

Best battery drill drivers#
Many brands manufacture a range of different tools, such as circular saw, drivers and the like, that can use the same battery, which will be sold separately.Īny drill will have clockwise and counterclockwise settings to respectively place and remove screws, but most will also have a variety of clutch settings. Don’t automatically assume a drill will come with a battery, by the way. Amp hours are a good indicator of how long the battery will last on a charge, though they won’t translate directly into actual hours. And while the batteries needed to power it can be heavy, they are generally easily rechargeable. Needless to say, the main convenience of a cordless drill - other than saving you elbow grease - is its portability. 1/2 inch is one of the largest sizes to be found, but 3/8 inch is enough to fit most standard bits. The maximum size of your chuck will determine what size bits it can accommodate. Not only are they easier to use and generally more durable, but you also don’t have to worry about losing the key. This used to be done primarily by inserting and turning a chuck key, but keyless chucks are more or less the standard these days. You can change out the bits in your drill by loosening and then tightening the chuck. Cordless drills can vary in power greatly from 4 volts to more than 30, but a lot of that power can be overkill unless you’re planning to drill into concrete. The higher the voltage put out by the motor, the higher the torque or circular force applied by the drill. An electric motor rotates a drill or screwdriver bit, whichever is held in place by a secure clamp called a chuck. But in general, all drills work the same. From hanging a painting to building an outdoor deck, there’s no job that a drill won’t make easier.Īs with any electric tool, there’s a bit of jargon to translate for the non-handyman. In most homes, it’s nothing short of a necessity.

But for more-production-oriented work, such as putting down decking or building a garden shed, they make a noticeable difference.Even in the most maintenance-free household, a good cordless drill can be a time-saver. For around-the-house tasks, the added speed and power are often unnecessary. The well-positioned LED can also be switched on independently of the drill, a unique feature that makes it a rudimentary flashlight (which could come in handy in nearly any crawl space).

Compared with our 12-volt pick, this larger drill completes tougher jobs much faster, doing the same work in less than half the time, with a battery that lasts longer. This is a larger, 20-volt drill, but it shares all of the most important characteristics of the smaller, 12-volt DeWalt: It’s very powerful and extremely comfortable to hold and use, and the little convenience features, such as the belt hook and the case, are spot-on. If you take on projects that have you drilling lots of holes and sinking long screws, we recommend stepping up to the DeWalt DCD791D2 20V Max XR Li-Ion Brushless Compact Drill/Driver Kit. The DCD701F2 also comes with a nice belt hook, and the battery gauge is located on each battery rather than on the tool, so you can check batteries without having to insert them into the drill. And the LED is positioned so that it illuminates the drill front better than most. The battery is designed so that the drill can stand upright when not in use (other drills, like the runner-up Bosch, need to be placed on their side). The molded handle seems to account for every curve and bulge of the hand, making this drill the most comfortable we’ve ever held. The DeWalt drill’s power is on a par with that of some other models we looked at, but it particularly excels in ergonomics and convenience features. These results show the drill can handle just about anything within the four walls of a home, and even the occasional foray into more aggressive work, like a small decking repair. In our tests, it bored 30 1-inch holes through a 2-by-10 on a single battery charge. The DeWalt DCD701F2 Xtreme 12-volt drill combines power, comfort, and convenience in a way that none of the other tested drills do.
