UK Cordless Drill Buyer's Guide: 10 Best Battery-Powered Drills for July 2026

> Affiliate disclosure. Some retailer links in this guide are affiliate links — Tool Brief may earn a commission if you buy through them, at no extra cost to you. We mark each affiliate link with rel="sponsored". Where we link to a retailer we have no relationship with, we use plain links. The full list of active programmes and the retailers we name without affiliation are listed on our affiliate disclosure page. All editorial verdicts are independent of those relationships.

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What is the best cordless drill to buy in the UK in 2026?

This guide compares ten 18V cordless drills currently sold in the UK, across three real-world torque tiers, and finishes with a job-by-job matrix so you can pick the right one without reading ten separate reviews. Prices are mid-2026 indicative figures from Screwfix, FFX, Amazon UK and the major manufacturers; treat them as a snapshot, not a quote.

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Three torque tiers — pick your tier first

Most UK buyers pick the wrong drill by ignoring what they'll actually do with it. Torque matters more than brand. These three tiers cover virtually every UK home and trade use-case:

The mid-tier is the sweet spot for the majority of UK homeowners — enough torque for masonry walls without the cost of a trade-grade body. Below 50Nm you'll struggle in brick; above 100Nm you start paying for endurance and chuck robustness you may never use.

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How we picked these ten

We chose drills that are readily available in UK retailers in mid-2026, span the three torque tiers above, and represent the platforms most likely to be on a buyer's shortlist: DeWalt XR, Makita LXT, Milwaukee M18, Bosch 18V Professional, Ryobi ONE+, plus the UK high-street value brands (Einhell, Erbauer, Black+Decker).

Where manufacturer and reviewer figures disagree, we have stated both and flagged the discrepancy. Real-world performance claims are quoted with attribution. No free tools were supplied by any manufacturer — every figure cited from a reviewer is from a public test, and manufacturer claims are clearly labelled as such.

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The 10 cordless drills in this guide

Budget / light DIY (40–50Nm)

Black+Decker BCD700S1K — £59.99 Amazon UK (often dips below £50 in promotions). 40Nm max torque, 10mm keyless chuck, 2-gear (0–360 / 0–1,400 rpm), 10+1 clutch settings, hammer mode at 21,000 bpm, 1.5Ah slide battery (POWERCONNECT platform). Capacity: wood 25mm, steel and masonry 10mm. Best for: flat-pack, hanging shelves and curtain rails, light plasterboard, occasional wall plugs. The 10mm chuck is the limiting factor — you can't fit standard 13mm auger bits, so this is genuinely a home-only drill.

Einhell TE-CD 18/2 Li-i (+22) — £70–£90 kit, Power X-Change platform. 44Nm, 13mm single-sleeve metal chuck, 20+1 clutch settings, 2-gear (0–350 / 0–1,250 rpm), hammer mode, ~40-minute charge. Best for: general home and garage DIY, light garden and outdoor projects. The draw is the Power X-Change ecosystem — one battery runs Einhell garden tools, pressure washers, vacuum cleaners and the rest of the 18V range.

Erbauer ECCD18-Li EXT — £70–£90 kit at Screwfix. Brushless for the price, 50Nm, 13mm keyless metal chuck with auto spindle lock, 17 clutch settings, 2-gear, combi drill/driver/hammer. Screwfix "Keep Cool" battery tech and belt clip. Screwfix customer rating 4.9/5. Best for: compact work in tight spaces, flat-pack, shelving, occasional masonry, and Screwfix shoppers who want one battery that fits the rest of the EXT range.

Mid-range all-rounder (55–85Nm)

Bosch GSR 18V-55 — from £116 (idealo.co.uk). Brushless, 55Nm hard / 28Nm soft, 25-position clutch (the most in this class), 13mm Röhm metal chuck, 1.0kg bare, 0–450 / 0–1,750 rpm, no hammer function. Wood 35mm, steel 13mm, screw 10mm. Best for: precision assembly — flat-pack, kitchen units, cabinet hinges, delicate chipboard. The 25-position clutch prevents the stripped-head syndrome cheaper drills cause in MDF. For masonry, Bosch sells the GSB 18V-55 combi on the same platform. If you only ever drill timber and screw into wood, the GSR is the cleanest tool for it.

DeWalt DCD778 — £140–£153 with two batteries (eBay / FFX). Brushless, 64–65Nm, 13mm chuck, 2-gear (0–1,750 rpm), XR platform. Spec note: sources disagree — some reviewers test the DCD778 as a drill-driver-only, while T3 and several UK retailers list a combi variant with hammer mode. Confirm the exact SKU before you buy. Once you know which you have, it's a strong timber-focused tool at the price.

