I bought one of these kits a couple of months ago. The drill motor is powerful and the batteries last a reasonable amount of time. The charger is very nice and informs you of the charge status. I really like the drill itself, but it has a few minor irritations.
After using it in an unlit closet in a house under construction, I noticed that the LED flashlight is in a perfect position to keep the line of drilling in the dark because the lower edge of the chuck is in a direct line between the tip of even the longest drill and the little LED. It's a neat idea, but it could be moved (perhaps to the front of the battery receptacle?).
Speaking of the chuck, having a keyless chuck is a nice thing if you need to switch drills a lot and don't need to continually use the same one for many hours. I've never been a fan of keyless chucks, because they always seem to lose their grip on the shank of the tool. This isn't a knock on Porter's chuck, but on keyless chucks in general. I don't switch drills or bits a lot, so I much prefer a chuck that I can crank down on and be sure that the chuck isn't going to loosen up.
Many of you may like the soft-sided bag that Porter gives you with the kit. It's nice, but it lacks a handle. It's far more convenient for me to use a handle on my tool cases than it is to fight with a shoulder strap that is continually sliding off, whereupon I have to pinch the case between my arm and my hip. I prefer the plastic hard case that my old Porter-Cable 12V Ni-Cd drill came with. PORTER-CABLE PCL180DRK-2 18-Volt Lithium-Ion Cordless Drill Kit
I bought this drill in a kit that included an extra battery , a flashlight and a charger for the batteries. The drill has performed well in what little use it has seen. The problem is that one of the lithium ion batteries will not take a charge now. When I put it on the charger, the indicator light on the charger blinks green for a few moments indicating that the battery is charging, but then it begins to flash red indicating a defective battery. This thing has only been used a couple times since it was bought as a Christmas present. I bought the one with lithium ion batteries because I was fed up with the memory problems of ni-cads, and now that one of my batteries is dead, when the other one depletes its charge, the drill is useless until it is recharged. If the second one goes bad, too, I'm out the total cost of the drill. Not much of a bargain.
My wife bought this for me for my birthday in November 2008. The chuck loosens when you let go of the trigger with a hole saw or heavy bit in it. The quick stop function causes the chuck to loosen. The LED light is totally useless where they mounted it, the chuck shades the drill bit point. The batteries worked OK for about a 6 months of low use. The drill stops right in the middle of drilling a hole. Then I let go of the trigger and it will work again but only for a few moments. I put the battery in the charger, blinks green for a short time, less than a minute, then solid green, put it in the drill and I might get half way through a hole and it cuts out. Same with both batteries. I checked the batteries with a fluke meter, reads over 18 volts. I have a friend with the same drill, same problems. I will never buy a cordless drill from Porter Cable again.... My drill is PCL1800 date code 2008 35-BM, Batteries PC18BL date code 2008 33-BM, Charger PCLMVC Type 1 Date code 2008 29DB. I have plenty of other gear, Unisaw, full workshop. My Milwaukee drill is 20 years old and still works great! Only a 3/8" chuck, only reason to buy this Porter Cable 1/2"
Yes, my review title may seem like grand hyperbole, however, I have used this drill on 2 chicken coops, a couple of bed frames, a sink cabinet, several livestock gates, and countless home projects and have never been let down. It seems like it just stays charged forever (not true for the PC skill saw, but that's another story!). This drill not only has a long life, but it also charges up in a hurry. It doesn't seem to take more than a few hours before the battery is fully charged and ready to go. The fact that you get 2 batteries is enough for any weekend warrior. If you are a professional carpenter/builder, this might not have enough torque for your needs. I would recommend this tool to anyone who wants to dabble in DIY and have a handy and dependable tool at their disposal.
Last summer I bought the PORTER-CABLE 18V cordless lithium drill/driver kit (PCL180DK-2) and one of the batteries didn't work right out of the box. I took it in to the local service shop where the guy tested it and told me it was faulty. He said he's seen this happen 'a lot' and he gave me a new one. Now, I pull it out this summer and both batteries are faulty (blinking red instead of taking a charge). So I've had three lithium batteries for this drill and all three didn't work.
With replacement batteries costing as much as half the drill kit, and a drill without power is an ugly paperweight, I'd advise you all to stay away from this product.
- Mark - Cordless Drills - Lithium Ion - 18v - 18 Volt'
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