In the late 1990s, my father purchased me a cordless Makita drill one Christmas (Figure 1). I had been quite happy with it and have used it for all manner of home improvement and fine woodworking (mostly pilot holes or holes to hang the project on a wall) projects. After 20+ years, both batteries have essentially stopped working.
Figure 1
I knew this day would eventually come and I would either send the batteries out to have them rebuilt (as my father has done a few times on his) or get another cordless drill. I was going to send out the batteries to get them rebuilt as I hate the thought of discarding a good tool even though battery economics leans towards the tool disposal route. Fate intervened before I sent the batteries out for rebuilding. My wife purchased a cordless hedge trimmer (Figure 2) at some good sale price at Home Depot. We have a fair bit of hedges and it's a bit much for the manual trimmers plus it is hot during the summer. Faster hedge trimming would make us both happy.
Figure 2
Turns out that the single battery provided didn't have enough charge to finish the amount of hedge trimming one might want to do in a single session. My wife was contemplating to get a second battery. I had an moment of clarity. I told her to buy me a cordless drill that uses the same battery as the hedge trimmer. Cost unlikely all that different between a battery and cordless drill plus battery. Plus, I kind of needed to do something about my cordless drill situation. I don't think I even knew that the brand involved was Black and Decker. She purchased me a cordless Black and Decker drill (Figure 3). I've been happy with this Black and Decker cordless drill. It lacks a light which would have been nice but then again my Makita didn't have a light either. It cost under $50 according to my wife.
Figure 3
I wasn't planning for my decision to be made this way. I had planned to do a bunch on internet research, reread a Wood Magazine cordless drill review I saw in the past 12 to 18 months. Go hold some. Agonize over which and them end up likely spending more than $50. None of that happened. My choice was dictated by the commonality of batteries. If you have some cordless tools, you might consider the same approach. Again, if you are a professional who uses a cordless drill day in and out, you might have more drivers than me as a hobby woodworker.
As for the Makita, it goes back to my dad. He will rebuild the batteries and now have a spare drill in which he can have a different bit. I'm glad I didn't have to toss it away.
Speaking of Black and Decker as a brand (I have no affiliation or sponsorship and paid fair street value for these tools), I have been quite happy with them. A few years ago, we needed to make a plywood box with forty-five 3"ish holes for a school festival (Figure 4 & 5). The cordless drill with the hole saw bit could do one hole but it was slow and completely wiped out the batter after one hold. As such, I needed a corded drill. I went to the local Ace Hardware and basically bought the more inexpensive corded drill I could find. It was made by Black and Decker (Figure 6). I was amazed at how much torque it has relative to either cordless drills I own. It was at or under $50. That's now three times (corded and cordless drill, cordless hedge trimmer) I have been happy with their products. I probably wouldn't have considered this brand otherwise but so far so good on three of their products, at least for a hobbyist.
Figure 4
Figure 5
Figure 6
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