I am a master electrician and I have been using 18V Dewalt and still do. However, I recently received a Ryobi 18V Cordless drill and light, and am very pleased with them. I use Craftman hand tools. When we are drilling a lot of studs for running romex, we use an electric Milwauke hole hog with 14" rotary bits. You need to have a good grip on this brute.

I've had a Dewalt 988 for years, without any problems. Just replaced it with the NEW Lithium version. B&D is OK for home use, but really isn't built to last. If you have a Home Depot near by, check out the Ridgid. It's a quality tool with a LIFETIME warranty on the tool along with FREE batteries.....Very hard deal to beat. NOT a fan of Ryobi at all. Depending on his POWER needs, check out the impacts, for long screws and lag bolts, they have more than enough power...but they're not really a drill. GOOD LUCK

Check out the new lithium battery powered ones and don't buy anything Ryobi. DeWalt, Makita, and Porter Cable all make good quality tools.

I just ordered two Ridgid drills from homedepot.com for $99.95 each as part of their "Black Friday" sale, good for a few more days ($30 off regular price). There is a lifetime service agreement for batteries and other replaceable parts (this is not the same as a lifetime warranty, n.b.).

I also found a promotion code doing a google search that saved me another $10.

I agree with the others -- most Black & Decker stuff is strictly for the weekend warrior that might use it a few times a year. The battery is one of the more expensive components, and to get a low price point, a lot of the savings has to come out of the battery quality.

For what it's worth....DeWalt is made by the same
company that makes Black and Decker. I think the
DeWalt is built to standards that are a little higher,
but not by much.

The Black and Decker Company bought DeWalt(also Delta and Porter Cable--was a high end pro tool line) a couple of years ago.

As I last heard, the companies plan is to keep Delta tools---table saws and band saws---the same, keep the unique PC tool line, make DeWalt their pro line, and BD their homeowner line.

They will rebadge/eliminate tools to accomplish that plan. So, the tool offered is one that fits the niche the best----with whichever brand applies.

For what is' worth.. we have killed all of them but not the Dewalt!

Maddie

Thanks, everyone! DeWalt, it is! I hope he likes it.

Good decision. He'll be especially glad you didn't get him the B&D.

I've been lazy in the past and used my dewalt 18v for tasks it wasn't meant to be used for instead of grabbing the corded hole hawg milwaukee and it survived. Any lesser grade cordless im sure would have fried on the spot.

You dont want to use any cordless for extreme heavy duty drilling and i treat the dewalt 18v better these days. Best to have a decent 1/2" corded drill as a back up for heavier drilling tasks.

Pop Mechanics magazine (or pop Science?) reviews new brands with lithium batteries. You can read it online for free.

DeWalt is the best for the price. The 12 volt is a good buy for $139 at HD. Both 12 v0lt batterys went dead after 6 years of use. The 12V weighs in at 3.8pounds. The 14.4 is one pound more.
my main reason for getting another instead of spending $60 for a replacement battery for my old drill.

I bought a firestorm hammer drill once. I needed to get something done in a hurry, it was the only one I could afford. I was extremely dissapointed with it! Very weak and aggravating. But, I have a Ridgid 18V drill and I love it. It wasn't cheap, but it has plenty of power, two batteries, and a dual charger. I got as part of a six piece combo. couldn't be happier!
Dan

The Black and Decker Company bought DeWalt(also Delta and Porter Cable--was a high end pro tool line) a couple of years ago.

Not quite. B&D has owned the DeWalt name since at least the early 1990's. B&D bought the DeWalt name from a defunct company that was best known for radial arm saws. B&D had a line of "industrial" tools that wasn't doing very well, mainly because they were associated with a company that also made toaster ovens. They had a stroke of genius and repackaged everything in spiffy yellow and black. Early on one could find identical B&D Industrial and DeWalt tools. B&D also owned Elu in Europe and some of their Industrial line and DeWalt tools were identical copies of Elu tools. B&D was very careful in keeping their name well separated from DeWalt. Since then their Industrial line and Elu have been replaced entirely with DeWalt.

B&D did buy Delta and Porter-Cable from Pentair a few years ago.

The downfall of the American tool industry has been largely a function of cheap consumers and big box stores. When a company wants to sell, say, a drill to a big box store it does NOT go and say, "Hi, Mr. Homer Depot, we have this wonderful drill that we can sell you for $139 dollars." It's more like, "I'm Mr. Homer Depot. I want a drill with these specifications and I'm willing pay you $99 for each drill. If you want to sell me lots of drills you need to figure out away to control your costs so you can sell it to me for $99." When this started happening in the tool business, DeWalt had two of each tool. One usually had cheaper (read lower amp hour batteries) than the other. Guess which version you saw a Home Depot?

If you want a tool where the engineering department, not the marketing department sets the prices, take a look at Festool.

Well, there are many great brands of drill available, especially cordless drills. The most popular brands among craftsmen and home owners are: Dewalt, Black & Decker, Bosch, Milwaukee and Makita.

Here is a link that might be useful: Best Cordless Drills