PTR: Now that DeWalt has launched their Xtreme Compact brushless 12V series of tools, it’s a great time for a little one-on-one. So for the first-ever edition of the Pro Tool Reviews Thursday Throwdown, it’s DeWalt vs Milwaukee 12V impact driver – place your bets!
4 comments:
This article is really interesting to read the comparison of these two impact drivers. I really like how the article provides essentially individual rounds for the two impact drivers to be compared, with a winner or a tie for each one as well as an overall winner. As the article states, it is no shocker that the Milwaukee was an overall winner because the DeWalt only won one round. Even though Milwaukee outperformed the DeWalt, it is still a valid option if you are looking for good performance and price value. I know that in our scene shop here at Carnegie Mellon, it is fully stocked with a number of Milwaukee screw guns and impact drivers. Personally, I think we could invest in a couple more impact drivers. On the other hand, we frequently use pneumatics, so it may not really be worth it. Overall, this article was a good read and contained a lot of useful information.
I always enjoy reading tool reviews and comparisons from Pro Tool Reviews. As an owner of a Milwaukee M12 Fuel impact driver, I was interested to see how it stacks up against the competition. One of the reasons I like Milwaukee Tool equipment is that they always produce high quality gear that can take a beating and keep going. Additionally, there is a huge variety of tools to pick from that all work using the same battery and accessory system, meaning I don't need a large number of batteries and chargers to keep everything charged and running. In theory, I only need 2 or 3 batteries and a changer. Currently, the M12 line has upwards of one hundred different tools under its name, and the M18 line only adds to that. This makes Milwaukee powered tools incredibly versatile and allows for users to adapt to their projects with the right tools at hand. Having to only buy the bare tool makes expanding the tool collection much easier as well.
Speaking as someone who has used both DeWalt and Milwaukee battery tools in theatre for a few years, I was curious to see what this article would churn out. While I usually don't use anything below 18V for shop work, having a nice small impact to throw into your toolbox or backpack may be worth the cost. I am now and always have been more of a DeWalt person, maybe I just like the color yellow or it was the first brand of tools I worked with, but that's just me. When looking at these numbers, I can't help but think how close these really are and ultimately I would want to get my hands on both and drive some screws or tighten some bolts myself before making a decision. While the red team edges out yellow in many ways, once you get comfortable with a brand and basically know how to operate that tool with your eyes closed (theoretically of course), I would just stick with that tool. Or, in the several instances Milwaukee did edge out DeWalt, I would just grab my 18V to get the job done (or, god forbid, a 120V corded monstrosity).
This is not terribly surprising. I suppose that it makes sense that they would test Dewalt versus Milwaukee given the similar popularity levels of the two brands. However, looking at the price points of the different sets of equipment. That said, the Milwaukee is at a noticeably different price point; of course you should get more quality out of a more expensive impact driver. The author should probably have put that up front in the article, but that would probably have made it a less interesting read. I also want to pick a fight about whether or not people who are buying 12V impact drivers are actually using them to tighten 1” nuts or whatever is shown in the video. And even then, is the max torque on the drivers actually the appropriate preload for the majority of the tasks they are used for? At the end of the day, no matter how much better the Milwaukee gun is, I am still going to buy another Dewalt because I already have the compatible batteries.
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