The question of whether battery drills are worth buying always seems to come up, but surely the answer has to be, based purely on convenience, a resounding yes. There’s no doubt that drills bowered by an electrical cord are more powerful and generate more torque, but there are times when you will be working without power, or out of reach of a power outlet and need to do some drilling.

There are also times when you may need to do some low speed drilling, speeds that just aren’t possible with a corded power drill. Using a battery drill will be an unavoidable part of a professional’s day to day work. But it’s certainly not a tool to be despised.

That being said, technology has moved forward in the battery drill segment of the market just as it has in other industries and whereas the early cordless drills were little more than toy drills.

These days there are some battery powered tools that are just as powerful as those attached by a power cord. The battery also lasts long enough these days to allow their use for more than just the short bursts of the older counterparts.

The difference between the older battery drills and the new ones is that older drills were powered by nickel cadmium batteries. These batteries were able to deliver consistent power over a short period which meant that they required repeated recharging. Recharging times were quite long too.

The newer battery drills are charged with either nickel metal-hydrate or lithium-ion which both gives the drills an increase in power and a longer life between battery recharging.

The only downside with the new types of batteries for drills and other power tools is that they are more expensive than the older style. Of course, because you are getting a more powerful and longer lived tool, you should expect to pay a little bit more.

When buying a battery drill you should be aware that they are available in different voltages from 9.6 volts up to 24 volts. The higher end of the spectrum gives you the most powerful battery drill but it comes at a cost. The more powerful cordless drills are much heavier than the drills with lower voltage. In fact a 24 volt cordless drill is much heavier than the equivalent power drill too.

It’s not all about the power though. You might find that a battery drill that holds its charge for a longer period of time is more valuable to you than a drill with a greater voltage. For that matter, battery drills that have the same voltage may have differing charge lengths. When you go to buy a new battery drill check for the mAH rating which stands for the milliamp hours. A drill with a higher mAH rating will hold its charge longer.

Next, pick the drill up. Not all 12 volt drills weigh the same and you’re not going to be able to tell just by looking at two of them lying side by side. Pick them both up and compare their weight. If you find that a drill feels heavy after holding it for 30 seconds it might be worth moving on to another drill. If you’re going to be doing a lot of drilling you want to get one that feels comfortable in your hands.

The technology of cordless battery drills have come quite a long way in recent years. Every professional should have at least one battery drill in their arsenal because power is not always going to be available when there’s some drilling to be done.