How to Shop for Cordless Drills

Cordless drills are one of the most used building tools today. What are the uses of a cordless drill, you may ask. Drills are used to pierce holes through various materials such as wood, concrete, dry wall and ceramic tile. Cordless drills are also used to sink and remove screws. Drills are also essential for easy maintenance work at home and for professional purposes. That is the reason why cordless drills are one of the most important building tools for homeowners and craftsmen alike. If you are yet to buy one or if you are looking for a replacement for what you are already using, you will have a lot of cordless drills to choose from. On the other hand, it can make it quite confusing for you to know what you should buy. There are certain tips on how you can determine what the right cordless drill is for you. Here are some of the simple ways on how to shop for cordless drills.

• One of the first thing that you should do when choosing a cordless drill is to determine how you will be using it. If you are getting a drill for work related tasks, it is ideal to get a heavy duty cordless drill. A nineteen volt model would be a good choice particularly if it will be used for heavy drilling. However if you will be using it for simple home maintenance, it would be fine to buy a drill model that has less voltage than that. Ideal cordless drills for homes are 9.6 volt models. As a rule the higher the voltage is, the more powerful the tool is.
• There are basically three types of cordless drills - Standard, Hammer Drill and Impact Driver. The Standard cordless drill is used for the usual drilling and sinking of screws. A Hammer Drill performs the same tasks but what make sit different is its hammer effect which can be turned on and off with the push of a button. Hammer drills are often used for drilling into concrete and bricks. An Impact Driver combines the features of a Standard Drill and a Hammer Drill but unlike these two, it features a quick change chuck.
• A factor worth checking out are the batteries. Most cordless drills today run on Nicad batteries. Nicads are smaller and they have longer battery life than than NiMH batteries that some drills use. Nicads are also less toxic than NiMH as it do not contain Cadmium- an element that is can be very dangerous to the health. While some people prefer a battery that charges quickly, that may not necessarily be a good thing. When batteries are charged fast, it might generate too much heat which in turn can damage it. However if this is an important feature for you, consider getting "smart chargers" that charge fast and come with temperature sensors which help in protecting the batteries.
• It is best to know how much you are willing to spend for a cordless drill. There are some cordless drills that can cost as little as $10. If you are looking for one though that has more advanced features such as variable speeds, powerful transmission, lithuim ion battery and a keyless chuck, you should be willing to spend much more than that - probably around $200 or more.

Before choosing a cordless drill, you should definitely try holding the cordless drill. You should know if you are comfortable with the weight and the size of the drill. It should be quite comfortable for you as you will be the one using it.