Makita DHP484 — from £69.99 bare (idealo). Brushless, 54Nm hard / 30Nm soft (Makita UK spec — some retailers list 60Nm), 13mm chuck, 21 clutch settings, hammer at 30,000 bpm, wood 38mm, steel and masonry 13mm, 1.6–1.8kg, electric brake, XPT dust and water resistance, all-aluminium gear housing. Best for: heavy domestic and light trade — drilling wood, metal and masonry, driving long screws. DIY Garden recorded it boring 30 holes into 38mm CLS timber without strain, drilling a 5mm hole in London brick in 18 seconds, and driving a 150mm wood screw without stalling. LXT platform: 250–300+ tools.

DeWalt DCD796 — £134–£160 with batteries, body only from £61 (PriceSpy). Brushless, 70Nm (gear 1) / 27Nm (gear 2), 13mm all-metal chuck, 15 clutch settings, hammer up to 34,000 bpm, wood 40mm, steel and masonry 13mm, 1.3kg bare, 0–550 / 0–2,000 rpm. Our pick as the one drill most UK homeowners actually need — covers flat-pack through to fixing into brick. A tradesperson field report used the DCD796B at clutch position 1 with a carbide bit to drill porcelain tile for conduit boxes — exactly the kind of second-fix electrical work UK sparks do every week. XR platform.

Ryobi R18PD7 ONE+ — £100 bare (e-catalog). Brushless, 85Nm, 13mm ratcheting metal chuck, 22–24 clutch settings, hammer (5,330 / 23,400 bpm), wood 54mm, steel and masonry 13mm, ~1.7kg. Manufacturer runtime claim: 5.0Ah battery = 1,750 screws driven / 375 holes drilled, defined as 4×32mm screws driven and 16×50mm holes drilled in wood per charge. Best for: DIYers and prosumers building fences (one user drove 100mm bugle screws through 2×6 into 4×4 pine), decking, general drilling, and anyone already invested in the ONE+ platform that spans 150+ home and garden tools. Watch for chuck self-loosening complaints on early units.

Heavy-duty trade (130–135Nm)

Milwaukee M18 FPD2 — £150+ body only, kits £220+. POWERSTATE brushless, 135Nm, 13mm metal chuck, 175mm head length, hammer at 32,000 bpm, wood 89mm (holesaw) / 16mm masonry / 16mm steel, REDLINK PLUS overload protection. Best for: professional trade, scaffolding, structural timber, sustained masonry, mixing (users run it for grout). Farmers Weekly recorded the FPD2 boring 42 × 25mm auger holes in hardwood per 5.0Ah charge at an average 13.48 seconds per hole, with the hammer function "punching holes in concrete blocks like they were made from balsa wood." One user reported overheating during constant timber boring. M18 platform; up to a 3-year warranty on registration.

Makita DHP486 — £110 bare (PriceSpy). Brushless, 130Nm (Makita UK; some retailers list 125Nm or 141Nm peak), 13mm ratcheting chuck, 21 clutch settings, hammer at 31,500 bpm, masonry 16mm, wood (auger) 50mm / self-feed 76mm / holesaw 152mm, 1.9kg with 3Ah, 178mm head length, electric brake, XPT. Best for: heavy domestic and trade — large-diameter timber, dense masonry, near-SDS capability. Independent reviewers note it produces "nearly double the torque of the DeWalt DCD796" and handles the masonry work most homeowners encounter without needing a separate SDS drill, but the kickback with large auger bits is real — it is not a beginner drill for casual use.

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Side-by-side comparison table

Indicative prices are mid-2026 snapshots from Screwfix, FFX, Amazon UK and manufacturer websites. Drill-only "bare" prices assume you already own a battery and charger; kits include battery and charger. Always compare like-for-like.

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Do I need a hammer drill for brick?

Yes — for almost every UK internal wall. UK houses are predominantly masonry (brick, block, stone, concrete), and the hammer function is what lets a combi drill punch through in seconds rather than minutes. Of the ten drills above, only the Bosch GSR 18V-55 has no hammer mode at all, and the DeWalt DCD778's hammer status depends on the exact SKU you buy. The other eight are combi drills that will handle brick and block directly.

If you own a hammer-less drill driver and you only need to fix the occasional curtain rail, you can buy a separate SDS drill for the masonry work. SDS drills are built for it: the bit hammers while it rotates and they don't bind in masonry the way a combi drill can. But for most people, buying one combi drill does both jobs — and that is why every other drill in this list has a hammer mode.

