Milwaukee M12 vs Bosch 12 Max

[Joe Shinall]

I'm in the market for a smaller drill. I was looking at the Bosch 12 volt max series. I am going to get a drill and an impact driver combo. I then noticed the Milwaukee M12 series and was trying to figure out which one was better. I have read reviews saying the Milwaukee was better but does anyone have either of these or have tried both and can provide any insight?

I am a Bosch fan and have never owned anything Milwaukee. Milwaukee has a longer warranty and numbers show that it is slightly more powerful so that's the way I'm leaning unless I hear otherwise from owners.

[Doug Palmer]

I'm in the market for a smaller drill. I was looking at the Bosch 12 volt max series. I am going to get a drill and an impact driver combo. I then noticed the Milwaukee M12 series and was trying to figure out which one was better. I have read reviews saying the Milwaukee was better but does anyone have either of these or have tried both and can provide any insight?

I am a Bosch fan and have never owned anything Milwaukee. Milwaukee has a longer warranty and numbers show that it is slightly more powerful so that's the way I'm leaning unless I hear otherwise from owners.
I have several of the Milwaukee M12 tools and love them. I have had several Bosch cordless tools in the past, but not the 12 volt. They were good tools except the circular saw I had, which I think was just a bad unit. I really like the new 12 volt tools for normal work. The higher voltage tools are still better for heavy work.

[Doug Palmer]

I'm in the market for a smaller drill. I was looking at the Bosch 12 volt max series. I am going to get a drill and an impact driver combo. I then noticed the Milwaukee M12 series and was trying to figure out which one was better. I have read reviews saying the Milwaukee was better but does anyone have either of these or have tried both and can provide any insight?

I am a Bosch fan and have never owned anything Milwaukee. Milwaukee has a longer warranty and numbers show that it is slightly more powerful so that's the way I'm leaning unless I hear otherwise from owners.
I have several of the Milwaukee M12 tools and love them. I have had several Bosch cordless tools in the past, but not the 12 volt. They were good tools except the circular saw I had, which I think was just a bad unit. I really like the new 12 volt tools for normal every day work. I use them 5-6 times for every time I use the 18 or 28 volt tools I have. The higher voltage tools are still better for heavy work. I think you will be happy with either brand.

[Dan Rude]

+1 on the Milwaukee M12, driver. It does a good job, not great for drilling, slow speed. I can drive most screws with it and its small enough to fit in my tool pouch. I tend to grab it for most house chores that I used to use my B&D Versa driver for. I have the M18 drill and impact driver for the heavier stuff. I like them, except the M18 drill can't handle my Iriwn speed bore bits.

[Greg R Bradley]

I don't see any big preference for one over the other except that Milwaukee seems to have a wider variety of tools in the 12v Max series. I'm a big Bosch fan and have about 7 of the 12v tools as well as 24v NiCd & 36v Li-Ion plus many Bosch corded items. I'm not particularly brand loyal and if I was buying from scratch I would buy:

Milwaukee or Bosch for 12v Max Li-Ion - Milwaukee has the wide variety of tools, Bosch are good with a fair amount of different tools available, Makita's line is pathetic
Bosch or Makita for 18v Li-Ion - Bosch has very few tools and Makita has almost everything you can imagine.
Bosch for 36v Li-Ion heavy duty stuff - I have 36v Hammer Drill, Rotary Hammer, Circ Saw - all just incredible stuff

Hard to go wrong with any of the above but each company has certain tools that standout. Are you sure 12v is enough for most of your uses? If not the Makita white set of drill & impact with the 1.5ah 18v are nice and then you can use the 3.0ah batteries if you need more capacity. Makita's new brushless impact, BTD144, has to be experienced to understand just how good an impact can be.

[John Sanford]

I have 5 of the Bosch 10.8/12v tools, 2 drivers, 1 drill/driver, 1 impact driver, and the multi-tool. I'm happy with them, but if I were doing it again today I'd look a lot closer at the DeWalt line, which is expanding quickly. Some of the 12v tools fom Milwaukee are cool, but of zero use to me.

[Julian Tracy]

Why would you bother with the Dewalt line? Too little, too late. Their initial lineup, late to the gate is pretty unimpressive.

I have the Bosch stuff and some of the Milwaukee M12 stuff. The Milwaukee's lineup is hard to beat - they've got a lot of versatility there.

I was about to dump off my Bosch lineup and would have done so if not for the Multimax, but then I figured out the Milwaukee M12 tools can be easily modifed to take the Bosch batts. The polarity of the battery contacts need to be reversed, the contacts sqeezed together just slightly and about a 1/2" of the tools' body needs to be cut off - all that and the Bosch batteries fit and latch right into the Milwaukee tools. It's given my Bosch batteries new life. Forgot to add - there's tiny tab on the Bosch batts that needs to be chiseled off to allow them to fit.

I use my Bosch batts in the Milaukee radio and the Milwaukee 12volt power source.

