Dewalt 20v Max vs Milwaukee M18 Fuel

[Justin Edmonds]

I'm looking at getting 3 tools, a drill, a hammer drill, and an impact driver. I've narrowed it down to the Dewalt 20v Max, really 18v, or the Milwaukee M18 Fuel. Does anybody have any experience with these and can advise me on which is best. I'm really wanting to keep it between these two brands, if possible to keep from confusing myself anymore than I already am. Thank you!

[David Weaver]

<Insert post decrying the loss of good quality smaller US made corded electric tools. Ones that work every time you plug them in and don't leave you shuffling around $75 every time a battery poops out>

I've got some battery stuff, and of all of the brands I've had, I can't say much other than you'll never know which one is better until you know which one is still using original batteries and has full power after 100 charges.

Unfortunately, some of my cordless stuff is ridgid...it's like 3/4ths as good as a real tool for the tool, and the batteries are like...0.000002% as good as a quality battery.

[Justin Edmonds]

Ordinarily, I would agree on corded tools. However, I find myself in a bit of a jam. I have a few buildings on the farms in need of repair but lack a means of running electricity to power the tools. Also, I don't have a generator. Battery power may not be best, but, for this situation, it very well could be.

[Ron Kellison]

<Insert post decrying the loss of good quality smaller US made corded electric tools. Ones that work every time you plug them in and don't leave you shuffling around $75 every time a battery poops out>

I've got some battery stuff, and of all of the brands I've had, I can't say much other than you'll never know which one is better until you know which one is still using original batteries and has full power after 100 charges.

Unfortunately, some of my cordless stuff is ridgid...it's like 3/4ths as good as a real tool for the tool, and the batteries are like...0.000002% as good as a quality battery.

I've had have an 18V Li-Ion Ridgid (registered) for a few years now and I've only had one battery check out on me. It was promptly replaced. I also have a 12V Bosch for the past 4 years and I've yet to replace one of the Li-Ion batteries. Both are good. Dewalt, on the other hand, has left me irritated on more than one occasion! After replacing 3 14.4V Ni-Cads I finally gave it to my son who might use it once a year. He doesn't like it either but the price was right!

It's hard to make generalizations about cordless tool batteries if you're talking about top-end tools such as Festool, Bosch, Panasonic or Makita. Ridgid isn't in the same league but the lifetime replacement warranty makes up for that. Personally, for those jobs around the house that require drilling or driving screws I would rather use my cordless tools than break out a brace, Yankee screwdriver or an extension cord. Then they go back in their little plastic houses until the next time I need them.

Ron

[Greg R Bradley]

Mostly limiting my response to the two brands as requested by the OP:

I'm a Dewalt hater and blame Stanley Black & Decker (Dewalt) for much of the ruining of tool brands recently in their quest to make the worst name brand crap on the market. HOWEVER, there is mostly good things being said about their current 20vMax series from people that use tools daily. I would feel pretty comfortable buying those even with my horrible experience with some of their older NiCad tools. Some of their tools actually seem to be getting better lately and they make some that are excellent for the money such as their 10" CMS, Rotary Hammer Bits made in Italy, etc.

Milwaukee seems to be headed downhill lately. There are some big problems with some of their new tools even though some of their stuff designed a few years ago are still excellent.

I think either one would be fine for your use and might base your choice more on whats on sale or the best deal on the tools appropriate for your use.

When you said "drill and hammer drill", did you mean a dedicated drill for concrete? If so, and you meant a cordless Rotary Hammer in SDS and you are planning on using it heavily, I would want to add Makita and Bosch into the mix.

[Matt Meiser]

I've got the M18 stuff before the "Fuel" nomenclature and love it. Circular saw is plenty usable for a few cuts--don't really use it a ton to know what its real output is. Sawzall is good enough for my use that I got rid of a corded one. Love the drills (compact and hammer), 1/4" impact, 4-1/2" angle grinder for times when I just need to do a few things, and the 1/2" impact wrench is awesome--even more powerful than my CP pneumatic one, and it works without dragging a hose to wherever I need it, sometimes quite far from my big compressor.

I've got both full size and compact batteries and like both Compact batteries won't fit some of the power-hungry tools (they are keyed to prevent it.)

I'm thinking about picking up one of the power port adapters that go on top of a battery and offer a USB port and a DC connection for their heated jacket. I don't have the heated jacket, but I think this output is 12V so if I can find a connector that fits, I can turn it into a cigar lighter connection for various portable uses.

