Video Review: Hitachi DS18DGL Corldess Drill Review

[@HandymanKevin]

Just to give an idea about the battery life, I just did the following on one fully charged battery: Drilled 8 1/8" holes in 16ga sheet metal, drove 4 3" drywall screws, undid 6 1/2" bolts, ran in the bearings on 3 stop motion armature ball joints, drilled 4 5/32" by 1/2" deep holes in solid steel billets, drilled a 1 1/8" and 2 3/4" holes through a 2x6, drove about 20 small sheet metal screws, spun a center punch while I reground the end. So, as I said in the earlier post, slightly better than most NiMh drills could do.

[@HandymanKevin]

UPDATE AFTER SIX MONTHS - I've used the drill daily for some time now and, for the most part, my initial impressions hold up. Functionally it is about as powerful as the various Makita and Dewalt NiCad and NiMh 18v drills I've used. It is a little slightly lighter than the last generation of NiMh drills and the battery normally lasts through a whole shift (as opposed to having to change it once or twice). Overall, more of an incremental improvement than the "miraculous" performance I expected with my first Lithium Ion drill. Still, I'm happy with it and haven't had any problems; I expect it to last several years (assuming it doesn't get stolen by tweakers like the Makita it replaced). As I said in the video, this was a birthday present. Even still, if I was headed out to buy a new drill today I would probably buy this one again because I think it gives very serviceable performance at this price point.

[@MustacheVerra]

You probably know this already but if you want to get the full potential out of your drill, you should probably get the extended battery. Should help for big holes etc. Thanks for the review.

[@Mikeesocal69]

Why are Hitachi tools known only to professionals? The average joe knows nothing about these tool companies.