Customer Reviews

Milwaukee 2601-22 18-Volt Li-ion Compact Drill Kit

5 star:		(75)
4 star:		(19)
3 star:		(7)
2 star:		(11)
1 star:		(16)

 

 

This thing is a beast. Maybe I feel this way because I'm coming off a recently blown up Crapsman 18v drill that was sub par. However, I do have experience with the Panasonic 15.6v drill that has been arguably the best drill out there. I would easily put this up against the Panasonic anytime. Sure the Milwaukee is brand new and the Panasonic has been around for years so we'll see what the China-made Milwaukee will do long term. That said, it's lighter, shorter and more powerful than the Panasonic. Not by much, but it is. Even the charge time of the battery is quicker! I've always been a fan of Milwaukee's cases so there's another bonus over the Pany.
The previous reviewer complained about the placement of the forward/reverse switch but I don't agree. In my opinion, it's located just fine and very similarly to other cordless drills I've used (Craftsman, Panasonic and Porter Cable). If you're a homeowner and looking for a weekend project cordless drill, this may be too much for you, especially considering the cost. Being a contractor, this is EXACTLY what I was looking for. It's light, it's stout (not too long) and most importantly, it's POWERFUL. It is currently priced very competitively with the Pany. You can't lose with either!

I was one of the unfortunate people to buy one of the Milwaukee Ni-cad 18 volt drills with their defective batteries and charger so I did hesitate when buying this drill. I have DeWalt drills and like their performance but have been turned off by the mickey mouse (apologies to Disney) drill cases they provide with some drills and sell as an after market item for $40 for the many pro level DeWalt drills that sell without any storage case at all.

The Milwaukee Li-ion batteries work well so far. I have yet to drop a drill and know that some of the early Li-ion batteries would explode when dropped so this is still an experimental tool for me in that respect. They seem to run cooler than the Ni-cads and I would expect longer life with more recharges possible.

The LEDs are great and it is nice to see they provide a belt hook. With the similarly priced Makita Li-ion drills this is something you have to order from customer service and pay an extra $15 (when Makita has them in stock or find one for sale on eBay and hope the seller is legit).

It has good torque and the keyless chuck works very well - better than a key chuck when cutting tough materials like plywood where there is often a lot of vibration. The Milwaukee chuck is much better than the one on the Makita Li-ion drill that sells in this price range, and which I also own and use.

I have even used the Milwaukee Li-ion drill to cut large 9-1/4" holes in wood paneling for Air Tec's MV air conditioning outlets using a Hole Pro X-305 adjustable hole cutter (also highly recommended!!!!). They are a great combination for a lot of projects.

I have been an electrician for over 20 years, and have seen and used alot of cordless drills in this time. I have either owned them or my employees have owned them (Dewalt, Milwaukee, Makita, Hitachi, PC, Panasonic, Bosch). With that being said Milwaukee has been the best brand for me thus far. The Dewalts are junk and the rest of the drills are pretty good with the exception of the Panasonic being quite a bit above average. The reason why I don't keep the Panasonic is because I need other cordless tools eg: sawzall, circular saw. The Milwaukee V28 series is an absolute beast when it comes to power and WEIGHT! This is why I started looking for a compact drill. I still needed the power with a 1/2" chuck and lighter drill, because I also currently have the Bosch impactor, and pocket driver with jst a 1/4" chuck. I have owned the Milwaukee 18v cordless stuff in the past and was pleased with it, albeit not great - why I ended up getting the V28. With that being said I charged up the batteries and put it to the test. My first chore was to drill a 1/2" hole thru a metal tub using a variable step bit. What a huge disappointment this was! The drill hardly could get through it, it kept stopping with hardly any load on it, and I would check the battery level as it would show it completely drained. I would have to do this over and over again, because the battery can't take hardly any load on it (these batteries have an overheat protector on them so it shows you the led level is low when it does have a charge, once it cools down it will come back up to near the level it was at - which I suppose is a good thing). Next I went to put on some devices, and the drill actually did a decent job, nice and quick, and light. Then for my next test I needed to drill holes through some 2x's, with a 1 1/8" auger bit. Again what a disappointment, it sure wouldn't do it in high gear, and really struggled in low to get it done. The final test was to see how these batteries did in the cold. Now to be fair, no batteries that I have ever had, with the exception of the Milwaukee V28 have had some type of degradation due to the cold. This includes the new series of batteries too (Li-ion, Nimh, Nicd). Alas, these turned out to be the same as the rest. The Bosch li-ion batteries I have are absolutely terrible when it comes to the cold. So just like the rest of the batteries I have to put them by a halogen light to keep them warm so they can charge and still hold a charge. AAAAAGH this is the most frustrating thing for me, can't somebody please design a battery for us blue collar guys who actually use these in frigid temps. Anyway, I had high hopes for this compact, being that I am a loyal Milwaukee fan, and it was by far subpar.
Pros: lightweight, 1/2" chuck, nice case, bit holder, belt hook
Cons: Underpowered!, batteries, led light (not very bright, and does not shine where it needs to), made in China, non metal chuck.

