Ryobi Cordless Drill

The Ryobi cordless drill range has had something of a mixed bag of reviews over the years, which in some ways is a result of Ryobi being victims of their own success.

What we mean is that over the years, the Ryobi cordless drill range has grown and grown. The problem is that people will choose the wrong drill, (typically professionals looking to save money), and then find that the drill is just not up to what they need. Rather than accept that they were simply wrong in buying a cheap drill, they whinge that it’s not “up to the job”, never mind the fact that it was never intended to be!

If you’re a professional looking for a quality Ryobi cordless drill, then the CDL1802D could be for you. This is part of the Ryobi Pro Series, designed for the full time building/restoration professional.

What You Get

This Ryobi cordless drill comes with two 18 volt nickel cadmium batteries, a Ryobi battery charger (which claims to charge a battery in one hour), and two double ended bits together with a comprehensive manual.

Features

This Ryobi cordless drill weighs in at 2.24kg with the battery pack attached, feels very solid indeed and nicely balanced in the hand.
We particularly liked the keyless chuck. All too often keyless chucks are a messy affair, having to hold back a spindle, or finding it hard to get a good lock on the drill bit. Not here though. The drill locks the drive when the drill is switched off, making one handed tightening a simple and effective operation.

This drill has 24 clutch settings, including direct drive. The settings are adjusted via a smoothly turning ring behind the chuck.
The direction of this Ryobi cordless drilll can be changed easily with one hand, by means of a reverse switch housed just above the main drill trigger switch. It also acts as a safety catch when set in it’s middle position, preventing the drill from starting and thus avoiding potential accidents.

When more torque is needed, one simply slides a selector switch on top of the casing to “LO”, changing the rpm down to 380 rpm from 1300.

Conclusion

With fairly hard use, the CDL1802D Ryobi cordless drill should lasts a couple of days before recharging, and then it takes just an hour to fully charge. We like the fact that this drill comes with two batteries, so work does not have to stop whilst the first is being recharged.
Both the handle and the finger part of the trigger are rubberised, and this greatly reduces fatigue and soreness.

We feel that this Ryobi cordless drill is a good choice for those wanting a drill capable of withstanding the needs of the most demanding of users.