Milwaukee has announced their latest Gen 3 iteration of the M18 compact brushless drill and hammer drill. Let’s check them out below.
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Milwaukee’s M18 Fuel line has commonly been the way to go if you wanted brushless and the best of the best they had to offer. This included their best high performance and along with it went a larger size. Back in 2015 they released their first brushless tools that didn’t feature the Fuel branding. These were drill and impact driver models that featured a brushless motor in a “compact” size that still featured good performance. Those models were then refreshed in 2018 with the Gen 2 variants which shrank them down a bit for a more compact form except for the hammer drill model.
These latest Gen 3 models shrink even further while also making them more powerful than before! In this article we will focus on the drill and hammer drill. But make sure to also check out the new Gen 3 M18 compact brushless drill and hammer drill as well by clicking here.
Milwaukee M18 Compact Brushless 1/2″ Drill & Hammer Drill – Features
They continue the trend by making the Gen 2 M18 compact brushless drill and hammer drill even more compact.
The latest trend is to make subcompact 18V power tools with the size of 12V tools. These new M18 models fit that trend and are extremely compact. They measure 5.7 inches in length for the drill/driver. That makes it more compact than the Gen 3 M12 Fuel hammer drill and that already was super tiny!
The new M18 compact brushless hammer drill is slightly longer but still incredibly compact at 5.8 inches in length. Even then it’s still beating the Gen 3 M12 Fuel hammer drill that’s coming in at 5.9 inches in length.
That’s great and all that they shrank considerably as that helps them to fit into tighter spots. However no one wants a weaker drill. That’s what also makes these new Gen 3 M18 compact brushless models great, is that not only are they smaller than before. But they are also stronger than previous gen. Now at 550 in-lbs of torque! That means strong 18V power! That’s very strong for a compact drill and if you ever need more than that, you can step up to their M18 Fuel model with legendary 1,400 in-lbs of torque!
Like all Milwaukee cordless drills, these feature metal chucks. No mention if the chuck ratchets. The gearcase is metal as well. They are also very light at 2.3 lbs baretool.
Milwaukee M18 Compact Brushless 1/2″ Drill & Hammer Drill – Improved Gearing
I like that they raised the 1st speed RPM to 550 and that they lowered speed 2 RPM to 1,700. My biggest grip lately is that with each new drill model, it seems like the Manufacturers are in a speed race to see who’s model has the fastest RPM. In my opinion 2000 RPM or higher on a drill is a bad thing. Anyone that knows a thing or two about physics and gearing knows that more torque is needed at higher RPM, much more. And this poses a problem with drills today as this limits the size hole a drill can drill at speed 2.
Most drills can’t drill a 1 inch hole on speed two as overload protection would kick in but I’m sure they could (or atleast have a better chance) if the RPM was lowered on speed 2. That’s why I applause Milwaukee for lowering the RPM on speed 2 to 1700. In my opinion brands should go back to 1,500 RPM on speed two or even better, lower it to 1,200-1,300 as these gearing ratios would allow drills to stretch their legs at high speed with even larger bits.
The new M18 compact brushless drill and hammer drill models will be available in August 2023. Pricing is shown below and varies depending on baretool or kit form.
Milwaukee M18 Compact Brushless ½” Drill Driver (3601-20) – $139
- Volts: 18V
- Torque: 550 in-lbs.
- RPM: 0-1700
- Tool Length:5.7”
- Tool Weight (Without Battery): 2.3 lbs.
Kit Includes: (3601-22CT) – $199
- 3601-20 M18™ Compact Brushless ½” Drill Driver
- (2) REDLITHIUM™ 2.0 Ah Battery Pack
- M12/M18™ Multivolt Charger
Milwaukee M18 Compact Brushless ½” Hammer Drill (3602-20) – $149
-
- Volts: 18V
- Torque: 550 in-lbs.
- RPM: 0-1700
- Tool Length: 5.8”
- Tool Weight (Without Battery): 2.3 lbs.
Kit Includes: (3602-22CT) – $219
- 3601-20 M18™ Compact Brushless ½” Hammer Drill
- (2) REDLITHIUM™ 2.0 Ah Battery Pack
- M12/M18™ Multivolt Charger
M18 Compact Brushless 2 Piece Combo Kit (3692-22CT) – $239
- 3601-20 M18™ Compact Brushless ½” Drill Driver
- 3650-20 M18™ Compact Brushless ¼” Hex Impact Driver
- (2) REDLITHIUM™ 2.0 Ah Battery Pack
- M12/M18™ Multivolt Charger
- Contractor Bag
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Drills don’t need torque, they need speed! You should buy an impact driver and not a drill if torque is what you’re after.
Metabo comes to mind, their drills have 1250 in lbs of torque, more than enough to most applications but also has 3800rpm for metal and plastic drilling. The faster it spins the cleaner the hole
You need torque to drill into wood, the most common application for these tools.
If a tool is going to have more than 2.1k RPM, it should have more than two speeds. The Fein ASCM 18 QM being a good example with 4 speeds.