Best Cordless Drill for Electricians Australia 2026 (Sub-Compact and Right-Angle Picks)

A sparky's drill isn't a chippy's drill. When you spend your day fishing cable through a wall cavity, boring a hole between two studs on 450 centres, or drilling out a meter box in a spot you can barely get your arm into, the tool that matters is the one short enough to fit and light enough to hold at head height without your shoulder giving up by smoko. Raw torque comes second. What you're really chasing is a nose length you can tuck into a stud bay and a body that doesn't wear you out running conduit all day. That's a different set of priorities to the general-purpose combi, and it's exactly what this guide sorts out. Our full cordless drills buying guide ranks the lot across every trade, but this one is squarely for the electricians.

Every drill below is on Amazon AU, and we've split the picks into the two shapes a sparky actually reaches for: sub-compact combi drills that get into tight cabinets and meter boxes, and dedicated right-angle drills for boring through studs and joists where a normal drill simply won't fit. Prices swing week to week, so if you're chasing the sharpest deal our live tool deals page rolls up everything currently marked down. And because the platform outlives the drill, we've flagged which 18V ecosystem each one lives on - M18, XR or LXT - since your first brushless tool is really a decision about which battery family powers the next hundred.

Quick Picks - Best Cordless Drill for Electricians

Prices move daily and these are a guide only - confirm the live figure on the Amazon AU listing before you buy. A skin (or "bare tool") is the drill on its own with no battery or charger; a kit includes both.

What makes a good cordless drill for electricians?

Three things, mostly. First is nose length - the distance from the chuck to the back of the motor. A sub-compact brushless drill runs around 175mm nose to tail where a full-size combi is closer to 200mm, and that 25mm is the difference between reaching a fixing behind a meter panel and swearing at it. Second is weight, because a sparky spends more of the day drilling overhead and at odd angles than a chippy does, and a drill under 1.3kg is a lot kinder on the shoulder over a full fit-off. Third is whether you need the hammer function at all. Most electrical work is timber, plasterboard and the odd Tek screw into steel stud, none of which needs percussion - so a plain driver-drill without a hammer mode is lighter and shorter again. You only really want the hammer for tapping dynabolts into brick or concrete when you're mounting a switchboard or a run of cable tray. If you're weighing up which ecosystem to commit to before you buy, our battery platform showdown pits M18, LXT and XR head to head.

Best right-angle drill for sparkies: Milwaukee M18 FUEL Hole Hawg

Milwaukee M18 FUEL Hole HawgCheck Price →

This is the tool that earns its keep the first time you have to bore a run of holes through a line of studs for a cable pull. The M18 FUEL Hole Hawg puts a 13mm chuck at 90 degrees on the end of a right-angle head so you can work down a stud bay or between joists where a pistol-grip drill simply cannot present square to the timber, and the POWERSTATE brushless motor has the grunt to spin an auger, a self-feed bit or a big hole saw through framing without bogging down. That is the real difference between a Hole Hawg and a cheap angle drill - it does not stall halfway through the stud. It runs on M18, so if you're already carrying a Milwaukee battery for your impact driver it drops straight in. For a data cabler, a security installer or a sparky doing residential fit-offs, this is the single tool that turns a two-hour cable run into a job you knock over before lunch.

The good: real boring power for augers, self-feed bits and hole saws, right-angle head works between studs and joists, runs on the huge M18 range. The trade-off: it's a big, heavy specialist rather than a slim cavity drill or your only tool, the torque reaction is serious so brace it properly, the 13mm chuck is keyed rather than keyless, and this is the US-market 2807-20 listing - a bare skin on standard M18 packs, so no plug issue, but confirm the seller's warranty terms before you buy.

Best sub-compact all-rounder: Makita DHP487Z

Makita DHP487ZCheck Price →

If you want one drill that lives on your belt all day, Makita's Sub-Compact line is the sparky's quiet favourite, and the DHP487 is the pick of it. It's an 18V LXT brushless combi built on the shorter Sub-Compact chassis, so it gets into cabinets, ceiling spaces and meter boxes that a full-size combi has to be wrestled into at an angle, yet it still carries a hammer mode for the occasional masonry plug and a proper two-speed gearbox running out to 1,700rpm. Rated to 40Nm across 20 clutch settings, it's got plenty for cable clips, mounting blocks, batten fixing and boring holes for downlights, the 13mm chuck takes anything you'd sensibly spin in a cavity, and the aluminium gear housing over an all-metal gear train is the usual Makita over-build. As a bare skin it lands around A$259 on Amazon AU, and it shares the LXT battery with more than two hundred Makita tools. It's the drill most sparkies would grab if they could only own one.

The good: genuinely short and light for tight spaces, hammer mode when you need it, 20 clutch settings for delicate driving, massive LXT platform to grow into. The trade-off: 40Nm is ample for electrical work but well short of a framing flagship, and you pay a premium over Makita's full-size compacts for the shorter body.

Best complete XR kit: DeWalt DCD796P2 18V XR

DeWalt DCD796P2 18V XRCheck Price →

Starting from scratch and want a complete kit rather than a lonely skin? The DCD796 is DeWalt's 18V XR compact brushless combi, and this kit lands with two 5.0Ah XR batteries, the multi-voltage charger and a TSTAK case, so there is nothing else to buy. At around 155mm nose to tail it's one of the shortest full-size combis on the market - the sort of length that gets in behind a switchboard - and the brushless motor, full metal gearbox and metal chuck handle the daily grind of drilling and driving without complaint. Most of the money here is in the cells: two 5.0Ah XR packs bought on their own cost about as much again, so the kit is the sensible way to buy them. If you're building a yellow kit, the matching XR impact driver is the obvious next skin.

