Im looking to buy but dont know what ones to choose

[newbie8881]

Ive been looking to buy a 110v sds hammer drill/kango and a good drill. Been looking at mikita and dewalt on amazon but dont know what models to choose because theres to many all in and around same price range. Can anyone tell me whats best for me. Im a handyman builder and do most jobs and looking to spend around 200 on the sds and 150 or there abouts for the drill. Might be able to stretch it alittle bit.

[Someone-Else]

Can anyone tell me whats best for me.

Only you can do that.

Why not make a list of what features / options you want, then go through all the ones in your price range and see which fit your requirements.

Also consider number of batteries it comes with, charging time of batteries and capacity of batteries.

[Job and Knock]

Hi

As a regular trade SDS user I'll be a lot more positive on this one...... The trade brands, e.g. Bosch blue, Metabo, Makita, Hitachi, Milwaukee/AEG (they're really the same firm) and deWalt are the brands to look at - in part because you'll more than likely still be able to get spares 10 years down the line, and in (another) part because the bearings and brushes are normally designed for a life of hundreds to thousands of hours (as opposed to DIY tools which are rated in tens of hours). For general work you'd be better off looking at a "2kg class" machine (i.e. weighing 2 to 3kg) - they're powerful enough to drill up to about 25mm diameter in concrete, sometimes more, whilst being light enough to use at shoulder height or even above your head without causing pain and injury. Most of them these days are what we call 3-function machines, i.e. they can hammer drill (with SDS bits, into masonry and concrete), they can drill without hammering (useful for driving large diameter auger bits, e.g. for lock mortising) and they have a rotation stop/hammer only mode (used to drive chisel bits, as used for tile removing, light chasing, brickwork cleaning with scutch combs, etc). Very few trade machines are 2-functon only these days.

If you start with a budget in the £100 to £120 area you can get quite a variety of good tools, e.g. Bosch GBH2-26DRE (£113), Makita HR2300/1 (£97), Hitachi DHP26XL (£102), Metabo KHE2444 (£108), etc as examples of what I'm referring to. My own drill is a Bosch GBH2400 which has had three or so years of trade use with never a hiccup (it's a slightly older and slightly less powerful version of the GBH2-26 above) - its' predecessor, another blue Bosch died after more than 20 years use, so this one has a way to go. The only complaint I have is that for chiselling it could do with a bit more oomph, but as that's a minor requirement I'll live with it.

One other drill to consider if you are working in occupied premises, is the Bosch GBH2-23REA. Whilst considerably more expensive, at over £200, they do have a very effective built-in dust extraction unit. All the main manufacturers have add-on kits available for their SDS drills these days for use with a vacuum cleaner, the REA is one of the few drills out there with a clip-on module to do the job (it will unclip for use as a standard SDS drill). I've had one on hire for a job and the extraction was pretty good - I'm just not sure I'd want to spend the extra in it, especially as it lacks rotation stop (for chiselling). As a comparison you can generally pic-up the vacuum conversion kits from Bosch, Makita and DW for £60 to £100 and they work just as well, although you are dragging a vacuum and a hose round with you. They also appear to be swappable between brands as they use 43mm Euro collar mountings.

If, on the other hand, you want to push the boat out then start looking at tools like the Bosch GBH2-28DFV - for the extra £70 over a GBH2-26 you get a quick change 3-jaw chuck (£20/25 extra for a lower price machine), a bit more power on chiselling, a bit more power on drilling, and more rotation speed for wood drilling (although some of the Metabos are quicker again). They are nicer, but I'd question if they are that much better

Please note that the models I list above are really a starting point. You can spend a lot more if you really want, but any of those will do everything you ask of them. The end decision is down to you. For the record my own biases are against Hitachis (look too much like green trainers ) and DWs (known more than a few people who've had problems with them) and in favour of Bosch (proven reliability for me, and in any case they pretty much invented SDS), Makita (a favourite in many trade and hire fleets) and Metabo (another great German brand), but you may want a yellow one or a red one to go with your van/trousers/wife's handbag.......

[Job and Knock]

Ive been looking to buy a 110v sds hammer drill/kango and a good drill.

Also consider number of batteries it comes with, charging time of batteries and capacity of batteries.

110 volt tools generally don't use batteries, S-E........

[Someone-Else]

110 volt tools generally don't use batteries, S-E........

That is true, however he did say

Ive been looking to buy a 110v sds hammer drill/kango and a good drill.

I was assuming he meant the kango would be 110, and the drill, battery operated.

[Job and Knock]

And your advice was still just as useful

[Someone-Else]

And your advice was still just as useful

Thank you.
______________________________________________________________________

My point still stands, how do you (or any one else) know what is suitable for suitable for him?

Bearing in mind his question actually was

Can anyone tell me whats best for me.

It has to be his choice (which is what I pointed out in the first place) Even you said.

The end decision is down to you.

All you did was give him your valued opinions of what you use, but it is still down to him as to which he buys.

[Job and Knock]

My point still stands, how do you (or any one else) know what is suitable for suitable for him?

If you want to make yourself useful, stop splitting hairs and start giving advice based on sound practical experience rather than picking arguments with every tradesman on here who's trying to give other people the benefit of (often many years) real experience.. Oh, yes, I forgot. You don't have any......

[moderator6]

Guys can we try and help the OP somewhere along the line?

[Chris Skilbeck]

Thanks to Job and Knock for an informative overview (post 3 in this thread) - I'll be needing to get a new drill myself soon, (all my gear is old and chuck-key based) - I've saved all that info.

[newbie8881]

Thanks for the long reply and recommendations. I've leaned towards buying the makita hr2811f model in 110v for 200quid and the dewalt lithium-lon combi drill with 2 batteries for 163 quid on amazon. As for reasons why, they sounded good going by the reviews and videos.

[Someone-Else]

Thanks for the long reply and recommendations. I've leaned towards buying the makita hr2811f model in 110v for 200quid and the dewalt lithium-lon combi drill with 2 batteries for 163 quid on amazon. As for reasons why, they sounded good going by the reviews and videos.