I bought this tool on the strength of the Milwaukee name and I think it will be my last Milwaukee tool.

Bad side -- I bought this drill to rebuild my deck and the tool barely made it thru the project. I found it terribly underpowered and it drained batteries at an astounding pace. I was changing batteries every 15 minutes. Gutless...regardless of setting selected, it would bog down at the slightest resistance. drilling into Standard 2X4 studs gave it problems even with the battery fully charged

Good side -- it is very compact

I would not buy it again.

Update 19 April 10 -- I finally got rid of this thing after talking to Milwaukee Customer Service. They claim this is a home owner driver for hanging pictures and driving a few screws here and there. And if I want better battery life, they are telling me I need to upgrade to the larger battery size. What?!?! I don't know about you, but when I pay almost $200 bucks for a tool, that places it beyond the homeowner catagory for me. And I expect it ready to perform out of the box without paying for additional upgrades. I bought myself a Craftsman Professional 20 volt Lithium-Ion drill/driver kit. I cost the same and way better performace. battery life is awesome and it can handle the biggest jobs I have given it.

I bought this to replace a 15 year-old Porter Cable 12V drill that was a real workhorse. Unfortunately, the batteries on the PC simply wouldn't hold a charge long enough anymore to keep it in service, and replacement cost of batteries made replacing the entire drill attractive. I found the Milwaukee at a good price at Home Depot and put it to immediate use driving 60, 3.5" lag screws, along with several dozen pocket holes. Good Lord, does this drill have power! The power stays at 100% until the battery is exhausted, too. The batteries have a "meter" that's handy, letting you know the remaining charge. I noticed that the available power will dip a bit after a good run of use, then will recover a bar on the meter after a short rest. The chuck appears to have an internal ratcheting mechanism that really locks down on bits - you can hear the ratchet engage if you listen closely. I haven't spun a bit in the chuck yet. The bit ker-chunks a little when going from forward to reverse, and vice-versa, which I presume is also related to the ratchet mechanism. The drill is very well-balanced. It fits my hand perfectly (I wear a medium glove). I strongly recommend it.

I've used drills and tools for over 30 years and Milwaukee corded tools were always professional grade. When going to a cord-less drill/screwdriver I tried Dewalt, Porter-Cable and Skill units. These always ended up in the trash. So I moved up to this Milwaukee unit and after 3 months am still glad I bought it. It has SUPER battery life, is quick charging and using the torque gauge it is easy to sink screws flush with the work. If you continually upgrade thru lesser brands, you'll eventually end up with a Milwaukee. Buy it, you'll like and will not regret it. The only caveat is that replacement batteries are expensive! Milwaukee gave 500 batteries to Jesse James to build a battery driven car and yet charges us $50 per battery...go figure.

I'm not a pro, but a total tool nut. I've owned a bunch of drills - from DeWALT (DC720, DC925, DC927), Makita (BHP452HW, BHP451), and Milwaukee (0612, 0824) - and now this. Each brand has their strengths and weaknesses. I like the 3 speeds on some of the DeWALTs and the Makita BHP451. I like the high RPM on the DeWALT hammer drills. I like the "heavy dutiness" of the Milwaukee.

As of right now, I own this one, plus the DeWALT DC927KL, and the Makita BHP451. Like I said, I'm a tool nut. One benefit of this is that I could snatch up deals on batteries from 3 sources instead of 1. This drill is going to see the most action because it is compact and light. Now back to this drill specifically...

The "fuel gauge" on the Milwaukee is a unique feature that's missing on the other brands. Since I don't use my cordless tools all the time, that is a very important feature. It allows me to charge my Milwaukee tools to about 40-50% for optimal life when in storage. Everyone owning a cordless tool, especially Li-ion's, owe it to himself/herself to visit www.batteryuniversity.com to see why.