The good: genuinely compact 18V XR, complete kit with two 5.0Ah batteries, charger and TSTAK case, full metal gearbox, easy to expand. The trade-off: it's the dearest entry in this guide, the 5.0Ah cells add weight for overhead work so a 2.0Ah pack is worth adding later, and this listing is the European -QW variant - check the charger plug and the warranty channel with the seller before you buy.

Most grunt when you need it: Milwaukee M18 FUEL M18FPD30

Milwaukee M18FPD30 18V M18 FUEL Gen 4 Brushless 13mm Hammer Drill/Driver (Skin)A$289Check Price →

Not every electrical job is soft timber. When you're mounting a three-phase board, tapping a row of dynabolts into a double-brick wall for cable tray, or running a big hole saw through steel stud, you want the flagship. The M18 FUEL Gen 4 hammer drill is rated to a thumping 135Nm and its hammer mode drives masonry anchors like you're punching through plasterboard. It's heavier and longer than the sub-compacts here, so it's not the drill you fish cable with, but as the second drill on the van - the one you reach for when the little fella runs out of puff - nothing on M18 moves more material. If you already run Milwaukee, it's the natural big brother to the right-angle drill above.

The good: class-leading 135Nm, serious masonry hammer for board and tray mounting, bulletproof build, top resale on M18. The trade-off: too big and heavy for all-day cavity work, so pair it with a sub-compact rather than relying on it alone.

Best value LXT all-rounder: Makita DHP484Z

Makita DHP484ZCheck Price →

The DHP484 is the drill that's been on tool belts around the country for years, and it's a smart cornerstone for a sparky building an LXT kit on a budget. It's a 54Nm two-speed brushless combi that's a touch larger than the Sub-Compact 487 but still light and balanced, with an all-metal chuck and a forgiving clutch. As a bare skin it sits a touch over A$200 on Amazon AU, and it shares the LXT battery with the whole green range, so it's a sensible first buy if the plan is to add a right-angle drill, a recip saw and a work light down the track. For general residential and light commercial electrical work it does everything asked of it and just keeps going.

The good: proven reliability, light and balanced, keenly priced as a skin, enormous LXT range to grow into. The trade-off: a little longer than the true sub-compacts, so slightly less handy in the very tightest cavities.

Best XR right-angle option: DeWalt DCD740N-XJ

DeWalt DCD740N-XJCheck Price →

If you're already on the yellow platform and don't want to buy into a second battery family just for cavity work, the DCD740 is DeWalt's 18V XR two-speed angle drill. The 90-degree head and slim body get into the same stud bays and ceiling spaces, and it's noticeably lighter and easier to hold one-handed than the Hole Hawg above, with a compact 10mm keyless chuck and a multi-grip trigger so you can pull it from whatever awkward angle the job forces on you. All-metal gearing and the right-angle transmission give it the durability for daily cavity drilling. Worth noting: the bare-tool listing on Amazon AU often ships from Amazon UK as a parallel import, so factor in longer delivery and check the warranty channel - DeWalt Australia warranty generally applies to stock bought through the local retail chain, not grey imports.

The good: right-angle access on the XR platform you already own, all-metal gearing, multi-grip trigger for awkward spots. The trade-off: often a parallel import with longer shipping and a warranty caveat, and the 10mm chuck is smaller than the Milwaukee's.

Best for pure drilling and driving: Makita DDF490Z

Makita DDF490ZCheck Price →

Here's the one plenty of sparkies overlook. The DDF490 is Makita's current compact 18V LXT driver-drill with no hammer mechanism at all - just a plain brushless drill and driver, with nothing in the gearbox you're never going to use. If your work is all timber, plaster and steel stud and you genuinely never tap a masonry plug (or you keep a rotary hammer on the van for that), losing the hammer is a feature, not a compromise. What you get instead is a surprising amount of drill: 65Nm across 20 torque settings, a two-speed gearbox out to 1,900rpm, a 13mm keyless chuck rated for 38mm auger bits and 51mm hole saws in timber, and an LED with pre-glow and afterglow so the hole stays lit while you back the bit out. Makita pitch it squarely at confined and narrow spaces, and at around A$197 as a skin it's the cheapest Makita in this guide while out-torquing the DHP484 above. Same platform, same reliability, one less mode to think about.

The good: more torque than the hammer-equipped DHP484 for less money, 20 clutch settings, generous 38mm auger and 51mm hole-saw capacity in timber, shares LXT batteries. The trade-off: no hammer mode at all, so you'll need a separate tool the day a masonry fixing comes up, and it's a newer model with a thinner review history than the long-serving 484.

So which cordless drill should an electrician buy?

If you want the one tool that changes your fit-off day, the Milwaukee M18 FUEL Hole Hawg bores through studs and joists like nothing else in this guide. For the drill that lives on your belt all day, the Makita DHP487Z Sub-Compact is the best all-rounder, or drop the hammer and grab the DDF490Z if you never touch masonry. Starting from zero on yellow? The DeWalt DCD796P2 XR kit gives you a compact drill, two 5.0Ah batteries, a charger and a TSTAK case in one box. And keep the Milwaukee M18 FUEL flagship in mind as the heavy hitter for board and tray mounting.

Whatever you land on, buy the platform, not just the drill - your batteries will outlive three drills and go on to power your recip saw, work light and impact driver. Want to dig deeper? Read our full top 7 cordless drill picks, weigh up the ecosystems in the M18 vs LXT vs XR showdown, sort out your next fastening tool with the impact drivers buying guide, and check the current tool deals for the best price before you check out.