Cordless drills certainly can't deliver the power that a 20 amp outlet can. If you need that sort of power you'll have to stay attached to the wall. But the point of a cordless drill is not being attached to the wall. I realize that this thread started a couple of years ago, but battery technology is rapidly changing. Many people think they've learned certain 'truths' about batteries (memory, wearing out, temperature range, etc.), that actually only apply to certain types of battery designs. Batteries could last forever. We don't have any that do yet, but the newer lithium-ion batteries last significantly longer than the batteries of just a few years ago. The new Makita LXT 18v batteries will go through 2.5 times more cycles than a Ni-Cad batteries. In another 5 years it's hard to tell what we'll see. But there are some reviews of what's currently out there at the site in the link.

Just don't get De Walt stuff. I waisted over $600 dollars on them. I bought a set of 18V drill and circular saw and 12V right angle drill. All the batteries burnt out. Both charger do not stop charging when battery is full. I am not sure there were dirt blocking the charger but I don't notice it. Point is the batteries and charger are soo soo expensive, I end up buying a set of Ryobi for less than I would have paid for the replacement batteries. I see more and more contractors using Ryobi now a days just because it is cheap.( say disposable!!!) Ryobi drills chuck comes loose when use as a drill, works perfect if use in socket driver which is very important to me. I do earthquake retrofit, so it is pretty heavy duty work. Ryobi survive nicely. I dropped it from 8 ft. ladder more than ones, it's ok.( say cheap!!!) As for toys( more expensive, unnecessary ) I bought a Bocsh 14V drill.( of couse they are a little stronger for the same voltage) so I can have a lighter tool. You be surprise how important light weight is in some situation. Try reaching into a odd place, extend your arms all the way just to reach it, in a funny position. The 18V heavy tool suddenly became not that important any more!!!! Trust me, I have planty of times like this. It is not bigger the better. That's the time you really want to pay more for a low voltage, lighter tool. But if you are like me, do a little, spend a lot( it's a toy, need justification to spend money to get the best) try the more expensive ones, like Bocsh!!

I have had the Rigid 18v hammer drill and circular saw for about 2 years. The drill is quite heavy for extended use, but tough. I used the drill for taking apart a porch roof with plenty of screws and it was a strain. That said, it's a lot stronger than my Craftsman 14v drill. The saw is easy to use, but I find myself using a corded saw whenever I can. The saw just isn't as strong as a corded one. I rescued an ancient Skil wormdrive saw from a yard sale, replaced the cord and cleaned it up and it will saw circles around any cordless, i'm sure. The Rigid charger can charge two batteries in 30 minutes which is nice! Norm

B&D managed to trash their name pretty well by producing cheaper and cheaper tools. They have even made drills without ball bearing, just little wells between plastic to hold the drill & motor shafts and some lube. It sold for about $25. It might be OK for an apartment dweller hanging a few curtain rods, but not much more. Rockwell sold the tool divisions and they had to be renamed. B&D picked it up, renamed it Dewault (after purchasing the radial arm saw company and shutting it down) and have proceeded to do about the same thing as they did to their original name. Rockwell also sold other tool lines to Pentair, and Delta & Porter-Cable came back to life. Pentair has now sold off the lines again, and B&D picked up Porter-Cable and Delta. Look for those lines to head for the dirt pretty quickly. Porter-Cable had already stated to produce a separate line of 'homeowner' tools at a lower price that had started to spoil the name. The homeowner market is viewed as larger than the professional market, and since any business not growing in market share is a failure out comes the cheaper junk. Delta has a line of stationary tools (like the portable planers) made overseas now. The large industrials are still OK, but expect cost cutting even on those to catch up. A motor for a Rockwell/Delta Unisaw runs a couple hundred $$. Baldor made them for many years. You can purchase a homeowner tool for the price of one of these motors. B&D will probably decide it is not worth the capital they have tied up to continue supplying the industrial tools and lower the quality and price in a run for more market share. Luckily most of these tools last darn near forever (some new bearings once in a while, and maybe a motor) so at least the existing ones will still be floating around. A Unisaw still runs $1000-$1500 depending on motor type and options, so they have never been a typical homeowner tool, but the quality is outstanding. The import tools still cannot get there, but the $500 price tag for a 10 inch cabinet saw attracts a lot of buyers. I have some Paslode nailers that run on butane, but those are the only cordless tools. The battery ones just do not have the long term durability in heavy use even though batteries have gotten better than the old nickel cadmiums. Chuck quality remains pretty poor, and the added weight of the batteries does nothing to improve handling.