Cordless drills make an excellent choice for those situations when you don’t have a power supply close to you, but still need to drill some holes. Decades ago, people would have used manual drilling machines, but they were awfully difficult to operate and if you needed to drill through a concrete wall, that could have been an impossible task. Today, nobody needs to use manual tools anymore, because cordless ones were invented and they are good and cheap. The first step when buying a cordless drill is to decide what you need it for: do you intend to use it heavily, like at least once a day, or do you just need it for your weekend hobbies and occasional home improvement projects? If you’re not a heavy user, then you could be fine with a cheaper cordless drill. However, if you’re rather a professional, then you’ll need to take more money out of your wallet and buy a professional tool, which is built for heavy usage.

This cordless drill guide is aimed at amateur users, so only reviews of cheaper cordless drills are included.

Black & Decker CDC180ASB 18-Volt Compact Drill

This is one of the newer cordless drill models from Black and Decker and it’s nicer than older ones because it’s smaller, yet more powerful. The tool offers a good precision and control thanks to its variable speed which goes from zero to 650 RPM. As a general rule, you don’t want to buy a drill or a saw which doesn’t feature variable speed, because they are very difficult to control in the beginning of the cutting or drilling process, when you have to position the blade or the bit on the material to be worked.

Another nice feature of this cordless drill is the keyless chuck which allows changing bits fast and easy. This is important when you need to change the bits during the work: if you drill through concrete, you’ll have to first use a smaller sized bit, then switch to a bigger one. Without the keyless chuck, you could easily get burns from the bit which would already be very hot by the time you’ll want to replace it.

The Black & Decker CDC180ASB comes with a cordless drill kit which includes 20 accessories, a storage case, a 18-volt slide pack batteries plus DC charger and one double-ended bit tip.

•  Tool size: 13.7” W x 12.5” H x 4” D
• Weight: 8.0 pounds
• Warranty: 2 years
• Price: approx. $50

Hitachi DS12DVF3 12-Volt Ni-Cad 3/8-Inch Cordless Drill/Driver Kit

This cordless drill is a bit more expensive than the previous one, but it’s surely nicer. It has a two-speed transmission and a 22-stage clutch, which helps increasing the precision driving in all sort of materials such as steel, wood or aluminum. Moreover, the non-slip elastomer grip offers an increased comfort to the user. The 5-position belt hook has two bit holders, so you don’t have to search for your bits all over the place and interrupt your work.

This cordless drilling machine comes with a nice accessory, a flashlight and a speed charger which charges the batteries in as little as 30 minutes. The box also includes a seven bits set and a carrying case. The cordless drill battery charger is universal, so it fits many other Hitachi tools.

• Tool size: 4 x 2 x 10 inches
• Weight: 12.8 pounds
• Warranty: 5 years
• Price: approx. $70

Kawasaki 840110 19-1/5-Volt Cordless Drill Kit

This drill has 25 torques settings and a built-in bubble level. The 3/8-Inch keyless chuck is a useful accessory, for quickly changing the bits. The no-load rotation speed is 400 RPM and the full operating speed is 1100 RPM. The 25 torque positions should be good enough to give you the required level of precision, so this Kawasaki it’s a tool to be considered.

Before buying it, maybe it would be wiser though to check out some consumer reviews, because there were complaints that it lacked proper alignment, thus wobbling when operated. However, this could have been a separate case, an exception, and it probably got fixed during the warranty period.

The rechargeable batteries are NiCD, so they are not the very best, but if you don't need to use the drill for a very long time in one shot, they should be perfect. The tool comes with a 20-piece bit kit which should suffice for most household jobs. The carrying case is included in the box.

• Weight: 10 pounds (this is the shipping weight, the cordless drill is lighter)
• Price: $60