Power tools are constantly evolving and drill drivers and combi drills are no exception. Both tools are getting lighter, more powerful and cheaper – to the extent that a high quality drill driver now will perform drilling tasks as effectively as a cheaper combi drill, and vice versa, with a lightweight, high torque combi drill being highly adapted to screwdriving. Here are some general pointers that explain the difference between a combi drill and drill driver.
Firstly, combi drills and drill drivers have different roles
As the name suggests, drill drivers have two modes: drilling and driving. Working as a drill, a drill driver will bore holes into wood, steel or plastic using a standard drill bit; as a driver it will function as a high torque screwdriver, fastening or driving screws with a driving bit.
Typical applications of a drill driver…
A quick survey of trade professionals shows how they use their drill drivers:
• “3Ah is only needed if your doing a lot of high torque work like drilling metal for hours a day or fixing 100mm screws in hardwood and if you were you’d be looking for an impact driver.”
• “I have nano drill driver from dewalt. The nanos are much lighter than the other 18V batteries and last a long time.”
• “I have an impact driver that I use for pilot holes and heavier screwing respectively”
Combi drills perform the same drilling and driving function plus combi hammer drills are designed to drill into brick and concrete. The combination of hammering and rotary movement both cuts and drills through harder surfaces, enabling you to drill large-diameter holes through masonry and concrete. A quality combi hammer drill will offer 2-3 speeds giving you flexibility for different applications i.e. slowest operation with high torque for screwdriving and fastest for more intense drilling. Remember: hammer drilling makes heavier demands on your battery and drill bit, so if this is your main requirement consider a 2-3.0Ah battery, titanium bits or even investing in an SDS hammer drill.
Typical applications of a combi drill…
The view from various tradesmen:
• “My 18v Makita LXT combi drill can put a 20mm hole (auger) in a joist”
• “I have an 18V Dewalt combi drill that has hammer action and is good for drilling bigger holes and heavy screwing – it has torque settings but gets tiring”
• “My 12v combi drill is light enough for quick screwdriving and fairly heavy drilling.”
Drill drivers are designed to be lighter and more compact
If your main requirement is light screwdriving, a drill driver may be the right tool for you as you may tire more quickly with a bigger, heavier combi drill (even is if the weight difference is small, it’s surprising what a difference it makes). A drill driver has a usually has a smaller chuck (often plastic as opposed to metal to save weight) and typically may have 2 speeds. For the heaviest screwdriving applications you may consider an impact driver which is a specialist high-torque machine capable of driving large screws and fixings deep into wood or metal at rapid speeds.
A drill driver can be comfortably used one-handed whereas a combi drill in hammer mode motion typically requires you to grip the machine with both hands. The lightweight, compact design of drill drivers makes them very popular with certain trades such as electricians and second fix joiners who may be constantly using the screwdriving application throughout the day.
As a general guide a good quality 14v Lithium-ion drill driver will weigh around 1.5kg. An 18V Lithium-ion combi drill will be approx 2.2kg. A combi drill may also be up to a third longer and wider than a drill driver.
Price
As these are tools with different functions it’s not easy to directly compare prices. And whilst the drill drivers are generally smaller and more limited in their range of applications they are often a similar price to combi drills.
Head to head comparison – combi drill vs drill driver
We’ve selected pairs machines from the same manufacturer to help you compare key features
Makita 18V drill driver (BDF453RFE)
Expect to pay…£270-£299
Batteries: 2 x 3.0Ah Li-ion
Drilling capacity: steel 13mm, wood 36mm
Max torque: 16 settings + drill, 42nm Hard, 27Nm soft
Weight: 1.8kg
Makita BHP456RFE
Expect to pay…£300-£399
Batteries: 2 x 3.0Ah Li-ion
Drilling capacity: 13mm masonry, 13mm steel, 38mm wood
Max torque: 50Nm hard/36Nm soft
Weight: 1.6kg
Buying tip: make sure you choose the package with 2 x 3.0Ah batteries
DeWalt 18V drill driver (DCD780C2-GB)
Expect to pay…£220-£260
Batteries: 2 x 1.5Ah Li-ion
Drilling capacity: steel 13mm, wood 38mm
Max torque: 13 settings + drill, Max. torque 35Nm.
Weight: 1.55kg
DeWalt DCD785L2 XRP
Expect to pay…£269-£330
Batteries: 2 x 2.6Ah Lio-on
Drilling capacity: 13mm concrete, 13mm in metal, 38mm in wood
Max torque: 35Nm hard
Weight: 1.88kg
Bosch 18V drill driver (GSR 18-2-Li)
Expect to pay…£220-£250
Batteries: 2 x 1.3Ah Li-ion
Drilling capacity: steel 10mm, wood 29mm
Max torque: 13 settings + drill, Max. torque 45Nm/19mm soft
Weight: 1.4kg
Bosch GSB18VE2-LICP
Expect to pay…£220-£299
Batteries: 2 x 1.3Ah Li-ion
Drilling capacity: 15mm masonry, 13mm steel, 45mm wood
Max torque: 80 Nm hard/32Nm soft
Weight: 1.9kg