UKH

  My 30 year old electric drill has finally given up the ghost. Can anyone recommend a reasonably priced (Under £50??) electric drill capable of doing masonry (bricks specifically) and wood and preferably being used as a screwdriver. Just for odd jobs around the house, not intensive use.  Corded or uncorded. (which is preferable?).

In reply to Postmanpat:

For £50 you are unlikely to get a super capable cordless drill that will drill masonry well. Although very few general purpose cordless drill will compete with a corded drill in this area.

You could get a very reasonable corded drill for this price, you just need to decide what it will be used for most and whether you want to pick something slightly more specific for what it will be mainly used for.

If it's to be mainly used for wood and as a screwdriver, I wouldn't discount the cheap 18/20 volt Aldi stuff that you can pick up for £30 when they are available. They come with a 3 year guarantee and if you use it and don't break it in this time then it is likely to be good for a fair while.

If you really need good masonry performance, have a look at screwfix and you can find a load of reasonable corded stuff for £50 but these won't be much good as a screwdriver.

In reply to gethin_allen:

just got an Aldi  cordless drill which will also do light masonry work but am struggling to find a spare battery for it.

In reply to Postmanpat:

McAllister corded from Screwfix for £25. Exceeded expectations in tough brick where my cordless Bosch failed miserably. 

In reply to Postmanpat:

Best drill. Probably this.

https://www.hilti.co.uk/c/CLS_POWER_TOOLS_7124/CLS_ROTARY_HAMMERS_SDSPLUS_7...

No good as a screwdriver though, so it's a no from me

They are the dogs!! Luckily, I don't have to pay for it.

In reply to gethin_allen:

  Thanks, sounds like I should go corded but that it's difficult to find a drill that will do solid masonry that also converts to screwdriver? It'll probably mainly be for wood but not exclusively and my immediate job is to drill brick for a keysafe. In which case I go for a corded hammer drill which should cost under £50?

eg.this Bosch 550W 240V Corded Brushed Impact Drill EasyImpact 550?

https://www.diy.com/departments/bosch-550w-240v-corded-brushed-impact-drill...

In reply to Postmanpat:

You're better getting a small cordless/power screwdriver as well as a corded drill. Something smaller is more versatile as a screwdriver and you don't have to keep swapping bits so much if you have 2.

In reply to Postmanpat:

I've had the older version of this for a few years and it's been fine.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Ryobi-R18DD3-0-Cordless-Compact-Driver/dp/B073FM8S...

Does everything you ask and the batteries are interchangeable with their other cordless kit. Also, definitely go cordless, far less faffing about.

In reply to Mike Stretford:

This ^

I got a cheapo hammer drill for under a tenner that's performed perfectly well enough on brick and concrete and is still going some years later, albeit seeing only occasional use. I also have a cordless screwdriver from IKEA (of all places!) that IIRC cost about £30, works very well indeed as a screwdriver and even has a hammer drill action (which I've used to good effect).

If you're going to be using tools intensively then buying good brands will be worth the investment, but for relatively light use it's pretty hard to beat some of the discount offerings.

In reply to Postmanpat:

I've had a cheap Ryobi cordless for a couple of years, its done great, its been my only drill when renovating my house; drilled into brick, concrete, used to mix buckets of plaster. I was so impressed, I brought a Ryobi circular saw and a jigsaw

https://www.diy.com/departments/ryobi-one-cordless-18v-lithium-ion-brushed-...

In reply to Postmanpat:

Secondhand blue Bosch.

In reply to Postmanpat:

https://www.powertoolworld.co.uk/makita-hp457dw-g-series-18v-combi-drill-in...

Has been good for me - brick and block and wood no problems and battery lasts pretty well.  Recommended by mates in various trades.

