My Sears 18v nc battery drill finally died – both batteries. What are your thoughts for a new drill – – should it be 14 or 18 volt – – should it be a nickel cad battery or lithium. DeWalt drills are presently on sale in our town
Edited 12/5/2008 2:07 pm ET by sinsin
Replies
I think it depends on what you DO, not what is on sale.
Personally, I have at least 12 drills, drivers and such. I do everything, in almost every trade. Buy the tool for trade or task, and not whats on sale.
With that said, Lith Ion are light and powerful, for all day use.Not cheap.
It really depends..you can't ( or I can't) make a blanket statement, about what you would be best with, without some detail.
Trying to drill a stud with a 14.4 is easy, with an 18 is easy..they all will do that..but try cranking in a 12" lag bolt?
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
I'd sure like this bad boy
Milwaukee 2650-22 impact driver
List Price:
$553.94
http://www.toolup.com/milwaukee/2650-22.html
http://www.cliffordrenovations.com
http://www.ramdass.org
"I am Andybuildz and I approve this post"
Edited 12/5/2008 11:19 pm ET by andybuildz
Dale and I got a flat tire on the "war wagon" tool trailer at a job once..the PM came over and we borrowed a Lull to lift it to change the wheel. He then asked if we wanted an impact..well duh, yeah. Out came that Mil. Suweeet. it was like a nascar stop, well, cept they don't use Lulls .Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
They kill Prophets, for Profits.
Above 12 volts or so, voltage doesn't really make any difference. A lower-voltage, higher-amperage battery (and tool) can have just as much power as the other way around.
"Above 12 volts or so, voltage doesn't really make any difference. A lower-voltage, higher-amperage battery (and tool) can have just as much power as the other way around."Power = Volts x Amps. Work capability = Volts x Amp hours. In theory you're right that a 12V battery could deliver as much power as an 18V, but I've never seen a 12V tool battery with a higher amp hour rating than the same brand's 18V tool battery, so I think it is safe to say that 18V tools will do more work on a charge than their 12V brand mates.BruceT
Generally, 18V tool batteries will deliver more power than 14V batteries, but the key is amp hour ratings. Multiply amp hour rating by voltage to compare the amount of work a battery can deliver on a charge. Some brands offer lightweight 18V batteries at as low as 1.8 amp hour, IIRC, while some 14V batteries may be as high as 3 amp hour rated.
I think there are inherent efficiencies for motors at higher voltages. Note that the top of the line lithium tools run at 28V to 36V and their circ saws can run at higher rpm than 18V tools.
Like Sphere said, what do you want to do with it? I have 9.6 thru 24V stuff. Higher V is heavier (although the LiIon stuff makes it less of a problem). I would consider the inexpensive Ryobi stuff HD is hawking. They had some super deals. There have been some positive comments on the stuff. If I were using it daily or working a crew probably not though.
I have a truckload of DeWalt and have been happy, lately I have been buying Bosch, have their LiIon 10.8 stuff and 12v impact (fullsize) and bunch of the 18v (not LiIon) stuff. I am pretty pleased with it.
I have 14.4 DW impact and it seems to be very strong. Have the hammer drill also but did use a cousin's 18 similar version and it seemed to be considerably more potent. But I have two 24 volt hammer drills also.
sin
I have 5 of the 15.6 panasonic drills. The Dewalts don't hold a cnadle to the Panasonic.
I probably went thru about 3 deWalts.
18 V are too big for me.
Lithium have trouble in the cold.
Rich
Ditto what Sphere said: it's what you want to do...and how often you do it.
I've been using Craftsman cordless drills for about ten years, after owning several Makitas from the early days. I've been very pleased with their 14V and 18V drills; the quality, ease of use, power and the battery life. They are far better than the expensive early model Makitas.
The price makes them throw-aways. When the batteries finally die, $50-$60 buys a whole new drill, charger and two batteries (one battery for 18V).
When doing pocket screws with the Kreg jig, I use the 18V to drill the holes and the 14V to drive the screws. Nice combination. Lots of power and battery life.
Note: I don't mean to imply that Craftsman's entire line of power tools are up to par. From what I've seen, the cordless market is big enough that I suspect they decided to compete with quality and allow the economy of scale to keep them ahead of other manufacturers.