Get this excellent cordless drill at a steep discount

[frauenfelder]

Originally published at: Get this excellent cordless drill at a steep discount | Boing Boing

…

[LagerVsAle]

Wow! Running for months on a single charge is amaze-balls for a drill. Why hasn’t Tacklife taken over the entire construction industry.

[Noddy93]

I do appreciate that Mark still allows comments on the crap he’s shilling.

I like the things I’ve purchased from Tacklife but this drill will never be one of them… between my Hitachi and Ryobi I’m covered.

[lava]

If you are going to use a drill for one or two holes ten times a year, then this drill may be fine. But if you are going to be doing a project that involves much drilling, or you are getting your first fixer upper home or car, then don’t get a crappy drill like this. A good or even just decent drill makes work pleasure. But if you don’t give a shit about tools then get a crappy drill, by all means.

Good: Makita, Dewalt, Milwaukee, Hilti, Bosch, Metabo, Metabo HPT(was Hitachi), Fein, Festool, mebbe Rigid.

Decent: Ryobi (Home Depot), Kobalt (Lowes), Hart (Walmart), Skil, Craftsman, Porter Cable, green Bosch (in EU)

Crappy: Tacklife, Wen, Black and Decker, any Harbor Freight brand, Worx, Rockwell, Parkside, any other crappy make believe chinese brand copy you see on Amazon or eBay…

Building a deck, or a shed, or doing construction - 18v (or 20v same thing)
Cabinets, furniture, things in the house - 12v is enough, smaller lighter

[doozer]

I’m a milwaukee guy myself but the ryobi ecosystem is quite expansive and has a low price for entry.

[bryan]

I used to be a DeWalt fanboy, but currently I’ve got a bunch of Ryobi 18V tool and 40V lawn stuff. I was impressed initially, but the drill seems to be on its way out at at year three, the year old mower needs major chiropractic after dropping a bolt last week, and the 40V batteries seem to have lost a lot of their chemistry between winter and summer.

Pretty sure my ex-wife has my old DeWalt drill… I should find out, because it might just outlive its replacement.

[ficuswhisperer]

I have a 12V DeWalt that I bought some 12 years ago, and it’s proven to be great. It wasn’t cheap (but wasn’t the most expensive by a long shot). I wanted a good cordless drill for home improvement work from when I was moving into my condo and it’s what the professional construction people were using so I figured that was a good enough endorsement.

Its not as powerful as the 18V models, but it’s proven to be more than capable to handle anything I’ve ever thrown at it. I’ve bored 1” thick holes into framing with an auger bit to run network cables, screwed in 1/4” thick lag bolts into studs for mounting a flatscreen TV, along with the more typical holes for mollies, screws into studs, etc. My only real gripe is that the original NiCad battery packs were pretty shit. One died completely and the other won’t hold a charge for long so I only use it as an emergency backup. The newer lithium ones have stood the test of time but they were mind blowingly expensive so I only ever bought one and they aren’t made anymore so when this pack goes I’ll probably just replace the drill with a new one.

It’s definitely worth it to pay more for a good power drill, even if you’re only using it occasionally. Just make sure the batteries are well taken care of.

[lava]

I wouldn’t get anything but a LIon battery at this point. Nicads and NiMH all go dead when the drill is not being used - so they are really only good if you use the drill every day and charge it every night. But the Lion can sit for months and not loose charge, and the new decent drills have excellent power management that keeps them useful till the batteries signal its time to recharge. Lion has completely changed cordless tools and really made them able to replace corded tools.

[Skeptic]

I have to agree 100%.

I recently gave a way a rather nice Makita in perfect shape rather than pay $25 to replace the NiCad batteries because NiCads have less energy density, a high rate of self-discharge, and they can die completely from developing “whiskers” that grow and short out the battery.

Frequently, getting a cheaper version for occasional use is fine, but the opposite is true of NicCad versions. If you use it occasionally then you really don’t want NiCads - you want a tool that will be charged when you need it, and enough energy from the included batteries rather than needing to load up on extra batteries even though you aren’t a contractor who can justify owning so many batteries.

[Slide]

@frauenfelder

I appreciate being able to control the speed with the trigger.

This is pretty much universal these days.

[d_r]

@lava

Good: Makita

Though as per my posts in a previous thread on on drills, even good drills can have trouble with misalignment:

Makita vs Fakita: $140 driver vs $30 counterfeit

I think it is more with the linkage to the chuck (or maybe the chuck itself) than with the bearings, and it doesn’t take a very significant degree of misalignment to have a big impact on the drill accuracy. If these parts of the drill are wobbling it probably won’t put that much wear and tear on the motor itself (and if it does, in a cheap drill, any failure will probably be attributed to the cheapness of the drill rather than the wobble). Here’s an example in a non-budget drill: [DeWa…

[fnordius]

You know, this is actually a good reason to keep the comments for posts like this. Maybe the Ur-BoingBoinger didn’t post the best tool, maybe it isn’t even a good tool, but you other happy mutants take the ball and run with it, suggesting better choices.

And that’s the whole point of being a happy mutant.

[lava]

An oft quoted approach to tools for non-pro needs is buy the cheap version, if you use it enough to break it then upgrade to a better tool.

[Slide]

This is a also a good example of how @frauenfelder posts are getting the brunt of the “Here are better options” energy that is pent up with store posts now commentless.

[Noddy93]

I love my 40v Ryobi yard stuffs. But the batteries do give out a tad sooner than more expensive brands… but Ryobi has increased the warranty. Still, I buy larger off-brand batteries on Smile.Amazaon and they’ve always worked great.

The 18v Ryobi One+ system is so vast that I’m stuck for life. I still have some old blue ryobi hand tools… but the recent brushless tools seem to be yards better 'cept for the handheld sawsall. It overheats too quickly and have considered buying a milwaukee even though it means a new charger on the wall. I got the first gen “large” mower ($400) and still use it… but am still pissed that it dropped $50 and got powered drive only a month after purchasing it. I considered getting the new beast twin blade walk behind but decided that I could pay a yard service for an entire season at the same price… so now all I have to do is maintain the hedges every few weeks. Win/Win