Cheapo cordless drill/driver- Makita copies?

[Sea Change]

I'm a very happy long term Makita user.
I'm back at home for a few months and all my tools are on the boat.
I need a basic drill/driver to do a few jobs around the house. I really don't want to spend much on it. I know there are some 'compatible' copies out there, and it would certainly be an advantage if whatever I buy could eventually join my existing set of Makita stuff.

Any first hand experience of the ~£30 drills on Amazon? I'm a bit worried that I'll buy something utterly gutless compared to what I'm used to.

 

[Refueler]

I have various BESK ..... LIDL .... as well as chinese stuff of Amazon / Aliexpress.

They ALL perform as stated .. that's drills, grinders, multi-tool, mini chainsaws ...

In fact what seems to be best in my lot are the cheapest !!

But I always try to go for 18V and 20V stuff ... I've had various 7.5 .. 12 ... 14.4V stuff - but they always seem a bit lacking ... some I have ripped out the NiXX based batterys and replaced with LiPo - which gives them a better 'punch' .. but still - I prefer the 18 - 20V

My biggest complaint is the battery plug in design ... I try to stay with Makita format - so that I can use different brand batterys across the tools ... but so many brands have their own connection design .. I now have 3 chargers and battery formats !!

 

[Sticky Fingers]

I’ve got a cheapo Titan, came from Screwfix. Excellent,

 

[38mess]

I got a really good 24v drill from Lidl, can't think of the name, it drilled and screwed through 18mm marine ply last year easily when I did my new decks. I think it cost around 30 quid. Maybe it was from Screwfix I can't remember, it's on the boat I'll look later.
Good battery life
Edit
The drill is an Olympia 20v... I just checked online and they are £42 on eBay

 

[Fr J Hackett]

I got a really good 24v drill from Lidl, can't think of the name, it drilled and screwed through 18mm marine ply last year easily when I did my new decks. I think it cost around 30 quid. Maybe it was from Screwfix I can't remember, it's on the boat I'll look later.
Good battery life

18mm ply gee whizz

 

[Refueler]

I got a really good 24v drill from Lidl, can't think of the name, it drilled and screwed through 18mm marine ply last year easily when I did my new decks. I think it cost around 30 quid. Maybe it was from Screwfix I can't remember, it's on the boat I'll look later.
Good battery life

My BESK 18V drill (2 A/hr battery) with 25 Torq bit screwed 4 replacement solid wood planks to my pontoon other day - each plank 50mm thick without first drilling holes. That was 3 Torq screws for each ... screws were 110mm long. Battery still had plenty of charge left.

 

[38mess]

18mm ply gee whizz

Come to think of it it was 24mm, battery lasts forever

 

[Sea Change]

Come to think of it it was 24mm, battery lasts forever

The depth of the hole shouldn't really matter very much. It's the diameter that really affects the power required.
My trusty old Makita can swing a 90mm hole saw... although too much pressure will stall it out.

 

[Stemar]

I can't speak for the cordless stuff, but I've bought a number of Aldidl mains tools over the years as "the tool for the job", on the basis that, if they last the job out, they won't owe me anything and, if they don't, there's always the warranty. The only one that died was the one I lent to my son for a much bigger job that it was designed for.

The one thing where I do look for a pro/semi pro quality is a cordless screwdriver. My current DeWalt one, and it's companion impact drill, are well into their teens now.

 

[38mess]

The depth of the hole shouldn't really matter very much. It's the diameter that really affects the power required.
My trusty old Makita can swing a 90mm hole saw... although too much pressure will stall it out.

Yes I know that, I'm just saying it's a good drill for the money, and you asked for cheaper drill advice. Don't forget you get what you pay for.

 

[harvey38]

I have 2 x units branded as Guild, one at home and one on the boat.

I have used and abused the home one for about five years drilling timber, masonry and using oversized hole cutters for a battery drill, not once has it failed. The battery, chuck, gears and torque clutch remain 100%, incredible for a cheap unit.

 

[B27]

There are loads of OK drills around, in the £30 price range.
The trouble is by the time a particular model has stood the test of time, it's obsolete.

 

[PCUK]

You can't beat Wolf at any price. They have people on the phone who know the products. They recently replaced a faulty battery even though it was several months out of warranty. I use them every day in an industrial environment.

 

[Sticky Fingers]

Not a budget brand though.

 

[Sea Change]

So, I'm almost certainly going to regret this, but I've ponied up £24 on eBay for a Makita compatible drill/driver with battery and charger. Even comes with a set of bits and drills which are likely made of a tin-cheese alloy.

I'm used to the real thing so it will be interesting to see just how bad this is...

 

[Plum]

So, I'm almost certainly going to regret this, but I've ponied up £24 on eBay for a Makita compatible drill/driver with battery and charger. Even comes with a set of bits and drills which are likely made of a tin-cheese alloy.

I'm used to the real thing so it will be interesting to see just how bad this is...

Interesting, does that mean the batteries are interchangeable between genuine and clone? Would be interested in your feedback.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

So, I'm almost certainly going to regret this, but I've ponied up £24 on eBay for a Makita compatible drill/driver with battery and charger. Even comes with a set of bits and drills which are likely made of a tin-cheese alloy.

I'm used to the real thing so it will be interesting to see just how bad this is...

4 or 5 years ago I was wandering around Leroy Merlin, my wife was otherwise engaged with light fittings or something similarly uninteresting and I saw a small drill drive ( Dexter) with some bits and bobs in an aluminium case complete with 18V battery and charger all for under €50 so indulged myself on the basis of seeing just what it will do. I use it for drilling pilot holes and driving small screws not much else as it doesn't have a hammer function or the power to do much else. It did come in useful in a roundabout way when I needed to cut some skirting board in a corner that was difficult to access and the tidy option would have been to mark, remove the skirting board, cut and refit but I found on line someone offering a Dexter multitool which took the same battery all for about €20 so I bought that and it did the job, it's the only time I have used it and it lies at the back of a cupboard waiting for an opportunity to prove it's worth again. One of the very few times I have bought cheap tools to do a job and in both cases I have not been disappointed but I don't / didn't expect too much from them which is probably why I haven't been disappointed.

 

[Refueler]

I have a number of cheap battery drills that basically stay under the bench, other than the ones I have swapped to LiPo ..

What failed ? The NiCd batterys ... if not regularly used and maintained - they died. Another reason - a few ended up in the river ! after unclipping in use on boats !!
My BESK - when starting the pontoon repairs - PLOP !! Was my fault - I didn't check it had clicked home fully.

These cheapo drills etc - the ones that have amazed me most .. the 8" chainsaws .... I have two ... both only about 40 quid of AliExpress ...

I use these for cutting up tree branches etc ... what a treat instead of hand saws !!

 

[Sticky Fingers]

I've had clone batteries on my 20 year old Makita for the last 7 years, they're way better than the originals! Different chemistry (NiMh instead of NiCd) but use the same charger in some voodoo kind of way.

 

[Refueler]

I've had clone batteries on my 20 year old Makita for the last 7 years, they're way better than the originals! Different chemistry (NiMh instead of NiCd) but use the same charger in some voodoo kind of way.

NiCd was banned in many countries for retail sales due to the Cadmium ..... NiMh took over. Problem with NiMh is that they cannot deliver such high amp loads as the old NiCd .....
Most tools for some years now have swapped to Lithium based ...