Fitted with a 13mm chuck and 12-position clutch, this low-priced combi model’s claimed talents include screw driving, drilling into wood (25mm), steel (10mm) and masonry (8mm). Rotate the function ring fully and you can also access a hammer function, while a top-mounted switch toggles between the two primary speeds. The base of the drill also houses a small LED light to illuminate the drilling area, as well as a drill-bit holder.

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“Tradespeople will tend to go for drills over £200,” says professional electrician Dan Lloyd of Diamond Solutions, “but any drill over about £50 is going to be suitable for DIYers. Today’s lithium-ion batteries hold a charge for months and are far quicker to charge than the previous generation of nickel-cadmium batteries. Brushless motors also make new cordless drills far more efficient.

The variable trigger switch offers a reasonable, if not ultra-delicate, ability to ‘feather’ the drill speed, and so will help avoid stripping screwheads. With a sub two-hour charging time and decent battery life (I managed to drill 126 6mm wide/25mm deep holes into softwood before it ran out of juice), I’d say this combi drill will easily satisfy the basic needs of most occasional DIYers on a budget.

This starts by driving the screw slowly so as not to split the wood, then speeds up and finally slows down when you reach full depth. It’s ideal for decking, hence the name, but I used it to attach a doorknob and then went looking for other things to fix to wood. It felt like payback for all the screwheads I’ve stripped over the years.

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The standout feature of the TPC 18, though, is its four-speed ‘Quadrive’ gearbox. If you turn on the sound in the clip above you can hear the difference, similar to when you change gear in a car: the lower gears offer more torque, the higher gears more power.

Read on for Dan‘s quick guide to the different types of cordless drills, followed by my reviews of this year’s best. Below that, you can find answers to frequently asked questions like what is the best voltage and torque for a cordless drill. If you’re in a hurry, here’s a quick look at my top five:

We’re not going to lie, this was by far our favourite drill from a macho point of view – but it’s priced accordingly, and most people don’t need this much power.

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Ryobi makes a full range of cordless drills, but this impact driver (which does not have a drill function) was recommended to me by so many professionals that I wanted to try it out. One of the killer apps for impact drivers is driving screws straight into wood without needing a pilot hole. It’s a job I’ve messed up several times in the past, so I was keen to see what Ryobi’s ID could do.

Drill motors work by the interaction of electromagnets and static magnets. In the classic arrangement, the electromagnet spins and carbon brushes make a contact every 180 degrees to reverse its polarity. In premium drills however, the arrangement is reversed so that the electromagnet is on the outside. Instead of brushes (hence brushless), an electronic controller keeps the motor spinning. “Eliminating the friction is more efficient,” Carl says. “Less power is required to achieve the same result. This extends the run time of the battery and the life of the tool itself. They’re also quieter.”

Though not quite as well-balanced as the Makita impact driver at the top of our list, it gives much better control and is much quieter, except at the highest of the three settings: you can choose 50Nm, 100Nm or 270Nm. But the big selling point with the Ryobi is the fourth setting, Deck Drive.

Dan Lloyd of Diamond Solutions is a big fan of DeWalt, the American tool manufacturer whose pleasingly macho-looking yellow-and-black drills are a popular choice with tradesmen. He recommends the DeWalt 18V XR combi drill as a good all-rounder.

I am every bit the cliché of someone who doesn’t do DIY and I don’t intend on changing that any time soon. However, I needed to drill some holes in the planters on my balcony, and the Bosch Universal Impact was exactly the right tool for the job.

They can do a lot, without being complicated. The combi drill has one ring to select for hammer, drill or screw functions and another ring to select torque. There’s also a two-speed gearbox: high gear for easy jobs and low gear for tougher jobs where you’ll want more torque. That’s a lot of control. It’s on the heavy side for a combi drill, but nicely balanced and in our tests it made smooth progress on both wood and brick.

“Heavy 36V drills exist but typically 18V is best for a home drill,” says Carl Bubb, category manager for Screwfix. “12V is also an option; they are generally lighter and more compact, and some people simply don’t need high torque levels for the jobs they intend to do. Higher voltage basically means more torque.”

We tested each cordless drill for at least two weeks worth of jobs, evaluating their drilling functions on wood, plastics, masonry and interior walls, those being the most common household jobs. We tested screwdriving functions on delicate self-assembly jobs like drilling an outdoor basket and tougher outdoors jobs such as extracting old, rusted-in screws. For the hammer drills and SDS drills, we used brick, concrete and tiles. More than raw power, we were looking for control, how easy the drills were to operate, speed and battery time.

