'm thinking of taking:
1) Buy a drill with a larger, stronger arbor shaft. (Probably would also mean the drill is bigger and heavier. Not a good thing.)
2) Buy a lighter drill with less of a probability of bending the shaft when it falls off a table.
3) Buy one of the newer "pistol style" drills which, since they have no wide battery base, don't sit upright on the table. and are less likely to land on the chuck if knocked off. These also tend to be smaller, lighter and cheaper, all plusses for students with smaller than adult man hands.

And now that I've thought it through, I think we'll be buying a couple of the Rigid pistol style drills in the near future.

[Bob Steele]

If you jump through all of the hoops with Rigid you have a chance of getting a replacement battery. You have to submit your registration and include the original receipt and then MAKE SURE that they received everything. I know of 2 individuals who thought they were ok and did everything only to find out that later when they requested service that the company told them they had received the registration but not the receipt so the warranty was void.
Apparently it is your responsibility as a Rigid owner to make sure that they have received all of the paperwork and not theirs to email or write you back if you haven't. In both cases, the individuals HAD sent in their receipts...but somehow they had been lost on the other end.

Buyer beware... just follow through will all of the requests and then you can get service.... Home Depot will handle it many times in the store if the paperwork has been taken care of.

[JamesCH95]

Originally Posted by Bob Steele

If you jump through all of the hoops with Rigid you have a chance of getting a replacement battery. You have to submit your registration and include the original receipt and then MAKE SURE that they received everything. I know of 2 individuals who thought they were ok and did everything only to find out that later when they requested service that the company told them they had received the registration but not the receipt so the warranty was void.
Apparently it is your responsibility as a Rigid owner to make sure that they have received all of the paperwork and not theirs to email or write you back if you haven't. In both cases, the individuals HAD sent in their receipts...but somehow they had been lost on the other end.

Buyer beware... just follow through will all of the requests and then you can get service.... Home Depot will handle it many times in the store if the paperwork has been taken care of.

I had no trouble registering my Rigid tools. Sent in the form, receipt, and UPC; I then got a confirmation email a week or so later. No fuss whatsoever. Rigid does note that you should get such a confirmation email when everything is in, so ignoring the lack of such a confirmation is a bad plan!

[Bob Steele]

That is good to hear. That was not the case for these individuals. The confirmation was not available when they bought their units.

Glad to hear it works for you.

good luck!

[ToddF]

Originally Posted by Bob Steele

You have to submit your registration and include the original receipt and then MAKE SURE that they received everything.

About two years ago Ridgid moved to a purely online registration process. It is no longer necessary to send in paperwork. You just enter the serial numbers of the tools and the barcode on your receipt.

Originally Posted by Monochron

Could you explain how to identify the "good powerful drills that hold a charge for a reasonable amount of time" from a given manufacturers lesser options?

If you really want to get into the weeds, you can probably track down a woodworking magazine with an exhaustive comparison review article comparing the performance of all the major brands. Yes, there are tiny differences in performance and weight between the various models. But, for a typical robotics team, it doesn't matter that one drill will drive 575 screws on a charge, and another one does 525.

Construction professionals will hotly debate between the top brands (Milwaukee, Makita, Dewalt, Bosch, Porter Cable). The next tier down is Hitachi, Ridgid, Ryobi, Craftsman. Black and Decker and Skil are the bottom of the barrel. Like any other consumer product, most people will be happy, and a few will end up with lemons. Personally, I've just decided to go with Ridgid because they stand behind their products with a lifetime warranty. I figure I'll go with the company that puts their money where their mouth is. If any of the others decides to do likewise, I'll consider their stuff, too. I just got tired of throwing perfectly good drills in the dumpster because their expensive batteries died.

We bought two of these sets yesterday. Registered them this morning.

[MrBasse]

Originally Posted by ToddF

...Construction professionals will hotly debate between the top brands (Milwaukee, Makita, Dewalt, Bosch, Porter Cable). The next tier down is Hitachi, Ridgid, Ryobi, Craftsman. Black and Decker and Skil are the bottom of the barrel. Like any other consumer product, most people will be happy, and a few will end up with lemons...

Do you really put Hitachi and Rigid on the same level as Ryobi? If so, why don't you buy Ryobi's? They used to cost a quarter of the others you listed, but for what used to be very good reasons. I haven't tried them since they switched to being neon green and upped their prices. They do look a lot fancier than their old dark blue counterparts, but are they really on the same level as Hitachi?

[Monochron]

Originally Posted by ToddF

If you really want to get into the weeds, you can probably track down a woodworking magazine with an exhaustive comparison review article comparing the performance of all the major brands. Yes, there are tiny differences in performance and weight between the various models. But, for a typical robotics team, it doesn't matter that one drill will drive 575 screws on a charge, and another one does 525.

