THSCC Forums

I just bought an 18v 3/8" Coleman made portable drill from PepBoys in Garner off of hiway 70. I think they have special going on right now. Price was 29.98, not bad for an 18v anything. The kit had a case, drill, battery and charger. The drill itself has a high/low gear and about 20 chuck settings for torque.

I'll let you know how this thing works and feels once I get a chance to play with it. I wanted one for the lug nuts on the bimmer now that I swap tires at the events and installed a stud kit. Lost one of my race tires to one of God's little creatures and a bone took out one of my Falkens. I guess he got the last laugh....

_________________
Rodney

'08 Bullitt mustang, CAM 7
Autox VP '09-'10, President '11-'12, interim President 2nd half of ‘14
proud recipient of the Bowie Grey service award '12
Now just a guy driving a mustang....

When purchasing any cordless tool, first investigate cost and availability of replacement batteries especially down the road. We are anal about caring for them, but they still die much too easily/often IMHO. We replace one to two a year for our impact gun (@ 60.00 a pop). We take two fully charged ones with us to all events in case one craps out and still carry a folding lug wrench just in case. The good thing about our Milwaukee is that replacement batteries are available at any Lowes or HD.

_________________
SPIN or WIN!
there's no glory for going slow.

For thirty bucks, just throw it away and get a new one.

_________________
Has no responsibility whatsoever.

Replacement batteries for the Coleman are cheap and can be found at Northern Tool.

_________________
In need of car.

I actually bought the that Coleman kit with the drill and several other tools for like $90 a few months back from PepBoyz. I'm no tool snob, but I was a little underwhelmed. The torque didn't seem nearly good enough for something with 18V behind it. Wasn't much more powerful than my dead 9.6V Makita.

I decided to upgrade. Returned the whole set and got the Ryobi Super Combo for less than $200 I think. I have been REALLY happy with this set for the price. It's part of the ONE+ system which has a lot of parts/batteries/support available everywhere.

My first Ryobi drill developed a weird noise though within the first 30 days. Took it back and Home Despot replaced the whole set for free for me, no questions asked.

Just a happy customer of the Ryobi stuff.

_________________
Mike Whitney
whit32@gmail.com, 919-454-5445
V10, V8, V8t, I6, I6, V6, F4t, I4, I4, I4, I4, I2, 1, 1

At work I use a Sears 14.4 V drill for about 4 years now. It is just needing to have the batteries replaced. I have found that I can get Ni Cad packs from tower hobbies to rebuild the batteries for about $30 each.

Bob Kendrick has been using Ryobi drills for about 10 years now. I thiink he got an 18 V when they first came out and uses it daily at work too.

Bob is hard on tools too.

_________________
George Bright Member # 141
One of the youngest of the old farts.
Yes I voted against you joining the club.

IF I remember correctly, many Sears tools are Ryobi, I know the drill is. Mine is about 2 years old and is starting to have battery issues 18V. I am not that hard on it I didn't think

Nicads are quite tempermental and has nothing to do with how you use the tool. For various unknown reasons one of the cells will suddenly decide to reverse polarity or stop taking a charge which kills the entire pack. They can also develop a "memory" where if you only use them for a short while before recharging them regularly (common when used to change AX tires) they will no longer discharge past that point. It is recommended that every few uses you leave it running until the battery runs down completely before recharging. Never leave them in a fully discharged condition tho.

_________________
SPIN or WIN!
there's no glory for going slow.

One thing I did to help battery life is I made a small change to the cheap 3 Hr. charger. It now stops charging when the thermo switch in the battery pack opens up. All it took was a small relay, resistor and a push button switch to start the charge cycle. Too bad my boss does not understand that you have to push the button to start the charge cycle. He cannot figure out why his batteries are not charged overnight.

_________________
George Bright Member # 141
One of the youngest of the old farts.
Yes I voted against you joining the club.

George brings up a good point.

Leaving any batteryon its charger longer that is required to charge will dramatically shorten the battery's life. Even if yours came with a so called "smart charger" that won;t over charge. It will and your batteries will not last as long over time.

As for Frank's comments, I would switch brands if you have to replace packs that often. I have used many brands, for construction use, over and over all day with numerous drops and impacts. Mine, Bosch, Ryobi, and Makita all lasted many yrs without any noticable loss of battery life.

_________________
91 Jetta GLI STS/DSP 111
85 Porsche 944 ASP 11
http://www.blackforestindustries.com