A drill is a tool that has a rotating drill bit, which is gripped by a chuck at one end of the drill and pressed against the target material, and is used to drill holes. Drills are commonplace in woodworking, metalworking, construction, and in do-it-yourself or DIY projects.

The roots of drills can be traced back to ancient Egypt, back when bow drills were used in building Egyptian, as well as Harappan, architecture. Then came the drill press, a machine tool that dates back to many centuries in the past. The most significant development in drills happened with the advent of the electric motor in the later part of the 19^th century. This innovation prompted machine tools to become electrically operated. Thus, the electric drill, the mother of cordless drills, was born in Melbourne, Australia, thanks to the genius of Arthur James Arnot and William Blanch Brain. Soon afterward, the portable electric drill was invented by Wilhelm Fein.

There are several types of drills. Some drills are powered manually using electricity or compressed air and some use an internal combustion engine. Hammer drills, jackhammers or pneumatic drills can be used to drill holes in hard materials like brick, concrete, stone, or rock. Drilling rigs can be used to drill holes in the earth to find water or oil; large drill rugs are used to make water wells and oil wells.

Cordless drills are a type of electric drills that make use of batteries that, when used up and empty, can be recharged. These drills have similar features that an AC mains-powered drill has, and are sold in the hammer drill configuration and with a clutch setting that enables them to be drive screws.

While a cordless drill can prove really useful especially in working at areas that have no power source or electrical outlet, some people find a cordless drill to have more disadvantages than their corded counterparts. The usual complain when using a cordless drill is that the battery runs empty just when you need it most and you have to wait for hours for the battery to become fully charged before you can start drilling again. The alternative, which is to stock up on rechargeable batteries for your cordless drill, can be quite costly.

These days, however, there are batteries available in the market that can be fully recharged in a matter of minutes, specifically 10-15 minutes. The waterloo of most present models of a cordless drill is the usage of nickel-cadmium batteries, which have limited life and promotes dendrite growth that can cause short circuiting. This kind of batteries is self-discharging and hazardous. If you're on the prowl for the best cordless drill, make sure to stay away from buying models that require nickel-cadmium batteries. You can find several models that use lithium-ion batteries, a better option.

If you know where to find the best cordless drills and exactly what kind of cordless drill you want, then it's easy to get a reasonably priced and energy-efficient cordless drills.