I bought this drill so that I would have a nice, solid, powerful electric drill to augment my somewhat low-end but very useful cordless. I'm very happy with this drill. One of my favorite things, and something I hadn't thought about, is the quality of the keyless chuck. One revolution of the chuck just barely moves the three bit grips. So compared to my other drill it takes many more twists to go from fully open to fully closed. But the resulting grip on the bit is much tighter than I get with my other drill that requires fewer twists. I think that's fantastic to have that kind of tightening power on the bits.
br /
br /The balance and heft of the unit are perfect for me. It's billed as a lightweight unit and it is fairly light (but not too light).
br /
br /So while I like the Hitachi a lot and can recommend it, there is one that seems to have a couple of unique features for about the same price. If you're in the market for this caliber of drill you should also look at the Dewalt D21008K. Its specs are very similar to the Hitachi but it has two nice features. A belt hook and two built-in levels (horizontal and vertical). It gets good reviews and I think if I had to do it over again I would go with the Dewalt instead, but only because of those two features mentioned.

SEE UPDATE BELOW
br /
br /Returned 2 of these for the identical issue. Speed adjusts from either barely turning to full speed with nothing in between. Locking the trigger back gets you full speed ONLY. Try it on yours. The trigger is strange. A neat trick for any drill is to buy a 3/8" drill and get a 1/2" chuck made for adapting straight onto the drill. You can now run anything with it. But this Hitachi does not seem to have a replaceable chuck.
br /
br /UPDATE: January 2008
br /
br /A few months after the last review and after speaking with the several Hitachi techs, the chuck change is solved but the mystery trigger has no solution. I stayed with it because I really wanted this drill to happen.
br /
br /This chuck IS replaceable, just like all others in the world. The torque used to apply the factory 3/8" chuck is beyond anything you've ever imagined. I've never seen anything like it. It took a mini-sledge and the destruction of an allen wrench to back this chuck off. Without Hitachi's reassurances I would have never applied that kind of torque to a chuck this size. When you trash a big fat 3/8" allen wrench to back off a chuck then that's a little much. NOW I could attach a Jacobs 1/2" chuck.
br /
br /I finally got what I was after. With the RARE feature of a 3/8" drill being threaded for a side handle, I had an ultra compact 1/2" drill WITH a side handle. Believe me, I've looked. This Hitachi was the solution. I didn't need heavy duty, just the other features. The mystery trigger will have to be overlooked.

I bought this drill to provide more power than my cordless drills yet be lighter than my half inch corded drills. It has more than adequate power. Drills holes for pocker screws with ease. And is easy to operate with one hand. Another plus is the storage case. It has room to store bits when taking the drill on the road and is large enough that the cord goes in easily.

I've owned my drill for a little over a year. I bought it to use with my Kreg jig, which recommends the use of a high-speed drill for making pocket screw holes. I am very pleased with the drill. It is powerful, well made, well balanced, and has an excellent gripping surface. The keyless chuck is also handy and grips bits extremely well. I never realized how much better a high-speed drill (2500 rpm) works than a typical drill-driver for simply drilling holes. When compared to my DeWalt 14.4 volt cordless drill(also an excellent tool in its own right)when drilling holes, there is simply no match. The higher speed provides less slippage of the bit on the surface to be drilled and bores a cleaner hole much more quickly. Also, although I enjoy the benefits of a cordless drill, the corded nature of this drill ensures constant power without any reduction in drilling capability. The only downside is that it is a drill and not a drill-driver. If you want to turn in screws with the same tool this is not the right one for you. But, if you are looking for a true hole-drilling machine, I highly recommend this drill.

A while back I had to purchase a corded drill beacause I got tired of not having enough battery power for large projects. This drill is a great buy for the price. It is very versatile (especially with a quick change bit that you can get in other hitachi drill bit kits) I use it for just about all my home improvement projects sheetrock, framing, finishing, you name it. This tool has an easy to access direction switch that you don't need to remove your hand from the drill to operate. A wide range of rpm along with a lockout dial to only allow the chuck to spin so fast is a great feature too. I highly recommend this tool if you are looking for a good all around drill that will last you for a long time.

In the world of cordless drills, every tradesperson always seems to need an electric stand-by drill. Sometimes
br /you may also need constant and consistent power when drilling pilot holes all day, for example. This one is
br /great for the price, reversable and it comes in a cool case!

Here's a great corded drill for the workshop or around the home. I use primarily for pocket hole drilling in my workshop and it has plenty of power for this task. It is relatively light but strong and sturdy and comes with a 5 year warranty.

It feels more than 3.1 pounds to me. I think because of the weight distribution of the drill. The tip of the drill is a lot heavier than the handle part. It would have been a lot better if the other way around were true.
br /
br /Craftsman has a 3.1 pound drill also, but much shorter; I like this one a lot better, but Sears sells it for $135.00, so I ended up buying this one.
br /
br /I am happy with it so far. Lots of power, 5 years warranty.
br /
br /Vu