DeWalt DW004K Heavy-Duty 24v 7/8

When I first got my DeWalt DW004K Heavy-Duty 24 Volt 7/8" SDS Rotary Hammer Kit drill in 2000, it was fine. My workmates had the Bosch equivalent, and there wasn't any difference in performance, except the Bosch only took 15 minutes to charge, and mine took an hour. Since then, in 2002 the gearbox went on my drill, and I had to pay to get it repaired, as it was just out of warranty, and the Bosch drills were still going. After another few months I got new brushes for it, which were only £5 or so, and I fit them and gave the drill a good clean and service. It had lost some of its performance, but it was still usable. It was 4 years old now. Then last year, both batteries stopped holding charge, and I had to get new ones, and I am still going with it 7 years on.

I was going to write a bad review of this drill, but after looking back, I have been using it daily for 7 years, and the batteries and all I replaced cost me around £150, so it hasn't done too bad. The Bosch drills at work have had new batteries as well, so it has done OK really. If I was to buy a new one now though, I would be looking at a Makita, Hitachi or a Panasonic. The latter 2 really do outperform DeWalt.

I have been very disappointed by the cheap quality of Dewalt tools as they break prematurely. I would recommend Makita in every instance.