Nicad battery. Just saying.

Does it not come free inside a xmas cracker?! :stuck_out_tongue:

Nice one Buzz, its a steal, and plenty of stock available, heat added :smiley:

No manicure set?! :smirk: anyway if it's good enough for K Price......!

Its a snip at that price anyway :smirk:

Nicad battery. Just saying.

Had one a wee while back and it was garbage.
Battery dies after short use, not powerful enough to drill brick.

Cant find an age guide.

Suitable for 4 year old nephew?

Bosch one for £19.70 Link

definitely going to be a challenge to use.

It will be a Challenge to do jobs with this i think

I had one of these and the battery is ok for a year then very quickly loses its charge. Cannot keep battery charged best pay more and get lithium ion battery drill, as when you need it it will work.

The batteries on these older designs are not very good, but at this price the tool could be used as a throw away. It would be perfectly good for someone with a few jobs around the house or garage. It would be fine for use as a drill into wood, plastics, plaster &c, but would struggle with masonry or metal (well, it might well work with some patience).
I have to vote hot on this one, I have no idea how this can be manufactured and supplied for such a low price (it would be impossible to make it in the UK for this price), and it would be fine as a one use (well, maybe 20-30 use) tool rather than spending £100 or so on one a tradesman might buy.

That's the trouble with us nowadays, everything is throwaway. I think its ludicrous a drill could even be considered a throwaway item.

A decent mains drill can be had for £35, and Li-ion battery drill for £50. Just spend a bit more and buy something half decent, it will make whatever DIY job you are doing much easier and last ten times longer.

I don't agree with the throwaway society we live in where services are very expensive but goods are absurdly cheap, but it is what it is.
Lots of items have become throw away, when I was growing up every small town had a TV repair shop because a set cost about a month's pay; now it costs less than a day's pay, and so I don't know of a single TV repair shop these days. Whether it is worth paying perhaps 4 times as much for a better drill/driver, or 10 times as much for one a tradesman might buy depends on the user. If one just has a few jobs such as fitting curtain rails or putting up shelves around the house,and is unlikely to need a similar tool again for a while, then it would be perfectly sensible to buy this one for £15. It would pay for itself in a single day compared with the high cost of services in getting someone in to do the work.
Regarding longevity and quality: I use an expensive professional drill/driver for my occasional work (as an electrician) and it is easy to use, powerful, the batteries last well on a charge and it will probably last longer than me. I also have a cheaper drill that I bought about 7 years ago (it came with 3 batteries, but they are the same technology as the one referred to in this thread). I keep it at our country house for occasional jobs, the chuck is a tiny bit more difficult to use, it is not quite as powerful and the batteries won't do a whole day's work on one charge, but it is still working perfectly well, all three batteries still charge well and again it may well out last me.
That was a long winded way of saying that whilst I lament our throwaway society, I disagree that it is worth most people paying more for a drill/driver they will only use a few times.

Ni-Cd battery - forget it. Will lack power and then die in short while. There's a proper Li-ion one on the same page as the link for only £19.99; even though it's only 12v it will be a far better buy than this junk.

Had these at college. They're more for basic stuff like screwing and the off drilling into wood. It's funny because you press the trigger, pull your finger off but the drill keeps going haha

how bad is it? I only need it to drill some holes to hang my curtain.
Never done it before. should I cancel my purchase of 69.99 Bosch 18V one with 2 Li battery and going for this?
if it's 18v, it's a hammer drill, right?

Many thanks for your very patient and detailed explanation.
I've canceled the amazon order and buying this one!

I hope that has been good advice!
It really depends what material you need to drill into to hang your curtains. If it is brick then I'd recommend that you buy a set of these diamond core drill bits that Lidl has on sale at the moment(http://www.lidl.co.uk/en/our-offers-2491.htm?action=showDetail&id=41143&ar=3 ) and using them with either this drill or the one that Lidl is selling for £25 (Parkside is quite a good brand, in my opinion, but it is only 12V, so it would be handier as a driver than as a drill). I think either would be able to make neat holes in domestic brickwork with the diamond core bits. If you are drilling into wood then just use a normal twist drill bit.
The cost of the Argos drill and the Lidl bits together will only be £21, and I don't suppose you would be able to get an odd-job man to turn up at your house and drill the holes for that cost, so you will end up with a free drill and some bits as well as learn a new skill if you fit the curtain rails yourself. DiY jobs like this really are not difficult, if you are not sure just find a YouTube of someone doing something similar.
Good fortune.

Cheers! Love the HUKD society because of members like you!

I have had to throw away NiCd drills before now that were working perfectly, apart from the dead battery. I agree with your suggestion of buying a mains drill, though. Argos do one of similar quality to this battery drill for £2 more. It will keep going until it wears out, which seems a lot less wasteful. Oh, and the mains one is a variable speed hammer drill, so it's actually a usable piece of kit, within its obvious limitations.

This is nonsense!

The Argos cordless drill is not a hammer drill, so it is not good for drilling into masonry. The lidl drill bits recommended are designed for drilling holes in tiles, not for masonry.

If you want a drill around this price range for that job, get this one. http://www.argos.co.uk/product/7106062

You need masonry drills. This set includes those, for £7.50 http://www.argos.co.uk/product/3329582

You'll need wall plugs and screws, as well.

That's assuming the wall is masonry, and you're not drilling into a lintel or some dry lining.

What a rude chap/lady you are.

I apologise that I have expressed my concern overly strongly. Do you think I am wrong about those particular drills, though?

The solution you have suggested is perfectly reasonable, but even if it was not I would not have called it nonsense, that was plain rude.
I got the feeling the respondent would have little further use for a corded hammer drill, I think the 18V cordless drill would do the job perfectly well even without a hammer action with the diamond core bits ('Cuts cleanly in tiles, ceramic, stone slabs, granite and marble' - if they will cut granite they will have no problem with brick and do not require a hammer action).
This conversation is at an end.

The lidl drills are only about 25 mm long, though. Totally the wrong item for the job.

much lighter than my Milwaukee

Sorry mate, no offence but your wrong.

Core bits would be fine for cutting a hole say through tile, then you would drill to required depth with a masonary bit in a percusion drill.

Drilling plaster walls with those core bits is barely going to get deep enough to hit the brickwork.

Core drills also have more cutting surface area compared to a masonary drill.

The extra surface area in contact requires a higher torque to rotate.

It would kill a cheap drill much quicker.


An 18v hammer drill will drill brick walls with ease. Its going to be a hundred times better than a non hammer drill.

SDS drills are great for speed or larger holes but a hammer action is perfectly fine for fitting a few rawl plugs.

How do you think folk managed pre SDS.

just picked it up at argos. very plasticky looking.
will give it a go.