Cordless Drill Ratings

This cordless drill ratings article is part of an extensive reviews series. To find more about top rated cordless drills and get a detailed overview please see our cordless drill review here.

In this part of our review of cordless drill ratings, we want to have a closer look into important things you want to look at when you decide on which battery drill you want to buy.  Starting from the very top of a cordless drill – lets analyze an often overlooked part of any cordless drill. It is those simple basic components that make rating a truly professional cordless drill sometimes difficult.

The Chuck – One of the Most Overlooked Features on a Cordless Drill

Cordless Drill Chuck Type and Capacity

A key component of any cordless drill is the chuck. At first obviously looking into the 2 major sizes of chucks found for cordless drills:

• 3/8″ = 10 mm
• 1/2″ = 13 mm

Most cordless drills with ratings of up to 10.8 V have a 3/8″ (10mm) chuck. This is sufficient for most day to day drilling operations. At the same time it gives you an easy to handle and very compact drill. Starting from the best cordless drill of 12 Volt and above, chuck size usually increases to 1/2″ (13mm) giving you a much larger array of drill bits to fit and use.

Nowadays, almost all professional cordless drills come with keyless chucks, opened and closed by your hand without any extra key or tool. It’s the minimum you can expect from any modern cordless drill, since you do not want to fiddle around with a key while on the work-site.

Can The Chuck be Removed from The Cordless Drill?

With an increase chuck size – automatically comes a bit larger tool and more weight. Since most cordless drills are used for screwdriver action, some manufacturers have come up with ways to quickly remove the entire chuck from the drill, allowing to insert the drill bit directly into the tool.

Removable Chuck	Festool Cordless Drill	Bit Directly Inserted
This Festool cordless drill is a very good example how manufacturers incorporate the chuck removal into the design of a professional cordless drill.	Without any extra key or tool the entire chuck is pulled off the drills head.	Now the screwdriver bit can be inserted directly into the tool. Giving you a much shorter cordless drill.

If you intend to use your cordless drill for a lot of screw driving, any type of chuck removal mechanism is a feature you should consider on your next drill.

How “Close To The Edge” Can You Use Your Cordless Drill ?

If you plan to use your cordless drill a lot in cabinet making or on-site assembly work, you will regularly come across fastening screws that need to be placed in the corner. This is true during kitchen cabinet assembly. You will find a “close to the edge” cordless drill will be appreciated.

Various cordless drill companies have designed accessories for their tools in order to get around some difficult screwdriving operations.

Eccentric Chuck	Drilling in Tight Spaces	Right Angle Chuck
Another clever accessory to get into tight corners is an eccentric chuck. Here shown the Festool chuck.	These kind of chucks get you closer into tight spaces and allow fastening screws even in very difficult corners.	Additional variations of chucks such as the above right angle chuck are available from various drill manufacturers as accessories.

If you’re making lots of furniture or cabinet assembly work, you likely be involved in working around tight spaces. Be certain you rate cordless drills according to these screwdriving options and investigate available chuck-adapter accessories before buying your next cordless drill.

	In this part of our cordless drill ratings articles we discussed the importance of the chuck on any cordless drill for the professional woodworker. In the next section we will rate further components such as electronics, torque adjustment and serviceability of high-quality cordless drills.
Back to << Cordless Drill Reviews	Cordless Drill Ratings	Read on with part 3 of Cordless Drill Parts>>