Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Power Tools). This thread is read-only.
Hey all,
oztooltalk’s review of the Gen2 FUEL Drill is below. We reviewed in a way that made it easy to compare to our previous drill comparison.
We have a big backhaul to get through. We’ve still got the Gen2 Impact Driver & Impact Wrench to do shortly. Also Dewalt’s BL HT Wrench and BL SDS (next week). Then we have an M12 mechanics mini-series containing: 3/8″ FUEL Wrench, 3/8″ Ratchet, Rotary Tool, Sander/Polisher plus sundries.
Glad you and Mike are back Dwain. Great overview of the drill. How do you think it stacks up against the Makita Monstah????
chrisk wrote:
Glad you and Mike are back Dwain. Great overview of the drill. How do you think it stacks up against the Makita Monstah? ???o
Thanks Chris. I’m not sure it would beat the Makita in raw power test, but it’s definitely very close. So close that the weight, ergonomics and size of the FUEL put it ahead of the Makita for me.
Why thank you sir!
Can it for example run the 1-1/2″ switchblade at speed 2? (Second gear)
If there is one thing that I like with powerfull drills, is their ability to get most jobs done in second gear. Since it gives so much less strain on the user. 🙂
And off course gets the job over twice as quick or more.
Great job guys!! I’m really loving the sexiness of the gen2……a lot!
Excellent video guys, glad to see you guys back at it!
Good video and good tool, thanks 🙂
Problem is, The tool doesn’t match my eyes. :-p Lol.
Thanks all!!
Andrull wrote:
Can it for example run the 1-1/2″ switchblade at speed 2? (Second gear)
No it can’t run an 1-1/2″ switchblade in 2nd for long, none can. I tried it in our Milwaukee NPS video and it lasted a second or two…
Great review. Thanks. I love my gen 2. It’s a beast… It’s so hard to believe it’s lighter and smaller than the original one which wasn’t big at all. It’s completely amazing that it’s smaller, lighter and much much more powerful.
Thanks for the vid I love my gen two Hammerdrill. Beast mode drill.
Cheers!
Looking forward to the review on the impact wrench…
call me a wimp but I find the first gen of this drill to be heavy is the 2nd gen any lighter?
I think it’s an ounce or two lighter. The 5amp battery is an ounce heavier than the 4amp but the gen2 with 5 amp is lighter than the gen1 with 4. Also I think the non-hammer is little lighter as well if you go with the plain drill.
Isn’t the ordinary fuel even lighter than the small kitty XPH07?
But yeah, using an small 10,8V drill on the side usually gives lower fatigue.
Gen 1 first then gen 2. Looks like almost exactly 2 ounces less (I added the non-standard belt clip to my old gen 1) , not a huge difference but getting that much more power and being smaller and lighter is impressive.
Yep we weighed the difference at around 60g.I always say, compact drill with slim battery for 90% of tasks is sufficient, but it does depend on your trade.
The GEN1 was not heavy in comparison to its competitors, in the middle of the (premium BL) field.
ya aside from any special stuff I do I generally grab my m18 fuel impact over the drill…….compact/xc/4.0 don’t matter…..
Yeah but if you put a slim pack on the new M18 fuel it isn’t going to be all that much bigger and heavier than the M12 fuel with 4.0 battery most likely but performance will be significantly better. Don’t get me wrong the m12 fuel is a super nice 12 volt, probably better than lots of older 18 volt drills even, but I’ve come across situations with every tool where I say “damn it I wish I had more power”, it’s not often I say “oooh that’s too much power!” because you can always back off if you know what you’re doing, except maybe I’d be a little more careful with the new M18 Fuel boring large diameter holes up on a ladder because of all the torque. The new Fuel isn’t a lightweight but it’s actually one of the smallest lightest heavy duty 18v hammer drills, if not the smallest and lightest in the class, I don’t consider Bosch’d model in the same heavy duty class albeit it it’s a great drill for the money and small and light.
But comp56 makes a great point about using the impact for drilling, even Milwaukee’s nice new helix drills bits have hex shanks. When I’m lazy I grab my fuel2 impact too now but there is something I don’t like about impacts when the anvil engages for drilling. I like the smoothness of an actual drill for hole making but maybe it’s just me. It would be cool if they had a way to disengage the anvil on impact drivers for certain applications though…
I think I grab the impact because of a bad experience with a drill, years ago (20+ yrs) I had a 3/4″ Milwaukee drill with a 5/8″ drill bit drilling 1″ copper bus bar…it grabbed I spun my wrist to I finally let go. the drill spun for about 3 more minutes with these more and more powerful drills cordless or otherwise if it catches sometimes with a extra handle or not you can really hurt yourself……at least with the impact it has a free wheeling clutch and doesn’t twist ……….but that’s just me I don’t need to hurt myself most of the stuff I’m doing is for some kind of hobby not a trade
I wish they would add the active response I have in my Bosch 18v beast. As soon as the tool starts to over spin it kicks in. I’ve had activate once and it was pretty nice to have that happen as opposed to my wrist getting banged up.
When drilling, especially metal, an handle or “anti-spin” is very welcome/necessary. 🙂 High chance of locking.
But drilling wood with 1 inch and lower drillbits, no problem here. Must say I have regretted picking up the impact wrench when screwing semi-large screws. Sometimes the vibration and slow speed just makes the fastening hard, when you need to hold the wood with thebother hand.
Other times, I don’t mind taking my time, and chillin with the driver or wrench. 😀
JerryNY – The GEN2 FUEL with a 2.0Ah battery is a pretty wicked bang for buck (power for weight).
But if you’re doing small stuff, the lighter weight of the compact is still more comfortable overall.
Oh I totally agree, I just like having one good overall solution that can do most of what I want in most situations so the Fuel2 is fantastic being so powerful yet still relatively light and small. I’d rather spend my money on other tools I need than multiple drills in different classes but I totally get the need and desire for smaller lighter drills that fit the job and cause less fatigue when needed over longer periods of time. If I had unlimited resources I’d love to have every M18 and M12 tool there is, not to mention Makita’s, Dewalt, Metabo, Fein, Hilti, Festool and whatever else:p Most of the time you gotta compromis somewhere though…