www.ultimatehandyman.co.uk

first of all, hi to everyone.
I have 2 14.4v dewalt drills, one is a hammer drill the other i use as a driver, ive had both for over 5years and use them daily on my job. The actual drills are great but ive always thought the batteries leave a bit to be desired, they originaly came with 2ah batteries and over the years when ive replaced batteries ive upgraded the ah ratings. A few months ago i bought 2 2.6ah batteries (the ones with a black body and the top is yellow. Both batteries make the drill and driver run slow, is this because the charger im using is the original one i got when they were new and is for charging 2ah batteries?the place i got the batteries from got intouch with dewalt and they want to test the batteries, this is a pain for me because ill be left with only 2 batteries while they decide if theres anything wrong. Im thinking of just buying something new but after looking at whats on offer my mind is boggling, are the makita drills better than dewalt?do the batteries last longer?what is the best value for my job?I only ever use the drill for masionary and its always a 7mm hole.
thanks

If you want your batteries to last you need to go for lithium ion most manufacturers are doing it now most claim to have a 2000charge life span but its more like 1300 but they are much better batteries and im sure they will get better as time goes on. As for your batteries sounds like you've got some duff ones there if the drill runs at full speed with the 2Ah NiCDs in it then the new 2.6Ah are just faulty and should be replaced by Dewalt if you let them test them and make sure

in my experiance dewalt cordless drills are not as good as makita and hitachi. ive got a 18v lith-ion hitachi combi cordless drill driver and its very good but it cost me £260 so you would expect it to be. you'r probally best off just getting the batteries tested and replaced first as it will be free.

I have about three Dewalt 18v batteries that are goosed and they are only about 3 years old. My Bosch drill is 8 years old and the batteries are still going strong!

I have the NiMh 18v hitachi, nice and solid, came with 3x 3.3ah batteries, for £230 last year.
Not had any problems with that. The NiMh batteries are heavier than their LiIon counterparts, but otherwise, theres not a lot in it.

thanks for the replies guys, ive more or less decided to wait for dewalt to replace the batteries,then sell them on ebay, and also sell both my drill driver and xrp hammer drill with the two remaining ok batteries i have, i should get a couple of hundred quid for that lot i would say. I'd like to go for a 18v combi drill that i can use for masionary drilling and as a driver, it has to have li ion batteries, anyone had any dealings with aeg power tools? they have a life time gaurantee on both the drill and batteries at the moment and a free 3rd battery(not from sf at the mo), this is the model im thinking of http://www.screwfix.com/prods/22074/Pow ... Li-Ion-18V

bad after sale service is my experience of them but that was about a year ago, had terrible trouble trying to get hold of them on the phone and it was only for some technical advise kept getting an answering machine if you can believe it!