Our cordless drill was no longer holding a charge, so we began looking for another one. In the process we learned a number of things about the market for new and used cordless drills.
Cordless drills at pawn shops probably don't hold their charge. The first one we bought at a pawn shop had batteries that did not charge when we got it home. Fortunately, the pawn shop had a 30-day guarantee on all items, so we took it back in hopes of exchanging it for another one. I checked two other drills, and both of them had the same problem. Since I didn't want to be a bad customer and go through every drill in the place, I just apologized for being such a pain and took store credit for the return. I suspect that this was the main reason why most of the drills were at the pawn shop.
Use the batteries correctly to prolong their life. Nickel cadmium (Nicad) batteries develop a “memory” that shortens their life if you do not fully charge and discharge the batteries. If your charger does not discharge the battery fully before charging it, you can do this by using the drill until it no longer runs at all (hold the trigger down until it stops). Nickel metal hydride (NiMH) batteries deal with the memory issue better than nicads, and lithium ion batteries are better still. They're also more expensive.
Buying the drill is usually only the start. After returning the used drills to the pawn shop, we went to look for replacement batteries for our model. A new drill (with battery and charger) was $35. The battery by itself? $35. The charger by itself? $35 as well! So, it would be pretty dumb to buy a new battery for ours when we could just get a new drill! Some drill models are more expensive initially, but the batteries are much cheaper ($10-$15). So if you plan to use the drill for a long time, check this out.
If you want to switch brands, you probably have to start over. It would be nice if there were a universal charger analogous to a universal remote, but I sure didn't see them in the store. (Does anyone know of one? Or a device that can break through the memory of olf nicads?) Chargers of the same voltage are usually not interchangeable across brands.
So, we broke down to get a Hitachi 14.4 V drill kit
These drills are pretty good, I have just bought this cordless drill which is similar to yours in terms of power output, I think it is one of the best cordless drills on the market today.
My advice, better don’t get those from 2nd hand shops. You are lucky if you only get those with broken battery. What if the wiring inside the drill is broken as well? It is good to get a new one though.