A true SDS+ drill still beats a combi drill for structural masonry — reinforced concrete, lintels, dense aggregate blocks. If you're fitting RSJs or chasing concrete, plan to own both: a combi for timber and a SDS+ for the heavy stuff, ideally on the same battery platform.

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Which drill for which UK job

The combi drill cannot replace an SDS drill for structural masonry, and the SDS is impractical for fine timber screwdriving. Most trade users end up owning both, ideally on one battery platform.

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How we compared them

We cross-referenced three sources for each drill:

1. Manufacturer UK specification — the official figure from the brand's UK product page or UK distributor (the figure most likely to appear on the retailer's data sheet). 2. Independent reviewer testing — UK reviewer tests published on greengaffer.co.uk, DIY Garden, Farmers Weekly, Which? and similar. We cite them with attribution. 3. UK retailer listings — Screwfix, FFX, Toolstation, Amazon UK. Used to cross-check indicative prices and to flag SKU variants.

Where the three disagreed on a torque or feature figure, we have stated both and named the source. Where a manufacturer claim (like the Ryobi R18PD7's 1,750 screws per 5.0Ah) is marketing copy rather than independent test data, we have labelled it as such.

We did not run our own timed drilling tests on each drill for this guide. For independent benchmark data on UK-sold drills, Which? maintains a regularly refreshed comparison (paid membership) using a tachometer, identical drill bits across all units and a standardised 2.0Ah battery test — that is the gold standard for cross-model UK testing.

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Where to buy each drill in the UK

The retailers below carry most or all of the drills in this guide. Affiliate links are marked with rel="sponsored" and never cost you more. Where we have no affiliate programme with a retailer, the link is a standard deep-link — the price is the same either way.

| Drill | Cheapest UK body-only | Cheapest UK kit | Trade-focused retailers | Notes | |---|---|---|---|---| | Black+Decker BCD700S1K | — | Screwfix · Amazon UK | Toolstation, Wickes | Often dips below £50 in Amazon sales | | Einhell TE-CD 18/2 Li-i | — | Amazon UK · Tooled-Up | ITS | Power X-Change ecosystem across garden and power tools | | Erbauer ECCD18-Li EXT | — | Screwfix (own-brand) | Screwfix only | Brushless at budget, sold as 1.5Ah kit | | Bosch GSR 18V-55 | Tooled-Up · FFX | Bosch UK distributor | Toolden, Power Tool World | Drill driver only — pair with GSB combi for masonry | | Makita DHP484 | Tooled-Up · FFX | Amazon UK | Power Tool World, ITS | Bare unit prices fluctuate — LXT platform | | DeWalt DCD778 | Tooled-Up · FFX | Screwfix, Amazon UK | Toolden, D&M Tools | Confirm combi variant before buying | | DeWalt DCD796 | Tooled-Up · Power Tool World | Screwfix, Amazon UK | Toolden, ITS, D&M Tools | Our pick for the homeowner — bare from ~£61 | | Ryobi R18PD7 | — | Screwfix · Amazon UK | Ryobi UK online | Best ONE+ ecosystem breadth | | Makita DHP486 | Tooled-Up · FFX | Amazon UK | Power Tool World, ITS | Kickback with large augers — read the verdict | | Milwaukee M18 FPD2 | Tooled-Up · Power Tool World | Amazon UK | Toolden, ITS, D&M Tools | Trade grade — register for warranty |

Links marked with rel="sponsored" pay a small commission to Tool Brief. Links to Screwfix, Toolstation, B&Q and Wickes are currently plain — we have no affiliate relationship with them yet, see our affiliate disclosure.

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What to buy in July 2026

• One drill for everything around the home: DeWalt DCD796 (or Ryobi R18PD7 if you want the broadest ecosystem at a lower price).
• Best value brushless for a UK DIYer on a budget: Erbauer ECCD18-Li EXT from Screwfix.
• Trade users who use it every day: Milwaukee M18 FPD2 or Makita DHP486.
• Cabinet fitter / kitchen fitter precision work: Bosch GSR 18V-55 (and pair with the GSB 18V-55 combi on the same battery if you also need hammer).
• Already in the Ryobi or Einhell ecosystem: add the Ryobi R18PD7 or Einhell TE-CD 18/2 on your existing battery.

Prices move, retailer promotions come and go, and new models land every spring. Last reviewed 18 July 2026; we'll refresh this guide when the autumn 2026 launches arrive.

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