In reply to Postmanpat:

Just get something like a Draper or Black and Decker, for that money. I generally favour corded, because they're cheaper and will not let you down. They all have standard (wood) and masonry settings. (If you're really serious DIY, which you're not, Bosch is the only choice)

In reply to Gordon Stainforth:

I’ve had two Bosch cordless drills and both were crap, as were the batteries. I won’t be buying another.

In reply to thomasadixon:

in usual ukc fashion I was about to post something that didn't answer the question , along the lines of " pah .... £50 , you won't get anything worth having , need to spend at least £200 , blah blah .... fes tool the only thing worth buying ...." 

but that makita 18v for £59 is an absolute steal and is exactly what you need . 

In reply to Postmanpat:

At the budget end Bosch, like most others, will break fairly quickly. Having got through two cheap corded drills in a year I went for Makita cordless. £200 got combo drill, impact driver, 2x 3mAh batteries and charger. Lots of use over 2 years, still going. At the top end Bosch are excellent and I have one still trucking after 20 years of considerable use.

In reply to mike123:

Depends, it's certainly a cheap way to get "Makita" written on the side of your drill but there's a reason it's significantly cheaper than most of their range and you will probably find the same internals in a £30 aldi drill as that one. It's a small battery and there's only one so after a couple of years sitting around he wont get much use out of it before having to put it on charge in the middle of working. As with all battery operated tools he'll need to replace the batteries every now and again as they degrade. A £50 corded drill will most likely last the OP another 30 years, be more powerful and better built. You really can't pick up a decent cordless for that kind of money.

The best of the cheaper brands for cordless is Ryobi imo and a couple of the guys at work give them some hammer and they're still going strong. You can pick up a good brushless drill and impact set for around £120-150 (from ebay shipped from the us) and I can't really tell the difference in day to day use between them and a £300 Makita set.

In reply to Sharp:

Also that Makita won't take standard Makita batteries so no chance to buy bigger batteries further down the line if needed.

Corded drill and then buy a screwdriver later. 

In reply to Ben sharp 

 "Just for odd jobs around the house, not intensive use.  Corded or uncorded. (which is preferable?)"

beg to differ . 

In reply to Postmanpat:

Can I weigh in too?

I looked rather hard at this about a year ago, including a fairly anal review of the market at that time.

The challenge is that the things you want would normally be met by three tools not one... and you want the one to be at a very low price point.  So the question becomes where is it least troublesome to only partially meet one of your constraints.

- For masonry and brick you ideally want an SDS drill (which is a clever front end that reduces the inertia of the hammering process needed to drive holes in hard materials).  The next step down is a plain hammer drill.  An un-hammered drill will be very poor at this. 

- Both SDS and hammer drills will drill wood in plain mode perfectly well, so that's not an issue

- Driving screws generally needs more torque and slower speeds - not an ideal match with masonry or wood drilling.  The ideal solution is an impact driver.  However, a drill with decent torque and a low/variable speed setting is ok (the bit will tend to jump off the screw more and you may have to finish driving by hand; not the end of the world and you can mitigate by using good torx screws in wood and pre-drilling pilots)

- Cordless is convenient because you don't have to trail extension cables around.  However, batteries are expensive and fade over time.  They're also heavy, so a cordless with lots of power can be quite tiring to hold above your head for any length of time.  The sub-compact cordless drill/drivers are great though - very easy to get into tight corners.

- Build quality.  Lots of fans for different marques.  As far as I could discern the biggest differential is whether the internal mechanisms use nylon gearing or metal.  At your price point you will not find a high quality drive train... but all that means is that you shouldn't favour a brand; just look for a specification.

Overall, I would suggest waiting for Lidl to have their Parkside DIY range come up.  Parkside is cheap as chips, but I believe built by the same supplier that produces Scheppach!  The Aldi equivalent are likely ok too.  You need to decide whether to compromise more on masonry or on screwdriving.  If the former, then get the £49 cordless Parkside drill driver (variable torque) - and accept you might need to borrow a mate's for brick.  If the latter, then get the silverline SDS (£45) and drive screws by hand (or buy a cordless impact driver later).  If you truly want a one machine then either a cordless hammer drill (Aldi £40 combi-drill) or corded hammer (more power) (Toolstation do a £25 Bauker 750W but 1000W would be better).

