Customer Reviews

Milwaukee 0923-29 18 Volt 1/2-Inch Lok-Tor Hammer-Drill, Sawzall -InchThe Hatchet-Inch, Circular Saw & Worklight Combo Kit

5 star:		(19)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(7)

 

 

Excellent kit. Bought this about 3 months ago and I use it regularly. I hesitated to buy it at first because it only came with a soft case, but has its advantages. The shoulder strap frees up a hand on the way in, and the pockets hold my drill bits, spade bits, and counter-sinking kit. The kit itself works great. The circular saw cuts through anything, is comfortable to use, and makes many cuts before needing a battery change. The blade guard originally blocked my line of sight on the right hand side of the blade, so I used the sawzall with a metal-cutting blade to make a minor adjustment. Better than stock. Not a big deal, but there are just some times that you need to make a cut on the opposite side. The drill has enough torque to break your wrist, but like people have mentioned, there is no place to hold a bit - designers must've come to work tanked that day. Sawzall is great for getting into those hard-to-reach places. We've had DeWalt and Makita kits on the job and had to use the ol' hatchet to get the job done. The others guys' are just to long n' bulky. I like the orbital action, too. Makes a difference. Flashlight works well, but, really - as long as it turns on how good can it be, right? I got a great deal on this kit. The Home Depot had this kit on sale for $369 plus a free mail-in tool. I opted for the multi-bay charger and it works great. I don't think I could run out of batteries if I tried (I purchased a battery double-pack off ebay for $100). I've heard other guys talk down about these kits. My guess is they've been abused. Tools are supposed to be tough, but if you leave 'em in pouring rain, saturate them in sawdust, use a circular saw instead of a chainsaw, etc... they're going to break. Take care of your tools, fools. I have and they've performed flawlessly. I'd recommend this kit to anyone that wants a great cordless set from the best name in tools.

First off, the tools themselves are quite good, although there is definitely room for improvement.
Hammer Drill:
+ Great torque, good balance, solid chuck.
- No place to store screw driver bits
Overall a very good hammer drill

Circular saw:
+ Good balance, like the opposite orientation from older circular saws (i.e. this one works for right-handed folks).
- The safety switch is sometimes awkward to engage.

Sawsall Hatchet:
+ Works well at cutting through stuff, adjustable handle is nice when it works.
- Adjustable handle stops broke shortly after I started using it (they're plastic molded-in features on the case and aren't very sturdy).

Batteries:
+ They make good paper-weights
- These are by far the biggest problem with this kit, and bad enough that I DO NOT recommend buying this set. After low to moderate use, one flat gave out, and the other holds maybe 20% of its original charge. I didn't abuse the batteries and they should have lasted much longer. The kicker is that replacements are $80 each!

Conclusion: Maybe the new 28V Lithium-Ion batteries for the new Milwaukee sets work better, but don't waste your money buying any of their 18V sets.

I've had this kit for at least a year now, and I love it. Sure, it's heavy, but it's 18v, what do you expect? The drill has loads of power, and hasn't burnt up on me yet. Nor have I accidentally locked it. My biggest complaint on it is the Hammer action on it. Of course, I was drilling through solid concrete, not masonry, which is what hammerdrills are intended for. I've used the drill and the Skilsaw the most, and I'm glad the blade's on the left side, as a right-hander and wormdrive user. It will never replace my wormdrive, but when you have to cut over your head or hundreds of feet from any power source, it's most definitely worth it.

Not sure how else to title this review. I got this set about 2 months ago. Everything has come in handy. I used the drill (hammer drill, but haven't used the hammer option yet) and circular saw to redo my deck. Used the Hatchet a little bit, but not too much.

The drill has an amazing amount of torque. I bought this set for two reasons:
1) Milwaukee name. I figure that this'll last me for the rest of my life, or well past the life of the original set of Milwaukee batteries that came with it, and
2) I looked at just about all of the competitors, and the Milwaukee driver has the most torque of them all, as far I could find. I wanted this because I was driving screws through pressure-treated 2-by lumber without pre-drilling. And this worked like a charm.

The circular saw has lots of torque as well. With some sloppy cutting (not all, just a little bit, and some of this intentional), it was difficult to slow down the blade when it began to bind. In my book that's good.

Like I said, I only used the Hatchet a little bit, but I was impressed.

And even the light came in handy this last weekend as the big east coast hurricance blew through and zapped everyone's house power.

I was impressed with the batteries. I drove upwards of 900 long screws into my deck and made lots of cuts with the circular saw over several days. I only had to recharge the batteries 3-4 times. Not too shabby. And the Milwaukee universal charger (charges all of their batteries from ~9 volts up to 18 volts) is very nice too. A little light tells you the battery status, and the quick charge (an hour, I think) was nice.

The bag is nice and big. I haven't even bothered to put the tools in there yet, but there appears to be ample room and the bag is quite heavy and will probably take a good beating.

Overall, I'm extremely happy I got this set.

I told my wife that I would become the handyman/DIY guy if I could buy quality tools. I thought that this 0923-29 Kit would be a great place to start.

