here is some free and unsolicited advice. agree/disagree?
situations you will want a cordless drill:
- you are working where there is not guaranteed convenient electricity available
- you need to be extremely mobile and a cord would be hazardous or very inconvenient
- wet environments? idk
examples: rough construction, outdoors, drywall racing
benefits of a corded drill:
- no batteries to charge
- no batteries that can be stolen
- no batteries you can lose or break
- no need to plan around charging batteries
- no batteries which allow the manufacturer to twist your arm into buying a new device when the old one works just fine; less susceptible to planned obsolescence
- no batteries to weigh the tool down: lighter and more comfortable to use the tool and better balance
- tool is smaller and easier to use in cramped situations
- don't need a case, charger, extra batteries or other junk
- one less thing to go wrong; more repairable if it does
- more powerful
you are in a comm called "DIY" = you are probably always working near a power outlet and not going very far. consider a corded drill instead of mindlessly going cordless.
Make sure you get a decent extension cord. I used heatshink tubing to add an extra 6ft to my cord, that makes it long enough for many applications. Sometimes I tie on an extra one.
Chargers will bring a battery to full, then disable the charging circuit. Theyll monitor the battery voltage, and assuming its on the charger just sitting for months (it takes a long ass time for unused good cells to lose enough voltage to kick the charger back on. A milwaukee 18v slow charger pulls about 250-300 watts, which isnt much) the charger still uses some power when plugged in and not charging, but very little. I would imagine maybe 50 watts or less.
Also lithium cells have a charge/discharge life span. Think roughly 300-350 charges before degraded wnough to warrant replacement. That means that one battery pack, charged daily, will last about one year before it could stand to be replaced.