So a few weeks ago I decided to buy myself a drill, I decided to take a risk on one that doesn't appear to have been tested in caves before as its relatively cheap (compared with Makitas), small/ light and takes SDS plus bits.
Bolting is what I had it in mind for, and it is likely that it would get wet/ written off at some point being transported through sumps so this is what set my drill choice decisions upon.
After doing some research on here it appears peoples favourites (with similar scope to mine) were either the Makitas or the Bosch Uneo.
The Makita is obviously good but pricey and quite large, though if it gets flooded/ ruined that's a lot to replace.
The Bosch Uneo looks nice and light but doesn't take SDS+ bits and doesn't have a large range of battery options but is a fair bit cheaper than the Makita.
So I took the plunge on one of these hoping for some Makita/ Uneo middle ground:
http://products.einhell.com/com_en/power-x-change/te-hd-18-li-kit.html
(?95 from Machine Mart)
Cheapish: Yes
Light/ compact: Yes
Similar Spec on paper to previously mentioned drills: Yes
On taking it underground it seemed to take forever to drill holes (6mm x 60mm) and required a lot of pressure to make any head way (the drill was going round the right way and the hammer was on), so I became a bit disconcerted that had bought a bad drill. I tried some different drill bits in a different cave to rule those two points out but without any change in result, cue further disconcertion.
Duncan Price has previously lent me his ?50 Parkside 20v SDS drill he bought from Lidl and that had seemed to work well so we arranged a side by side comparison between his and mine so I could be sure mine was not doing what it should be doing.
The Parkside drill flew through the same rock in comparison to mine using the same drill bits, so now i'm fairly certain the Einhell drill is no good for caving despite on paper having similar impact rates/powers advertised.
(Einhell make Parkside tools it seems and drills do look similar)
The hammer action does work on the Einhell and when testing it on the garage floor it makes rapid progress, just seems to really struggle in caves so my prognosis is the hammer action isn't as strong as advertised which is a shame as it seemed well suited to my needs otherwise.
Makita DHR 165 (18v): BPM:0-5300 @ 1.3j
Bosch Uneo (12v) : BPM 0 -4600 @ 0.5j
Einhell: BPM: 0-5700 @ 1.2j
So guess I will be resigning it to DIY and having rethink on the drill choice front, decisions decisions !
Bolting is what I had it in mind for, and it is likely that it would get wet/ written off at some point being transported through sumps so this is what set my drill choice decisions upon.
After doing some research on here it appears peoples favourites (with similar scope to mine) were either the Makitas or the Bosch Uneo.
The Makita is obviously good but pricey and quite large, though if it gets flooded/ ruined that's a lot to replace.
The Bosch Uneo looks nice and light but doesn't take SDS+ bits and doesn't have a large range of battery options but is a fair bit cheaper than the Makita.
So I took the plunge on one of these hoping for some Makita/ Uneo middle ground:
http://products.einhell.com/com_en/power-x-change/te-hd-18-li-kit.html
(?95 from Machine Mart)
Cheapish: Yes
Light/ compact: Yes
Similar Spec on paper to previously mentioned drills: Yes
On taking it underground it seemed to take forever to drill holes (6mm x 60mm) and required a lot of pressure to make any head way (the drill was going round the right way and the hammer was on), so I became a bit disconcerted that had bought a bad drill. I tried some different drill bits in a different cave to rule those two points out but without any change in result, cue further disconcertion.
Duncan Price has previously lent me his ?50 Parkside 20v SDS drill he bought from Lidl and that had seemed to work well so we arranged a side by side comparison between his and mine so I could be sure mine was not doing what it should be doing.
The Parkside drill flew through the same rock in comparison to mine using the same drill bits, so now i'm fairly certain the Einhell drill is no good for caving despite on paper having similar impact rates/powers advertised.
(Einhell make Parkside tools it seems and drills do look similar)
The hammer action does work on the Einhell and when testing it on the garage floor it makes rapid progress, just seems to really struggle in caves so my prognosis is the hammer action isn't as strong as advertised which is a shame as it seemed well suited to my needs otherwise.
Makita DHR 165 (18v): BPM:0-5300 @ 1.3j
Bosch Uneo (12v) : BPM 0 -4600 @ 0.5j
Einhell: BPM: 0-5700 @ 1.2j
So guess I will be resigning it to DIY and having rethink on the drill choice front, decisions decisions !