With an exceptionally low price tag of £9.99 for the drill body or £39.99 for the bundle, we gave the VonHaus E-series 18V cordless drill driver a go to see if it's worth the hype
Combining drill and driver modes for both wood and metal, the VonHaus cordless drill driver provides excellent value for money and is a great starter drill in the E-series range of tools
Pros
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Cost
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Lightweight
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LED light
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Compatible with range of VonHaus E-series products
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Belt clip
Cons
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Not suitable for masonry (no hammer function)
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No carry bag
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For a budget cordless drill driver bundle, I’m very impressed with the VonHaus E-series 18V cordless drill driver. For someone who wants to buy their first drill driver for DIY use for wood and metal, it has everything you need from a drill driver — it’s compact, lightweight, includes a useful light and comes with an 18V 1.5 Ah battery and charger.
A drill driver is an essential piece of kit for the DIYer — and in fact for any homeowner who wants to perform simple DIY tasks such as hanging shelves from studwork. When looking for the best cordless drill deals, budget might be an important factor if you only intend to use a tool occasionally. Starting at just under £10 (for the bare model), this drill driver doesn't disappoint on performance or price point.
Here, we put the Vonhaus E-series 18V cordless drill driver to the test on a range of DIY tasks and deliver our verdict.
Deals on the VonHaus E-series 18v cordless drill driver
Drill driver body only. Comes without the battery and charger, ideal for those who have the E-series battery and charger already and want to add to their range
What's included in the VonHaus E-series 18V cordless drill driver bundle?
Specifications
Max drill bit size: 10mm in metal, 20mm in wood Torque: 30Nm with 19 torque settings Chuck capacity: 10mm No load speed: 0-400RPM/0-1500RPM Power: 18V Width: 13.5cm Depth: 7cm Weight: Drill 850g, battery 380g, charger 130g Material: Steel/plastic Colour: Black/grey/orange Run Time: 65 mins Charge Time: 1.5 Ah battery 85 mins Other Features: LED work light, belt clip
The VonHaus E-series cordless drill driver has two speed functions and a variable speed trigger with 30Nm of torque across 19 settings so you can set the power and speed as required.
Settings 1-5 are for driving small screws, 6-10 for drilling soft materials and 11-19 for soft/hard materials. It will take up to a 10mm drill bit for metal and 20 mm for wood — a good size for DIY jobs. Plus it features a handy light that comes on when the trigger is pressed.
As part of the bundle, you get an 18V 1.5 Ah battery, which is plenty big enough for a drill driver. It is a shame that the bundle only comes with one battery, though a second can easily be purchased on the VonHaus website with higher amp hour batteries also available as well as other accessories.
In my experience, you always need at least two batteries so that you’re never caught short. The bundle doesn’t come with a box or carry case — not essential but nice to have.
In terms of battery charger, one is included in the pack. This is easy to use and smaller than most chargers, with the charger cable plugging into the top of the battery. There isn’t a big and bulky cradle, which is good to see. There is also a useful belt holder, which can be fitted to either side of the drill.
The box with drill driver, charger and battery (Image credit: Future / Jack Willis)
E-series range
The VonHaus drill driver bundle is part of the E-series range, which all make use of the same battery and charger, so one battery can be used with eight different tools. These tools include an impact driver, torch, jigsaw, multitool, mini-circular saw, reciprocating saw, sander and of course, the drill driver.
All of the above are great tools that cover a large variety of jobs and good to have around the house for your list of DIY jobs. And because they utilise the same battery, they can all be purchased for relatively little cost. Therefore, there’s logic in committing to the full range rather than just one product.
Much of the cost when purchasing tools is in the batteries. This means you can add to your tool collection with relatively little additional expense. The ability to use the same battery in multiple tools not only saves money but is convenient too — one battery and one charger rather than having to charge eight different batteries!
Batteries don’t do well being left uncharged and by having only a small number of batteries also makes it much easier keeping them charged and in use.
Does the VonHaus E-series 18V cordless drill driver do a good job?
Based on our testing, the VonHaus E-series 18v cordless drill driver performs very well for drilling holes and putting screws into wood and metal.
If you live in a new-build house with stud walls, it is brilliant. You can drill holes and hang shelves inside with ease, making use of its drill and driver modes. It will drill through plasterboard and wooden studs smoothly, plus the driver mode will save time when tightening screws.
However, if you live in an older house with plenty of solid walls, you will benefit from a drill with a hammer function. This particular drill driver isn’t designed for masonry so it doesn’t have that all important hammer function. This means it simply won’t drill a hole in most bricks and masonry.
It would be nice if the light stayed on a little longer. It only comes on when the trigger is pressed and turns off as soon as you lift off the trigger. There are plenty of times when I will be drilling at the back of a cupboard and can’t quite see my mark but I’m not ready to hit the trigger and drill or the screw head isn’t quite lined up. If the light stayed on a little longer, you could tap the trigger to turn the light on, line up on your mark and then drill or screw.
The VonHaus cordless 18v drill driver has two speed settings, perfect for starting out with DIY (Image credit: Future / Jack Willis)
Do you need a hammer function?
This VonHaus drill driver is specifically designed for wood and metal only, it isn’t designed for masonry and therefore does not come with a hammer function.
A hammer function, usually depicted with a hammer symbol, engages a hammer mechanism — a percussion vibration which makes it easier to drill through brick and masonry. Without a hammer function, you will find it incredibly difficult, if not impossible, to drill through these materials.
Is it a mistake not including a hammer function in their drill driver? Actually I don’t think so — I will explain…
Having used a lot of drill drivers ranging from the cheap and cheerful to the top of the range, all singing and dancing drill models, they’re all, in my opinion, rubbish at drilling holes in brickwork. Most of the time you end up trying to line up your holes in the mortar as drilling through the brick with a small drill driver is difficult.
This is where an SDS drill comes in. So what is an SDS drill? An SDS drill is much bigger and the hammer function uses the weight of the drill to do the hard-work — you don’t need to push hard to drill through concrete or masonry and simply let the SDS drill do the work.
For me, a drill driver is most useful for drilling holes in wood and metal, which is exactly what VonHaus have designed this drill driver to do. They’re meant to be light and compact so they’re versatile and can get into the smaller, hard to reach places.
Being compact, a drill driver simply does not have the weight and power of an SDS drill so will never be as good at drilling through bricks and masonry. So no, I don’t think it matters that the VonHaus drill driver doesn’t have a hammer function but it is a real shame the VonHaus E-series doesn’t have an SDS drill.
I think this is a vital tool missing from its arsenal, and it’d be good to see them look to add one in the future. They do however offer a corded SDS drill but it is not compatible with the E-series battery.
The VonHaus drill driver is great for odd jobs around the house (Image credit: Future / Jack Willis)
About this review
Homebuilding & Renovating is not given any compensation by VonHaus for our reviews, but may be allowed to keep the product for long-term testing meaning we can test it over a greater length of time, and update this review if required.
Jack Willis is a handyman based in Essex. He has worked on all kinds of projects from large scale house extensions, plastering, bricklaying, carpentry and decorating, to small jobs around the home and garden. He is new to writing for Homebuilding & Renovating but has been working in the building industry – using all kinds of tools – for well over a decade.
