RE: Re: Cordless drills

["White, Peter" <peter.white@xxxxxxx>]

Thanks.  I have one rule when it comes to buying stuff (before SWMBO chips
in, anyhow!), buy the best, and buy it cheap, from a good supplier.
However, I'm still struggling with the premium for a DeWalt.  I had a
Wagner
drill a few years back (from QVC!), when 14v was the bees-knees, and that
was really good. The battery ultimately died, which was a shame, as it have
a reserve indicator - very few seem to have those these days.

I don't really need a hammer option on the cordless (but will be using it
as
a screwdriver), so I'm tending towards a Hitachi drill that I've seen on
special on a web site somewhere.  I might still try the Ebauer from
Screwfix
as I'm putting an order in, but I still have my doubts, the batteries look
to be the same as the Ferm ones, and if that's the case, they're not good.

Pete

-----Original Message-----
From: bensbarn2001 [mailto:ben_wilkinson@xxxxxxx]
Sent: 23 June 2003 13:06
To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
Subject: [ukha_d] Re: Cordless drills


I've used a lot of Cordless drills in my conversion and I don't
particularly rate DeWalt.  They're the best marketing of the lot, but
quality, which used to be superb when they were Elu, has gone way
down.  If you use one of their 'hammer' drills for hammering (which
you shouldn't), it won't last at all.  I haven't tried it, but
suspect it's probably better to by 5-10 of the cheap ones instead of
brands like DeWalt.  Other brands like Makita and Hitachi are as good
and can be cheaper than DW, although you can get occasional excellent
prices on DW.  Whatever you do, don't pay anything like full price
for a DW.  Try Westward Building Services (01752-330-303).  They
often have sales of cheap drills.  Sometimes refurb, but there's not
much difference.

If you really want a good one, go for Festo, but they cost even more
and the ratio of cheap ones you can buy instead goes up.  Things to
watch on all the drills is the start up speed.  Often this seems to
be the first thing to go, but if you're using as a screwdriver, you
need very very good control at low speeds.  That often sorts out good
>from

Ben

--- In ukha_d@xxxxxxx, "White, Peter" <peter.white@b...>
wrote:
> Thanks, useful to know.  Anybody know a cheap source for quality
drills,
> other than Screwfix and eBay?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Steve Morgan [mailto:steve@xxxxxxx...]
> Sent: 22 June 2003 19:05
> To: ukha_d@xxxxxxx
> Subject: RE: [ukha_d] Cordless drills
>
>
> Here's another 2p worth...
>
> The DeWalt cordless drills are indeed expensive. However, so are
the rest of
> the good ones, the (professional) Bosch's, Panasonics, etc. Bosch
have two
> ranges, the green consumer stuff and the blue professional stuff.
IMHO, the
> green stuff is no beter than B&D these days. The blue stuff is
very
good,
> well worthy of consideration. Given the relative prices of the
professional
> stuff, I'd be inclined to go for the DeWalt.
>
> Go to a specialist, not a DIY shed, and buy a drill you can be
proud of.
> Here's a thing about DeWalt stuff - I have one of their big
routers, a
> DW625EK. I've stopped looking at routers now - there's nothing more
I aspire
> to. That doesn't happen very often.
>
> Steve
>