Last year when we had to replace the rotten floor in the bathroom at my mom's house, I purchased a Black & Decker DR250B Variable Speed Drill/Driver to help with the process. It features a 5.2 amp motor that will put out between 0 and 1,500 RPMs, and a 3/8" keyless chuck for easy bit changes. It's also nice because there is chuck key to lose or misplace.

While a cordless drill would have been sufficient, I wouldn't use it often enough to warrant keeping the battery charged. When I finally did need to use it, I'm sure the battery would be dead and I would have to wait for it to charge up before I could start on anything. For this reason alone, I decided I needed to get a regular corded drill. The cord on the DR250B is 6 feet long, which is long enough to plug it in nearby to drill a hole or put in a couple of screws real quick. Most of the time I would be using an extension cord anyway, so cord length wasn't really a concern for me.

The Black & Decker DR250B is a 120 volt drill and only draws 5.2 amps. This means that when using an extension cord it can be as small as 18 gage wire as long as the cord is not more than 25 feet in length. Use a 16 gage or bigger extension cord for up to 100 feet in length, and a 14 gage cord for up to 150 feet. Smaller gage numbers mean bigger, heavier wire - if you're not sure, go with the next heavier gage.

The drill itself measures 10" long by 10" tall by 3" wide. It is red and black in color and weighs just over 5 pounds. The handle is in the middle of the drill to help balance it when in use. The handle also has a soft rubber grip for your comfort. There is also a double-ended screwdriver bit included that has a flat-head bit on one side and Philips on the other. There is a nice rubber moulded indentation on the top of the drill to store this included bit so you don't lose it. The maximum recommended capacity for the drill is a 3/8" twist bit for drilling steel, a 1" bit for hard wood, and a 1-1/4" bit for soft wood.

The variable speed works depending on how hard you pull back on the trigger. Pulling back slightly results in slow drill speed, and as you pull harder on the trigger the speed increases all the way up to 1,500 RPMs. While it works well enough, it's a little touchy. Half the time I find myself going from very slow to very fast and skipping over the middle range of RPMs. It hasn't really been a problem so far, but it's something to keep in mind.

Directly behind the trigger on the left hand side is a trigger lock button. Pressing this button while the drill is running at full speed locks the trigger in place and lets the drill keep running without having to hold the trigger. What use this would be is beyond me, as I sure wouldn't want to use the drill while it was permanently running. You can press the trigger once to disengage the lock.

Above and slightly behind the trigger, over top of the trigger lock button, is the forward-reverse slider. When it's pressed all the way to the left, the drill goes forward to drill holes or insert screws. When it's pressed all the way to the right, the drill goes in reverse to let you back out screws or drill bits. If you leave it in the center, it locks the trigger from being pressed.

The canvas storage back measures about 14" long by 8.5" tall by 4" wide. It has a two medium sized pockets in the back, one on each half of the bag. The front has one medium sized pocket in the center surrounded by two smaller sized pockets on either side. Inside, the bag has one large pocket where I keep the instruction manual. The bag zips closed across the top and has a pair of handles to carry it with.

I've used the drill for drilling pilot holes and inserting screws when we replaced the rotten floor in the bathroom. The compact design made it easy to get down in between floor joists to insert screws, and it had no trouble putting in 1 5/8" all purpose screws even without pilot holes. In addition to the floor and other simple household projects, I've used it to drill out ball joint rivets on a 1998 Pontiac Grand Prix. We originally started to grind them off, but the grinder was half broken and kept cutting out on us so we decided to drill them out instead. It worked well, only taking a few minutes on those rivets with a 3/8" cobalt drill bit.

Note: Always use proper eye protection when drilling, especially when drilling into metal. Metal shavings in your eyes are really painful, not to mention dangerous.

I'm pleased with the performance of the Black & Decker DR250B. It's a nice compact, light-weight drill that's easy to handle and perfect for regular household usage. If you do end up having a problem with it, Black & Decker also backs it up with a 2 year warranty against any defects in material or workmanship.

Recommended: Yes