Cordless Drill/Screwdriver

[Mark J]

I'm not home to check my model number, but I think my Milwaukee is an earlier version of the 2401.  My drill-driver is a great tool in both modes, but I can't offer a comparison with the other tools you're considering.

 

For many years it was my only cordless drill, and I never used the corded one.

Edited May 22, 2021 by Mark J

[Chestnut]

I went to Acme and took a look at the options. The lack of onboard bit storage was a no go on the Bosch other wise it was a good contender. They had a "new" model that looked the same as the old model. The benefit there was the old model was on sale for $150 but out of stock. The new model was exactly the same price as the Milwaukee.

Summary:

The Festool CXS was a solid contender but the price and new battery system was a knock and I would be ok spending a bit more to stay in an existing battery system but not to take on a full new system.

The Festool C 18 was easily twice the size and weight as the Bosch installer and Milwaukee installer. At twice the price i guess at least you get twice the weight and size and torque but i already have a full size drill so pass. Also out of stock.

Dewalt didn't really have a good offering. All of their drills have regular chucks. I have dewalt drills and have a hate/hate relationship with their new chucks. Their older chucks were great.

Oil Impulse drivers were also mentioned. These sound interesting and also seem to be much quieter. I'm not a fan of impact drivers for small screw work. With a drill I'll drive the screw 90% of the way with power and then twist the drill with my wrist to get the last 10% and provide some feel on the tightness. With impacts this just isn't possible. If i ever get a new impact I'll be getting oil impulse as it seems the way to go. You appear to loose a little torque, bah big deal. Even the 12V Milwaukee is touting 1,200 in-lbs of fastening force which is enough to over drive lug nuts on my pickup.... (100-ft-lbs, my pickup lugs are recommend 90 ft-lbs), and 2,000 in-lbs ( ~175 ft-lbs) break away torque. Again I'm driving screws not seating lug nuts so even this amount of torque is overkill to the extreme.

Hilti, interestingly enough has a nice driver that is 1/4" hex 12V and competitively priced. With batteries it ends up being near enough to the installer drills from bosch and milwaukee that offer more features and a wider tool stable.

Result:

I ended up buying the M12 installer tool 2505-22. It came with 2 batteries and a 3rd free as part of a promotion. I got the tool home and it was dead on arrival.

The red lock button was illuminated and despite holding the button for minutes it never switched off. At some point it did go in to forward somehow but would then never switch to reverse nor lock again. I was able to test it a bit to confirm it was what i wanted. Acme has always provided me great customer service. I handed the tool to the rep, he confirmed something was up grabbed a new tool of the shelf. He put in a battery to confirm it worked before sending me out the door with it. All said maybe 3 min total in store.

The tool is a great size and has a ton of torque even in the 2nd gear. I could easily get it to run 3_1/2" screws and fully sink the head in softwood. I imagine if i kept the trigger down the screw would keep going until the bit disengaged but I didn't do that. RPM is great weight is light.Size comparison to 18V drill.

The design works out perfectly to run the trigger with the middle finger. Thanks @jussi for the ergonomics tip. The forward reverse switch is intuitive and easy to hit. It takes a few operations to get the motion down as it is different but equally as easy.

[pkinneb]

Nice on all counts Drew! 

[jussi]

Glad it all worked out @Chestnut in the end and acme did right by you.  It shouldn’t be abnormal for a company to stand by a product they sell but nowadays it isn’t always the case. 
 

Another expense you save with the Milwaukee is that you won’t have to buy a set centrotec bits to work with the 1/4” chuck. Depending on how many bits or which set you buy that could be as much as you paid for the Milwaukee drill itself.   I’ve been very happy with my installation drill and Pretty sure you will as well. 
 

As an aside regarding the impact drivers, while it’s true the peak torque isn’t as much, the ramp up the Hydraulic drivers experience is less. So as long as you don’t go over their peak value the time it takes to drive a given faster should be about the same.  I believe there are yt videos that confirm this.  And as you mentioned you will probably next exceed the peak torque anyways for these 12v tools. 

[legenddc]

Glad you were able to find something that works. I was about to post that I saw the Milwaukee M12 Surge (oil-impact) is on sale at Home Depot.

Dewalt does have a 12v 1/4" screwdriver but I've never seen it in stores. I think you went the best route.

[Chestnut]

1 minute ago, legenddc said:

Glad you were able to find something that works. I was about to post that I saw the Milwaukee M12 Surge (oil-impact) is on sale at Home Depot.

Dewalt does have a 12v 1/4" screwdriver but I've never seen it in stores. I think you went the best route.

Interesting I missed that somehow. That seems like a good options. It appears acme has it on the shelves as well so i could have looked at it. That would have been kind of nice given that I'd be able to keep the number of chargers needed down. In hindsight i really like the D style better than the T style. It puts your hand in a better position to get good force strait into the screw.

Maybe I'll circle back in a year and update if the other attachments are worth it.