Best drill/driver set Not named Festool

[sae]

I do not know anyone who runs a newer Milwaukee cordless that wouldn't replace it with the same tool if needed. 

Me.

Swapped out this whole drawer in the past year (plus a few other 12v items I acquired after I took this shot). Actually, I still have a 12v stick vac and a few batteries for sale if any of you are interested.

Milwaukee's only class leading cordless tool is their brushless sawzall, their big 18v impact wrench, the hole hawg, and their bandsaw. I owned the sawzall, loved it, but the rest didn't fit my line of work.

For tools that mattered to me (drill, compact impact wrench, angle grinder), there were better options at Metabo, so that's where I went.

The Milwaukee 12v brushless impact driver is nice for some things, but overall still underpowered; I struggled mounting a 2x4 to a 4x4 in my shed with a standard 3" wood screw and had to break out the Metabo impact wrench w/ an adapter.

 

[sae]

I was on site the other day and my employee was trying to drive a 6" screw through a post with his Milwaukee 18v brushless impact on a full charge and it wasn't doing it. The T18 put it away without skipping a beat, pretty sure I had the battery going for a day or more already.

[blink]

This has to be the first time I've ever seen anyone claim a T18 as powerful.

 

[bisongoods]

Mine is special

 

[TelcoRandy]

I keep seeing how people are plugging the Milwaukee M12 series and I have to say that I hate the M12 grips. I have a M12 Impact and M12 Drill/Driver and I can't stand how the grip gets larger at the base of the drill. I was drilling some holes into steel the other night after sundown outdoors and the LED on my drill/driver wouldn't even lightup the end of my drill bit. It just casted a circular shadow all around it.

I swear it made things harder to see because the contrast ratio of the surrounding darkness when compared to the LED light made it impossible for me to set my bit on the spot that I center-punched. My C15 never gives me this problem. It was as if the LED light on my Milwaukee drill was just a gimmick.

The C15 isn't perfect though, it could use an auxilary handle. The T18 could use one too. My C15 caught me off guard when I was drilling a 1/2" hole into mild steel the other day and made me spin with it when the bit jammed. I wasn't even holding the drill the way it was meant to be held, I knew I needed leverage and thus I gripped it lower on the handle.

I was surprised when Festool released a C18 because the C15 was already overpowered for the way it's intended to be gripped. Now the C18 has even higher torque specs than the C15. I could only assume that Festool made this move so that they could migrate away from the 12V/15V platforms and still have a C-style drill.

 

[DB10]

I was on site the other day and my employee was trying to drive a 6" screw through a post with his Milwaukee 18v brushless impact on a full charge and it wasn't doing it. The T18 put it away without skipping a beat, pretty sure I had the battery going for a day or more

[blink]

This has to be the first time I've ever seen anyone claim a T18 as powerful.

There must be something wrong with that Milwaukee brushless impact or down to user error, as there is no way that should happen.

 

[Kev]

I've also been going back and forth on this. My wife wanted a drill for the house (my Milwaukee M18 Fuel is pretty heavy, and often buried deep in my workshop), and it's between the M12 drill/driver and the CXS. I'm having a hard time justifying why the CXS is twice the price, is it 2x better? Anybody with experience with both can shed some light on that?

This is the thing with quality .. You don't get double for paying double. A Porsche may cost four times as much as a Ford, but it doesn't go four times faster. You need to look at total cost and benefit, not up front cost.

For example, if tool X costs $500 more that tool Y, but tool X saves you $50 a week for the nex 5 years you'd be bonkers to go with too Y.

"Benefit" also includes a lot of intangibles or "soft" values that are often very individual.

For someone that likes the CXS, but finds ZERO additional total value in paying $200 over a Fuel ... simple, buy the Fuel [big grin]

... that is unless you see $200 of value by just owning yet another Festool [wink]

 

[Kev]

I'd look at Metabo - I'm not saying go there, just that I personally would look.
...

They (Metabo) make them for the company that you hate, and their A10M is very nice.
The Milwaukee M12 looks the same, and should be considered (IMO).

I believe that all the "M" ones they take 1/4" gear rather than the 6-mm of the FT range.

Yeah - they're in bed with the devil [sad]

... but at least I can walk into a shop down the road and buy Metabo and have a enthusiastic retailer support me from a warranty perspective.

