What kind of drill should i get

Smaller and cheaper drills often only have 10mm chucks, which might be enough if you're looking at nothing more than drilling in some small holes to hang pictures. You also want a keyless chuck, so you can loosen and tighten it by hand without having to worry about finding the chuck key. Pretty much all drills have keyless chucks these days. Essential for removing screws from timber or other material. The rotation button or switch should be reachable with your thumb or forefinger without changing your grip.

This should be easy to operate and give good variable control, from barely rotating to full speed. Good control at low speed is particularly important when trying to start a screw, or drilling on surfaces that don't provide good adhesion or friction, such as tiles and metal. A range of gears will help you get the best results for different tasks. Low gear is for slow, powerful drilling, such as with a wide-diameter bit, drilling through steel or driving screws.

High gear is for fast drilling, such as with small-diameter bits. This stops you overdriving or snapping a screw. To calculate run time, we cycle the batteries on and off to simulate a torturous nature of stop-and-go tasks, such as building a deck. Then we completely drain each battery and time how long it takes it to recharge.

And of course we use the dyno to measure torque and RPMs, which we translate into our power score. This test is a reflection of how big a hole a drill can bore, or how large a fastener it can drive. As it turns out, all but the smallest models require hearing protection for safe use.

We divide our cordless drill ratings into three categories based on how you might use the drill: heavy-duty, general-use, light-duty, and impact drivers. The three-pronged clamp that secures bits at the business end of any drill. It takes both cutting bits for drilling holes and driving bits for screwing in fasteners.

Which is to say, chuck size is a good proxy for how heavy-duty a drill is. Impact drivers are unique. Although light with a hex-shaped shaft, they can easily handle heavy-duty jobs.

This eclectic class of drills is best-suited for small jobs around the house: assembling flat-packed furniture, changing a light fixture, and drilling into drywall.

If you need to take on the occasional heavier job, you can always rent a hammer drill from a home center. Drills in this category are built around brawny to volt batteries, giving them the power to drive large fasteners and bore holes through thick boards.

All that capability means heavy-duty drills tend to be the most expensive and heaviest. Impact drivers are extremely powerful tools engineered for inserting long screws, fasteners, and lag bolts. Lots of them. Compact and lightweight, they're designed for speed and efficiency on heavy-duty jobs like construction, deck building, or home improvements. Impact drivers aren't equipped with chucks.

Instead, they rely on hex-shaped drill bits and trigger-generated torque up to 3 times the RPMs as drills —so exercise caution not to overdrive screws into wood, metal, or cement. A drill should feel good in your hand. So before buying a new one, clip in the battery and grip it to see how it handles and whether you can tolerate the weight for longer jobs. Impact drivers are especially adept at drilling overhead. Some general-use drills have a pistol grip, with a cylindrical battery buried in the handle, and they are quite comfy to grasp.

Cordless drills are sold in three configurations: 1 As a stand-alone tool with one or two batteries and a dedicated charger 2 As part of a collection of cordless tools from a single brand, called a kit 3 As a bare tool, with no battery or charger. Just know that kits typically feature volt tools, so the included drill would be a heavy-duty model. Kits often come with two batteries and a charger. If you already have a compatible battery from a different cordless tool, a bare drill option 3 will suffice.

Option 3 is the least expensive but the worst value. The size tells you two important things about a drill. First, it provides an upper limit for the shank size of the bits the drill can accommodate. Early Li-ion batteries often needed to be charged and used under precise conditions to ensure peak performance. But the newest generation of batteries and chargers prevents overcharging batteries, alleviating the need to drain them fully between charges to ensure the longest possible life.

New chargers also include an indicator light, which clearly displays how close the battery is to a full charge. Some brands also have indicator lights on the batteries themselves. Drills Buying Guide Read guide. Shop products. What drill do I need? Read now. Cordless or corded? Drill features explained Read now. Power types Read now. Drill bits explained Read now. Our drill brands Read now. Drill drivers Perfect for smaller household jobs.

Shop drill drivers. Impact drivers Specifically designed to do one job — to drive in screws. Shop impact drivers. Combi drills Very versatile and a great all-rounder. Shop combi drills. Hammer drills A heavyweight that is specifically designed to drill into stone, masonry and concrete.

Shop hammer drills. SDS rotary hammer drills Highly specialised, and more expensive, drills that are more powerful than standard hammer drills. Shop SDS rotary hammer drills. Cordless Cordless drills are a very popular choice for good reason. Advantages Highly portable Very convenient Lightweight, so comfortable to use for longer periods Disadvantages Not as powerful as corded drills Battery life can impact on productivity More expensive than a similar corded drill Shop cordless drills.

Drill features explained Drill speed settings The speed of a drill is shown as revolutions per minute or RPM. Torque Measured in Newton metres Nm , torque is the twisting force to turn an object. Chuck types The chuck is the part of the drill that holds the drill bit in place.

Power types Cordless power types When it comes to cordless drills, the power output is given in volts V and can vary from