Is this (new?) Skil 20V cordless drill driver, model QD6293B-10, a good tool? It’s priced a bit high for DIYers – it’s a little over $139 at the time of this posting – but the feature set seems compelling.
I think the Bosch Flexiclick is a good buy if you can catch it on sale, but that only happens a couple of times every year.
Dewalt and Milwaukee versions are good, but pricey. Under $150 for a 20V (18V nominal) multi-head drill/driver with a brushless motor seems good, even if it’s from a DIY brand.
Advertisement
The drill chuck is 3/8″. 1/2″ would have been better.
It doesn’t come with a traditional charger; you get 45W charger for directly charging the battery via USB-C. Skil says the battery has a 100W USB-C port. Yes, the USB port is bi-directional, so you can use the battery to charge your phone or other electronic devices.
The kit also comes with a quick-release screwdriver head, offset driving head, and right angle head that can be used with the drill chuck or quick release bit chuck.
Skil shows that you can also use the right angle and offset heads together.
With respect to power and speed, it delivers up to 450 in-lbs max torque, and I had to look hard to find its speed range, which is 0-500/0-1,800 RPM.
There’s a wide LED strip light at the base of the tool. Skil says it’ll “light up your workspace for up to 10 minutes.”
Advertisement
I’m not sure I love that Skil only gives a USB charging adapter with this kit, but I guess that helps to keep the price down.
I don’t think this tool is winning any contests with respect to power and performance, application speeds, size, or weight. That said, it doesn’t look bad.
Dewalt’s 20V Max multi-head cordless drill driver kit is $229 at Acme Tools and elsewhere, and that’s just for the tool by itself.
No, it’s not apples to apples – Dewalt is a pro brand and Skil is not – but it puts the ~$139 kit price into context.
I can’t tell you if it’s good or not, but it doesn’t look bad.
This is the most affordable multi-head drill/driver I know of at the moment, except for Walmart’s exclusive – see Walmart has a Hyper Tough Multi-Head Drill Driver for Cheap.
It doesn’t seem to be selling well at all, judging from online sales figures and rankings. Maybe that’s because it doesn’t have a cool name. Then again, the Skil Flip Drill doesn’t look to be selling well either.
If I were in the market for a multi-head cordless drill for under $150, I’m not sure what I’d buy instead of this one.
And isn’t USB cordless power tool battery charging something that a lot of DIYers have been asking for?
I wonder if this tool would be more popular if it had Ryobi’s name on the side, or maybe Kobalt’s.
MattT
Seems like a good enough choice for the casual DIYer to use for stuff around the house. The price might be a bit high, but, if it is a new product, maybe that’s setting up for something like $89 or $99 for Black Friday.
Hank.H
I saw this earlier in the year, but was disappointed that the hex chuck was not a quick insert type like dewalt and mke makes them. I saw a couple of open box Bosch flexi-click models on a clearance shelf at a Menards a couple weeks ago, worth checking on from time to time for rare finds, was tempting but I abandoned that brand a few years ago over the poor ergonomics of the stick battery holding handles.
Keep an eye out for Metabo if they transfer their 18v Quick Chuck 12v and 18v systems to Metabo HPT. Not sure if they were first to offer that system but Im liking my 18v brushless drill driver with 1/2″ chuck and a quick insert hex chuck i bought separately. It was a rare German made Ebay find, so I hope to see its cousin pop up with HPT brand on the US shelves with this merger you mentioned a month back.
Harrison
Honestly this seems like a great drill to have around a small house or apartment for hanging pictures, installing shelves, putting together furniture, etc. 3/8 chuck is kinda lame, but in practice one can simply buy 1/4 hex drill bits.
45w charging is pretty slow, but it doesn’t really matter when any of the basic DIY tasks above would only consume a fraction of the 2Ah battery. No sense storing a bulky fast charger for a tool that might only get used every few months.
At least it’s still part of a stable, brand name system of tools if a user wants to expand their DIY repertoire. Much better than the Amazon specials that use an orphan battery.