Archived from the Tools In Action forum (Power Tools). This thread is read-only.
So I found a deal too good to pass up. $17 for a drill, battery and charger on Amazon Warehouse. I pretty much bought it for the battery, which is about half off of single battery price. I ended up giving it a little test and figured I’d share my thoughts about it since most of us never thought twice about buying one of these…sorry, no video.
Screwdriver mode: This drill doesn’t have a clutch but it’s supposed to stop and then lightly pulse after it senses a sudden change in torque requirement. If you squeeze the trigger and grab the chuck, it will stop and pulse until you release the trigger. It works for the screws I was trying, 2.5″ kreg screws into 2″ thick wood. The Autosense did correctly stop the screw flush.
Drill mode: It’s a 3/8″ chuck so I tried a 3/8″ drill bit. I used a CLE black oxide bit that is very sharp. First attempt the drill makes it about a 1/2″ and stops but it didn’t stop like it was bogged down, it stopped like it was electrically shut off. So I attempt to finish the hole and it punches through, not very quickly. Second attempt, it goes through on the first try. Third; it stops, I reset and stops again before finishing the hole…remember this is 2″ thick wood. About half the attempts it does this stop thing, very annoying. My m12 non-Fuel easily punches through the same wood with 1″ spade bits.
It was very small and lightweight and seemed like it was good quality. It is actually slightly smaller(A hair taller with batteries) and seems to weigh less than my m12. Reminder, this B+D is a 20v drill.
[External image (i.imgur.com), not copied]
[External image (i.imgur.com), not copied]
I wouldn’t recommend this to anyone, not a newbie(which I believe the drill is intended) and/or average home owner. You have no control over the screw function, that seems like a future problem waiting to happen. BUT the drill mode is what keeps me from saying this is a good drill for ANY homeowner. It has trouble drilling through 2X4s, what is the most common piece of wood a homeowner is going to drill into? Sure it won’t always be 3/8″ drill bits but if it has a 3/8″ chuck it should be able to punch through it 100% of the time.
Figured you guys might know someone that isn’t very tool informed and may ask you about drills, this is commonly recommended on very non-tool forums like Slickdeals and I’m sure Pintrest or whatever the women-folk do on the internet. I’d definitely recommend the B+D clutched 20V drill over this, certainly the PC or Ryobi…all three of those I’ve seen new or recon for $50 or less. I believe this Autosense is $80. I purchased my m12 drill, hackzall, 2 batteries and contractor bag for $70 with the regular (limited time) price being $99. Hope this write-up helps someone not make a poor purchase.
Nice write up, that is dissapointing I’ve heard good things about the nonsense I mean auto sense drill. You think it would be turned off while drilling.
Jimbo
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Oh wow you dont even have the option of turning that feature off, how would it know whether it’s driving or drilling anyways?
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Can you program an autosense function in onekey?
jeffmcmillan wrote:
Can you program an autosense function in onekey?
If Milwaukee writes it into the software and firmware then it could definitely happen but with the existing settings probably not because the torque isn’t variable
hahaha smoke it!!! well atleast u got a good deal on a battery and a ok lookin paper weight lol. ty for sharing this
Seems great for the home owner that’s not use to using power tools. Great buy for just an extra battery. Starting realize that the M12 drills are not that compact after all.
KnarlyCarl wrote:
7 hours ago, KnarlyCarl said:Oh wow you dont even have the option of turning that feature off, how would it know whether it’s driving or drilling anyways?
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You can turn it off, there’s a very nice set of lighted buttons on top one for driver mode and one for drill mode…but it seems to electronically stop instead of bogging down, it probably is meant to keep from smoking it like Jimbo did to that HF drill.
I think I’m going to sell the drill because it has such high ratings, probably from people that get it and hang picture frames then write a review…I think I might be able to get my money back and still keep the battery. I think someone would be pretty happy for this bare drill new for $20 since it sells for $80 with battery and a (crappy) charger.
Mondo1310 wrote:
Seems great for the home owner that’s not use to using power tools. Great buy for just an extra battery. Starting realize that the M12 drills are not that compact after all.
M12 drills are not compact at all except for the battery…. Gotta step into Bosch for that
Didn’t ChrisK have the autosense drill? I seemed to remember that he liked it pretty well but I’m not sure what all he was using it for. If memory serves he gave it to one of the crew here but I haven’t seen him here for a while.
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PROTOOLNUT wrote:
And once again a TIA crew member proves my point, that B&D isn’t worth the plastic its made of anymore. The technology is an interesting idea, but if it can’t even drill a hole for 80 dollars, then its no better then the drill that cost JImbo 20 dollars at Harbor Freight that smoked after the first hole was drilled.
My dad just got a corded B & D blower vac, it’s got some weight and power so we’ll see eventually I’ll do a video on it
JimboS1ice wrote:
19 minutes ago, JimboS1ice said:M12 drills are not compact at all except for the battery…. Gotta step into Bosch for that
Those Boschs are TINY. M12 is definitely large but also powerful. My M12 is as powerful(maybe a bit more) as my friend’s PC 20v…M12 is also louder and about the same size.
BMack37 wrote:
Those Boschs are TINY. M12 is definitely large but also powerful. My M12 is as powerful(maybe a bit more) as my friend’s PC 20v…M12 is also louder and about the same size.
Yea the m12 fuel is very long it’s bigger than my compact dewalts
PROTOOLNUT wrote:
3 minutes ago, PROTOOLNUT said:And once again a TIA crew member proves my point, that B&D isn’t worth the plastic its made of anymore. The technology is an interesting idea, but if it can’t even drill a hole for 80 dollars, then its no better then the drill that cost JImbo 20 dollars at Harbor Freight that smoked after the first hole was drilled.
I like my B+D trimmer. Normally I think they’re ok for the homeowner but this one just has too much tech to be a good choice for drilling.
Yea their lawn equipment is actually pretty decent, a lot of dewalts roots for lawn stuff came from black and decker
Jimbo
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That new compact Dewalt 791 is untouchable right now.