I've been using Panasonic drills for years and I think they're the best on the market. Until today I used the 14.4V drill (the EY7441) and it has performed beautifully over the years. However, sometimes it lacked some punch using big hole saws so I've retired it to home use and bought the new 18V Panasonic brushless drill for my job this morning before going to work. It comes with a choice of two battery packs, 3.0Ah or 5.0Ah. I bought it with the 3.0Ah battery packs. The ergonomics of the drill are Panasonic through and through, a very comfortable handle and perfect balance. It also has a new all metal single sleeve drill chuck with extra hard teeth that goes up to 13mm. Another feature that I like is the speed selector which adds another level of fine tuning. I've been using it all day and the new 3.0Ah batteries seem to go on forever. They're in between the older 3.3Ah batteries (that came with the 14.4V drill) and the 4.2Ah batteries in terms of run time. The older 3.3Ah batteries already have a longer run time than higher Ah batteries from other manufacturers so this should give you an idea of how long you can work on a single charge. Panasonic batteries are simply brilliant. The one thing I don't like is the new position of the LED light. On my old drill it was positioned on the base. On the new drill they moved it to underneath the drill chuck. They should have stuck with the position on the base. Apart from the minor negative, it's a superb drill. It has loads of torque, the batteries have a very long run time, the ergonomics are great and it's very compact at just 178mm's long. Another nice thing is that it's compatible with battery packs dating back to 2010.
