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Drill Buying Suggestions

1) With Cord or Without?

This is your first significant decision to come to. There are several advantages and disadvantages to each type of drill:

- Cordless drills are usually more convenient to use. They can easily be used in any location quickly without having to deal with extension cords and power outlets; so long as the battery is charged. The significant advantage of corded drills is that there is no limitation on how long they can be used. With a corded drill, you will never find yourself waiting for batteries to charge.

- It is somewhat counter-intuitive, but cordless drills tend to weigh less than corded drills. But, if you select a high-power cordless drill (18V and 24V), they are often just as heavy as their corded counterparts.

- Cordless drills are safer. There is no cord dangling about waiting to be tripped on.

- If high torque and long usage times are required, a corded drill will fit the bill better than a cordless model. Although there are many high-power models available for cordless drills, corded drills will always be able to supply more torque, and they will be able to supply it for a longer period of time.

- Even good batteries have a limited lifetime. Expect that the batteries on your cordless drill will only last for a couple years at most. Batteries are very expensive to purchase; it is often more cost effective to get a new cordless drill than to purchase two new batteries. If you are purchasing a cordless drill, expect to be purchasing a new drill in a couple years time. For comparison, if you get a corded drill you are set for at least 10 years, if not more.

- If you are going to get a cordless drill, make sure to purchase a cordless drill with Lithium Ion (Li-Ion) batteries; stay away from Nickel-Metal-Hydride (NiMH) batteries. Li-Ion batteries are more powerful, they have longer lifetimes, they do not have "memory" issues, and they are better for the environment because they contain fewer harmful metal elements.

2) Pick a Chuck

The chuck is the part of the drill that holds the bits in place. There are two decisions to make here: size and type.

Standard chuck sizes are 1/4", 3/8", and 1/2" with the standard size being 3/8". If you plan on using bigger drill bits, go with the 1/2" chuck since many larger bits will not fit in a 3/8" drill. If you do not need or want the capability to accommodate larger drill bits, the 3/8" chuck is a better option since you typically can get higher bit speeds with the smaller chuck sizes.

There are two different types of chucks: keyed and keyless. With the keyed chuck, you use a mechanical key to tighten and loosen drill bits. With the keyless chuck, the drill bit is tightened into the chuck by holding the chuck with your hand and powering the drill. The keyed chuck has the advantage of being able to hold bits tighter so there is less chance of your drill bit slipping. The advantage of the keyless chuck is that it is much quicker to change drill bits, and there is no key to lose or keep track of.

3) Important Features

To get the most usage from your new drill, make sure it has these important features:

- A reverse mode. Even if you do not plan to use your drill for driving screws, reverse is still a must-have feature to have for removing drill bits that get stuck. If you are purchasing a drill with a keyless chuck, it will always have reverse (otherwise there would be know way to get the drill bit out), so you only need to check for the presence of this feature if you are purchasing a drill with a keyed chuck.

- Variable speed. If you plan on driving screws, this is essential. If you don't plan to drive screws, this is still an important feature to have as it makes it much easier to drill clean holes in materials of different hardnesses.

- Speed range settings. This feature is really only needed if you plan to drive screws using your drill. If you are, this feature is very important to have. Having the lower speed range makes it far simpler to drive screws without stripping them.

- A clutch. Again, this is only needed if you are driving screws with your drill. The clutch lets you set a maximum torque point after which the drill will stop driving. This is excellent when driving screws so that you do not over-drive the screw into the material. If you are driving large numbers of screws (like on a deck for example), this feature is worth its weight in gold.