If you plan to buy a few cordless tools, you should buy the same line so the rechargable batteries will be swappable between devices.

We've gone off cordless tools. Running out of charge halfway through a project (which happens more regularly as the battery ages) is REALLY annoying.

Here's my stupid question of the day:

Is there such a thing as a sanding attachment for a drill? I have things to sand and my hands are tired but I'm not sure I want/need a dedicated sander.

Thanks, informed peeps, for any help you can give.

You would be smart to stick with Craftsman tools, Live Time warrantee on their standard tools, wrenches, screw drivers, ect. It breaks bring it back replaced for free, no questions asked.

I've had #7, the Skil iXO, for about 7 years. I love it and use it often.

There probably is, but it might not be as even as a dedicated sander, just guessing from the shape of the handles on cordless drills. You should look into renting a sander from your local big box home improvement store.

I have a cordless drill and screwdriver. I borrowed my sister's plug-in drill when I was installing an organizer in my closet and didn't want to give it back. Not only does it not run out of juice half-way through the job, it does a much more effective job going through lathe and plaster. I got a new drill for my Birthday* and will never go back to cordless. [* I really was going to give my sister her drill back, really I was!]

As someone who only uses her cordless screwdriver 1-2 times a year, I ended up with a Black and Decker conventional AA battery model because I wouldn't have any juice when I went to use the other cordless screwdriver I had. They are a lifesaver when facing an Ikea assembly with ~100 screws.

Buy the Bosch. Then get their awesome pocket-sized drill.

I couldn't imagine using a corded drill for repairs around the house, although I could see why you would move away from batteries.

After like 6 years of owning a 14v refurbished Milwaukee drill the batteries only lasted like 10 minutes before needing to be recharged. I made due swapping batteries for a year or two until I decided I could spring for a new one (replacement batteries were $50 each). Now I got a 18v Ridgid drill and its much better, which makes sense if you think about how much battery technology has improved over the past 8 years.

And really you can get a nice 18v drill with 2 batteries for under $100. So if you find yourself getting annoyed at losing power with an older drill or one of the smaller ones shown above, you might be better off upgrading to a heavy duty drill instead of going corded.

I also have had the #7 Skil, but it stopped being able to charge after 4 months. They sent me a replacement and that one died about 14 months later. I ended up upgrading to a Craftsman (not the one shown here) and it's worked perfectly for almost 2 years.

Griffin, there are sanding disk attachments for drills, but none do a good job. They leave an uneven surface and leave swirl marks which have to be sanded off. Get a good random orbit sander ($40-70) which use hook & loop sanding disks. They are great for all but really heavy or final coat finishing. Random orbit sanders don't leave a noticable sanding pattern, so your hand finish sanding is minimal. Porter Cable, Rigid, DeWalt all come to mind.

I like the Hitachi and Bosch models, strong and reliable. If you plan on using cordless drivers a lot, I would recommend getting a drill/driver instead. They offer more versatility and power. The have a clutch system so you won't over drive a screw into the material. More importantly, they allow you to drill a pilot hole for the screw. Just driving a screw into wood without a pilot hole is difficult and strains the driver. A pilot hole makes the screw go in easier w/o sacrificing strength, and prevents wood splitting. There are small driver drills made by Bosch, DeWalt, Makita, that do the job well for only a little more dough than a single purpose screwdriver.

I agree. We use a very light Makita drill that is the size of most of these screwdrivers but will do a much much more. As for people's concerns about battery life, you should have two batteries. Less tools, more batteries.

And we use air tools for larger jobs.