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.
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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.”
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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.
NoDak Farming
Potentially it could be even easier for us to see a MetaboHPT multi head cordless drill. By browsing “hikoki-powertools.eu” I found that it’s already offered to Europeans under Hikoki branding. And it appears to have that sub-compact size to it, that they have been offering to us in a MetaboHPT drill and impact driver. I have both the sub-compact drill and driver, and they are probably in my hands more than any other cordless tools. They are great. I’d buy a multi head in a heartbeat. I’m just not sure what it’s going to take for corporate Hikoki to start letting North Americans have the products that they are already selling in other parts of the world.
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.
Brett
The Ryobi 4V Lithium version of this kind of tool is what I leave at my girl’s place along with a basic bit/drill kit from Milwaukee (48-32-5163) for small fixits that don’t require my larger tool kits from my truck or shop.
It’s not a replacement for my 12V Dewalt version but it gets most easy jobs done.
https://www.directtoolsoutlet.com/products/fvd51k
Looks like it’s $45 currently but it was on sale a few weeks ago for $35.
Terrance
I have too the Ryobi 4v tools and I had seen only for 40$ a pretty decent size Ryobi Dremel kit in a hard case with lots of attachments.
I seen it and got it for my dad on fathers day.
We use it all the time of minimal grinding.
It’s pretty hard to find a good Dremel that doesn’t need a battery for that price.
AP
Seems decent but are the other tools good in this particular battery platform? I’m in all kinds of battery platforms but I’m doing DIY and contract work so I think it matters in this case. Seems to me Ryobi is tough to beat in the DIY (lifestyle too) category but I don’t think they have a similar tool like this.
Cole
When I was getting started as a carpenter I used Skil power tools on the job. The dual battery rear handle 7 1/4″ circular saw is a beast, best dust collection of any brand as far as I’m aware, very capable in a professional setting, to the point I’m tempted to cross battery platforms to keep it in my arsenal.
If you get their brushless tools they tend to have good performance for the price and some unique features, the 4.5″ grinder hits way above its price point, the reciprocating saw is good until you start doing heavy duty demo work with it, the sander does pretty well. Don’t expect great durability though.
Jack D
I want to get my son started on a decent DIY line this year. He’s going for machining, but for DIY stuff Round the house/apartment, he’ll need something with a decent stable to start out. Is Skil the one? I think many of my early tools were Skil, even my first little table saw. I’ll have to check on their selection.
I inadvertently started my daughter with Ryobi, buying her a stick vacuum to start, and following with the rotary tool kit. Hard to beat the selection and consistency of Ryobi, not to mention the stable battery platform making it super user friendly.
Dave
I have quite a few of the Skil Powercore 12v lineup. Purchased the set for like $99 at Lowe’s 3 years ago I have added a few bare Skil tools also. Kit came with full size quick charger. I also own the flip drill/driver with 20V battery. Works with my 12v batteries also! I already have the Milwaukee M12 version of this setup so will skip this tool. Yeah seems like Skil is trying to remain price competitive by offering usb charging instead of full charger included with their tools currently.
S
I’ve always loved the idea of the Milwaukee M12 installation driver, which has identical chuck options(though the Milwaukee 90° looks a little more refined), but loses me on the oddly top mounted push-button forward/ reverse setup, and ungainly trigger guard that reminds me of a medieval sword…
This fixes all of my issues with the M12 installation driver, and as evidenced by my lack of one, is not a tool I need very often anyways. I rarely see the M12 go for less than $200 as well.
So a different brand, that I don’t need yet another bulky charger for, and I can dual purpose the batteries for usb power banks.
Sounds like a win for me!
Mike
Today (10/19), Lowe’s is selling a number of 12v Skil tools for $29.98 each.
Tool only, no battery or charger
The inflator and the barrel jigsaw are both great
Patrick T
They have been featuring Skil quite a bit lately. Had some tool+ battery kits recently. I just picked up their led work light, with 12v battery for $60. The light looks slick. Accepts either 12v or 20v batteries. I already had their one-handed recip saw.
SteveP
Interesting, although I do wonder about the utility of some of the heads. It’s almost as if they accidentally produced every “brainstormed” idea they had. I don’t need yet another battery system, although USB charging works for both of us (saves them the cost of the charger and saves me paying for it). If this was Ryobi USB or Millwaukee 12V, I’d be more interested. As to the 3/8″ chuck, it’s easy enough to find bits with reduced shanks (or hex drive)
Nate
It’s not clear from the article how many other tools can use this same pack. If Ryobi added a type-C port to the stem of the One+ packs, it’d be a killer feature, but on a third-tier brand with an unknown (and likely very small) number of tools, meh.