Bonnie, if you check out the drills at Canadian Tire, I'd go with the DeWalt 9.6--kit comes with an extra battery, essential, and the batteries are high-quality longlasting ones. (Home Depot indeed! Hmmph!) The Makita is OK but not as nice feeling. Black & Decker Firestorm 9.6 is a well-designed drill at an excellent price ($65) Canadian, but comes with only one battery. Which is stupid. Do _not_ consider the crummy 9.6 Mastercraft at Canadian Tire--it is a single-speed, useless piece of #$%^&*(%^*--but the 12 volt and 14.4 volt Mastercraft kits are very good values, especially when on sale. (The last week I worked, the 14.4 v was on for 99.99 including a second battery--they were jumping out of the showcase) Mastercraft also has real good warranty coverage.

For relatively regular use in home repair projects, I'd go with a 12 or 14.4. But _any_ DeWalt is nice to have.

W-O