Posted 2nd Jul 2023
Complete beginner to power tools. Looking to buy something basic that can screw, unscrew, drill holes. Would like cordless and something below £50 with battery. Not sure what to look for as seen combi drills, hammer drills, impact drills.
Any help is much appreciated
Any help is much appreciated
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sorted byBest thing you can do for all around usage is an 18V Combi. But then they are big & cannot be used in tighter scenarios.
Even better than that is an SDS which will drill through concrete & brick far more easily but again they are big.
Then you go down the pile of drills that will not go easily through brick & concrete but will help in tighter spaces & normal wood work etc.
If money wasn't an object most people would buy an 18v combi or an sds plus a 18/15/12v drill driver.
If you cannot afford both then aim for an 18v Combi. But your £50 will not go far. You really need another £20-£40 on top of your £50.
Aldi and Lidl tools offer excellent value, and you can use one battery between tools (although it's handy to have more than one battery)
Get a bog standard drill to start ...it will drill most materials, and offer screwdriving.
Once the bug bites , I'd get an impact screwdriver.... They are in another league for difficult screws and bolts that a drill will just strip the head, or snap the screw.
If you do a lot of brick or masonry drilling, an SDS makes holes like warm butter !
As I say, it's a slippery slope ! (edited)
MacAllister is B&Qs own brand & I have brought their tools before & they are okay for the money. Like someone has said already, DO NOT BUY USED unless you are buying from a soon to be ex-wife who is dumping her soon to be ex-husbands kit in the bin out of spite & you get it for pennies
diy.com/dep…prd
It's got all the features you are going to need, the brand is pretty good, spare batteries are going to be available at a decent price (£25) for a long time and you've got the protection of buying from a big company that you can walk to and complain in person if it breaks.
Get a Bosch GSB-13RE, it will last you until you're no longer capable of using it. I've had mine about 10 years and it's bomb proof, including once when it seemed to get so hot for so long (drilling into 5mm aluminium all afternoon in summer) that I thought it was going to self-immolate.
* Locked into an ecosystem, batteries will over-discharge if not used, will be flat when you need it etc. Plus, mains have a lot more grunt.
Replaced with the pro range and its night and day difference.
Don't discount cordless as the battery tech has moved on somewhat in the last 10yrs, and regardless of that, batteries can be had relatively cheaply.
I now have a Bosch Pro SDS (Mega deal on here for toolstation in Jan) because my corded hammer has been used a handful of times due to being so inconvenient with the short cord and having to dig out the extension. The handful of times is not because the 18v didn't have the grunt, but because the chuck size was too small for the arbor I was using for the hole saw. The new Blue combi has a bigger chuck so its never been used since!
aldi.co.uk/fer…900
Can't find it's battery on Aldi site
cpc.farnell.com/dur…685
I bought a bosch 18v combi drill 4 years ago and only used it a handful of times. Drilling into brick can be tough but with persistence and patience its doable. An SDS drill would have been better but not worth buying for the 2 times I've needed it. For everything else the combi has been fine.