Review - New Power Tools!!! (56K warning)

Woo hoo! I got to buy some new tools, and since we're all builders here of one sort or another, I thought I'd share my views.

My old reliable Craftsman 3/8" cordless drill is on its last leg. Actually, the drill is doing fine except for some whine from the motor, but the batteries aren't doing well at all. That's to be expected with NiCad batteries that are four years old, especially when they've been used hard like these. So why don't I just replace the batteries? Glad you asked! A pair of batteries is $40. That's not much, but a new drill like this one, *with* two batteries and a charger is only $60, so I couldn't see buying a pair of batteries.

As some of you may know, I'm prone to wandering, and this decision not to buy batteries led me to the obvious conclusion that I needed a new drill. Of course, if i was going to buy a new drill, I wanted one of the new-fangled lithium-ion cordless wonders I've been drooling over.

The Craftsman Nextec 3/8" lithium-ion cordless kit with two batteries and a charger is only $90. I bought it. I took it back. Don't buy it. Enough said.

My next pick was the Milwaukee M12. Spoiler alert: It is flat awesome. It cost $129 and I consider it the best money I've spent in a long time.

Hard to tell from this pic, but this little thing is amazing. More info:

The light is perfectly placed and easily bright enough. The battery indicator is a feature I won't do without again. These lithium-ion batteries will run at full power until they are almost dead and then stop. No gradual power-down like NiCad batteries, so this feature is almost a necessity. For me, in fact, it is a necessity, for reasons I'll get to. (Oooo, suspense!)

A single-sleeve chuck is the only way to go. They're just easier. What's more, this drill comes with a metal chuck! That's hard to find, they're usually plastic. It's got a 24-position clutch if you're into that kind of thing. I'm not judging, what you do with your tools in your own time is your business. I never had a use for them myself, but this one does have a excellent feel to it, the settings are easy to turn but have nice positive stops.

Did I mention this thing's size? I had no idea I was using such a huge heavy uncomfortable tool until I grabbed this thing. Wow, what a difference!

Teeny tiny little battery packs more power than that big 12v NiCad by a good margin, and you can buy a bigger battery pack for it. If you like the big batteries on the bottom of your drill so you can stand it upright, these are for you. They're also supposed to double run-time, but they're pricey. I can lay my drill down, thanks.

Yes, a 30-minute charger that actually charges a battery in 30 minutes. Not only that, but it will detect and alert you to a faulty battery, and if it's too cold (as happens to me with a detached shop with no heat), it will let you know it's too cold and won't start charging it until it warms up. I'm not sure if it actually starts a trickle charge then to warm it up or not, but if the battery can be damaged by charging it cold then this is a good feature.

Ok, so this thing is awesome. We've established that. I managed to make it even better. This M12 is a whole line of tools from Milwaukee that use the same battery packs. I found a matching cordless screwdriver on Ebay for $42. :banana:

The driver was tool-only, meaning exactly that: no batteries, no charger, not even any documentation, but it was advertised as brand new and as far as I can tell it is. The RPM is slower than the drill's high speed but faster than it's low, and the torque is somewhere between them also, making it the perfect sidekick to this drill. It's got a 1/4" hex chuck on it that's made to operate with one hand, meaning that you don't have to hold it down (or up) to remove the bit you're using. Just pull the outer sleeve up it stays in place. Pull the bit out, put the new one in and it pops back down automatically. Very nice. The only bad thing I can say about the chuck is that it's made to use the long bits:

And the short ones don't even stay in it. Not to fear, though, just pop in your handy magnetic bit-holder!

Harbor freight has a set of "bits" that fit this style chuck that are made to put sockets on. 1/4" drive, 3/8" drive and even 1/2" drive, all in the same set. Now I can put almost every socket I own on this driver, from 4mm to 1 1/2".

This second tool is why I need the battery indicators (the driver has the indicator and the light also). I keep a battery in both of them all the time, so they are both ready to go and easily at hand. I can check the battery condition on either any time and drop a low battery in the charger. That's another advantage of lithium-ion batteries: they don't develop a "memory" like NiCad's do so you can charge them any time, at any level of current charge.

Together these two tools cost me just under $175. With the versatility, comfort and power they provide, they're worth twice that. If you need either of these tools, these are the ones to get!

Nice review. Any idea about how long that battery lasts?

They last longer than my NiCads, that's for sure. I used the drill to drive screws in a poject the day after I got it, sinking 3-inch screws fairly steadily into pressure-treated lumber for two and a half hours, and the indicator only went down half-way.

I should really get some scrap and some big screws and see just how many I can sink on a single charge. Popular Mechanics tested it out as well, they got over 250 2-inch screws and 91 holes with a 5/8" spade bit.

Nice! Those are some cute drills haha

nice! Do I see the cordless impact as a future purchase?

No need for the cordless impact with this pair. If I need massive torque I've got a 1/2" drive air impact.

They DO have a very nice LED worklight that I like though....

Milwaukee is where it's at. I've probably used a dozen different power drills and from Craftsman to Hitachi. And Milwaukee FTW by a landslide. As far as I'm concerned they take the lead in torque and overall power. Good buy!

Wow, impressive power/etc out of those tiny packages. I love how more and more tool manufacturers are using lithium batteries in their tools.

So here it is two years later and I thought I'd update this review.

These two tools have been hanging on my workbench in three different garages in that time. They've been used in the shop, under the car, in the attic, in the mud under the house, just about everywhere.

They have not been treated nicely. I didn't buy them to baby them.

They're not as pretty as they were, bearing the signs of hard use, but that's to be expected. They are both still working just as well today as the day I bought them, with the same two batteries.

I'll never buy another brand.

Great to hear.

I recently was in a similar boat; my trusty old 18.5V Craftsman C3 drill gave up the ghost (or rather, as is so often the case, the old nicad batteries did). I looked at the various 12V options (appealing for their small size), but wanted something with a little more juice. I ended up picking up the new Dewalt '20V Max' driver/compact drill combo and am loving it. Very pleased with them so far; very well built, smaller, lighter, and way more powerful than my old drill. Only thing I would change would be to add a battery meter.

I found this thread while digging through my older stuff and hey, it's my thread so I can necro it if I want!

These two tools? Still using them. Still as awesome as the day I bought them. Little more aged, little wiser for wear I'd say but still drilling and driving whatever I ask them to. I put fifteen holes in wall studs with a 5/8 spade bit yesterday and I swear the drill seemed to enjoy it.

The batteries don't last as long, but they're five years old and have been through the charge/drain cycle no telling how many times. They still charge in 30 minutes though!

They just won't die. ")

And here we are almost a year later. Yep, STILL using these tools with the SAME batteries, six years later. I haven't been able to cough up the cash for new batteries but these are still going strong.