3Rank 03 of 8 · Best Cordless Drill Sets
Parkside (Lidl) Parkside PSBSA 20-Li C3
Second place at Stiftung Warentest 2025 — with a brushed motor, beating several brushless professional tools. Around €80 with battery and charger, but Lidl stock is intermittent.
8.6BPR score
- €80Price
- 1.9 gut — 2nd place (Stiftung Warentest 6/2025)Independent test grade
- 3 of 8in Best Cordless Drill Sets
- 8.6BPR score 0–10
Review
What this product is
Written after the analysis, from the same sources the score is built on: the manufacturer's documentation, available studies and verified owner feedback.
The most interesting result in this ranking, and the strongest argument against buying on specification alone. Stiftung Warentest 6/2025 placed the PSBSA 20-Li C3 second overall with "gut (1,9)" — beating brushless tools from DeWalt, and finishing just behind the winning Einhell. It has a brushed motor.
That single fact is worth more than any specification comparison in this guide. Brushless motors deliver measurably better runtime, heat and compactness — Consumer Reports puts runtime at up to 50% longer and performance 15–35% higher — but a motor is not a tool. This drill's battery survived the 400-cycle durability run that killed the DeWalt's, and its overall handling and safety behaviour scored well enough to place second.
The earlier A1 generation was tested at 2.3 "gut" by Stiftung Warentest in 2021, 1.6 by Heimwerker Praxis in 2024 and 2.4 by CHIP; the C3 is the current and better version. Specification is a 785 DC brushed motor, 45 Nm maximum torque, 13 mm metal keyless chuck with radial lock, two gears at 0–440 and 0–1,650 rpm, 26,400 bpm hammer action, 20 clutch stages plus drill and hammer, 1.46 kg bare, and 35 mm wood / 13 mm steel / 13 mm masonry capacity.
The real risk is not the tool, it is the supply chain. Parkside is Lidl-exclusive and stock is intermittent — tools appear as seasonal promotions and disappear. The X 20V Team battery platform is broad and cheap while Lidl carries it, but you cannot walk into a shop and buy a replacement pack on demand the way you can with Bosch or Makita. For a tool you expect to own for a decade, that is a genuine consideration.
At 45 Nm this is also the least powerful tool here. For assembling furniture, hanging shelves and general household work that is ample. For 89 mm holes in structural timber it is not.
Technical data
Specification
Figures from the manufacturer's documentation, verified against available outside sources. Values we could not confirm are marked as declared.
- Type
- Combi / hammer drill
- Maximum torque
- 45 Nm (joint type not published)
- Motor
- Brushed, 785 DC with copper winding
- Battery platform
- Parkside X 20V Team (18 V nominal, marketed as 20 V max)
- Chuck
- 13 mm metal keyless with radial lock
- Speeds
- 0-440 / 0-1 650 rpm, 26 400 bpm
- Clutch settings
- 20 plus drill and hammer
- Weight
- 1.46 kg bare
- Capacities
- Wood 35 mm, steel 13 mm, masonry 13 mm
- Stiftung Warentest 6/2025
- gut (1,9) - 2nd place
- Price
- EUR 39.99-49.00 bare; EUR 79.99 with battery and charger
Component scores
Where the score
comes from.
Four components, equal weight, each on a 0–10 scale and each resting on a named source. The overall score is their mean — the full procedure is in the methodology.
What we liked
- 2nd place at Stiftung Warentest 6/2025, gut (1.9)
- Around €80 including battery and charger
- 13 mm metal keyless chuck with radial lock at this price
- 20 clutch stages plus drill and hammer
- Beat several brushless professional tools despite a brushed motor
Worth knowing
- Brushed motor — shorter runtime and more heat than brushless rivals
- 45 Nm is the lowest torque in this ranking
- Lidl-exclusive with intermittent stock — replacement batteries are not always available
- 1.46 kg bare, heavier than the Einhell and Bosch despite less power
- Soft/hard torque split not published
Comparison
How it compares
within the category
All values come from the same analysis and are comparable only within the category Best Cordless Drill Sets.
| Product | Score | Independent test grade | Price |
|---|---|---|---|
| Einhell Professional TP-CD 18/70 Li-i BLTop score | 9.1 | 1.8 gut — Testsieger (Stiftung Warentest 6/2025) | €84 |
| Parkside PSBSA 20-Li C3This product | 8.6 | 1.9 gut — 2nd place (Stiftung Warentest 6/2025) | €80 |
| Category average8 products analysed | 8.2 | — | — |
FAQ
Frequently asked questions
A brushed motor beat brushless tools. Does brushless matter at all?
Yes, but less than the marketing implies. Consumer Reports measured up to 50% longer runtime, 15-35% higher performance and roughly 50% cooler running for brushless motors, and those are real advantages. What this result shows is that the motor is one component among many — the battery pack, the electronics, the clutch and the safety behaviour all get scored too. A brushless motor cannot rescue a weak battery, which is exactly what happened to the DeWalt in the same test.
What happens if Lidl stops selling Parkside batteries?
This is the real risk with a retailer-exclusive platform. From 18 February 2027, Battery Regulation (EU) 2023/1542 requires spare batteries to remain available for at least five years after a model leaves the market, which improves the position considerably. Before that date you are relying on stock. If you expect to build a large tool collection, a mainstream platform is the safer bet.
From the same ranking
Other products in Best Cordless Drill Sets.
The same protocol, the same key parameter, the same set of sources.
-
No. 019.1/ 10
Einhell Professional TP-CD 18/70 Li-i BL
Stiftung Warentest's 2025 outright winner, at €80 for the bare tool. Brushless, 70 Nm hard…
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No. 029.0/ 10
Bosch AdvancedDrill 18V-80 QuickSnap
The best pure drill-driver here: 78 Nm, brushless, and just 1.2 kg with the battery…
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No. 048.4/ 10
Einhell TE-CD 18/50 Li-i BL
The most consistently tested tool here — graded by four separate publications between 2021 and…
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No. 058.3/ 10
Milwaukee M18 FPD3
The most powerful tool here at 158 Nm, with 89 mm wood and 16 mm masonry capacity. Milwaukee's…