Hammer Drill - Corder or Cordless?

[radhak]

6 years ago, I bought the craftsman cordless hammer drill, and was happy for some time, as I also had their regular drill, and their batteries interchanged.

But a year ago all those batteries started failing and now they're all gone, and I'm in the market for newer drill/drivers. Maybe I'm cheap, but methinks 6 years is too short for 4 batteries to fail at the same time, so I'm gonna stay away from Craftsman now.

First need is a hammer drill as I need to punch some holes above the garage door to install a basketball hoop.

So, wondering - wouldn't a corded hammer drill be cheaper and more efficient? I would still get a cordless drill/driver later, but for the specific use of a hammer drill, I could do without the flexibility of the cordless. How's the 'kickback' of a corded one - any better or worse than a cordless drill/driver on the wrist? And I ain't a professional, so don't need the heavier industrial strength ones.

And while there, any particular brand recommendation, for hammer drills or the regular kind, corded or not?

[chopnhack]

It all depends on your usage. If you just need a couple holes you can get by with your regular drill and a masonry bit. If you feel you really need to buy one for this occasion then maybe a HF burner. For something better makita or bosch. I personally own the makita blue hammer drill, driver plus impact driver cordless kit and have used them extensively for over 2 years remodeling, good stuff! The corded beast is a bosch bullpup and I have used that to clean thinset off of floors and have drilled numerous larger bored holes with it, devastating tool. Just depends on your needs and wallet :-)

[radhak]

I will need to buy a regular drill/driver gun soon, but I have been disappointed drilling holes in brick and masonry with some such - the hole gets wider before it gets deeper ! The hammer drill - when it worked - worked great. Agreed, the usage is infrequent, hence I'm wary of putting too much into it.

My worry is that I've heard about corded drills having too much torque, particularly when hitting some block, causing a whiplash on hands/wrists. If available, I'd rather buy one that has some sort of a breaker to avoid that!

Interesting that I did not think of HF. Lemme check it out.

edit : looks like this one has pretty decent feedback, for $31! Anybody handled it before?

[capncarl]

Someone here posted about the Rigid brand battery tools earlier. Their lifetime "agreement" gave them a lifetime warranty that also included the batteries. When my Hitachi batteries died earlier this year after 3 years I picked up the Rigid combo, drill with hammer drill mode and impact driver. It is proving to be a very nice set and feels well made. $200 for 2 lifetime battery tools that I use all the time, I was all over it.
capncarl

[leehljp]

For hammer drill, I use a corded one. I personally don't need one often, but when I do, I want the consistency that comes with corded. To me, Hammer drills are in the same category of circular saws. I have an 18V Ryobi (One Plus) circular saw but they do not have the power to do what I want. The saw does do well for very short on the spot needs. Same for hammer drills.

As to the other part of your frustration, 6 years is about average for batteries from what I have experienced. Some last longer, some last less. This has been with Ryobi, Porter Cable, Panasonic (Japan) and other. The virdict is still out on Lithium batteries, but so far, they are lighter and seem to be holding well. I have only one tool (Hitachi) with lithium that I have had for 5 years and it so far has not started degrading. I did purchase a couple of One-Plus Ryobi batteries last year to replace the NiCad batteries of my One Plus tools. Li batteries do seem to be more expensive than other batteries. They charge faster, hold the charge longer. One thing I have noticed about Li batteries is that they do not start to lose the charge at the end of its power cycle and then stop. Instead, they seem to run fairly consistently, drop off a little and suddenly stop, as though the tool had a malfunction. Drained nicad batteries will power a tool to "turn" or at least act like it wants to turn. But Li batteries, just STOP. (This is not about when the battery dies but when it drains and needs to be recharged.)

This is my experience with Hitachi and with Ryobi. Not sure if anyone else experiences this or not.

[JimD]

There are lots of kinds of hammer drills. The HF one you linked looks like it works like my Skil. It is a light duty hammer drill. I've bored 3/8, maybe 1/2, inch holes through brick with it. In old concrete, it takes awhile with 1/4 inch bits. It has two plates with bumps on them that rotate against each other in hammer mode. You pushing provides the blow on the aggregate. This sort of hammer drill is probably all most of us need.

I may buy a "real" hammer drill for projects on the new house. The kind that has a pneumatic hammering mode. You can also use this sort of drill as a light duty jack hammer (no drilling). If I do, the only brand that would be inexpensive enough for me on this very occasional use tool would be HF. I orginally thought of them for nothing with a motor. But I've been pleasantly surprised by some tools I thought would fail after a project or two.

Jim

[sweensdv]

By its very nature, a hammer drill sees tougher usage than a normal drill. Go the corded route and you'll never have to worry about running out of power in the middle of drilling. There are just certain tools that should have a tail and this is one.

[radhak]

I've heard of the lifetime warranty from Rigid, didn't know batteries were covered. I'll try it out HD for the regular drill/impact driver kit.

