How to Choose and Use a Cordless Drill (Aussie Edition)
The cordless drill aisle at Bunnings is 10 metres long. Ozito at one end for $79, Ryobi One+ in the middle for $179, Makita LXT and DeWalt down the other end for $300+. Brushless and brushed. 12V and 18V. 2-speed and 3-speed. Hammer-capable and rotary-only. Cheap kits with two batteries, expensive kits with one battery (and the second battery costs $150 alone). Most people walk in, get overwhelmed, grab whatever’s on special and pray. I had a young bloke ask me at a job in Cardiff which drill to buy. He’d been into Bunnings three times and walked out empty-handed each time. Took me 10 minutes to give him the rundown and he was out the door with a Ryobi One+ kit by lunchtime. He’s still using it five years on.
Right, here’s the thing. There are three specs that actually matter for a homeowner: chuck size, torque, and battery platform. Voltage and brushless are second-order. Brand prestige is third-order. And the single most important decision is the battery platform — because once you buy a Ryobi One+ drill, you’re locked into Ryobi One+ batteries for every other tool you ever buy. Choose carefully. The Aussie reality: Bunnings is your default supplier and Bunnings stocks three real platforms — Ozito PXC, Ryobi One+, and Makita LXT. DeWalt and Milwaukee exist at Total Tools and Sydney Tools but they’re a step up in price for a step up in build quality you may or may not need. Pick the platform first, drill second.
What you’ll need (to choose well)
- An honest assessment of how often you’ll use it (twice a year vs every weekend)
- An honest assessment of what else you’ll buy from the same brand (just a drill, or eventually impact + circular saw + multi-tool + grinder)
- 30 minutes at Bunnings to handle the contenders
- This article
Step 1: Decide your platform — this is the big one
Your battery platform is the lock-in. Think 10 years out, not 1.
- Ozito PXC 18V — cheapest, batteries cheapest. Tools decent for light DIY. Build quality middling. Once-a-month DIYer, this is fine. PXC batteries cross-compatible with Einhell PXC (same factory, different brand) which is occasionally useful.
- Ryobi One+ 18V — sweet spot for Aussie homeowners. 280+ tools on the platform. Batteries everywhere. Build quality solid for DIY but won’t survive trade abuse. 80% of Aussie homeowners should buy this.
- Makita LXT 18V — trade-grade. Heavy, long-life, expensive. Use it daily or hand it to a teenage helper who’ll drop it from a ladder, Makita survives. The drill itself is heavier than Ryobi which actually matters working overhead.
I run all three for different reasons. For 90% of DIY readers, Ryobi One+ is the right answer. Buy the One+ drill kit and add tools as needed. Listen mate, the platform decision is the only one you can’t easily undo — get this right and the rest is easy.
Step 2: Chuck size — get 13 mm (1/2 inch)
Drill chucks come in 10 mm and 13 mm sizes. Cheap drills are 10 mm — limits you to bits with a 10 mm shank, rules out big spade bits, large hole saws, most masonry bits over 8 mm. 13 mm chuck handles every common bit. Ryobi One+ R18DD7 is 13 mm. Base-model Ryobi 18V drill is 10 mm — pay the extra $50 and get 13 mm. Same for Ozito and Makita. The “extra” 3 mm of chuck capacity is the difference between a drill that does 70% of jobs and one that does 95%.
Step 3: Torque — over 50 Nm matters
Torque is the twisting force the drill delivers. Lower torque = stalls in hardwood, stalls in masonry, can’t drive long screws. Higher torque = rips screws out the other side of soft pine if you’re not careful. For Aussie homeowner work — driving 65 mm batten screws into structural pine, drilling 25 mm spade-bit holes through joists for cables, occasional masonry — you want at least 50 Nm. Ryobi One+ HP drill is 80 Nm. Base Ryobi is 50 Nm. Ozito PXC is 50 Nm. Anything under 40 Nm (some cheap Bunnings imports) you’ll outgrow in 6 months. Aussie hardwood (jarrah, blackbutt, spotted gum) eats low-torque drills for breakfast.
Step 4: 18V over 12V — even though 12V is cute
12V tools are smaller, lighter, tempting for “just light jobs.” But 12V runs out of grunt fast. Pre-drilling a 6 mm hole in jarrah will stall a 12V Ozito definately. 18V is the right choice unless you’re specifically buying a small tool for tight cabinet work. Even then, the Makita 12V CXT range is $250+ — once you spend that, you’re in 18V territory anyway.
Step 5: Brushless vs brushed — only matters if you use it daily
Brushless motors are more efficient (longer battery life), more powerful (higher torque), last 3-5x longer than brushed. Cost $50-100 more per tool. Use your drill twice a year, brushed is fine. The motor will outlive the rest of the tool from disuse alone. Use it weekly, brushless pays back in battery life and motor longevity. Marketing talks brushless like it’s magic. It’s not. It’s an incremental improvement that matters at the margins.
Step 6: Battery capacity — 4Ah is the homeowner sweet spot
Battery capacity measured in Ah (amp-hours). Bigger Ah = longer runtime, but heavier and slower to charge.
- 2Ah — supplied with cheap kits. Half a day of light work. Get a second one fast.
