Went to HD to pick up some sandpaper the other day to work on the kitchen remodel and cab refinish I am doing. The Milwaukee rep was there, and he told me that HD was going to start carrying a pretty full line of Milwaukee at some stores, and Hilti at others.
He showed asked me if I had seen the new little Milwaukee 12v Li drill/ driver. I immediately chuckled, thinking of the little Fisher/Price see through drill I bought my nephew when he was 5.
He was adamant. These are real tools, he proclaimed. In my head, I was still seeing the red plastic drill bit rotating as powered by two double a batteries.
He plucked the MW 12v off the shelf. It was small. It had only 100 lbs of torque. (Again with the Fisher/Price image...) He let me try it and I was pleasantly surprised at the power. It will honestly drive a 3" screw into soft wood without a pilot. He claimed it was sold as being capable of driving 130 or so without a charge, but his own personal experience put it at about 80+. Impressive. It was something like $159, so I figured for someone it might be a good deal.
Seeing I wasn't buying, he asked if I had ever tried the Ridgid 12V Li drill. I didn't even know they made one, and didn't care. Another demo. Same driving capacity claimed, but with 120 lbs of torque, and an LED headlight on it. It felt exactly like the MW in my hand. Nice, but I am not a tool collector. Even at $129, I didn't bite.
But... they have a promo on now. For $129, you get TWO drills, two batteries, the charger and a softside case. I bit. I often set up two drill when working to do a line of repetition like one drill to drill holes, one to drive.
Here's the skinny:
You get two batteries that charge one at a time in 30 minutes. There is no memory; they discharge each time they charge.
This has a nice, heavy duty chuck on it that doesn't require hex ended bits and drivers to work. All your bits will work as normal.
The drills AND batteries are covered in the lifetime warranty. If one drill goes down and hits the warranty slow roll, you still have the other to work with.
I am working on a kitchen refurb, one in which I am completely refinishing the cabinets inside and out. When I do this, I remove all hardware from doors, drawers and stiles, fill the holes, and dry fit all the components. Then I drill new holes as needed, fit the component hardware and component to my liking, and remove them once more.
Here's what I have so far.
The little drill has a bunch of power. Not my Makita cordless hammer drill power, but it's 1/3 the size. I was really surprised at how much power those little batteries will transmit to the motor.
In 30 year old >hard< white oak, I drilled 238 holes 1/8" (diameter) X
5/8" deep, drove about 175 #6 screws, and changed bits about 45 times. I keep the same drill (testing the actual use and battery time) and started with a full, fresh charge. All the the holes were drilled, screws driven, etc. on just one charge.The battery was recharged in 25 minutes.
I thought the LED light was a silly joke. It is until you get the bit about 2" out of the chuck, and then it actually shines on the tip of the drill bit and material. This was really handy inside the base units when pulling the drawer hardware.
The batteries are in the handle, so it makes the drill a bit chunky in the hand, but not uncomfortable.
The trigger has a really short throw, so it is a bit twitchy compared to my bigger drills. It does speed increases and decreases accurately though, with no jumping around in speed.
I like the fact it uses all my bits. Even in the small bits, the chucks held tightly. On larger bits (I had to drill out a couple of screws completely using a 3/8" bit) it held it easily as well.
The compact size it really, really, easy to get used to. It slipped into the corners, around braces, and into my tool bags without any problems. This is nice.
The housing has rubber bumpers around the case at strategic drop points. This is a good idea as all the tools take a tumble now and then, but the guys that design them never seem to take that into consideration.
All in all, I think HD has a winner with this one. It actually seems to do what it says it will, and more. And two for one, too. What a pleasant surprise from the HD guys. I will be reattaching all doors, hardware and drawer slides and hardware in the next few days. Rest assured I will scream like a mashed cat if anything goes wrong.
Robert