The power tools that took gold. Plus, sustainable subscriptions that make life easier and the best steam irons, tested • Don’t get the Filter delivered to your inbox? Sign up here Speed, power, endurance, precision … the best cordless drills share many traits with Olympic athletes. Subconsciously, this might have informed my method for testing these power tools: a gauntlet of DIY challenges, against the clock. We called this endeavour the “Drillympics”, made up of a series of workstations devised to thoroughly test each product’s key functions. It’s been claimed that sport reveals character, and the testing certainly taught me a lot about the drills. I found out which ones worked the quickest (congrats to our Drillympic champion, the Makita DHP490Z ), as well as which provided the easiest drill bit changeover (handy for working on multifaceted projects) and whether the drills were capable of doing all the jobs they claimed to. I also learned, much to my alarm, that drilling into wood with the drill bit turning in the wrong direction is an efficient way to start a fire. Continue reading...