which report on power drills
Posted: Tue Apr 03, 2007 7:29 am
Which? report : Cordless drills | 01 April 2007Best Buys
Take the hard work out of DIY with one of our six Best Buys. Amazingly, one of our Best Buys costs a mere £26!
Navigate this report
Overview
Best Buys
Features explained
Compare products
FAQs
Batteries
How we test
It's easy to make a mediocre product look good by tarting it up with fancy extras like pop-up lights or spirit levels to impress the unwary.
The Best Buy drills have none of these bells and whistles but instead score highly because they concentrate on excellent drilling and screwdriving.
None of them is cheap but - with the exception of the Wickes model - they all aced our endurance tests, so we reckon they'll give you at least ten years' trouble free use.
Best Buys Ryobi CDI-1803
Price: £80
Score: 83%
The 18V Ryobi is a classy cordless drill with lots of good features.
It has three gears and a top speed of 2,200rpm, which gives it extra oomph to tackle hard surfaces. It's also the best choice for hammer drilling in tough materials such as concrete.
Makita 8444 DWDE3
Price: £282
Score: 82%
This 18 volt Makita drill impresses across the board. Its hammer setting and excellent battery life mean it’s a great choice for tough jobs like drilling exterior walls.
This drill stands out from the crowd in having three gears. This lets it deliver an impressive top-speed of 1,700 revs per minute – higher speed makes it easier to drill hard surfaces – plus two slower gears which give the necessary control for precision screwdriving.
Metabo BSZ 14.4 Impuls
Price: £200
Score: 81%
The Best Buy Metabo BSZ 14.4V Impuls gives first-rate screwdriving results and excels in most drilling tasks – its only flaw is when drilling metal, but it’s top-notch otherwise.
This Best Buy Metabo drill combines impressive technical capability with thoughtful design. It’s easy to use – you can swap drill bits quickly and easily, for example – and it’s well-balanced and not too heavy.
Metabo BSZ 18 Impuls
Price: £220
Score: 80%
From the same family as the other Metabo Best Buy, this drill has a bigger battery. While this adds a little to its weight, the drill is comfortable and well-balanced.
With this version, drilling is excellent across the board – it copes far better with metal surfaces than the other Metabo – and is great at screwdriving too. Plus, our testers rated this as one of the easiest drills to use overall: switches and buttons are easy to control, changing drill bits is simple and the recharging unit is efficient and easy to understand.
Worx WX14DD
Price: £45
Score: 71%
Choose this cheerful orange Worx Best Buy drill and you’ll have few complaints – and a happy wallet.
It drills beautifully in stone and wood but like the Metabo 14.4V it struggles a little in metal. It is a great screwdriver, too.
Wickes SKU 167213
Price: £40
Score: 56%
This Wickes 18V drill is the king of the DIY-shed own-brands and at just £26 is stupendously good value. Its hammer drilling is on a par with the dearest we tested and there’s little to fault with its normal drilling – in stone, metal and wood – either.
Two gears means it’s able to switch to a lower speed when screwdriving and its battery life is better than average, too. Encouragingly, while the usual trade-off when you buy a cheap drill is a frustratingly early demise, this drill lasted reasonably well in our demanding endurance tests.
Don't BuysWe found four models that will turn your DIY session into a nightmare. Most are cheap but in these cases you get what you pay for.
The Spear & Jackson SJ-CD18KUK, £43, fails as its speed is too low and it lacks turning power.
Battery life is poor, too; it drilled just 39 small holes before conking out. And, once it's done, it takes up to five hours to recharge (the average is an hour or so).
Worse, it stopped working about a third of the way through our endurance tests so the chances are you'd be throwing it in the bin before too long in any case.
The Wickes Pro SKU 167237, £120, proved very disappointing. It gained excellent results for drilling, proving particularly impressive in stone, and was good at screwdriving, too. But, the main problem is that the drill came a cropper in our endurance tests. Therefore, we don’t recommend you buy this drill.
We also found problems with the Black & Decker CP 142KB, £67. Frustratingly, it’s really good at drilling and screwdriving but we discovered some serious flaws with its battery. The capacity is low, so it won’t last long. And, while most modern drill batteries can be recharged in about an hour, it takes several hours to recharge this one, which could pose problems if you have lots of work to do. This might be why Black & Decker provide a spare. The other big problem with this drill is that it broke down early in our endurance tests. This isn’t a good purchase if you want a drill you can rely on for several years’ work.
We also think you should steer clear of the Argos and Homebase own-brand Challenge CDT P19180 cordless hammer drill. Its hammer drilling is very poor – it’s among the worst we’ve tested. Its normal drilling isn’t great either. The drill gained an acceptable result drilling in stone, but was hopeless on metal and poor on wood mainly because, with just one gear, the drill can’t generate enough speed. There’s no compensation when you come to screwdriving. The results for metal were very poor and not much better in wood, which is the substance where most drills can manage a decent result.