I have had the Milwaukee combo kit for about a week. I couldn't be more satisfied with it. I especially like the LOK-Tor series drill. It has plenty of power and I like what reversing the battery does for the balance. The ratcheting chuck is sweet. I have used several different bits and none have slipped in the chuck. I wasn't sure how well the hammer-drill function would work but I took it over to a friend's house and we drilled a few holes for a toilet in his basement and it worked wonderfully.

The circular saw runs quietly and the brake stops the blade almost instantly. Since I got the combo kit I have cut some melamine adjustable shelves and a few 2X4's and have not had any problem doing so with the circular saw.

About the Batteries: One thing I noticed was that it took about an hour-and-a-half to charge the batteries the first time. I have not needed to recharge the batteries yet so I don't know if that was a first time thing or not.

I have read some other Milwaukee cordless tool reviews which indicated that the batteries were hard to get off. I have not seen this problem with any of the tools in my Combo Kit.

I had a hard time finding out online what the warrantee was for Milwaukee products. I had heard "Lifetime" but wanted to be sure. The warrantee simply reads Milwaukee will repair or replace any product which examination proves to be defective in material or workmanship. There is no time limit mentioned in the verbage anywhere with regards the tools themselves. The batteries on the kit I bought are warranted for one year.

I haven't needed the sawzall and light yet but it HAS only been a week. I hope that the end of my handyman/Do-it-Youself journey leaves me with the satisfaction of jobs well done and , more importantly, all 10 of my fingers.

This is a fairly decent set of tools with a great warranty. I work in new construction installing air conditioning duct and equipment and when you need them, these toold are highly convenient. I wounld not be able to rely on them however because sometimes we cut quite a bit more than these tools are able to do. Within 2 months the sawzall shaft broke and it took Home Depot around 60 days to fix it, quite a disappointment. The drill broke at 6 months and I resoldered a brush not wanting to wait for warranty no-service. My friend bought the same set and his sawzall shaft also broke and a battery died with light, regular use. I have gone to a generator with corded tools but still use cordless whenever convenient. They just don't make tools like they used to and I wonder if any other brand is any better. I got the set for $360 on sale(with an extra battery) and would not pay $500 for the same set. I used the sawzall every day for 10 to 30 minutes a day, the drill I used to cut a 4" hole 3 or 4 times a day, the circular saw for 10 to 30 minutes also, five days a week. Circular saw is great for light cutting, battery time is good. Corded tools work better though for medium duty work.

I am a production framer i use these tools every day in my trade
out of all the differnt brands i have owned such as dewalt bosch and Makita the milwaukee seems to outlast all of them plus there cheaper so dont waste your time with those other brands just stick whit the red ones

I am a carpenter working for a remodeling contractor and I have used many different tools and seen many different tools owned by coworkers. All in all its a toss up on what tools are better.
In my experience milwaukee has much longer battery life then other tools but I think the battery slide mechanism on the drill is faulty in design. On most drills it locks into place with two clips (which do get worn out over time) that easily release in the impact from a fall. I dropped my milwaukee off a one story roof on to concrete and the battery broke the first time. One of my co workers sent his bosch off a similar roof 4 times with only a very small crack visible in the battery after the second or third fall.
I also noticed that the milwaukee chuck didn't always grip too well while hammer drilling with larger percussion bits.
Also I have to note that the switch on my flashlight didn't always work on the first try. The problem seems to have worked its self out but it got some disparaging comments from co-workers using the light for awhile.
As for the comments I have read on the battery life with the saws I have to disagree but only in comparison with other tools. None of the cordless saws I have used by any company were worth a damn they just use too much power to run on an 18v battery and milwaukee is the best I have found on battery life.

In summary I would probably buy a Bosch Drill over a Milwaukee if you think it may take a fall from any real distance. If not I would get milwaukee as it seems to be a better balanced drill for comfort and battery life. The milwaukee flashlight is certainly the brightest I have seen and I am willing to disregard my switch problem as a rare fluke. I still maintain that cordless saws are pretty much useless and you shouldn't get one unless you really think you need to have it. If you do need it then Milwaukee is the way to go for battery life purposes and general saw design (especially the sawzall).

I hope this helps =)
P.S. Don't buy the skil cordless combo kit.

The hatchet saw and drill are quality items, the circular saw is worthless. What makes the whole package trash is the batteries which are a joke. In 20 plus years of cordless tool use these are the worst Iv ever seen,used or heard of. Save your money and buy Makita of which the tool quality is as good and whose batteries are, no joke, 10 time better. D. Robinson

I purchased the Milwaukee 0923-29 18V 1/2" Lok-Tor Hammer-Drill, Sawzall "The Hatchet", Circular Saw & Worklight Combo Kit on 5/2005 and this past weekend while attempting to drill a 7/16" hole in a 3/4" piece of plywood, the drill started belching smoke out of the rear vents and became too hot to handle, this was the 4th time I used this drill.

This product leaves a lot to be desired in terms of reliability.