Plus there's some great bundles available at the moment [smile] ... Thinking an angle grinder, recipro, impact wrench like bundle, with the obligatory drill skin you just don't want.

 

[Kev]

Such as this one ...

http://justtools.com.au/metabo-18v40ah-lithium-ion-4pce-cordless-lxt-combo-kit-with-4-x-40ah-batteries-sbltxg4-4ah

This is an old listing thought - for starters the batteries are higher capacity now.

 

[bertv]

My go-to-store used to stock full lines of Panasonic, Metabo, Protool (and the green stuff of course) — and after Protool was folded into Festool they threw out the Panasonics and started selling Milwaukee. As Milwaukee is fairly new over here in the Low Countries, my guess is that they offer great conditions to stockists that set up a shop-in-the-shop. My experience is that this means they spend a lot of money on marketing and reseller rebates. Money that must be earned somewhere… Most likely through lower costs.

Makes one wonder.

 

[Holmz]

...
Yeah - they're in bed with the devil
...

That may be true, but I can stuff a 1/4 bit into the A10M, or the 6-mm ones. The drill seems to have enough torque, and it is small and light enough.

It is made by the devil's own, as is evidenced by the red color

I just picked up a use Bosch rattler (impact) to make some noise with.

 

[Kev]

...
Yeah - they're in bed with the devil
...

That may be true, but I can stuff a 1/4 bit into the A10M, or the 6-mm ones. The drill seems to have enough torque, and it is small and light enough.

It is made by the devil's own, as is evidenced by the red color

I just picked up a use Bosch rattler (impact) to make some noise with.

Sadly the A10M looks like a nice little package ... to be clear, I've nothing against the tools themselves, just their people that run the sales and marketing.

 

[promark747]

Panasonic makes top-notch drills...the only downside is that they don't make as many different battery-compatible tools as, say, Milwaukee.  The fit and finish and durability of Panasonic's drills are just as good as Festool's drills IMHO.

 

[Holmz]

...
Sadly the A10M looks like a nice little package ...
...

It does seem nice to use. Even the Mrs likes it.

Luckily the engineering department does not seem to be affected the same way the sales and marketing are.

There seem to be many good options these days.

 

[iamnothim]

[eek]  Did this thread blow up or what?

 

[polarsea1]

A mostly lonely vote for Bosch 12V. I bought the pocket driver when it first came out and have used them since. I don't have an extensive collection because IMO 12V isn't suitable for a lot of work so I have the Bosch 18V line too. When it comes to shop tasks like installing system screws, drawer slides, etc. it's still my go to tool.

I only have one Festool drill and that only because of the eccentric chuck - when you need it nothing else will do.

I still use my old Makita 9.6V drills around the shop too having upgraded some of the batteries to Nimh. They just won't die.

 

[Sjur]

I have the metabo and I like it a lot. I did consider the panasonic. AFAIK panasonic doesn't offer the centrotec system like Metabo, and I didn't bother to do much more research than that. My TXS accesories also fit the Metabo quick fix system, so that's great. Really comfortable handles on it, good weight distribution (in comparison to my bosch), and the previous metabo stuff I have bought is still rocking on like a dream (15 or so year old hammer drill).

I guess you can research what drill is good and what drill is better and what not, but I decided not to do that, and just pick one. Often times, tools in these price-categories are all pretty much good and much comes down to personal preference. If one is to spend time on detailed researching of all tools, and cross-referencing that analysis with a points based system (okay nobody really does that, but...), how much time is spend on that? Isn't it better just to make a desicion and live with it, and keep on working? After all, that's what tools are supposed to do?

Hope I don't create any fuss with this comment!

 

[Paul G]

Another hand raised for M18 Fuel. I've got drill/driver, drill/driver/hammer, and impact versions and they've all served me well. Other many useful devices in the line as well.

 

[Brent Taylor]

I have gone back to Milwaukee, the 18 volt Fuel, but I think a CXS is in the not so distant future for  in the  shop. 

 

[Linbro]

Another vote for Metabo - I have the 18v 5.2ah drill and impact driver, and the 10.8v drill driver. Build quality on the two drills is superb. Build quality on the impacter not quite as good.
The drills are excellent in use, the impacter, again, not quite as good.
When I say the impacter isn't quite as good, it's still a very good tool, it's just that the other two are so damn good.

 

[Kev]

Just another note of caution with Metabo, their range is mixed with very good and not so good products ... so don't buy Metabo blindly.