For the hammer drill, I might get the above one from HF; it's close enough that I save on shipping.

[parnelli]

I bought the HF corded one maybe 6 years ago. Thought for 20 bucks that even if lasted one project I'd be fine.... that thing is still going to this day. No idea how, but it keeps plugging away.

Also- don't forget to take a 20 or 25% off coupon with you if you go.

[BigguyZ]

I have a fairly large collection of tools. I will say this, 18V cordless tools have come a LONG way in the last few years. Hank mentioned his 18V Ryobi, and I agree that the Ryobi circ saw (and recip saw) are terrible and unuseable. However, I have the Makita LXT set, and that circ saw is awesome, as is the recipt saw. I swear there is little appreciable difference in my Rigid corded recip and the Makita cordless (assuming you have enough batteries to swap when they get low). And I love motor on the right for the Makita circ saw.

Back to drills- that set also has an hammer drill, and I've used it for many a tapcon. It's a great drill and I reccomend it highly- especially the new brushless model they have. Good stuff. So if you're not doing a ton of masonry drilling, I would say that a hammer drill from the better manufacturers will work well.

Now one caveat- I've had many LXT batteries die on me. So 4 batteries in 6 years is NOT unheard of with the Makitas. Even though they're my favorite tool, their batteries are hit or miss. So, if that's a deal breaker, I'd highly reccomend to get the Rigid tools. As noted, their lifetime service agreement covers the battery and I can tell you that they're great tools to use. I like the Makita ones better, but the Rigids are a very close 2nd.

I also have a Bosch HD21 corded hammer drill, and if you want to do a lot of masonry, or mortar mixing, or just heavy duty work in general, that's a great tool and it can handle a good amount of punishment. But- it's must more cumbersome and much heavier than an 18V cordless. Also, I really hate keyed chucks. so if you don't need the extra power, I'd go cordless.

[JSUPreston]

I bought the HF corded one maybe 6 years ago. Thought for 20 bucks that even if lasted one project I'd be fine.... that thing is still going to this day. No idea how, but it keeps plugging away.

Also- don't forget to take a 20 or 25% off coupon with you if you go.

I bought the orange HF unit years ago. Decided it was cheaper to buy it than to rent one. The thing still runs great. I used it a few weeks ago to attach a D-ring to the outside of my shop for the utility trailer my FIL bought.

I paid $15-20 for it at the time. I think given how long I've had it, I've gotten my money's worth.

[LCHIEN]

6 years is pretty good for nicad batteries.

Sear's main cordless line is the C-3 for which they have many tools.

If you have a Craftsman C-3 system tools which uses 19.2V batteries, they will take the craftsman C-3 Lithium-ion batteries which are lighter and smaller (and unfortunately cost more) for the same capacity. The Li-ion will last longer and retain charge longer as well. You will need a new "multi-chemistry" charger which will also charge any old Nicad batteries you have left.

You get to keep all your tools and get better batteries to go with them.

[toolguy1000]

I've heard of the lifetime warranty from Rigid, didn't know batteries were covered........

as bigguyz quite correctly points out, it's a lifetime service agreement, not a lifetime warranty. it's all here:

http://www.ridgid.com/tools/power-tool-warranty

[JimD]

With respect to 18V Ryobi tools, I will add that the new lithium ion batteries make the reciprocating saw and circular saw much more usable. I used the recriprocating saw to take down an awning made of electrical conduit on my wife's lake house. It went through the conduit quickly and also sawed right through the much more substantial poles supporting it. I've used the circular saw a little on 2X lumber and it is much better. With ni-cads the circular saw would eat batteries and get little done. The lithium ion batteries change it to something much more useful.

I would still go corded but Ryobi's 18V line is a viable option with the lithium ion batteries.

[radhak]

6 years is pretty good for nicad batteries.

Sear's main cordless line is the C-3 for which they have many tools.

If you have a Craftsman C-3 system tools which uses 19.2V batteries, they will take the craftsman C-3 Lithium-ion batteries which are lighter and smaller (and unfortunately cost more) for the same capacity. The Li-ion will last longer and retain charge longer as well. You will need a new "multi-chemistry" charger which will also charge any old Nicad batteries you have left.

You get to keep all your tools and get better batteries to go with them.

This is not the first time I'm hearing this; I was told so earlier this year, by - who else - you, Loring! (in an earlier thread, Thanks!). And I was keeping that as one of my options, but of course it had slipped my mind ! The problem is each C3 Li-Ion battery is highly priced, and if I want multiples the cost just - well, multiplies! But you are right - I get to get to keep my tools, without the guilt of throwing away perfectly good tools.

Maybe I should just get one battery and a charger, to begin with, and keep my options open for a corded hammer-drill anyway.

I do like the small looks of the tiny 'compact' drill/drivers I see everywhere, such as the Bosch PS21. One of these days...