Probably considered “too cheap” for this thread, but I’ve got a cabinet full of Bauer 24v tools and the same battery powers them all. All of them came “Tool Only”. The drill works great, has all the features the OP wants. I mostly use the Impact Gun for mounting wheels/tires. The 24v has plenty of grunt to bust the lug nuts free. It gets a lot of use because I swap out full sets of tires for winter on a few cars, and the Jeep is always needing attention. The circular saw works Wunderbar! Got the Sawzall and a string trimmer also. I shit-canned the string and mounted up a circular saw blade for butchering large dried out weeds. The 24v works nice for that!
I’ve never had the battery die during a job (but I’m not a Pro. Couple hours/couple beers is about as long as I have in the tank). I charge it now and then when I think about it. But it’s alway ready to go.
I’m a DeWalt devotee. I own a bunch of tools that take their “20 V Max” battery packs, including drill, impact driver, impact wrench, and ratchet. And I just purchased a caulk gun. I just love the feel of them, and the quality is top-notch.
I have two 1/2 inch hammer driver/drills (you can drill concrete with a hammer driver). A Mikita and a DeWalt. Love them both. My motto is to always by more tool than you think you need.
The half inch hammer driver is going to be out of your price range, just wanted to say I love both of these brands.
I have two because I am in the middle of moving one house to another. I was receiving boxes of shelves and also a desk to put together at the new house. The desk had 18 separate bags of different screws it needed to assemble. I did not have a drill. It was 120 miles away. Oh hell no, I’m not going to do this with out a drill. I went to Lowes and bought the DeWalt.
I’ll be the very cheap outlier here.
While I currently own a ryobi drill and impact driver (two separate tools), I will always have fond memories of the chicago electric impact driver/screw gun I got from Harbor Freight. It was cheap, lower power, only 7.5 volts but for home owner stuff it was just right. Light enough to not wear out your arm holding it up, powerful enough to do just about anything (not all things though). It was reliable too, the charger went bad after a few years, but I used the heck out of that thing. Used it to tear down and rebuild an entire cedar fence one year.
Add me to the list of satisfied Ryobi One+ (18-volt) users. Ryobi has several different drill models, though, so you would still have to make a decision about your likely uses. But the One+ battery system has been very solid for me. If you do go with Ryobi, be sure to get the “Smart Charger” that handles both Li batteries and the older style. (I still have older non-Li batteries that work just fine.) The simpler chargers just don’t cut it for me. Also, I’ve had no problems at all with the cheaper knock-off versions of both the batteries and the smart chargers.
I’ve also been pleased with their small circular saw, sabre saw, reciprocating saw, and sander that use the same battery system. They’re not Milwaukee quality, but they do the job for the occasional handyman.
I think Milwaukee, DeWalt, Makita, and Bosch are all professional level and high quality.
I think the second tier would include Ryobi and Channel Lock.
I tend to buy Ryobi tools because I have extra batteries, but I have a Channel Lock cordless drill that I got for free about 5-6 years ago that’s still going strong. I would be lucky to get a year out of something like Black and Decker.
I was about to link to Project Farm. Those tests should give the OP things to think about, and what might be personally important.
Personally I’ve used and been happy with 12v Dewalt, 18v Porter Cable, Ryobi, Ridgid, Hitachi. They’ve all been fine. But for anyone building things (rather than doing maintenance or assembly) I’d recommend an established system that offers various saws. Ridgid, DeWalt, Milwaukee, Ryobi, maybe Bosch, Metabo, or one of the Harbor Freight lines.
It might come down to what’s on sale or what color you like.
I’m partial to a short drill that will fit in tight spaces. A half inch chuck is better than a 3/8. Lightweight is better than heavy. For 95% of what I do the 12v Bosch that @MikeG recommends above would be ideal, but occasionally I drill a few 1” holes through a 6x6, or use a 3” garden auger.
The 2 Ah battery won’t be as powerful as a 4 Ah, but it should be fine. Keep your eyes open for a sale on bigger DeWalt batteries- they popup every 6 months or so. Most DeWalt stuff is good; their reciprocating saws tend to vibrate.
I read about a study that found that the average cordless drill is used for something like 18 minutes total over its lifetime. A corded one might be a better investment…
I don’t think there’s a power tool I use more than a cordless drill. Mine came with a paired impact driver, I rarely use that, the reciprocating saw on the same batteries not much either, circular saw sometimes.
I still have my (corded) Milwaukee drill I bought in the early 1990s. The only time I use it is when I have to do a lot of work using a wire wheel brush. Doing that type of work is very taxing on a cordless drill, requiring many charge/discharge cycles on the batteries, and thus reducing the life of the batteries. (And I’ve found that the real cost of using cordless tools is not the tool, but the cost of OEM replacement batteries.)
I’ve been using my Makita for 15+ years with no issues. As others have pointed out, you’re buying into a battery system. My original 3 amp batteries still work as well as the 4 amp and 5 amp that came with other tools. And all are interchangeable.
One thing about batteries is that the rating is amp-hours. It’s an indication of the capacity of the battery, not the strength. It’s like the gas tank on your car. It just indicates how long you can drive, not the power of the car. A bigger tank just means you can drive for a longer period of time before refilling. The voltage of the battery is generally what indicates the strength of the tool. The higher the voltage, the more strength it will have. The voltage is like the cylinders of your car. The more cylinders, the more power your car will have. The only difference in using a 4Ah battery versus a 2Ah battery is that the 4Ah battery will generally last twice as long. The tool itself won’t have any additional power from a higher Ah battery.
Most homeowners generally won’t use the tool long enough to drain the battery in a single use. The smallest battery will probably work fine. Even if it’s not charged after every use, it will probably be usable for many jobs since the homeowner is just using it for a short time. A pro will want a high Ah battery since they are using it all day. Since battery prices will be proportional to Ah, spending more for a higher Ah battery won’t necessarily be worth it for the homeowner who only uses it occasionally.