[johnny means]

Within the past year or so I've been converting from Rigid 18v to Dewalts "20v" line. So far I've got the hammer drill, compact drill, right angle drill, impact driver, plus the 12v impact/drill kit. Thus far I'm really happy with allof them. Battery life is good with no shortage of power. But, I suspect any modern drills/drivers on this range will perform similarly.

[David Weaver]

I've had have an 18V Li-Ion Ridgid (registered) for a few years now and I've only had one battery check out on me.

I got one of my drills about 6 or 7 years ago. I assumed that they would replace anything since there was crap all over the store saying "lifetime warranty". Well, I learned better of that when the battery failed. Had about 20 charges on it.

I just finally got a replacement for it on ebay last week. Ridgid batteries are exorbitant on the secondary market...and for a good reason. Their battery issues are well documented, as is frustration with finding out they can be ambiguous about replacing batteries (I wouldn't know, I just know the answer is "no" with mine).

My drill is weak after about 15 honest hours of use, too. I can do something about that once it poops out, though. I hope. I despise the requirement to "register" a brand of tools that has a lifetime warranty.

Comment about plug in tools still applies, though. I've got numerous drills that are as old as 30 years old and they all still work. They probably cost as much as one lithium ion battery. Enough frustration with the cordless ridgid drill and I solved my screw drilling problem by getting an old snap on pneumatic drill this past week. I don't know how old it is, but it's tight as a drum, and it's like a flashback to my wasted youth when I worked summers in a cabinet factory. Instant speed, super smooth, balanced and small. I'm done with battery tools.

[Dan Rude]

I picked up the M18 when they first came out with the compact battery. Liked the impact, but the drill driver was lacking. I then saw a heavy duty hammer drill on clearance with the M18 3 amp hour batteries on sale for about 50% off at home depot. What a difference, I do not even use the compact batteries any more. I then picked up the M18 circular saw. This one has beat out all the others in recent reviews. So skip the compact batteries and get the large ones, they are worth it. Otherwise, for a lot of my work I use the M12 line, I love them for the size and weight. If I need the power I grab the M18 impact or Hammer drill. I still use corded for my pocket hole jig though. Dan

[Justin Edmonds]

Mostly limiting my response to the two brands as requested by the OP:

I'm a Dewalt hater and blame Stanley Black & Decker (Dewalt) for much of the ruining of tool brands recently in their quest to make the worst name brand crap on the market. HOWEVER, there is mostly good things being said about their current 20vMax series from people that use tools daily. I would feel pretty comfortable buying those even with my horrible experience with some of their older NiCad tools. Some of their tools actually seem to be getting better lately and they make some that are excellent for the money such as their 10" CMS, Rotary Hammer Bits made in Italy, etc.

Milwaukee seems to be headed downhill lately. There are some big problems with some of their new tools even though some of their stuff designed a few years ago are still excellent.

I think either one would be fine for your use and might base your choice more on whats on sale or the best deal on the tools appropriate for your use.

When you said "drill and hammer drill", did you mean a dedicated drill for concrete? If so, and you meant a cordless Rotary Hammer in SDS and you are planning on using it heavily, I would want to add Makita and Bosch into the mix.

I would like a regular drill/driver and a hammer drill, even if I may not necessarily use the hammer feature a lot. I feel more comfortable knowing it's there if I need it. Ok, I'll be honest. I looked at the Makita ad Bosch. The Bosch just felt wrong in my hand. Also, Bosch seems like an up and comer, if you will, in the tool market. I hadn't heard of them until last year; I think it was. Makita is a hit and miss. My step-dad has an old drill that is probably older than I am. He finally gave up on it over having such a hard time buying batteries for it and went with a Black & Decker. I did finish up a stint as a temporary worker on the Mechanical crew the City of Knoxville. The truck I was on had a Makita Li-ion drill on it that was only about 2 years old, if that. It never got used. The battery was gone and would cost almost as much as a new drill to replace. That, also, has me a bit worried about Makita.

[Ed Labadie]

I've had DeWalt 20v max impact driver, drill & flashlight for just over a year now. Nothing but good things to say about them, they're everything I expected.

I did go with 3.0amp/hr batteries, DeWalt is currently upgrading the line to 4.0amp/hr for the large ones.