- 4Ah — homeowner sweet spot. A day of work. Reasonable charge time (60 min standard charger).
- 6Ah and 9Ah — overkill for homeowners. Heavy on the drill. Only worth it for heavy tools (chainsaw, mower).
Buy the kit with one 4Ah battery, then buy a second 4Ah separately. Two 4Ah batteries beat one 9Ah for usability. While the first charges, you keep working.
Step 7: Set the clutch correctly when driving screws
The numbered ring around the chuck is the clutch. Slips when the screw is fully driven, preventing over-tightening, stripping, or sinking screws past flush.
- 1-3: small screws into soft material (Gyprock screws, picture-hook screws)
- 4-8: typical timber screws in pine
- 9-15: long batten screws in hardwood, large coach screws
- “drill” symbol: no clutch, drilling only, never for driving
Most homeowners ignore the clutch and drive everything on “drill” mode. Result: stripped screws, sunk screws past flush, snapped Gyprock screws. Use the clutch. This is exactly the same principle as not over-torquing brass screws when hanging curtains and blinds on plasterboard.
Step 8: Match the bit to the job
The drill is only as good as the bit. A $300 Makita with a 1990s blunt bit drills worse than a $79 Ozito with a fresh Bosch bit. Bits matter.
- Wood: brad-point or auger bits. Don’t use HSS in wood — they wander.
- Metal: HSS or HSS-cobalt. Run slow with cutting oil.
- Masonry: tungsten carbide tipped, hammer mode on the drill. Bosch CYL-5 or Makita.
- Tile: diamond-coated or tile-specific bits. Never hammer mode — cracks the tile.
Step 9: Care for the drill and use the right gear
Don’t store batteries on the charger 24/7 — modern Li-ion is fine for shelf storage at 40-60% charge. Don’t leave the drill in a hot car (Aussie summers cook batteries). Wipe sawdust off after a job. Check the chuck periodically and tighten if loose. Drop a Ryobi from a ladder once and it’ll usually survive. Twice and the gearbox makes noise. Three times and you’re shopping again. Most 18V drills have a 2-speed gearbox — speed 1 is high torque, low RPM (big screws, masonry, large timber holes). Speed 2 is low torque, high RPM (small pilots, fast pre-drilling). Wrong gear = wasted battery and inefficient cuts. Slide the gear switch deliberately for each task.
Step 10: Add tools to the platform deliberately
Once you’ve got a drill on a battery platform, the platform becomes the asset. Next purchase: an impact driver on the same platform (drill drives screws medium-tight, impact drives them rock-tight). Then: oscillating multi-tool — have a look at my notes on choosing and using an oscillating multi-tool because the blade-fitting nightmare is its own minefield. Then: angle grinder. Each new tool reuses the batteries you already own. Don’t drift across platforms because of a special. The third Ozito tool is great until you discover Ryobi has one Ozito doesn’t, and now you’re juggling two charger plugs. And one more thing — for sustained heavy use (mixing 20 kg of mortar, drilling 10+ deep holes into concrete), hire a corded SDS rotary hammer from Bunnings or Kennards for the day. Don’t kill your cordless trying to do work it isn’t designed for. For long screws (decking, framing), an impact driver beats a drill every time — same platform, different mechanical design. If you’re building a starter kit from scratch, my starter handyman tool kit guide covers the supporting cast.
When to call a tradie
Where a cordless drill isn’t the right tool: any fixed wiring or electrical install behind a wall (licensed sparky under AS/NZS 3000, no DIY), structural drilling through load-bearing posts or steel beams (engineer or builder), and core drilling for chimney flues or large holes through brick walls (bricklayer with a rotary hammer or wet diamond core). Renting commercial gear from Kennards is sometimes the answer too — a 1.5 kW SDS rotary hammer is $80/day and will do in an hour what your cordless wouldn’t finish in three.
Common screw-ups
- Buying the cheapest drill on special. Locks you into a platform you won’t grow with. Pick the platform first.
- 10 mm chuck instead of 13 mm. You’ll regret it the first time you need a hole saw.
- Driving screws on “drill” mode. Stripped heads, sunk past flush, snapped Gyprock screws.
- Hammer mode on tiles. Cracks the tile every time. Diamond bit, rotary only.
- One 2Ah battery and no spare. Half a job done, then 60 minutes of waiting.
Cost & time
Ozito PXC 18V drill kit $79-129. Ryobi One+ HP drill kit with 4Ah battery $199-279. Makita LXT brushless drill kit $349-450. Second 4Ah battery $89-150 depending on platform. Total useful kit: $250-400 for Ryobi sweet spot. Time saved over a corded drill on every job: 5-15 minutes per task because no cord faffing.
The Mick wrap
The Mick rule for cordless drills: pick the platform, get 13 mm chuck and 50+ Nm, buy a second 4Ah battery. Platform is the 10-year decision. Chuck and torque make the drill capable. The second battery turns it from a frustrating tool into a genuinely useful one. Get those right and a $250 Ryobi kit will outlast every flat-pack you assemble for the next decade. Easy as. Don’t be that bloke who’s on his third drill in five years because he kept buying the cheapest one on special.