Final comment - I bit the bullet and bought Milwaukee drill driver and impact driver (both teeny and both cordless) and a corded SDS beast (also Milwaukee).  I haven't regretted it; they've lasted extremely well and it's a boon to be able to drill holes and just pick up a driver without changing bits.

In reply to Postmanpat:

Like others said a corded drill and a power screwdriver. I bought an 8 quid screwdriver from BM Bargains and it has been great for 4 years. When we moved house and had to build all the IKEA wardrobes (it was a lot of flatpack building!) I bought a second one for whoever was helping me. I'm really quite surprised how strong they are and how well the batteries last for that money - occasionally I still need a normal screwdriver (and my colossal climber's grip strength of course!) to finish or start a screw, but then the BM Bargain bargain does the rest in seconds.

My corded drill is a Bosch and goes through ridiculously tough brick we have on some walls here - my neighbour in Sheffield said its something to do with how the local brick was made, something to do with using waste from smelting industry or something? - its bits that wear out, not the drill itself. Wasn't too expensive even though I bought in when we were still in Finland.

In reply to Postmanpat:

For your budget get a corded drill, the cheap and even expensive battery drills are no match for corded in masonry. 

Just for some context, I have a cheap makita corded drill and several makita 18v drill drivers, impact drivers + several other branded drills for heavier work.

SDS is a nice to have if your drilling concrete but most diy stuff is easy enough to drill without it.

As for screw driving, use a screwdriver, a decent set shouldn't cost too much and will last a lifetime of diy use e.g. Wera, Facom

In reply to mike123:

Fair enough. An explanation might be helpful though, especially given you dissagree with quite a few others. You could argue from that quote that given the occasional nature of it's use plugging it in wont be too much of a problem but I presume that's not what you mean

Deadeye hit the nail on the head, it's a compromise. I'm sure the drill you linked to would do the job for the OP and maybe compromising on the quality in favour of portability and having one tool for everything would suit them best. For me I'd sacrafice the battery/portability, have a more capable long lasting tool and not have to worry about replacing batteries on something I don't use very often (batteries still degrade when they're not being used). I am probably slightly biased and I don't think very highly of high priced brands at rock bottom prices, I think more often than not they're poor value.

In reply to Sharp: fair enough . The op asked for something for light use with the odd hole into masonary but the possiblibilty to use as a screwdriver . If he buys a corded drill/ sds  he will need to buy another tool as a screwdriver . I think that the cheap makita  that another poster linked to will do everything that the op wants " well enough " for his needs . I have 30 years experience of using  makita tools , occasionally to destruction ( but that was my fault ) and trust the brand   . A mate who is a furniture maker has two very old makita screwdrivers ( maybe some of the first ) with ni cad batteries. He has used them daily for well over 20 years ( I think) and when I next see him I will check but I know that up until a couple of years ago he was still using the original batteries.  I have no experience of these budget makita tools, I didn't even know they made them until this thread , but I trust the brand and think that if the op buys the drill he won't need to buy spare batteries and also won't need to buy a second tool . I also think that if the op buys a battery drill he will find that he uses it for all manner of " screwing " jobs and will be very pleased with it. He hence has one tool to do everything he needs .

In reply to TobyA:

'tough brick'? pffft, you should try living here, the local granite is phenomenally hard - I killed a DeWalt cordless hammer just by drilling concrete made with it. Natural stone requires SDS from serious manufacturers or diamond drills, in the '60s the Royal engineers took on the job of blasting through the seaward wall of a quarry to create a marina.  Their '6 week job' took them 6 months and they had to have drill bits specially made to cope with the rock. Brick is a walk in a park to drill through compared to even the chossiest local rock.