Battery life is poor and no spare is provided. This is particularly annoying given that the battery recharge time is five hours.
Take the hard work out of DIY with one of our six Best Buys. Amazingly, one of our Best Buys costs a mere £26!
Navigate this report
Overview
Best Buys
Features explained
Compare products
FAQs
Batteries
How we test
It's easy to make a mediocre product look good by tarting it up with fancy extras like pop-up lights or spirit levels to impress the unwary.
The Best Buy drills have none of these bells and whistles but instead score highly because they concentrate on excellent drilling and screwdriving.
None of them is cheap but - with the exception of the Wickes model - they all aced our endurance tests, so we reckon they'll give you at least ten years' trouble free use.
Best Buys Ryobi CDI-1803
Price: £80
Score: 83%
The 18V Ryobi is a classy cordless drill with lots of good features.
It has three gears and a top speed of 2,200rpm, which gives it extra oomph to tackle hard surfaces. It's also the best choice for hammer drilling in tough materials such as concrete.
Makita 8444 DWDE3
Price: £282
Score: 82%
This 18 volt Makita drill impresses across the board. Its hammer setting and excellent battery life mean it’s a great choice for tough jobs like drilling exterior walls.
This drill stands out from the crowd in having three gears. This lets it deliver an impressive top-speed of 1,700 revs per minute – higher speed makes it easier to drill hard surfaces – plus two slower gears which give the necessary control for precision screwdriving.
Metabo BSZ 14.4 Impuls
Price: £200
Score: 81%
The Best Buy Metabo BSZ 14.4V Impuls gives first-rate screwdriving results and excels in most drilling tasks – its only flaw is when drilling metal, but it’s top-notch otherwise.
This Best Buy Metabo drill combines impressive technical capability with thoughtful design. It’s easy to use – you can swap drill bits quickly and easily, for example – and it’s well-balanced and not too heavy.
Metabo BSZ 18 Impuls
Price: £220
Score: 80%
From the same family as the other Metabo Best Buy, this drill has a bigger battery. While this adds a little to its weight, the drill is comfortable and well-balanced.
With this version, drilling is excellent across the board – it copes far better with metal surfaces than the other Metabo – and is great at screwdriving too. Plus, our testers rated this as one of the easiest drills to use overall: switches and buttons are easy to control, changing drill bits is simple and the recharging unit is efficient and easy to understand.
Worx WX14DD
Price: £45
Score: 71%
Choose this cheerful orange Worx Best Buy drill and you’ll have few complaints – and a happy wallet.
It drills beautifully in stone and wood but like the Metabo 14.4V it struggles a little in metal. It is a great screwdriver, too.
Wickes SKU 167213
Price: £40
Score: 56%
This Wickes 18V drill is the king of the DIY-shed own-brands and at just £26 is stupendously good value. Its hammer drilling is on a par with the dearest we tested and there’s little to fault with its normal drilling – in stone, metal and wood – either.
Two gears means it’s able to switch to a lower speed when screwdriving and its battery life is better than average, too. Encouragingly, while the usual trade-off when you buy a cheap drill is a frustratingly early demise, this drill lasted reasonably well in our demanding endurance tests.
Don't BuysWe found four models that will turn your DIY session into a nightmare. Most are cheap but in these cases you get what you pay for.
The Spear & Jackson SJ-CD18KUK, £43, fails as its speed is too low and it lacks turning power.
Battery life is poor, too; it drilled just 39 small holes before conking out. And, once it's done, it takes up to five hours to recharge (the average is an hour or so).
Worse, it stopped working about a third of the way through our endurance tests so the chances are you'd be throwing it in the bin before too long in any case.
The Wickes Pro SKU 167237, £120, proved very disappointing. It gained excellent results for drilling, proving particularly impressive in stone, and was good at screwdriving, too. But, the main problem is that the drill came a cropper in our endurance tests. Therefore, we don’t recommend you buy this drill.
We also found problems with the Black & Decker CP 142KB, £67. Frustratingly, it’s really good at drilling and screwdriving but we discovered some serious flaws with its battery. The capacity is low, so it won’t last long. And, while most modern drill batteries can be recharged in about an hour, it takes several hours to recharge this one, which could pose problems if you have lots of work to do. This might be why Black & Decker provide a spare. The other big problem with this drill is that it broke down early in our endurance tests. This isn’t a good purchase if you want a drill you can rely on for several years’ work.
We also think you should steer clear of the Argos and Homebase own-brand Challenge CDT P19180 cordless hammer drill. Its hammer drilling is very poor – it’s among the worst we’ve tested. Its normal drilling isn’t great either. The drill gained an acceptable result drilling in stone, but was hopeless on metal and poor on wood mainly because, with just one gear, the drill can’t generate enough speed. There’s no compensation when you come to screwdriving. The results for metal were very poor and not much better in wood, which is the substance where most drills can manage a decent result.
Battery life is poor and no spare is provided. This is particularly annoying given that the battery recharge time is five hours.
