[Closed] Corded power tools - am I daft

When you impact driver is the little screwdriver or the big nut and bolt job.
If it's the screwdriver I've never busted a Makita or blue Bosch

As a 'keen' DIYer, I went cordless last year, haven't regretted it at all, could never go back to corded.

I’ll probs go with a Makita corded drill, any tips on impact drivers as weirdly the corded ones seem to have a lot less torque than the be battery ones

Not surprising, you can get a lot of current out of a Li-ion battery pack (for a short while), but getting the same out of a 240v PSU would mean a large and expensive PSU in the drill.

Just get cordless....

I tend to buy corded tools for the following reasons:

I might use a drill 3 times a years, I've got a sander I've used twice, a jigsaw I've used once. Cordless seems convenient, until you remember that it's been in the garage all winter and the battery will be flat, or knackered.

My uninformed opinion is £ for £, you'll get more for your money with corded.

If I used them more, or I needed it for work, I'd spend more on a better one.

any tips on impact drivers?

Ear defenders, but if you drill proper pilot holes you won't need one at all, a combi drill will manage just fine.

Trades people often get a corded drill as part of the bundle sets so I got given a dewalt corded impact driver a few years ago. It is great at going in to our solid stone walls and has the control-ability for screws etc. I had trouble with batteries failing but batteries are much better now. If I was buying and the prices were reasonably close I am sure I would buy a battery machine but I am more than happy to use the one I have until it dies which will probably be about twenty years.

Batteries are a significant part of the cost of cordless tools these days - look at the costs of bare tools and individual batteries for an idea (not suggesting you buy them this way, just an illustration).

For most tools that get occasional use (circular saw, sanders, etc.) I'm very happy with corded tools for the saving/less charging faff. But drill and driver will always be cordless for me (rotary drill at least, the big SDS is corded and that's fine) though I use them a lot, usually a couple of times a week.

If you want to save some money, it's worth considering smaller batteries. In theory you limit the maximum power as well as the battery life, but it shouldn't be noticeable with a drill and driver - might be a problem with, say, a circular saw. I bought a new DeWalt drill and driver this year, both with 4Ah li-ion batteries. They did an entire kitchen fitting, including drilling tap holes in 40mm solid oak worktops, big holes with spade bits in the carcasses, etc. on one charge :-O On that basis 1.5Ah is probably sufficient for occasional use, though someone might be along to correct me.

Yup, no probs
I've both. Corded for jobs that take a lot of time like wire brushing and cordless for most other smaller jobs of drilling and screwdriver tasks. Each has its place.
The cordless bosch is 4a/h and ive 2 batteries so they last pretty much for as long as the fitting type jobs take, but it's nice to also have a corded powertool that can be relied upon.

Yeah, I am on a pretty tight budget and the batteries are a significant cost, I could pick up a bare new s/h Makita for £35, probably get a s/h charger for £10-£15 then the batteries are £50.. I've got a fair few jobs to get my house updated but after that it'll get used 3-4 times a year, there's only so many shelves I can put up!

My old £15 B&D is still going after 10 years use, it does get a bit 'sparky' though so was looking to update for something proper. Fair point on the pilot holes but I find half the job is getting the old screw out in some of these jobs

I got given a dewalt corded impact driver a few years ago. It is great at going in to our solid stone walls

I'm not sure that what you're describing there is an 'Impact Driver'. Especially as (as far as I'm aware) Dewalt don't make one thats corded. They make a mains Impact Wrench - but you wouldn't drill a hole or drive a screw with on of those.Do you mean a Hammer Drill?

1.5Ah is probably sufficient for occasional use, though someone might be along to correct me.

1.5ah is completely sufficient for home use, given that not very long ago 1.3ah was the most you could hope for (and never really got) in a battery that would then take hours to charge. So long as you've got a reasonably fast charger 1.5ah is absolutely fine for drilling and screwing - the battery can usually be recharges in the time it takes you to make and drink a cup of tea.

I find half the job is getting the old screw out in some of these jobs

thats something that mains drills aren't very good at for screw driving - they're ok when the effort required gradually increases - driving a screw in - they're not so good at the sharp effort of getting something stuck to budge when you're taking a screw out.

1.5Ah is probably sufficient for occasional use, though someone might be along to correct me.

I use 2Ah mainly but if I'm using the drill sometimes I have to stick on a 4Ah to get full torque as the 2Ah can't deliver enough current. 99% of the time it's fine.

As always, it depends what you see yourself doing with it in the next 5 years, my impact driver is used a lot outside, just built a lean to a the weekend and it was used up a ladder, down a ladder, in tight spots, etc, so corded would have been a pain, same with using it on other areas outside and even around the house.

