36V cordless SDS drill – buyer’s guide

If you love your powertools, it doesn’t get better than a 36V cordless SDS drill. With the best 36V SDS drills you get awesome drilling power with amazingly lightweight fast-charging batteries. The leading SDS drill brands have put their investment into their 36V drills and unlike the current crop of 24V SDS drills, you can choose from the latest in Lithium Ion technology – some of these drills are as powerful as corded.

In the last 12 months prices have come down considerably too – meaning you get a lot of drill for your money

So which is the right 36V cordless SDS drill for you? We’ve reviewed four of the leading brands and here’s our verdict.

Bosch

Bosch currently have three 36V models – all Li-ion based. All three offer 3 mode drilling (including chiselling). There are two 4.0kg drills – GBH VF-LI and GBH V-LI both same in spec except the VF-LI has a quickchange chuck attached to the drill allowing you quickly switch to your non-SDS wood and metal bits. Both drills deliver 3.0 Joules of impact energy – matched only by the 36V Makita (below). The third Bosch SDS drill is their very sexy lightweight 2.9kg GBH VL-ICP. This is their Compact Professional – a dream to work with due it it’s low weight, lightning fast recharging batteries and neat versatile shape.

 

Makita

In terms of pure product design, the 36 Makita SDS drills are the direct competitor to Bosch. They have two 36V models: BHR261RDE and the marginally more expensive BHR261TRDE with quick release chuck. Both deliver 3.0 Joules of impact energy, likr the Bosch, but the big selling point is the 22 minute recharging time of their advanced Lithium-Ion batteries. For us this gives the Makita a slight edge over its rivals.

 

DeWalt

As you can see from our review of the DeWalt DC234KL it’s been around for longer than the other 36V drills we’ve reviewed. As a result, it lags slightly behind in performance (2.5 Joules impact energy) and the Li-on batteries are not quite in the same class. However, it’s still a very popular drill – fairly lightweight, powerful and available at a decent price.

 

 

Hitachi

Whilst Hitachi SDS drills may not have the same profile as the above brands, we keep finding that they are right up their in terms of technology, drilling power and battery design. The Hitachi DH36DAL 36V SDS drill is a the fastest drill in its class with a impact rate 0-2250/4500/min. It’s slightly behind the Bosch and Makita drills in hammering impact (but only slightly), and its Lithium-ion batteries take longer to recharge. On the plus side is the low price – meaning you can get an excellent 36V cordless SDS drill for the same price as many similar corded models.