In reply to Postmanpat:

Corded cheapo hammer drill and hammer in fixings if you're only attaching stuff to masonry.

In reply to mike123:

I’m no expert in this but I’ve had it for a few years and the battery seems just as good.  Used up ladders and other places corded would be really awkward.  Fair amount of use - free standing an fixed woodie, planters, general fittings for shelves, putting together furniture, holes for wiring, etc.  Not daily!

In reply to Postmanpat:

Decicided to grow my hair long was looking for tips on best hair-drier or is this an exclusively male posting?just seems strange that no female response yet ? Wife says its because its boring but then funnily enough doesn't like talking about sheds either? Hooray we got our identity back! 

In reply to Postmanpat:

If you can spend a bit more I've got one of these:

https://www.screwfix.com/p/dewalt-dcd776d2t-gb-18v-2-0ah-li-ion-xr-cordless...

Which I've abused quite a bit over the past 5 years and it's still going strong.  That one has two batteries, so you won't have any down time on a bigger job.

Personally I do have a drill driver, but that's a bit out of budget, so I'd go for a ratcheting screwdriver.  If often find that drill drivers just knacker up screws and for light DIY use are just overkill.  I've had one of these for years:

https://www.toolstation.com/kamasa-ratchet-screwdriver-set/p57505

If you can't go above £50, then just get a cheapo corded drill.  They're much of a muchness.  Don't buy a cordless drill for £50, it'll just die.  I've broken several cheap ones, just doing small tasks.

In reply to mattrm:

I have the Stanley black and yellow equivalent with storage in the handle for a few bits and it is the best tool I've ever owned full-stop.

In reply to John Ww:Every Bosch tool I have had has failed early.

Never again.

In reply to Postmanpat:

Not a huge amount of consensus so far and I am not sure I am going to help either but here goes: 

Sub-£50 everything will be fairly heavily 'value engineered' with a bias toward more cheap and less engineering! You won't get heavily reinforced plastic cases, you probably won't get much in the way of battery protection in a cordless and the speed control is likely to be suspect at the low end partly as everything is going to be a bit spongy:

If the bias is more towards masonry or prolonged jobs then get a corded masonry drill and maybe an electric screwdriver, if it is a few holes in brick here and there then most drills are capable of managing that if your drill bits aren't garbage. I own a couple of mains masonry drills but only bother to get them out for multiple holes or holes over 12mm and tend to use my 12v Bosch blue for one offs because it is convenient. 

One other point be a bit careful putting up a key safe, there have been a lot of burglaries linked to these as they aren't very secure. I would make sure it isn't visible to passers by or casual callers because even the good ones can be opened in seconds with a hammer or a minute with a bit more subtlety. 

In reply to Postmanpat:

I had a tradesman in fitting flooring in my dining room last week. His £200 cordless drill was unable to drill into my 150 year old quarry tiles, I lent him my £30 corded drill and it went straight into them. 

In reply to Postmanpat:

I've got the Milwaukee cordless combi (think it's the Milwaukee M18BPD) which, if you can find a discounted one, isn't that much more than you're looking to spend.  Very impressed with mine, have drilled into wood, brick, etc no problem and has a 2 speed setting so really easy to use as a screwdriver too.  Also has a light on the front so you can always see what you're doing.

In reply to Iamgregp:

It isn't that much more for a bare unit - no batteries or charger!

Unless you've seen a deal I've not I guess in which case that would be a great price for a decent cordless drill

In reply to J101:

No can't see a really good deal on them at the minute, unfortunately

Toolstation were knocking them out for a discount with the batteries and charger when I got mine, but that was a couple of years back now.  Price is £135 from there at the moment...

Like I say, worth it if you can find a good deal as mine is great, probably bit pricey at full retail.

In reply to Postmanpat:

Corded hammer for masonry. A £50 cordless drill will struggle in brick, a £50 cordless will go through like butter.