I'm asking mainly because we have three drills right now; two do almost everything we need, and one is close to worthless. It simply stalls when given difficult tasks where the other two won't given they have enough battery.
I want to know if there are indicators that I can use to avoid getting another worthless one. If all I need to look at is brand, then that's good to know. I was going under the impression that a 12V Black and Decker would be a better investment than a 7.2V DeWalt, but it looks like everyone has just recommended that I look at brand over specs. I'm also assuming that Amperage is the most reliable factor when looking at corded drills, but if I should ignore that and focus on brand instead that makes things easier. A 4Amp Makita is a lot cheaper than a 10Amp Skil.

[MrBasse]

Originally Posted by Monochron

I'm asking mainly because we have three drills right now; two do almost everything we need, and one is close to worthless. It simply stalls when given difficult tasks where the other two won't given they have enough battery.
I want to know if there are indicators that I can use to avoid getting another worthless one. If all I need to look at is brand, then that's good to know. I was going under the impression that a 12V Black and Decker would be a better investment than a 7.2V DeWalt, but it looks like everyone has just recommended that I look at brand over specs. I'm also assuming that Amperage is the most reliable factor when looking at corded drills, but if I should ignore that and focus on brand instead that makes things easier. A 4Amp Makita is a lot cheaper than a 10Amp Skil.

I would look at performance over brand if I was you. But brand does have a lot to do with construction. Dewalts have really nice and strong clutches and great batteries, but they have a price tag to match. Our Milwaukee's were still pricey, less than dewalts, but they have done everything we have asked and more. Plus the batteries can be found online for less than $50. I had hitachi's at home for a long time because they seemed like they could do anything. But the clutch gave out on both of my drills and now I have paperweights. Granted, they did last for five years of heavy use. I also had a black and decker that I got as a gift, I would almost pay someone to take it out of my garage. In my experience, Craftsman stuff works great but for some reason is really bulky and heavy.

Go to the store and put your hands on them, how they feel is a great indicator of quality.

[RonnieS]

I might catch some for saying this but we use Dewalt and Ryobi. That said, I find myself picking up our Ryobi stuff more often. They are the 18v lithium-ion with the larger batteries. I find the battery life to be very good and have not found a single job at the shop it couldn't do; can't beat the price either. Some people will probably say the quality is low but we have had great luck with them so I can not hate on them. That being said, I own Dewalt and Makita at home and love them to, just way more money invested. I really find myself using the hand drills/drivers less and less. We have a couple nice drill presses, and using rivets, we do not need a driver as much. I would strongly recommend getting one of the nice 12V sets and then investing in a very nice vise for your drill press. If you can use the drill press, use it over the drill.
-Ronnie

[scca229]

Originally Posted by Ronnie314

I might catch some for saying this but we use Dewalt and Ryobi. That said, I find myself picking up our Ryobi stuff more often. They are the 18v lithium-ion with the larger batteries. I find the battery life to be very good and have not found a single job at the shop it couldn't do; can't beat the price either. Some people will probably say the quality is low but we have had great luck with them so I can not hate on them. That being said, I own Dewalt and Makita at home and love them to, just way more money invested. I really find myself using the hand drills/drivers less and less. We have a couple nice drill presses, and using rivets, we do not need a driver as much. I would strongly recommend getting one of the nice 12V sets and then investing in a very nice vise for your drill press. If you can use the drill press, use it over the drill.
-Ronnie

My current Ryobi stuff has lasted longer than my previous DeWalt stuff ever did. The 18V One+ Lithium batteries are great in the two sizes (light or heavy based on what the tool is and the draw during use) and seem to last forever in between charges. It is so nice not having to leave the batteries on a charger all the time. My personal experience so your mileage may vary.

[SJaladi]

We have a few of these DeWalt Cordless Drills which we got just before the 2014 build season and they've lasted us all season through heavy use and abuse without failing. As others have said this is just our experience and your milage may vary.

[Monochron]

Originally Posted by MrBasse

I would look at performance over brand if I was you.

Yeah, I just don't know what indicates good performance vs. bad performance. I have been thinking that 18V is going to be significantly superior to 12V, but a lot of people have recommended the latter here. I was also hoping to use stats like stall torque or horsepower to make a decision on, but those are only listed on certain drills from certain manufacturers.

I guess I could always get the same DeWalt that we have now and an extra battery. That way we can always have a battery charging.

[protoserge]

Originally Posted by Monochron

I guess I could always get the same DeWalt that we have now and an extra battery. That way we can always have a battery charging.

That's a good plan. If your present drills still work, having more of the same tool and battery will work well.

My personal advice would be to dull the cutting edge of your drill bits as well. It will make them safer since they will not grab thin material.