Small battery powered drills

[MarkJ]

I bought a Ryobi One plus. LCDI1802 to be precise. I traded torque and power for battery life: doesn’t last all day but it hacks along nicely, which is what I need.

 

[wildebus]

Ryobi 18v 2nd hand off ebay. I have 22 assorted Ryobi 2nd hand 18v tools bought of ebay and elsewhere and they all work off the same battery.
Lithium of course now but still use ni-cad as the intelligent charger for lithium works on both..
I have mostly the older blue range and a few yellow.
They have to cope with what ever I ask of them, none have failed in my use.
Small drill £16 charger £30 battery £50.

I'm with him

​​​None of my Ni-Cads are any good anymore, but the Ryobi One+ are pretty unbeatable as an overall system. Got 4 different drills, wet & dry vacuum, portable radio, torch, sander, hedge cutter and strimmer all using the same batteries. Keep the small portable charger in the van, older bigger charger in the shed. Keep the drill/driver in the van with assortment of bits plus torch and radio.
Space used vs Usability ... reckon it is worth it.

 

[Pudsey Bear]

Last cheap one I bought was an 18volt li ion from aldi. Solid, reliable, powerful, lightweight and compact. Great little drill.Cant complain for £25. Look out for them they keep coming back in store.

Plus one on those, I bought a couple for my self build, excellent value made the de-walt look crap, charged faster lasted longer lighter smaller, I sold the old ones one Ebay for a tenner less than I paid for them, and bought two newer ones about two years ago, I use them a lot, brilliant bit of kit, made by Einhell, 3 year warranty.

 

[Rockburner]

It may be the OP wants something that does not need 240V to recharge auch as this
https://www.amazon.co.uk/BLACK-DECKE...ry+screwdriver

In fact - that's something I hadn't realised existed - AA powered screwdriver/drill.

Yes - it's almost exactly what I was after - has anyone used one??

Reason I want something SMALL (rather than powerful or part of a kit), is that, as I said in the OP, this is for my travelling toolkit - 1 plastic cantilever box is all the space I have. I'll be doing minor repairs ONLY and this tool is really only going to be for drilling pilot holes into the plywood/mdf in the hab area of the van (unlikely to be drilling any metal), hence not needing anything with proper power.

Thanks for all the recommendations folks!

 

[Pudsey Bear]

AA batteries won't last long running a motor to provide enough torque to drive more than a couple of screws, the Lidl drill batteries last for months, the thread reminded me that mine had been under the van bunk since July, checked and still fully charged, plugged it in any way, 5 mins and the light went green

 

[Rockburner]

AA batteries won't last long running a motor to provide enough torque to drive more than a couple of screws, the Lidl drill batteries last for months, the thread reminded me that mine had been under the van bunk since July, checked and still fully charged, plugged it in any way, 5 mins and the light went green

The main issue is that anything like that won't fit into my toolbox, and I won't have the storage capacity for it.

The best tool ever, is the one you have with you.

 

[Les Haro]

For many years I used A;ldi/Lidl/Leclerc etc power tools in the exhibition business, if they walked it wasn't the end og the world. Nowhere near as reliable as De-Walt, but I could buy quite a few cordless drills for the price of a De Walt. If it went wrong, and they were surprisingly long lived, chuck it away and get another.


Malcolm

I'm with you there I find working tools get lost and squashed easily and the likes of Ryobi work out cheaper than over the top priced stuff.

 

[Venturerdave]

I had an old 12v rechargeable drill with a knackered battery that wouldn't charge. Soldered cables onto the terminals on the drill (removing battery entirely) and put a cigarette lighter plug on the other end.
Now have no issues of battery running out half way through a job and always got power without finding battery is discharged when coming to use it. Of course its fairly light as well.

 

[jagmanx]

Look on Amazon
Black & Decker or other
Uses 4 x batteries just over a tenner !

 

[Reevsie]

I bought a cheap drill fro m B&Q for £15 to keep in the Motorhome Looked okay for the money, until I tried to use if a few months later. The drill struggled and the battery lasted about 10 minutes. Spent a little more on the Aldi special and it is as good as my Dewalt I have at home. Cost was £50.

 

[teejay]

The latest Aldi battery powered drill is a 20v 2.5amp hr li-ion with a 10mm auto chuck, 20 torque pre sets and a set of hss drills and screwdriver heads. A few other bits too and all in a case for £29.99!