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Best entry level cheap cordless drill.

evernoob

evernoob

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Joined
May 21, 2020
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First duty: putting anchors into drywall. Then I have to put 9/16" all thread into deck 6x4 + 2x10s, say 8 of those in one sitting. Plus screw 3" deck screws, dozens of them. I also need to drill some mid-level concrete and brick masonry, I think 1/2" or 9/16" for those lead expando anchors, say 4" deep 20x in one sitting.

A stud finder would be a nice addition.

Is it too much to hope $20 would do all of that?
 
$20 will get you a corded drill at HF if you are lucky. Anything cordless is going to be $100 + with a battery and charger.

Borrow a drill?

Got any strong magnets laying around to use as a stud finder?
 
We have a local tool store called "Workshop Tools"

7 years ago I went there and bought a Powerstroke brand cordless drill with a charger and 2 batteries for $35

I use that fucker all the time, works perfect.

I even built a wood deck with it.

it might be the best $35 I have ever spent.

I bought a $20 corded drill from Harbor Freight, I made the smoke come out of it pretty much first time I used it.
 
If you are drilling more than 2 holes in masonry, especially ones that large, find a used corded hammer drill. Make sure it has an SDS chuck and not a regular drill chuck. I found a couple of bosch units with random bits for ~$50 on craigslist.

Ditto to every other reply in this thread as well get a homeowner drill / driver combo from yellow, red, or teal for $100-$200. They usually come with smaller batteries because you are not going to beat on them 8 hours a day.
 
Thank you for the replies.

Could I get this 20v Max Dewalt, and the charger would work if I bought a fancy Dewalt (scratch that) impact wrench worthy of a shop? 20V Max?

https://www.amazon.com/Dewalt-DCD771...dp/B00ET5VMTU/



Any any retailers better than Amazon?

I feel better about yellow than teal? I could get a yellow thing rescuing an abandoned car in Missouri easier than I could get a teal thing?

Red is too expensive for me.
 
I bought a closeout cordless drill from Walmart for $25 once upon a time. It was trash at even drilling holes in drywall. No RPM, weak battery life.

I've been abusing my DEWALT 20V MAX Cordless Drill (DCD777C2) for 3 years and it hasn't skipped a beat even after being dropped from ceiling height onto the garage floor a couple times recently. It doesn't complain about drilling metal or driving 3" construction screws.
 
evernoob said:
Thank you for the replies.

Could I get this 20v Max Dewalt, and the charger would work if I bought a fancy Dewalt (scratch that) impact wrench worthy of a shop? 20V Max?

https://www.amazon.com/Dewalt-DCD771...dp/B00ET5VMTU/



Any any retailers better than Amazon?

I feel better about yellow than teal? I could get a yellow thing rescuing an abandoned car in Missouri easier than I could get a teal thing?

Red is too expensive for me.
Click to expand...

I've been using what I believe is the same charger and battery for my 20V 3/8 Impact and it works. I did the same thing -- I bought the drill with 2 batteries and the bare impact driver. If you wanted to run the 1/2 impact you would probably want to get the bigger batteries that come with that.
 
This would do everything I need except a stud finder

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0838X9TQ7?tag=91812054244-20

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Pocahontas said:
First how the hell are you on this site and don't own a cordless drill? Better off buying red/yellow/teal/orange/green and then being able to buy a cordless tool if you need it for a job you are doing. I would recommend ryobi they are meh but they have a pretty big lineup and are cheap.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/RYOBI-1...kFrPd0ZDvrQGG383blRoCig0QAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds
Click to expand...

Their brushless stuff isnt bad. Its not a Milwaukee Fuel or a Dewalt XRP, but IMO its close to the Dewalt Atom.

Aaron Z
 
They aren't terrible, definitely one of the better home owner brands imo and its nice they they haven't chagened the battery architecture so all the old batteries still work. They just kind of feel cheap after using the 'pro' lines. For him or anyone that doesn't own a drill but needs one I think they are a great mix of price, availability and large ecosystem for your average homeowner.
 
The best cheap cordless drill I have always found is the $99 special of one of the big brands. Red, Yellow, Green, Blueish Green, Orange
 
evernoob said:
Thank you for the replies.

Could I get this 20v Max Dewalt, and the charger would work if I bought a fancy Dewalt (scratch that) impact wrench worthy of a shop? 20V Max?

https://www.amazon.com/Dewalt-DCD771...dp/B00ET5VMTU/



Any any retailers better than Amazon?

I feel better about yellow than teal? I could get a yellow thing rescuing an abandoned car in Missouri easier than I could get a teal thing?

Red is too expensive for me.
Click to expand...

I've had this same drill for 3 or 4 years. Metal roofed my whole house with it. And my motherinlaws house, plus all my shop stuff. You can't go wrong for a 100 bucks with it. If you really want to cheap out look at the hf blue drills cant remember the name. But usually the buy once cry once motto has worked well for me. 2 batteries and a drill and charger for 99.99 is a good deal.
 
Buy the red ones- buy once, cry once. Eventually you are going to want something else that they make even if you live in an apartment; especially a grease gun:flipoff2:! And save the headache buy buying any color of corded hammer drill with sds for the anchors- I'll drag my blue one out (Bosch) anytime I need to drill more than one hole in concrete no matter the hole size(1/8-1-1/4".)
 
I've got a bunch of the yellow 20V/60V stuff and am pretty pleased with it. If I were starting over again, though, I'd take a really long, hard look at red.

I picked up a number of good deals at Fasteners Inc: https://fastenersinc.net/pages/searc...?q=dewalt+sale

Also Acme Tools: https://www.acmetools.com/shop/tools/dewalt

Acme has other colors, but Fasteners seems to just have yellow.

By the way, it is worth getting the 60V/20V batteries even with the 20V tools. I notice a difference using a 60V battery on my 1/2" impact and my grinder in particular - not just longer life but more ooomph.

As Kyfried says, take some time to pick a color. Once you have a few tools and batteries, you're not going to want to be buying other batteries and chargers for other colors. And the tools tend to grow on you. I've only got into the cordless tools in the past two years. Most of what I do is in my workshop or around the house, so having to grab an extension cord wasn't a big deal. Also, it seemed like the batteries were never charged when I needed something, so I ended up using the corded tools anyway. The battery/charging setups have gotten a lot better and now with a number of tools, it is easier to grab a couple batteries and tools and do what I need to do.
 
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