Can anyone recommend a decent combi drill.

[MrDavidRoberts]

I would avoid the low-end dewalts, actually I would avoid any dewalt... really for combi drills it's Makita or nothing. Bosch has slipped really bad quality wise as well-however for the price they are still good as you can pick up sets really cheap.

You haven't mentioned your budget?

I was looking for around the £250 mark

The dhp484 you have ''just noticed'' has been around for already some time and it's a total failure of a drill, it's heavy, its made to look tough but the specs on it are just pathetic and it's not that cheap either.

That's a problem. If you can't go by looks or price, how are you supposed to tell the quality drills from the rubbish ones?

I discounted the DHP481 as being a bit too heavy but may have to reconsider


-Neil

Someone I believe on here said the DHP 481 was too heavy when I was asking about it, so needed to see for myself and went to Anglia tools and when I picked it up it feels no heavier then the any other drills I've been using through the yrs.
It came with a really nice impact driver to which is around 175nm of torque and that's really nice too.. The set together including macpac was £419.00

It just really depends who you are and for what you need it, the dhp481/458 IS heavy and a bit cumbersome at times, however at least I like to hold a tool that oozes quality and can do Loads of stuff and won't let me down.

If you are just a cabinet maker and don't need your drill to be a mixer as well, you are much better getting the new 10.8v makita stuff
for about 120pounds you get a drill + Impact driver+ 2 batteries/charger/case and the drill is 30nm powerful as well.. So more or less the same power as the low-end makita 18v ones.
Great quality, suuuper compact size, and again- It has awesome size and they are capable to do 99% of your daily tasks.

http://www.powertoolworld.co.uk/makita- ... act-driver

 

[DiscoStu]

I recently bought the Dewalt Brushless and have found it to be excellent. I've got a mate who is a pro and uses Makita and he gave it ago and was really impressed with the power of it especially for the weight. It was £150 inc 2 x 2amp Bluetooth batteries. I also bout an impact at the same time and that's been excellent as well.


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[Droogs]

What I'm about to say goes against everyone before me. If its just for fairly light duty stuff why not consider getting a combi kit from screwfix's own brand range Erbauer. they are well priced and Ive been using the combi/impact driver for about 7 months and can't fault them for general woodwork shop use. They also have other tools in the range and they use the same battery. Far cheaper than Dewal/Makita etc. I'm infering that it's not for site use etc

 

[Mark A]

It may be worth looking at Cash Converters and Cash Generators for a good used drill. I haven't bought from them myself, but I do occasionally check the websites when I need a tool.

Personally, I bought a Makita set back in August consisting of the DHP481 combi drill and DTD129 impact driver and they've been faultless. I've since bought the 18V SDS and angle drill which run off the same batteries and they too are excellent.

If the high end drills are over your budget new, you may get lucky in the second hand market.

 

[Quickben]

At home I have the Makita 451 3 speed. It's a heavy brute but very reliable and strong. With a 5Ah battery it lasts for a good while under heavy use. It's not available now though, which is a shame.

At work, I use two 458's and a 480. I'm less impressed with the brushless one than the older models to be honest. It is quieter and lighter but has less torque. Still very rugged, though, and the battery lasts forever.

Bare in mind that I work offshore, so the drills see very heavy use, in a marine environment and they cope very well. Another department has Bosch drills and they don't fair as well as the Makitas.

If you're after a well made, light drill that doesn't necessarily need a huge torque rating I'd go for one of the lower-end brushless models. Maybe the 483.

Gary

 

[MrDavidRoberts]

It may be worth looking at Cash Converters and Cash Generators for a good used drill. I haven't bought from them myself, but I do occasionally check the websites when I need a tool.

Personally, I bought a Makita set back in August consisting of the DHP481 combi drill and DTD129 impact driver and they've been faultless. I've since bought the 18V SDS and angle drill which run off the same batteries and they too are excellent.

If the high end drills are over your budget new, you may get lucky in the second hand market.

Or not... at those sort of places you can expect to get total Junk that has been used&abused.
needless to say it's not always cheaper to buy Used tools, specially corded good brand tools.

I sold all my Used ( used&abused) power tools last year around the Blackfriday, and bought all new models by just doing a research and waiting for the right prices to come up and using some cashback sites&coupons.
Result: I sold all my old tools for roughly 1300 and replaced every tool with a New tool from shop with 2-3years of warranty for about 1400 ( YES, not a typo ) , Every tool I bought was the latest top of the range model and a huge improvement over my old tools as well..

Used tool prices ( good brand) are just stupid if you can clean up your tools and make good pictures of them and wait around for good prices to come up for New tools. It takes an effort tho..

 

[AJB Temple]

If you wish to buy into a "system" I would go Makita.
Personally I bought Milwaukee Fuel drill and separate impact driver, with two 5Ah batteries and have used it for heavy duty work in my timber framing projects. They haev been excellent. Tough, accurate, robust, plenty of power, fast charge.
I have a number of Makita tools as well and find them very good.
Most premium brands will serve you well.
I have no issue with the Bosch blue professional range, but would not touch the green DIY stuff.
I think DeWalt have lost the plot a bit - they seem to be making tools that look tough but in fact are not that special. They always feel a bit bulky to me as well.
Hitachi are making some very good value, tough tools.