recommendations please, cordless screw driver

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Hi all,

30 years ago my dad gave me his old Bosch (cabled drill/screwdriver.) I am gutted to say that it died today (probably out of warranty :mad:).
Apparently there are electric screwdriver/drills they do not have a power cable but use some space age battery thingy.

Could some one recommend a brand that is reliable and good value, it will be mainly used fixing a few 2"x 2"s together and the odd house project.

ATB
Mark
 

Broch

Life Member
Jan 18, 2009
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Mid Wales
www.mont-hmg.co.uk
My own drill/screwdriver is Makita. It uses 18v Lithium batteries. I have just bought a Makita electric chain saw that uses the same batteries and I'm eying up a Makita cordless plane as well.

The thing is, the batteries are expensive so choose a make that has a wide range of tools and stick to it once you've invested in the batteries. I am very pleased with my Makita gear.

Edit - just corrected the multiple misspellings of Makita :)
 
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demographic

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 15, 2005
4,691
710
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De-Walt or Makita would be my choices as both have a good range of other tools to go with the batteries.
Oh and 18 volts, that way you have a huge choice of other tools to go with them, 12 or 10.whatever have a much lesser range.

I have a belter of a Hitachi drill and also impact screwdriver but their range of other tools isn't so big.
 
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Dogoak

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Jan 24, 2009
2,285
286
Cairngorms
I'd check out Screwfix, they have some good deals. I did purchase a new 18v Dewalt drill driver with two batteries and case from them just over year ago for under £100, it has been worked and I have absolutely no complaints.
Sadly it was cheaper to buy that than replace the batteries on my Makita!
 

Damascus

Native
Dec 3, 2005
1,662
194
65
Norwich
You might consider Ryobi, the thing with those, the battery is the same for all the products, I have the drill/driver and the impact driver.. from a professional point of view if you are putting in a lot of screws, if the budget runs get both, the impact driver will save you time n effort.
 
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Code 4

Tenderfoot
Feb 25, 2020
86
50
65
Shrewsbury
Makita all the way. I bought two so I do not have to change from drills to screws. 18 v LXT is the way to go. Got my last one from Screwfix. but shop around.
 
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bigboned

Forager
Feb 17, 2016
208
40
Ireland
I use Dewalt 18v myself ( they also do a 54v/ flex volt and 40v) like has been said - brushless motors and li-ion batteries- be careful if you buy some package deals eg 1 battery with 5 tools in a case as the main driver is good but they often put older tech/ non brushless tools in the bunch so not as good a deal as it looks
 
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Robson Valley

Full Member
Nov 24, 2014
9,959
2,664
McBride, BC
I use a 2006 Makita with a fixed 4.8 VDC battery.
For the age and for what it is, I'm quite happy with even its faults.

220 rpm and reversing is not fast enough for jobs beyond inserting medium sized screws.
The magnetic socket does a really poor job of holding interchangeable bits.

However, it has a wee LED light in exactly the right place.
It is articulated on a ball-joint hinge = I can bend it in half to nearly 45 degrees. Easy on your wrist.

Again? What's been said above. Higher voltage and an outboard rechargeable battery
 
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Tony

White bear (Admin)
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Apr 16, 2003
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I'm Makita, have been using them for 30 odd years and they've been brill. If i started again though I'd go down the Festool route, serious dosh though :)
Buy decent sized batteries and then you can pick up body only tools as you need them....
 

Oliver G

Full Member
Sep 15, 2012
392
286
Ravenstone, Leicestershire
I've got one of these at home, it's cheap and cheerful but does the job. You'll often find it on sale which is handy, as with most power tools it does come with batteries you can put in other tools.


I also have the little IXO for smaller jobs, came into it's own when I moved house last year, made putting the furniture back together a swift task.
 
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Old Bones

Settler
Oct 14, 2009
745
72
East Anglia
My own drill/screwdriver is Makita. It uses 18v Lithium batteries. I have just bought a Makita electric chain saw that uses the same batteries and I'm eying up a Makita cordless plane as well.

The thing is, the batteries are expensive so choose a make that has a wide range of tools and stick to it once you've invested in the batteries. I am very pleased with my Makita gear.

Edit - just corrected the multiple misspellings of Makita :)

I bought my Makita drill from Screwfix a couple of years ago, and its been a good investment (not cheap but its lasted). There was a thread a while back, and a professional said the ones from Screwfix are fine (some places sell a DIY version of certain brands) Mine came with two batteries, which was cheaper than buying the second separately - as you say, its the batteries that cost. Would really like the impact driver to go with it (barebones), but if buying right now, this twin pack looks like good value.
 
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demographic

Bushcrafter (boy, I've got a lot to say!)
Apr 15, 2005
4,691
710
-------------
I'm Makita, have been using them for 30 odd years and they've been brill. If i started again though I'd go down the Festool route, serious dosh though :)
Buy decent sized batteries and then you can pick up body only tools as you need them....
I have two Festool saws, an M class extractor and various guiderails but doubt I'll buy any of their drills as I'm not convinced they offer significant improvements over Makita, De-Walts or Hitachi drills.
Especially when they cost knocking on twice as much.
The circular saws and especially the HKC saw however offers significant improvements over every make apart from Mafell which is even spendier than Festool.

Circular saws? Ace.
Drills? Hmm... good but not twice as good.
 
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