The 3 speed impact is the only way to go (IMO), the lowest speed/torque drops it down to the level of a 12v unit, great for small fasteners, medium is best for general use, it'll drive 3" screws easily, high speed is for big stuff! The runtime on the brushless tools is unreal, one almost forgets where the charger is.

The LED flashlight is also great, plenty of light, batteries last forever.

Nothing fancy about the drill, its like the old plug-in battery type. I'll say the chuck is probably the best I've ever had on a cordless tool.

The impact came with a belt clip, it's so handy I added them to the light & drill.

http://dewalt.com/tools/cordless-impact-driverswrenches-drivers--wrenches-dcf895l2.aspx

http://www.dewalt.com/tools/cordless-drills-drilldrivers-dcd980l2.aspx

Ed

[John Schweikert]

Bosch seems like an up and comer, if you will, in the tool market. I hadn't heard of them until last year...

Not picking on this comment at all, but Bosch has been making excellent tools for a very long time. I think they are just putting more effort into bringing tools to a price point more befitting of the DIY/"pro" crowd, meaning lower priced to compete with yellow, orange, red, blue, etc brands. I have tools from just about every brand you could buy in the tool section at a Lowes and Depot, except Milwaukee, just never picked anything up yet from that brand, but I have been looking at their M18 line lately.

[Justin Edmonds]

Not picking on this comment at all, but Bosch has been making excellent tools for a very long time. I think they are just putting more effort into bringing tools to a price point more befitting of the DIY/"pro" crowd, meaning lower priced to compete with yellow, orange, red, blue, etc brands. I have tools from just about every brand you could buy in the tool section at a Lowes and Depot, except Milwaukee, just never picked anything up yet from that brand, but I have been looking at their M18 line lately.
Really? I hadn't heard of them until recently.

[Dan Neuhaus]

I've had the Dewalt 20V compact drill, compact impact, premium hammer drill/driver, 3spd brushless impact and the recip saw for over a year. I have several of the 1.5ah and 3.0ah batteries. I'm a property manager and also remodeling my own house (more like gutting) and the tools have been great. The bigger batteries are critical if your using the tool for more then a few minutes. The ergonomics on the 20V line is the best of any cordless tools I've ever picked up and that was a huge selling point for me. They just feel good in your hands. The hammerdrill is ok if you only drilling a few holes in block or brick but if your plowing 20 holes in concrete your going to want a cord. I don't have any of the M18 line but have several of the M12 and they all great for their size. The M12 oscillating tool is particularly good as I almost never break out my corded Fein anymore.

[michael flay]

I have the fuel drill and impact and they can't be beat in my opinion I have been in the trade for 23yrs and my tools get heavy use, I have gone thru different versions of the Milwaukee's and a Bosch 36v kit and I like this set the best so far.

[Kevin Stricker]

I've used both extensively. In the last week alone I have driven over 40 lbs of screws with one or the other. Let's start with the Dewalt, the 20v ones I use are not the brushless and use 1.5aH batteries. It is lighter than the M18 Fuel, has a slightly more comfortable handle(smaller than the M18, maybe too small if you have jumbo mitts, but I wear XL gloves and find it comfortable. The trigger is very responsive, but at full throttle is harder to feather a screw in the last couple turns. It is more responsive at a slight trigger pull, but the 3 speed M18 makes that a non-issue. For the bad, the batteries die about 25% faster( this may be attributed to the brushless motor of the Fuel), and the Dewalt batteries are very poor performers in cold temperatures.

i purchased the Fuel impact driver instead of the DeWalt as my "heavy" use driver for several reasons. It is more powerful and has better battery life. It also is available at most all Home Depot's, and with the extended replacement plan it was a no brainier. HD does not stock either the 3 speed brushless Makita or DeWalt impact drivers in most stores. As I do a lot of work out of state the ability to file for my replacement online and bring the certificate into any HD to get a replacement was the deciding factor. I have used a 14.4v Panasonic driver for several years(still my favorite), but on a recent trip to Boston I broke the trigger and had no way of replacing/servicing it easily. So I picked up the M18 Fuel, and have been very happy with it. My only complaint is sometimes I trigger the driver and get no response, but then it works on the next trigger. More of an annoyance than anything. I think unless you do a lot of work in cold temps you will be happy with either tool.

[Justin Edmonds]

Cool! Thanks for the input, everybody! Sounds like either would work well for me.

[John Sanford]

Just be a little patient. The second biggest tool sale of the year is coming up, with Father's Day right around the corner.