Flip side is my belt sander, saws (reciprocating/circular/chop) are all corded, will more than likely look at going cordless on the circular saw at some point as that cord dangling about is just asking to be cut!

I have a foot in both camps.

Smaller drill that mainly used for screw driving and small pilot hole and medium-sized combi drill - battery. They get used often enough domestically that battery condition/lifespan isn’t a problem. Larger and 40 year old hammer drill - mains-powered. Circular saw, multi-tool, Dremel, sanders - all mains-powered

Never as clear cut as I'd hoped!
As much as I'd like a Makita it'll never see the use, down spec'ing to a cordless Ryobi ONE+ with a couple of 1.5 battery's I think, then a bare impact driver at a later date. The Ryobis seem to be well liked judging past threads in here

I had nothing but corded until a year or so ago when I wanted an impact driver for putting lag screws into the ground for a big tent setup. I bought a Makita impact driver and drill/driver set and I don't think I've touched my corded drills since.

The batteries seem to do a really good job of retaining charge. I have not yet gone to do any sort of project and found them dead. Generally if it's going to be a bigger job, I just start with the battery that has more charge (the set came for one for each tool) and stick the other one on the charger and it's fully charged before I'd run out of the first. Obviously if you're building a deck you'd want to plan ahead and charge both, but for the little things around the house which I need to drill a couple of holes or drive a few screws, I've never had an issue with charge at all.

I have a couple of corded 'big' power tools, sds drill, chop saw etc. But I made the shift to cordless for everything else a couple of years ago and don't regret it. Dewalt 18v tools ftw, but then I'm at the heavy diy end of the scale. House reno, garden, new shed and fixing up outbuildings. That's before I get calls from relatives asking for help with their projects!

Never underestimate the usefulness of just picking up a tool and getting on with a job, often in an awkward space, no faffing with extension leads up ladders etc. Batteries last really well between uses so no issue with going flat, smaller (1.5 - 2mha) don't take long to charge.

Pick a good 'system' that has tools you want to use/may add later, Ryobi probably the best one with mix of tools for domestic use: power tools, pressure washer, garden tools, tyre inflators, radio, the list is long! Bare units aren't 'that' expensive once you settle on one system.

Weirdly since reading this thread i've just remembered i have a third drill in the garage that is corded, it's the hammer drill that i use for masonry stuff and so on, does a great job for that and those jobs where you're drilling quite a bit as it's bigger and comfier to use with the two handed set up.

I was/am in the same boat. Over the last couple of years I've been picking-up new or barely-used Makita corded tools on ebay/gumtree/marketplace for peanuts: Router, Sander, SDS drill, Biscuit joiner, multi tool, planer, grinder, jigsaw and a bunch more. Also bought a tracksaw (new).

My logic was the same as yours: I use each of these tools a few times a year, and am expecting them to last for a looooong time on that basis, so wanted corded.

I did buy a cordless combi drill and impact driver, as these get used a lot more, and cordless for these makes sense.

I'd obviously prefer cordless everything - but it doesn't make sense for me when companies are replacing their battery platforms every 5 years

Also, I have a few Ryobi tools: hot glue gun, big LED light, inflator for the paddling pool, leaf blower etc. Stuff that's going to get a very easy life, so doesn't need to be Makita-grade.

"it's fine" is what I will say about it - no complaints here. Particularly as the price allows you to buy them without having to try to figure out how many times per year you're going to use them. Not sure where it sits in the UK in terms of price, but it's good value here in Australia, and easy to get at Bunnings (B&Q equivalent).

My combi drill and impact driver are cordless but everything else is mains powered. I've used 2 other tools recently that were cordless and made me think I need one of these. They were a hedge trimmer and a strimmer. They are definitely way better with dragging cables around!

I’ve got a mixture of corded and battery power tools. All the saws are corded and my sds drill and hammer drill are corded.

The drill/ driver and the impact driver are both cordless and I wouldn’t want it any other way. With big (for me) projects like putting up stuff walls and building gazebos / decking the cordless tools are ace where a cord would be a faff.

At the time I looked for an impact driver the Wickes own brand one was a good price and had higher torque than the budget ones from other makes. The battery charges upreally quickly and doesn’t seem to lose charge whilst stored.

The Bosch drill driver is the same - that came with 2 batteries and they charge quick / last well. That said I used it mostly for driving in screws and now I have the impact driver it doesn’t get used that much.

I also have a cordless combi drill and a small selection of corded "other" tools, and that seems to be a good compromise for me. I'm not exactly a heavy user of power tools but my combi drill still probably comes out at least weekly on average.

I recently replaced my aging NiMh Makita with a brushless Bosch Blue and it's very good: newer battery tech makes for a much lighter tool with much longer operation between charges. The drill with charger and 2x4Ahr batteries was about £150 from Screwfix. This said, I see Makita do a corded combi for about £70. If you're really worried about battery longevity that's probably a cheaper and longer-lasting solution.