This new M18 drill sounds different than the previous Milwaukees. The older ones sound smooth; this one sounds like somewhere between the older one and DeWALT's distinctive "whine". Irrelevant I guess, but it just sounds more powerful than its size would indicate.

Milwaukee has been late to the party as far as the trend towards lighter and more ergonomic cordless tools. I love the V18 tools, but are they comparatively heavy. Though this drill is light, it hasn't lost the heavy duty construction Milwaukee is famous for. It just feels solid. The Makita BHP452HW feels weak compared to this baby, from my experience.

My major complaint with this drill is that sometimes when I turn the clutch, my finger would get caught at the bottom (where the trigger is). This is due to the compact construction. I have to remember to stick my ring finger out so it wouldn't get caught.

My only other complaint is that the new M18 battery platform isn't compatible with the V18 line. Milwaukee, you're forgiven this time, but do it one more time, and you'll lose a loyal customer.

I cannot believe this drill... I have had it for 1 day... batteries fully charged, I added a room to my house and this thing wont even drill through a stud with a 3/4 inch bit. I figured ok, battery wasnt fully charged, put it back on the charger, cranked the torque on the drill all the way up, and still cannot get through a stud without backing it up, pushing forward and backing up again. I sent this 189.00 pile of junk back and bought a cordless 18v dewalt. Drilled through the same stud with ease and I saved 30 bucks, If I had kept the milwaukee I dont think I would have ever gotten my small wiring project done. I really thought I would like the drill because it was compact, but, if a 1/2 drill cannot drill through a stud what good is it? My brother had four of the non-compact ones for a construction company he owns and none of them have lasted. Im really disappointed. I really think Milwaukee dropped the ball on this one.

When I initially charged this drill up and used it for the first time, I was quite pleased. After putting it through moderate diy-er paces over the last year and a half, my opinion has slowly degraded. The chuck/arbor has developed run-out and the batteries' life span is less than 20min. of continuous, medium-duty work (driving screws in softwood). The batteries' safeties also cut out very easily under heavy loading which makes me question the torque rating. This drill gets tough assignments, but I do handle it with care and it doesn't get used everyday, so I am a little disappointed that I'm already looking for a replacement.

I expected more robustness out of a Milwaukee tool not to mention it doesn't appear they did their due diligence in L-ion battery R&D before they let this one go to market.

It is not fair to judge a product based on using it for what it is NOT designed to do! If you are going to do large projects, do not buy a compact drill and complain about how it is underpowered! I've been using cordless drills for decades. At this point in their development, all the companies have a line of drills that are for heavy projects and a line that are for less heavy drilling, but more compact. If the compact drills would do everything the big ones would, there would only be compact drills. People do not buy larger drills because they like to lug around heavy objects, they buy them so they can have more power. All the major brands make a compact like this one that has a battery with around 1.5 ah. The small battery is included because it is rightly assumed you need the most compact package. If you are building a deck, you don't need compact drill, you need powerful one. If you are doing heavy drilling for long periods, do not buy this drill. It is not designed for that activity. Somehow, the manufacturers need to publish a guide that helps buyers know what uses their products are best for.
I am a woodworker, so I need a compact drill to get in tight spaces. This Milwaukee is a great compact. Only the Hitachi is smaller in height and length (by about 1/8 of an inch). If you are buying this drill to use as intended, it is the best on the market. I've had the Makita , Rigid and Hitachi of the same type. They are all quite close in how they perform, but this Milwaukee is the best in how it runs. The ratchet is smooth and has a good range, the brake is smooth (the Hitachi brake is a little clunky). Only the Hitachi has a greater power to weight/size ratio - it is 460 pounds of torque compared to 450 for the Milwaukee. This Milwaukee is a great drill. I've had mine for 2 1/2 years and worn out a set of batteries. This is the average life span for these batteries, no matter what the brand. I have learned that it is better to keep your charger indoors, out of extreme temps. This goes for all Li-Ion batteries. The Makita and Milwaukee are the best built in this class. The Hitachi has a little more power and is smaller and lighter but does not have a battery level indicator and is a little more clunky in how it runs. The Rigid and Dewalt are fine, but not as good in build quality. The Makita is a close second to this drill, but, the ratchet mechanism and motor are not as smooth. If you are going to use this drill for what it is designed to do, you will be very happy with it.