Milwaukee M18 Gen 2 FUEL Hammer Drill 2704

Another new tool from Milwaukee, say it can’t be.  Every time I turn around, they have something new out.  This time it’s a new drill.  Not just any drill, but a beast of a hammer drill in a small size.  This is a huge leap forward for a number of reasons.  The drill is one of the most widely used tools.  In the past you really had to pick from power and size.  If you wanted a lot of power, you had to expect your drill to be bigger and heavier.  If you wanted a lighter drill, you could expect a less powerful drill.  This pretty much meant you had to have at least two drills and let’s not forget to mention the hammer drill, this always added a little weight to the tool.  Milwaukee seemed to solve this problem with their new Gen 2 Hammer Drill model 2704.  As with other drills you can buy this as a bare tool or with batteries, plus they offer it in a kit with their new Impact Driver.

The new drill not only amazed me with power, but the simple fact of it’s weight and size and yes it’s a hammer drill which baffles me even more about how light and compact the drill is.  So since I am talking about size and weight, I should cover those items.  The drill is only 7.75″ long and weighs only 5 lbs.  So how about power?  This beast is loaded with their Powerstate brushless motor that delivers up to 1,200 in-lbs of torque and up to 2,000 rpm.  The drill delivers 32,000 BPM.  So fast and powerful, the two things I like.  One great thing if you buy the kit or the the drill with batteries, you get 5.0 Ah batteries which means longer run time.  As you would expect with this drill, it does have an all metal ratcheting chuck.

One item I love about this drill is the two sleeve system where you can adjust torque separately from drill, screw or hammer mode.  I love drills like this and still don’t understand why all drills aren’t designed like this one.  The drill comes with a large side handle to help control the power.  However when using this drill, I have to say that I expected it to be tough to handle, but it was very easy.  Even when we went through large logs and 6×6’s, it just seemed easy to control.  The drill is equipped with two speeds, 1 and 2.  The no load speeds are 0-550 and 0-2,000.  As with all their other drills, the drill has an overload protection system to prevent damage to the drill.  Even with all we did, we didn’t get the overload to kick on which is very impressive. The tool comes with your standard 5 year warranty on the drill and 3 year on the battery.

All in all this is a very impressive drill.  The feel, balance and power are all awesome.  I always try to come up with at least one thing that could use improvement, but I really can’t find any faults with this drill.  The drill is very easy to control and very smooth.  All I can do is give the designers a pat on the back and say great job.