I think if you're a light DIY user an impact driver might be a bit of a "nice to have" tool. A good combi will drive pretty big screws without complaining too much.

For a drill and impact driver there is no way I would buy a corded one over a mains powered one. You will use them more often than a corded one too as they are hassle free to use, compared to having to get an extension lead etc.

Corded tools have there place no doubt, my SDS drill and circular saw are both corded as the price of the battery versions are prohibitive, but if I used them both more often I would get the cordless versions.

Good to see this thread as I need to rebuild my power tool collection!
So the verdict is regular drill/ drivers are better as battery; but how about hammer drills for masonry/ concrete etc?

I just drilled 20mm holes in the concrete floor of my garage for ground anchors with a corded Bosch drill that was £25 (ok, it was on heavy discount). Not sure I could've done it with a similarly priced cordless!

but if you drill proper pilot holes you won’t need one at all, a combi drill will manage just fine.

Which is fine if all you do is install. I stripped out rotten joists yesterday with my dewalt impact driver, ain't no combi drill touching those screws.

As Molly says, hammer/sds corded all day long.

So the verdict is regular drill/ drivers are better as battery; but how about hammer drills for masonry/ concrete etc?

Unless its very small holes or soft material drilling into corded is the essential or spend lots on a cordless one.

but how about hammer drills for masonry/ concrete etc?

I have a massive Bosch corded for drilling 30mm through concrete eg running a gas pipe through a solid wall. Pretty much everything else is cordless.

It also has a clutch so can use it with core drills without risking breaking my wrists.....

I do a fair bit of DIY and the drills I couldn't live without are:

1) 12v cordless Parkside/Lidl drill/driver. This is great for odd jobs around the house. Batteries are cheap.

2) Corded sds hammer drill for drilling into brick.

I've also got a cordless Hitachi combi drill, and a Ryobi impact driver. But these only really get used for bigger projects like studwork, decking etc.

I'm a lazy bugger so having a cordless drill for general house duties is essential for me, as the faff of getting it plugged in and finding extension cables would mean jobs would get put off.

Im slowly transitioning to cordless: bought a Makita 18v cordless drill years ago and then have just been buying body only tools since then based on 2 criteria: how often i use the tool and how mobile i need to be to do jobs with the tool. Just moved to a house with lots of hedges and scrub so just added cordless hedge trimmer & a strimmer which will both see a lot of use and be used all around the garden where being corded will be a faff.

I hate sanding so my corded Bosch sanders won't maker the transition for a while and my sds corded drills don't see a lot of use so they'll not get replaced

I've got a big corded SDS hammer drill for when the cordless combi can't manage my house engineering bricks.

Recently bought cordless Makita impact driver, and circular saw, I can't stand the cords getting in the way when i'm moving about up and down ladders. I've been doing lots of work on the house this year so bought some decent kit. Already had a combi drill with 2, 1.5Ah batteries, but also bought a couple of no name 5Ah batteries from amazon for £55 for the pair. They've been great. Power planer I bought corded, which has been fine as I'm usually not moving very far when using it but cordless would be nice for those occasions you forget to pull the cord round the right side of the door and only realise when your half way down the length and the cord gets tight....

If you're on a pretty tight budget, but not looking for something for heavy use, I'd be looking at Erbauer, Screwfix's own brand. They're pretty decent for the price, and if you have any problems, easy to take back. I have one of their cordless combi drills which I've only just replaced after at least a decade, and only because the batteries (NiMH, and on their second set of cells) were a bit knackered.

An impact driver is nice to have, but for the vast majority of situations, it's just a luxury not to have to swap bits back and forward when piloting/screwing.

scratch
Free Member

Never as clear cut as I’d hoped!
As much as I’d like a Makita it’ll never see the use, down spec’ing to a cordless Ryobi ONE+ with a couple of 1.5 battery’s I think, then a bare impact driver at a later date. The Ryobis seem to be well liked judging past threads in here

Before you commit, do check the pricing for the items you actually want.
I've had it in my mind that Ryobi would be a lot cheaper, but looking at the prices for what I want, actually Makita is within a few quid and in some cases cheaper.

E.g. (yes I know they all have different torque etc, I'm just looking for the cheapest which will do the job)

Makita 5ah battery = £73
Ryobi 5ah battery = £75

Makita brushless impact driver = £75
Ryobi brushless impact driver = £109

Makita 38cm lawnmower (without batteries) = £198
Ryobi 33cm lawnmower (without batteries) = £189

I have a Bosch drill using the Power4All batteries. I have had it for a good 12 years (maybe more) – it's still on the original batteries and they are still going strong. I recently got a garden strimmer using the same battery type and (as it came as a too good to miss deal) I got a new battery with it and I don't see any performance difference between the new one and my old ones. I have never taken any particular care with them and they sometimes go months without being used. So basically what I am saying is don't worry about battery life / performance as batteries these days are a million miles better than old ni-cad packs.