Julian

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[Steve Griffin]

When I was in the market for another set of small drivers, I looked hard at Millwaukee and Bosch.

Ended up with Bosch because they are noticeably lighter (2 pounds compared to 2.3), and the price was lower.

-Steve

[Ed Labadie]

I've got both, new & old Bosch and Milwaukee 12v.
The new Bosch impact & drivers are faster & more powerfull than the Milwaukee.

Ed

[Joe Shinall]

Thanks guys for the reviews. I'm getting mixed feelings about which route. I happened to go to Lowe's today and they had tents set up outside for Bosch, Hitachi, Dewalt, and Porter Cable. I got to put my hands on all of the 12 volt series of each brand and I have to say now that I am happier with the DeWalt. The feel of them was better and it seemed to just work better. Better trigger control in my opinion, on the drill. I like the belt clip on the bottom. Very convenient when I'm on a ladder.

I'm not worried about the whole line up, I just want the impact and drill and maybe later the screwdriver. I really wish I could get my hands on a working Milwaukee set so I can decide for myself. I still can't decide between the Dewalt and Milwaukee. Lowe's has the DeWalt set right now for 199 and you get a free battery so it's better cost efficiency over the Milwaukee. Amazon has it for 169 without the free battery.

[John Sanford]

Home Depot has the Milwaukee's, usually a pretty substantial display, so you can check them out. They also have the Makita.


Why would you bother with the Dewalt line? Too little, too late. Their initial lineup, late to the gate is pretty unimpressive Because their lineup, "unimpressive" though it may be to you, has the core elements that I want. 3/8" Drill/driver, 1/4" Hex shank impact driver. Add on the 3/8" Impact driver (which I could use, but don't need), the obligatory flashlight, and the 1/4" hex shank driver, and 'tis good. The LED lights on the tools are as good or better than the Bosch, and the tools can do the stand-up thing as well. So for me, they would be a serious contender, if I were buying into a system fresh. The "late to the gate" doesn't matter today, and the ergonomics of the tools appeal to me. Yes, Bosch has the Multi-tool (which I picked up in the kit last week for $61, brand new), and Milwaukee has a whole herd of different tools, most of which would be "cool to have if I hit the lottery", but otherwise are of no known use to me. When I got into the Bosch system, it was the Bosch and Makita, and Milwaukee had just introduced their first tools. It was a close thing, and I'm sure I'd have been happy with any of them.

Today, I'd be looking at Bosch, DeWalt and Milwaukee. When I go looking for my 18v system, I'll be looking closer at all of the Big 4, although at the moment the Milwaukee and DeWalt have the lead. Hopefully, Papa will have a new Drill/Driver and Impact Driver after Father's Day. :D

[Brian Penning]

I started with a Bosch driver and liked it and 1 big reason that I'm staying with the Bosch is convenience.
All the tools use the same battery.
Don't need 2 different chargers and 2 different batteries.

[Julian Tracy]

To suggest Milwaukee or Dewalt would be the best choices in an 18volt platform is a bit odd considering Makita has a proven battery platform, a huge choice of tools and they've been shown to be of excellent quality.

Milwaukee has come and gone with two LiIon platforms already (V28, V18) and have become very much like their sister companies Ryobi and Ridgid in their recent tool releases as opposed to the older Milwaukee quality heavy duty tools that most of us still (mistakenly perhaps) think of them for. Like Ridgid and Ryobi, they've introduced so many versions of their cordless tools that it's hard to keep track of which are good and which were simply created to a price point. I've also heard stories of Milwaukee service centers being nitpicky about things like switches - saying they are a wear item in terms of warranty repair.

Dewalt has never been an industry leader in quality and it's well known their 18volt nicads have a usable life of about 2 years. They were also late to the 18volt LIion game and also very expensive in that late start.

Bosch makes better tools in most cases then either of those too, but were also late to it and have a very limited tool range.

Makita's the way to go in the 18volt Liion cordless tool choice hands down.

If you don't need the tool variety, Bosch would be a good choice, if you don't need the tool variety, Panasonic's always a good choice for just a bit more cash.

Julian

[Joe Shinall]

Well I went with DeWalt. I was leaning more towards the Milwaukee. I had felt the milwaukee before but really wanted to feel it in use. I got to use the DeWalt beside the Bosch and definitely liked the Dewalt better. The selling factor was the fact that they had that special going on at Lowe's and I had a %20 off coupon that even worked on power tools and I got the Drill and Impact Driver for $199 with a free battery and the %20 off. It's charging now, can't wait to use it this weekend.

Im not big on buying all the little battery powered extras so the DeWalt lineup wasn't a concern. I just want the drill and impact and later the driver. I just didn't like the feel of the Bosch and Milwaukee because the handles are bulky. I have large hands so it was no problem getting them around the handle, just didn't feel like I had as much control with the tool and the trigger.