I am posting this for anyone like me who researches well before buying a tool. I love my M12 system, and thought I would take the time to share the reasons. When I bought in to the M12 system, I was also considering Porter Cable and Makita. The M12 system sold me because:
- It got great reviews
- It had a lot of power for the size
- Milwaukee name brand
- No other mfg offered as many tools with one battery system
- I needed a small drill/driver for tight work where my 14.4 and 18v drills were too big.
I started out with three M12 drills (one hammer and two regular) and also a driver. Why three? In boatbuilding I am often drilling multiple holes, or countersinking holes or step-drilling a hole in different sizes, or for copper riveting planks and then screwing them at the stem, I need a drill loaded with a bit for the nail, a bit for the screw, and a bit for the countersink for the nail head so it lies flush, or a special countersink for a large screw head. I line the drills up with various bits and save a lot of time and don't lose bits. I also live in a stone house, and the hammer drill is needed any time I want to hang anything or drill a hole in a wall.
The drills have served me very well. The only issue I have had is the clutch is going out on my most-used drill, but I bought that drill used on eBay to start with, so I cannot verify what it went through before I got hold of it. The biggest surprise for me was how many holes I can drill and/or screws I can drive between charges. Also surprising to me is that these are similar in power to my Dewalt 14.4v, which is admittedly much older. I really bought these as small project drills and for special purposes as mentioned above where I drill a lot of small holes, but I love them so much that if you asked me where my other larger cordless drills were I would have to think. I have not used the larger drills in over a year. The M12's have served me that well.
Recently I bought the M12 rotary hammer. I did not expect this to drill as well as my corded rotary hammer, and it doesn't, but for the size I am very impressed. Right out of the box I went outside to a concrete step that I plan to repair (and therefore didn't mind drilling holes in) and drilled a 1/2" hole 3" deep with no effort. I drilled two more- no problem. Then I used the drill to drill multiple 3/16" holes 3" deep into concrete to install some hurricane panels. It did well, but noticeably the battery didn't last too long. I have the standard M12 battery. This drill usually comes with the larger long-life M12 battery, and I see why. I bought just the bare tool because I have lots of batteries, but I will go get a long-life battery just for this drill.
I also got the digital multimeter. It has literally saved my life. There was a wire hanging in a vacant home that had the service (supposedly) disconnected. One check with the multimeter showed it was live! I like the feature where you put the wire between slots and a red light shows if there is power. No need to touch the wires with a lead to test for power. (I'm not an electrician, but I play one on TV- haha) The digital readout is easy to read, and it has a light that comes in handy when you have to turn off service to fix something. The battery lasts a very long time with this tool. I am very glad I got it. I thought it was going to be a luxury tool, but that was before I decided to restore an old home, and I can't count the times I've used it just to test if wires are hot, as well as to diagnose issues.
Another purchase- the M12 fiber optic inspection camera. This is a really cool tool. I have the older model with the thicker camera cable. The new ones have a cable almost half as thick. It has come in handy for many things from finding rings dropped in the pool table, to finding a clog in a downpipe without having to take everything apart or even go up a ladder. It's certainly a speciatly tool, but when needed it is indispensible.
The driver tool is good because when you release a bit, it stays in the unlocked position until you push the next hex bit in, and it automatically snaps locked. This makes for one-hand bit changes. It's a great tool for when you need to drive only, or you just need to drill small holes with a hex-end bit.
Yet another that I love- they sell a little charger that uses an M12 battery and has a USB outlet. Power goes out often where I live, and I can get 1.5 iPhone charges off one fully charged M12 battery with this thing. Since the power company blew a generator last week, they are doing rolling outages all week long, so this tool is getting good use this week. It is a must-have for hurricane season, tornado shelter, camping, etc.
I decided recently to try out the new "Fuel" version hammer drill, and got one on ebay for a good price. I liked the belt hook on the new fuel models. Also supposedly they use less power and have a heat override protection. I have not yet tried to see how many holes I could drill in one charge, but I did use it when the power went out to drill 50 holes in 1/8" aluminum and it only lost one blip on the power scale, and that's with a two-year-old battery. Silly as it is, the belt hook came in handy when up a ladder drilling multiple holes with one drill, and driving with another. I say get the newer fuel models if you get one of these drills.
That's all the M12 tools I have tried so far. I intend to get a cordless jigsaw some day. Milwaukee has a long list of tools that all use the same batteries. I suggest you get a few kits until you have four or more batteries, and then just start buying the tool without battery. That is another thing I really like- they sell all the tools separate if you so desire, so you can save money once you commit to the system and have enough batteries and chargers. I really don't care for injection moulded cases, which go in the trash anyway when I get a tool, so I like being able to get just the tool for a lot less than buying a kit with case, battery, and charger.
Note: I'm not getting paid by Milwaukee. I just really love these tools and am glad I went with them. I wish someone had posted such a review when I was looking for a small cordless drill, and now that I have well-tested these I thought I'd share my thoughts. Buy with confidence, and don't think because they are only 12v that they are not powerful. Certainly a contractor would need a set of 18v, but I would advise the same contractor to at least get a few smaller 12v drills for tight work, ceiling work, and when you just need to have a drill handy and don't want to carry a big 18v.
Cheers,
Malcolm
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Originally Posted by Michael Kellough