Makita 5ah battery = £73

As a bit of a psa, if anyone is needing a Makita tool body worth checking https://www.powertool-supplies.co.uk/ as you can then buy a 5ah Makita battery for £55.

Are Screwfix / Toolstation usually cheapest depending what offers are on? Or are there a few decent on-line places knocking about?

maccruiskeen
Full Member

I got given a dewalt corded impact driver a few years ago. It is great at going in to our solid stone walls

I’m not sure that what you’re describing there is an ‘Impact Driver’. Especially as (as far as I’m aware) Dewalt don’t make one thats corded. They make a mains Impact Wrench – but you wouldn’t drill a hole or drive a screw with on of those.Do you mean a Hammer Drill?

Well spotted I didn't sleep well last night and it popped in to my head that my drill is not impact 🙂

Yeah noticed that after having a proper look at Ryobi, their prices are not far off the bigger names, I was looking at Erbauer, their 18v are brushless and a shade more powerful than the Makita And a few quid cheaper and an extra year guarantee, don't need them immediately so will keep an eye on offers on the run in to Xmas - Def edging towards cordless,impact driver is a bit extravagant but I've got a fair few jobs lined up for it in the short term

Are Screwfix / Toolstation usually cheapest depending what offers are on? Or are there a few decent on-line places knocking about?

Can be quite hard to check the value of the deals eg they quite often have offers on Bosch stuff and there are so many different 18v Bosch drill drivers / impact driver variants it's hard to know how good a deal it really is.

Things I bring the work to (circular saw, jigsaw) are mains powered. Things I take to the work (drill) are battery. Expect to pay more for the same performance if you want battery, but that is the cost of convenience for performance.

Well you just missed the extra 10% off everything week at screwfix
The reason you can pick up bare units on ebay bookface etc is tradesmen buyimg a kit, combi, impact, 2 x batteries and a charger for £250. Then keepimg the batteries and selling whats left to get the batteries for 40ish each.
Black Friday is the next promo event at screwfix

Yes, you want a cordless drill and an impact driver and a dcent little screwdriver. You will also need a corded sds, circular saw and maybe a grinder

Are Screwfix / Toolstation usually cheapest depending what offers are on? Or are there a few decent on-line places knocking about?

those two are usually pretty competitive. Screwfix (as part of the larger Kingfisher Group that also owns B&Q ) often has exclusive models /specs on some of the stuff they stock so you're not always comparing like for like with other retailers

Whenever I've found stuff cheaper it more often than not has been at either FFX.com or www.buyaparcel.com - both of which sell via eBay too so if you've chosen a particular model searching for it by lowest price will usually bring up either of those two retailer.

At the moment though there generally aren't spectacular bargains about - '5% off 'seems to be about as exciting as a special offer gets these days - so theres maybe a little less return of effort than usual in shopping around

Worth checking the Bosch Warehouse for refurb or returned items:

https://www.bosch-professional.com/gb/en/refurbished-products-2851465-ocs-c/
https://www.bosch-professional.com/gb/en/warehouse-products-2851466-ocs-c/

Did see the extra 10% off at SF, my finger was hovering over the Makita twin pack for a while but then noticed the equivalent Dewalts were brushless and a bit more torque'y, wasnt previously aware of the extra cost of Makita when compared to Dewalt, I've used Dewalt's plenty at work in my old job and never gave me any issues, never had to pay for them myself mind, I just picked it up and drilled holes with it!

Got the Dewalt 5ah twin pack bought at Christmas for £200+. It’s excellent, use it for all sorts of stuff.

Grinder just expired after 11 years of horrendous abuse, so bought a corded one for £25. Apart from occasional cutting it is mostly used for stripping paint off metal parts. Quicker and easier than blasting in a lot of cases.

Whenever I’ve found stuff cheaper it more often than not has been at either FFX.com or http://www.buyaparcel.com

This. I rarely buy actual power tools from Screwfix. Always can be found cheaper at the likes of the above.

Enthusiastic DIY-er here, I was powertool-less when I became a homeowner, carpenter friend mentioned the Stanley Fatmax Drill and impact driver set was £100, have had it 2 years now, it that time its been used when doing two kitchens, building a shed and multiple other DIY jobs at home, cant fault it for the price, but then I havent owned anything pricier...

Thanks Oikeith, the specs on that twin set look very good for the money! I'll take a proper look at them later