What kind of Drills do you guys Use ?

Looking at either Getting a Dewalt, 9.6v, or maybe the 12v.. Just wondering what kind of power drills you guys use, and do you thing the 9.6v will have enough Power/torque ?

Depends on what you are drilling through. I mostly use 14.4 volt. I find the 18V and 24V too much drill. Too heavy, bulky for constant use. The 12V and 14.4V usually is plenty power for most things.  I have a bigger drill for tougher jobs if needed. Worst case I'll break out the AC drill...(cords, how antiquated). How did we live before cordless drills were around? When I was a kid a cordless drill was a thing with a crank handle that looked like a manual egg beater.

John

I've got a dewalt 7.2V screwgun for light work, does 90% of my work really. Powerful enough to send a screw through rear deck sheetmetal without any problems. I have an 18V 988 dewalt for the tougher jobs, never failed me yet, send unibits through pretty much any firewall I put it up against.

I've heard good things about husky though, their drills seem to be roughly on par with the dewalt models, definitly better then craftsman.

12-14v drills are the best to buy for doing alot of different jobs. I use a 12v Snap-on.

I have a cheapie $13.99 12V cordless with keyless chuck from harbor frieght tools....I believe the brand is 'Drill Master'

I actually bought another just incase this one broke and to have two batteries and chargers. For what I do with these, I did get my money's worth but I am longing for a real cordless drill.  The good thing about this one is that the torque clutch works and it is very difficult to damage anything on the lowest setting. I have been using both of these for about a year and so far so good.

I've been eyeballing the 18 volt De-Walts in Home Depot. Most of my tools are impulse buys, but this is a $300 drill. I'm sure it's worth it though. I have used all types, like the Makita 7.5 volt, amazing power for it's size (older model) The Ryobi 14.4 isn't so bad...but the De-Walt just has so much more muscle. I like the fact that it makes little difference whether you use a self tapper or not, it drives it right through. The ease of assembling boxes too!

The hottest cordless tool I've seen in is the 1/2" impact gun  from Snap-On. This makes unbolting things a breeze, a good cordless with socket adapter can be used too as long as you break the bolts first.  I've heard of some guys using the 1/4" hex to socket drivers to break things free, but this doesn't seem very safe or good for the drill.

I use my tools for more than just cars, so I like to have something that can go anywhere....do anything.

15 years in this business,... this is what I have... all Makita's

Makita 12v impact driver (that accepts bits), 1/2 chuck drill, 3/8 chuck drill, 3 1/2 circular saw, jigsaw, fluorescent light.

9.6 volt orange battery, flashlight, 2 - 3/8 drills.

9.6 stick, angle cordless.

I like the verstality, reliability.  Served me well!  Best investment was the impact driver, had it when it first came out, only had to replace the switch once!  This thing got abused more times than I can remember & this is a very tough tools, like my rest of them!

Sean - MobilEVT