Li Ion Drills

Time to replace my trusty 9.6v Dewalt cordless. Anybody have the new B&D VPX drill or any of the smaller Li Ion drills.

Anybody rebuild the nicad packs with NiMH or Li Ion for an old drill?

Comments, Reviews?

Bosch

I've owned the Bosch PS20-2 driver for a year now. It's the best driver I've ever owned (and I've owned/still own several, including Makita, Dewalt, Craftsman, etc.).
-It's a driver, not a drill per se (no chuck, just a quick release for driver bits), but Bosch sells a small accessory chuck if you need one.
-It's small enough to fit in a pocket/tool pouch.
-Pistol grip is comfortable enough to use all day.
-Much lighter than other drivers I own.
-Plenty of power; it spins at a relatively low speed with loads of torque.
-The batteries last a long time-I've driven over 100 3" deck screws on one battery charge with this little guy (also deburred every hole in the emp kit with two battery charges).
-Trigger 'teases' well enough for deburring. A light touch spins the Cleaveland deburring bit one turn.
-The batteries recharge quickly (<30 min).
-It has an LED light for the work
-More expensive than some other brands (about $115 with two batteries, charger and nylon case)...but I think this is definitely a case of getting value for your $$.

Bosch also makes a right angle model (PS10-2; about $123).

Mike

Makita

I just bought a Makita with two batteries...it is black and white with keyless chuck and charges in 15 minutes....the charger has a cooler fan on it and plays a tune when the battery is charged...I love it...expensive but worth it in my opinion
Jim

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000WHHGXU

i can personally vouch for this 14.4v li-ion drill. i love it, after having gone thru several others before it. the frustration of having to constantly recharge nicad batteries was a royal pain.

also, i like 14.4v size, which i think is a good all-arounder size for building wing jigs, putting up drywall, and to drilling out 3/32 rivets.

it's listed for $89 which is far less than the usual retail rate of $140, which is what i paid for the last one.

Jae

Bad Idea

Be careful about rebuilding battery packs with different batteries.

The charging needs of each battery are quite different, you can cause a fire if you try charging LiPo batteries on a charger made for NiCads.

Probably wont work well fro NiMh either, for the same reason.

If you are going to rebuild a battery pack, stick with the same chemistry battery.

Li ion batteries

I have the rigid lithium ion 18volt. It's great. Life time warrantee on the batteries. I upgraded from my old nicad cordless drill. I'm pretty happy with it, more power and lighter battery.

With the li ion batteries its just weird when the battery just dies suddenly. Unlike the nicad batteries which give more of a slowly dying indication.

Christopher.

loopfuzz said:

I have the rigid lithium ion 18volt. It's great. Life time warrantee on the batteries. I upgraded from my old nicad cordless drill. I'm pretty happy with it, more power and lighter battery.

With the li ion batteries its just weird when the battery just dies suddenly. Unlike the nicad batteries which give more of a slowly dying indication.

Christopher.

Click to expand...

The nice thing about the rigid batteries is that they have a meter on them so you know how much power they have left. Home Depot has the 18V Li ion drill on sale for either $89 or $99 right now.

A Very Nicely Made Drill

TSwezey said:

Home Depot has the 18V Li ion drill on sale for either $89 or $99 right now.

Click to expand...

Just bought one at the local Home depot for $99.00 after owning two Dewalt 18v hammer drills which I wore out. I was pleasantly surprised by the quality and the very small size of the batteries. The drill is as powerful if not more than the Dewalts and really seems to be made much better. Before you spend your hard earned money check out the Rigid Drill.

Mike - Good point on chemistry

If I were to change batt types, I'd use the Dewalt tri-mode charger, not my old one - I knew that, but did not mention it.

The Hitachi 14.4 Li Ion at amazon is a great deal - with 2 batteries. The HD Ridgid appears to only have 1 battery at a slightly higher price. In either case, the price of the drill, batts and charger is just slightly more than replacing the old drill's batteries. How goofy is that?