Cordless Hammer Drill - Advice

Zyk1

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Hi all.
I'm in the market for a cordless hammer drill. Need some advice from those who have one of these.
Tired of plugging in an extension cord for simple drilling.
Not too sure of the specs of these cordless drills. Don't want to buy one and regret not getting the right thing.
Will be using it just for simple home drilling (concrete, tiles).
Which would be a decent brand to get?
In terms of battery, how long will a 1.5Ah vs 5Ah last on average? Does battery capacity affect the power output?
Difference between the 18V vs 20V versions?
What would be the torque figure to look out for?
Anything else to bear in mind.
TIA.
 
Hi all.
I'm in the market for a cordless hammer drill. Need some advice from those who have one of these.
Tired of plugging in an extension cord for simple drilling.
Not too sure of the specs of these cordless drills. Don't want to buy one and regret not getting the right thing.
Will be using it just for simple home drilling (concrete, tiles).
Which would be a decent brand to get?
In terms of battery, how long will a 1.5Ah vs 5Ah last on average? Does battery capacity affect the power output?
Difference between the 18V vs 20V versions?
What would be the torque figure to look out for?
Anything else to bear in mind.
TIA.
There's no real functional difference between 18V and 20V.

How long the drill battery lasts depends on hard it works. 5aH is of course always better, since theoretically you will charge it less.

50Nm torque is pretty standard with a mid level drill. But torque varies with speed of course.

#1 rule: buy something with the best/longest warranty at a reputable vendor that will honor that warranty.

I prefer Milwaukee here in Europe, but back home I used DeWALT.

PS. Now 10 people will jump on here to say DeWALT is kak and their preferred brand is best :laugh:
 
Interesting Question.
Since you mentionend concrete.

I use a Makita. It even drills into concrete roof slabs (and they are hard a fvck here in EU). Also, with batteries, bigger is a bit better, as Quin mentioned, charging less will extend the lifetime.

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From various "review", seem to be a pattern...

1718692613247.png1718692686515.png1718692753902.png
 
I can't speak for the bosch cordless hammer drill, but I have their professional range of 18v drill, impact driver and random orbital sander - all work extremely well and I may or may not have dropped the impact driver a few times

Side note: Cordless sander was a waste of money, just in general, it's something with a long running time and you're almost always going to be stationary with it. And if you use dust collection, you'd be tied down anyway. Should have just gone corded there
 
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I use a Bosch too, not sure of the model. I do know it is a 18v drill. I bought it with a case with all the drill bits and screwe driver tops etc. From Builders many years ago. I charge the battery maybe once every 6 months, I use it often. It came with 2 batteries and I charge maybe once every 3 months.
 
I purchased a cordless SDS 18V Makita when we purchased our house. I got a two batteries and a regular combo drill at the same time.

The SDS has been the best purchase tool wise I have ever made.

I used the hammer function to take down two boundary walls. Used it for extending some plumbing and opening up holes for this.

Used it countless times for small 6mm wall plugs for hanging up stuff on the wall.

As you say for most of my application by the time I get the extension cord out the cordless SBS has already done the job.

Only issue I can see is extended use of the SDS like major demo and the battery option isn’t ideal but with two or more batteries you can keep rotating them.

The combination drill is also a Makita with a hammer function and it works better than any other drill with hammer function I have used before but doesn’t have the grunt of a SDS so I tend to use the SDS even for smaller jobs.
 
Also a fan of Bosch. Bought myself a Bosch Professional (Blue tools) a little while back and realise I should have bought one ages ago, just makes life so much easier!

My PSB700 corded drill is for slightly heavier tasks, and this weekend I had to get an SDS so got myself another corded blue jobby.

If you have moola you can go DeWalt or even CAT.
 
I purchased a cordless SDS 18V Makita when we purchased our house. I got a two batteries and a regular combo drill at the same time.

The SDS has been the best purchase tool wise I have ever made.

I used the hammer function to take down two boundary walls. Used it for extending some plumbing and opening up holes for this.

Used it countless times for small 6mm wall plugs for hanging up stuff on the wall.

As you say for most of my application by the time I get the extension cord out the cordless SBS has already done the job.

Only issue I can see is extended use of the SDS like major demo and the battery option isn’t ideal but with two or more batteries you can keep rotating them.

The combination drill is also a Makita with a hammer function and it works better than any other drill with hammer function I have used before but doesn’t have the grunt of a SDS so I tend to use the SDS even for smaller jobs.
I have a Makita Corded SDS. Wish it was cordless.
 
I would recommend the Bosch as would @Tinuva who actually owns one..

Was mentioned earlier, but no functional difference between 18v and 20v, marketing speak for the most part..

Battery capacity does affect power output.. 4/5ah battery cells are packed different to 1.5/2ah battery cells and can provide additional power.. right off the bat, get the larger battery and get more than just one..
 
I have the normal cordless 18v bosch and Dewalt cordless drills. Both came with 2ah batteries.

The Dewalt has successfully drill through my double brick walls with a long masonry drill bit.

It is my go to for minor concrete drilling. The bosch is in my opinion the "papper" of the two and as such used for light work.

When doing heavy drilling, I use my corded Makita sds hammer drill.

I have owned both for at least 5 years.
 
Bosch. I have one that is old old like 10 years and it still works well, with a few knocks.
 
Forgot: Battery Longevity:

My Dewalt battery just last, and my kit came with 3 batteries.

If fully charged, I have never had one die on me in the same day, this includes the following type of work:

Conduit for an outside light, drilled 5mm holes (2 per conduit bracket) at least 8 brackets.

Blue pipe for my wellpoint pump. Drilled on one battery, conduit brackets for about 16 metres of pipe.

It just works for minor jobs.
 
Whilst writing this, I had a bit of deja vu:
 
With these things it's very much a case of which ecosystem do you want to buy into as that battery only works with that particular brand and you need to consider your "growth path" for whatever else you might be buying in the future rather than the individual tool you are buying now.

You are looking at spending R2000-R3000 in the battery setup alone.

As such if you have no plans to expand down the line, I would seriously question why you want to go cordless in the first place.

Personally I went Makita...and it bizarrely started with a weed eater.
 
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