Hilti is tops. Best batteries and charging system. It'll out last everything else too.

Milwaukee, Bosch and Makita are all very close behind and hard to tell apart.

Dewalt, Craftsman, Ryobi are all fine for the homeowner. Ryobi is the most reasonable on replacement batteries and as noted above less up front investments.

Ridgid is somewhere between Dewalt and Milwaukee.

 

Thanks for all the replies. Armed with all this info, I will go looking once I get north of the border and see what is available.

I do not require a drill for everyday heavy duty, industrial use, but when I do use it, I use it hard, so a general purpose homeowner type of drill will not cut it for me.

 

It's too bad Milwaukee don't offer more attachments than what's available as I think they have the best battery system. For a straight out battery drill the brushless Milwaukee is hard to beat, if you need something more which I sometimes do I use a corded drill but that just winds the cord around myself when it catches . In short I don't think any of them has the "complete" system so I suggest you also look at whats available in tools to fit the battery you are thinking of buying

 

I've made a gradual switch to corded and cordless Dewalt over craftsman. Speaking of Craftsman, their hand tools are now imported junk with no lifetime warranty.

 

At work we torture our cordless drills pretty hard. I've found the Milwaukee stands up the best. The Dewalt XRP is pretty good too, and probably has a stronger chuck than the Milwaukee.

 

Hey Stan, will you be able to handle the conversions? We still use inches, feet, and miles up here. None of that metric crap.

 

I use imperial and metric measurements daily, so switching between the two is no problem for me.

Isn't metric the legal system for America? You should be using it. It is MUCH easier to use.

Surprised that nobody has made any mention of the Bosch cordless drills.

 

Metric? Phoooooo!

It may be easier for those raised on it, but I can't STAND it......

We will probably get drug into it, thankfully I am about at the end of my designing days, I refuse to use bloody Metric.........

 

Well after 5 years I smoked my M18 Milwaukee yesterday, had to go buy a new one as I use it every day. If you can shop around you can find the M18 Fuel, which is a brushless drill 2 battery's and charger, from $289 to $369 depending on which store, Fastenal was $309, found a smaller True Value store here in south eastern colorado where I'm working and they were $299 for the kit. Air Gas, Grainger, and Home Depot carry them as well.

 

We beat the he77 out of our dewalt and makita stuff. I would buy either in a second.

As for my personal stuff, my first cordless was one of those long handled makita's way back when they first came out, but my local tool supplier up here was a DeWalt distribute so I ended up with all dewalt stuff now, and still running my original 14v drill/driver on probably its 5th set of batteries

 

I have had/used Hilti, Dewalt, Milwalkee, Makita, Skill and now I have Rigid with the 18-volt lithium battery, the 1/2" Rigid Hammer Drill is the most powerful but it is also fairly heavy when you are on a ladder with it above your head, The drill has plenty of torque to use with electricians augers up to 1 1/2".

Hilti were the top of the line and the most expensive.

If I have to drill big holes I use the corded Milwalkee Hole Hawg (this is a very powerful and dangerous drill)

http://hiltidrill.com

The last one that I bought was the Rigid X-4 18-volt Cordless Hammer Drill/Driver and with the kind of work I do, it has served me well.

What do you intend to do with it, use it professionally, construction, finish?

Almost all finish carpenters I know all use either Makita or Dewalt products.

After you find the drill you want, you need to pick it up and see how they feel in your hand, some feel good and some are just too bulky feeling, I also prefer the T handle for better balance and not the traditional style handle.

Jim

 

Thanks Jim for your response.
Never used a T handle drill in a small drill, but will now take a look and try.

The drill I use will not be used daily, but at times could be, which is why I need two batteries. When I do use it, it will be for anything from finish work to heavy construction.

 

You are going to love the fuel....... It has even more oomph.

 

I like more oomph! I'm going to replace my impacts with the fuel model as well, just for the extra oomph.

 

Just be careful......