“Batteries are a key part of the cost,” Carl says. “Typically they vary from 1.5 amp hours up to 5ah, but they can go as high as 8ah and even 12ah. Amp hours measure how long the tool will run before needing to be charged. Pay attention to charge times, too: high-end drills need faster chargers, vital for busy tradespeople on site. Many drills now come with two batteries so you can use one while the other is charging.”

Germany’s Festool make serious tools for serious people. This combi drill plus its battery and charger will set you back nearly £450 – but if you stretch to it, you’ll be opening up a whole new level of capabilities. With the right bits, it has the power and torque to drill centimeter-wide holes in masonry and steel and 7cm holes in wood.

I did have to buy a new Philips screwdriver bit first, however: the double-ended one included with the tool didn’t fit it. A minor annoyance that cost a couple of quid to sort out. The battery is also fairly large for such a compact tool and costs £70, but it can be shared with any other tool in the Ryobi 18V One+ range, from cordless vacuums to angle grinders.

“The higher the torque (measured in Newton-meters), the more rotating force it can deliver without putting as much strain on the battery,” Carl says. “30-45 Nm would be ideal for most jobs but greater torque is required for more serious drilling.”

Finally, SDS drills (it stands for slotted drive shaft) are specifically designed for hard masonry, concrete, steel and other heavy duty drilling jobs. They use a special bit with a slot and a ballbearing at the base. These give an incredibly secure grip that enables high-power hammering. Turn off the rotation function and an SDS can be used as a power chisel.

The 20-volt Worx Nitro is a hybrid: the same size and weight as the small, light Ryobi impact driver above, but with drilling capabilities that almost rival the much bigger and heavier Makita duo at the top of our list. It really does pack a punch. It is also well balanced, which makes it easy to use — especially in awkward and tight spots.

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Our expert electrician Dan recommends the 3.1kg version of this, his favourite heavy duty drill. For the test we went for the 2.3kg version, which we think is sturdy and powerful enough for any domestic job.

Cordless drills cover a broad range from drill drivers to impact drivers, hammer drills, SDS drills and combis – but which is best for you?

In ergonomic terms, it feels nicely balanced, feeling comfortable to hold and operate, a supplied belt-clip holder allowing temporary support if your hands need to be doing something else. My only complaint is that the sharp-edged drill-bit holder is very poorly located; I constantly found my little finger brushing against it.

A hammer drill will be heavier and noisier. The hammer action makes it better for making holes in hard masonry, stone and concrete. Many of them allow the hammer function to be turned off for drilling wood, but they’re no good for driving screws.

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As our expert Dan explains, some impact drivers can drill holes and most combi drills can drive screws – but for the best results, it’s better to have a dedicated tool for each. This two-piece kit from Japan’s Makita has been recommended to us by more than one professional and is now looking very affordable.

You can attach an eccentric adaptor for driving in screws very close to edges and a right-angle adaptor for screwdriving round corners. I didn’t know either of those things existed. I now think every workman needs them.

Designed for concrete and hard stone, in our tests it cut through brick and breezeblock like a knife through butter. The attached depth rod, which stops you drilling too far, came in handy because otherwise, it wasn’t going to stop for anything.

I used it on plastic and metal and it made light work of them and felt sturdy to hold. The cherry on top, especially if you regard DIY as a necessary evil rather than an enjoyable weekend activity, is that one battery can work a wide range of 18V appliances, not just from Bosch but any toolmaker in the “Power For All Alliance”. This saves money which, in my case, would be better spent on a handyman. Although this drill is a bargain, too.

The TPC is a bit wider than the other drills and heavier, due to the four gears and a dense battery, but it’s fairly short and not too long, so a good choice for using in confined spaces. Overall, although it’s punishingly expensive, this feels like the last combi drill you’d ever need to buy. Just keep adding different adaptors for different jobs and gradually pay off the loan.

With high-torque drills, if the bit jams on an obstacle there’s a risk of twisting the tool out of your grip or even injuring your wrist. Here, there’s not only a side-grip for your other hand but an electronic kickback stop that instantly cuts the power. This kicked in quite a few times while I was testing it, saving me from embarrasment. Another good feature is the little beep when it detects that a screw is flush and shouldn’t be driven in any further.

With just 45Nm of torque on tap, and as the manufacturer admits, this is very much designed for the casual DIYer, rather than a professional builder. The drill punched through metal without complaint, allowing the use of a larger bit to further widen the hole. The lightweight concrete block proved a much more straightforward challenge, the drill swiftly plunging down to the claimed 25mm, and deeper, with a 6mm masonry bit and using the hammer setting.

