Most powerful cordless Festool Drill?

[Mark Rios]

I asked this question in Gary's thread about his new Festool but I don't want to highjack it so I will post it here.

What is the Festool cordless drill with the most power (voltage?)?

Is it 15.6V like Gary's new neato drill? Or is there a bigger one?

Because of Festools reputation and design innovations, does the 15.6 equate to a higher voltage from the other manufacturers? For example, does the 15.6 equate to 18V or 19.2V or something like that?

Is the most powerful Festool cordless also have the latest high tech features? I'm not really sure what they may be :D but Festool seems to have really neato high tech feature stuff.

Thanks very much for any info.

[Rick Christopherson]

Yes, I saw your post in the other thread, but you are correct, rather than hijack that thread I will answer your question here. I also know that you already read my technical review of the Festool C12.

Part of my Technical Review of the new C12 drill was to build a dynamometer to test the power output of several drills. I didn’t test the 15 volt Festool CDD, but I did test the 12 volt CDD12 and C12 drills. The power output of both of these 12 volt drills exceeded the power of the 14 volt drills from other manufacturers, and the C12 approached the power of the 18 volt drills.

However, the big, big exception to this is that all of the drills that provided a higher torque than the Festool’s were also the drills that smoked the motors within 30 seconds of the start of the test. The Festool drills protect themselves to prevent the motor from getting damaged by abuse. It’s almost like the whole “peak horsepower” gimmick for shop vacs.

The part of your question that I can’t answer is whether the CDD15 will have more power than the C12. The motor in the C12 is far more efficient than any other motor on the market, and this might even include the CDD15. That’s why a 12 volt drill can outperform an 18 volt drill.

[Mark Rios]

Rick, thanks for your reply. I use a Bosch 24V now. I probably won't find anything to actually replace it but I was hoping to get close.

[Joe Jensen]

Rick, thanks for your reply. I use a Bosch 24V now. I probably won't find anything to actually replace it but I was hoping to get close.

Mark, what are you using that much power for? I use 12V Bosch and 15.6V Panasonic drills. The Panasonic has plenty of power it must be 1/2 the size and weight of the 24V tools.

[Mark Rios]

I use it for everything. I don't usually have alot of need for the maximum power all at once ( only every now and then) but I do need to rely on a bunch of power for a long time.

Before my Bosch I had an 18V Dewalt kit. It was fine, it worked very hard for me, but I was looking for something that lasted longer. The Bosch came out with the 24V and it was my dream come true. I can drill lots of big holes for longer time and I can drive 3" screws while running decking for longer time and other fun stuff like that. I REALLY don't like running out of juice (especially when I'm up in an attic at the end of a forty-five foot crawl and I have a dozen holes to drill through double top plates with a 7/8" auger bit) and I can rely on my Bosch running for a long time. I have five batteries. :D I really don't like running out of juice.

I've been eyeing the new Dewalt 36V but I don't really need it right now. My Bosch's running pretty good.