Best Cordless Drill for Home DIY Use 

Thanks for taking your time to read our information on the best cordless drills for home use. As you can imagine, there are lots of choices available on the UK market, and trying to decide which one is the best can often prove to be quite daunting.

What we have tried to do here, is explain what type of cordless drill you need for the various jobs that may need done around the home. The good news is there is not that many real differences between the brands, other than price and the quality of the drill.

Let's have a quick look at those basics first, as by understanding those, it will point you very quickly in the right direction. Some people still prefer the corded drill models but really cordless is totally taking over now and they are fully powerful enough for all jobs.

Drill/Drivers

All cordless drills actually come as drill/drivers. In other words, it can drill holes and also be used as a screwdriver to drive in and remove screws. The drill function will have its own setting, and if it is a hammer drill, it will have an additional setting for that hammer function.

Most home owners will want their choice of cordless drill to be able to drill through walls and these are usually made from brick or block. A cordless drill with a hammer function is exactly what you need to do that job. (Along with a masonry bit of course)

Used as a Screwdriver

As we mentioned, it can also be used as a driver. That allows you to be able to screw in and remove screws. On most cordless drill/drivers you will have a range of torque settings, and that allows you to drive different length of screws into different materials.

Low torque settings are used for small screws and softer woods, and higher torque settings are used for longer screws and harder woods.

I would strongly recommend that you get a rapid bit holder to use with any drill for putting in screws. They are so handy once you get one you'll never be without one again! Also i have recently bought a right angle drill that's very useful for getting into awkward areas. It's well worth reading a bit more about them.

Other features

We have covered the important differences above. Other features you should think about are that some will have an LED worklight that helps light up darker spaces.

Some will have variable speed, which allows you to start slowly and then increase the speed, a good option when driving in screws.

The battery size is also important with 18 Volt being the most popular. With that of course you will alos need a charger.

We explain all of these features in more detail below, but hopefully this opening sction has covered the basics.

A good tip too is make sure you use the correct bit. A drill bit for tiles , for instance, is much different than a drill bit for concrete and different again if you want to drill metal.

What is the best cordless drill for home use?

The best cordless drill for home use is the Bosch Cordless Hammer Drill. It comes with 2 batteries, a charger, and most importantly a reliable hammer action for drilling solid walls. The driver feature is excellent and it is a reasonable price for such a high quality drill. You will be able to do most jobs, even drilling larger holes.

Make a List of Typical Home Drilling Tasks

Before you spend any money,we would recommend making a simple list of tasks that you either have to do, or want to do around the home. We have created a list below which you may find helpful.

Our Recommendation for the Best Cordless Drill for Home DIY Use

The Runner Up

The Cheapest Alternative

More Helpful Information

So as you can see there is a cordless drill/driver available at a range of price points. They all have a hammer action which is what you need for getting through masonry of all types.

Torque Settings vs Drill Settings

People can easily confuse these so we want to explain the difference between these on drill/drivers. When you purchase a cordless drill/driver that also has a hammer feature, then on the selection you will have various settings.

Torque Settings

The torque settings will be numbered from 1-15 (or whatever number of torque settings your drill/driver has) These are only used for driving in screws. You adjust this setting depending on the size of screw and the type of wood that you are screwing into. For example a higher torque setting is required for a longer screw, or for a harder wood.

Drill Settings

The drill settings are separate to the torque settings. These are usually marked with a drill bit for normal driving, or a small hammer for drilling through masonry. The actual setting marks will differ from brand to brand.

Just below we have included an image of the settings on the Bosch PSB 1800.

Let the Cordless Drill do the work

There is a very natural tendency to force or push really hard on a drill when trying to go through a harder material such as brick or block. There really is no need to do that as if you have a sharp masonry drill bit, and a high powered cordless drill, it will do the work.

Avoid using blunt drill bits as those are useless, and they will make your drill do more work that they should be doing.

Summary of Cordless Drills for Home DIY

Hopefully we have provided you with enough information on what to look for when buying a cordless drill/driver that can drill through masonry of all types.

The important things to remember is that your chosen drill/driver must have the hammer feature. You will also need a set of masonry drill bits.

After that it really does come down to two requirements. The first is how much you can afford, or are willing to pay. The second should inform the first choice. It really does depend on how much masonry drilling you are planning to do.

Most people only need to do a little of this from time to time. If that is the case, then there is no real need to buy an expensive drill. You might not get all the power and speed that you need, but an affordable drill will get the job done.

However, if you just want the right tool for the job, or have a little more money available, then buy a higher quality one that will last you for years, and work when you need it.

If you are not sure one of these models is right for you then have a look at our full review on the Best Cordless Drills. There are plenty of options to choose from here but I always try to stick to a well known brand like Milwaukee, Makita, Ryobi, Black and Decker, Dewalt or Bosch when I am buying a tool like this.