1. Bosch EasyImpact kit — the one most first-timers should buy
If you don’t own a single cordless tool yet, this is the one to look at first. The Bosch green 18V kit comes complete — drill, battery, charger and a case — for less than the other two cost as bare skins. It’s a hammer drill, so brick is on the menu, with a 13mm chuck, a two-speed gearbox and twenty clutch settings, which is plenty of control for the jobs a house throws up: flat-packs, hooks, decking screws, the odd masonry plug for a wall bracket.
It’s a brushed motor rather than brushless, so it runs a touch warmer and won’t shrug off years of daily punishment — but a home drill doesn’t get daily punishment, it gets a busy Saturday now and then. The battery in the box is a small 2Ah pack (Ah is the fuel-tank size — a 2Ah runs about half as long as a 4Ah), enough for an afternoon’s work, and it drops onto the wider Bosch green range if the hobby grows. The warranty runs three years if you register within four weeks, two if you don’t — and note the battery and charger sit outside that tool warranty.
Joel: this is the one I’d put in front of someone buying their first drill to hang a shelf this weekend. They don’t need a platform, they need a working drill, and this is a working drill for skin money.
2. Makita DHP484 — the best tool, only if you’re buying the platform
Matt’s pick, and there’s no argument it’s the best tool on this page — which isn’t the same as the best buy. The DHP484 is brushless — the motor swaps carbon brushes for electronics, so it runs cooler, lasts longer and squeezes more work out of a charge — with 54Nm of torque, an all-metal 13mm chuck and a compact body that gets into places the other two can’t. It’s trade-grade gear having an easy life in a home shed.
The asterisk is the one this whole piece is about: it’s a skin. The price you see buys the tool and nothing else. Add a Makita battery — their packs are the dearest of the trio — and a charger, and you’re well past the Bosch kit for the same job done. That maths only makes sense if you’re buying into Makita: the 300-plus LXT range, the tools you’ll add over the next decade that all share the one battery. Buy it as a one-off and you’ve overpaid for a shelf bracket. The warranty is five years with registration inside 30 days — three if you don’t — and watch for “plain packaging” listings — those are usually parallel imports that may carry no Australian warranty, so check who’s selling before you click.
Matt: I’d rather own one drill for fifteen years than two for seven. I accept I also still own the spreadsheet that says so.
3. Ryobi ONE+ drill driver — the cheap door into the biggest range
Joel’s platform, and the pitch is the range: ONE+ runs past 300 tools on the one 18V battery, the long tail of glue guns and inflators and stick vacs that quietly take over a shed. This drill driver is a cheap, capable way onto that platform — 50Nm, a 13mm ratchet-locking chuck, twenty-four clutch settings and a two-speed gearbox. The warranty is the longest here at six years, though it’s four plus two in practice: you only get the back two by registering within 30 days.
One catch, and it’s why this sits third: it’s a drill driver, not a hammer drill. No percussion mode, so it’ll bore wood, metal and plastic happily but it won’t punch into brick. If your place is all timber and plasterboard, you’ll never miss it. If there’s a masonry wall in your future, the other two cover it and this one doesn’t. It’s a skin too, so the same kit-versus-skin maths applies — though a ONE+ battery costs a fair bit less than Makita’s.
Joel: I run this platform and I’d still send a brand-new buyer to the Bosch kit first. Loyalty’s one thing, but you don’t buy into an ecosystem to hang one shelf.
Money, warranties and the fine print
The number nobody prices at the counter is the battery. A skin is only cheap until you add the pack and charger that make it work, and on Makita that addition is the dearest of the three. Two of these warranties also want something from you: Ryobi’s six years and Makita’s five both need you to register within a month, and Bosch’s three needs the same four-week sign-up — skip the sign-up and the cover drops back (Bosch to two, Makita to three, Ryobi to four). Do the registration the day the tool comes home and photograph your receipt, because that’s the gap between the cover you were promised and the cover you can claim. On top of all of it, Australian Consumer Law may cover you on any purchase, regardless of who sold it.
The verdict
You own no cordless tools and want one drill that works this weekend: the Bosch EasyImpact kit. Battery, charger and hammer mode in the box for less than the others’ bare skins — the best buy here for a first-timer, even though the Makita’s the better tool. The brushed motor and smaller green range are the trade-offs, and for most they’re the right ones.
You’re committing to a platform and want the best tool on it: the Makita DHP484. The finest tool here by a clear margin — but our rating weighs all-in value, and bought as a one-off you’re paying platform money for a battery and charger on top. Right if you’ll own more Makita, overkill if you won’t.
You’re buying into the ONE+ range and your walls are timber: the Ryobi drill driver. A cheap, capable door into the biggest cordless family going, marked down only because it skips the hammer mode the other two include.
Whichever you pick, work out the battery cost before you fall for the sticker price — on a skin, the two are very different numbers.