A combi drill combines hole-drilling and screw-driving in one package, often adding a limited hammer function. These are a popular choice for DIYers. A good combi drill should be able to drill into wood, masonry, plastic and metal.

The best cordless drill for you will depend to some extent on whether you want to create holes in wood, metal, masonry or plastic for your interior decoration and DIY projects. Once you understand a few key terms, it’s actually quite easy to work out – and these days it’s hard to find a bad drill, whatever your budget is.

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“The no-load speed, measured in revolutions per minute (RPM), is the maximum speed a motor can reach when spinning freely without resistance,” Carl says. “It’s frequently cited – but it would be unusual to use it as the deciding factor when choosing your drill. As you increase speed, you actually decrease torque.”

The P2 in the name means it comes with a case and two batteries, which take 70 minutes to charge but deliver a lot of drilling power. As a heavy-duty drill it can take bits up to 16mm wide, which you have to buy separately.

On the heel of the grip is a dial to select one of the 13 clutch settings, from delicate to brutal, for use when screwdriving. Between that and the gears, you have a huge range of options for various jobs, from driving small screws into wood to pounding holes through bricks.

An impact driver is designed to drive screws, not drill holes. Impact drivers deliver extremely high torque and percussive force for expertly fitting screws to studwork, decking and so on. Although you can fit drill bits to impact drivers, you will get less control and poorer results.

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I tested it as a screwdriver first. I’m quite impatient with DIY and have a history of stripping screws even with a manual screwdriver, but the Worx Nitro WX352 has torque control and a progressive trigger, similar to the Ryobi (although more basic), as well as a two-speed gearbox which helps you to keep control.

As a drill, it’s notably comfortable to handle, especially over a period of time. If you’ve got big hands you might not love it, but for those like me with smaller hands it’s a very good choice. There’s a 450rpm low-speed, a 2,000rpm high speed setting and a hammer function for masonry, but I was using it chiefly on wood inside a fairly dim shed. The LED light on the handle is very useful for that type of job.

The battery, which can be used across Worx’s 20V tool range, took an hour to charge and lasted a decent time – it was still going strong after I’d re-organised my garden shed. Worx make a huge range of drills, including a heavy-duty SDS similar to the DeWalt above, but I’d say this is the best all-rounder for most households.

Going into a standard clay brick took a little longer but was still readily achieved with a bit more patience. Engineering brick and dense concrete, however, proved too tough a challenge, the relatively low available torque ultimately proving the drill’s undoing. Given how loudly it was squealing, cutting that particular test short felt like an act of mercy. Drilling into softwood, somewhat predictably, proved to be this model’s happiest place.

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A drill driver is designed for making holes in wood, plastic, laminates and interior walls, Dan says. They tend to be lighter, more compact and more affordable than other drills. Most will be able to drive screws too, but nowhere near as well as impact drivers.

It has three modes – just drill, hammer-drill and just hammer – and the selector knob is chunky enough to use with work gloves, which you will likely need, along with ear protectors if using it for long periods. It is very loud.

The good news sadly doesn’t extend to the batteries, which offer just 1.3 amp hours after a 60 minute charge and can’t be shared with other Makita power tools that use newer LXT batteries and chargers.

The impact driver is also well balanced and even simpler, with a decent 140Nm of torque at speeds you control by adjusting pressure on the trigger. We found we had to go quite carefully: other impact drivers such as the Ryobi, below, offer more torque and more refinement. But the Makita was impressive on all screwdriving jobs we threw at it.

The forceful hammering from SDS drills causes serious vibration, but the DeWalt has a shock absorber built into the front end so that your hands don’t shake, giving you much greater precision while drilling or chipping. The adjustable two-hand grip adds further control (and makes you feel like you’re wielding a Tommy gun, which doesn’t hurt).

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Other trusted brands include Germany’s Bosch and Japan’s Makita, while the slightly less well-known Ryobi and Milwaukee (both manufactured by the same Hong Kong company) and Chinese-made Worx all have their fans. We considered all the above in our review of this year’s best models.

One thing to remember is that most drills aren’t sold with bits included, so once you know what kind of job you’ll be doing, buy the right bits for it. There are at least 20 different kinds. At the very least you’ll be needing a twist drill-bit set for the most common jobs.

It’s not super powerful but it’s light, compact and can be used straight out of the carry case with minimal fuss. I especially like that it has an LED light that illuminates the area you’re working on. It has 20 different torque settings and a two-speed gearbox; you can use the lower speed for screwdriving jobs, and the higher speed for quicker drilling and smaller diameters. There’s also a basic hammer function for masonry drilling.

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