Milwaukee V28 Hammer Drill Review

         

 

This review is for the Milwaukee V28 Hammer Drill.  We bought this kit through tylertool.com because it was the cheapest price we could find, plus we have always had a great experience with them.  This came in the Milwaukee V28 Combo kit model number 0928-29, but you can also buy this drill separately.  If you are looking to buy this separately, the model number is 0724-20. 

The first thing you notice about this drill is the balance.  The drill only weighs 4.4 lbs without the battery.  When you attache the V28 battery, it balances the all metal chuck and sits perfectly in your hands.  To jump ahead, this drill comes with a side handle which you will need because it puts out an amazing 600 lbs of torque. The Milwaukee hammer drill has a 1/2″ chuck with carbide jaws and the clip-lok system.  The motor can also produce some serious speed, 0-9000/0-27000bpm and 0-600/0-1800rpm.  As you can see, there is a high and low setting plus 20 clutch settings.  Another cool feature is the battery can go on forward or backwards.  This helps when  you have to get into spots that are tight and the battery always seems to get in the way.  With this, you just turn the battery around and are ready to go.

We like the balance and feel of this drill.  We stuck on a 1/2″ dull drill bit to test the power.  We first drilled into a treaded 4×4 and as you can see by the video, the drill went through it with no problems.  The next thing we did was to use the dull drill bit and drill into a solid Oak 2-2×4.  We attached the two Oak 2×4’s, so in essance we had an Oak 4×4.  Again this drill ran through the solid Oak with no probelms, not once did it bog down.

Another test we did was to mix concrete.  In a 5 gallon bucket we filled it up half way with concrete and, mixed it with the drill.  For this test we knew we needed the side handle, because this drill will produce 600lbs. of torque.  As you can see by the video, we had a hard time holding the 5 gallon buck in place.  The drill mixed very well.  Now long term we don’t know how much of this type of work the drill can handle, but again, there are other corded drills out there that are better suited for mixing concrete.  Over all, the drill mixed the concrete great.  

 

For the Milwaukee hammer drill we gave it 5 blades.  We really like the power it produces, but one of the best features is the overall balance.  This is a powerful drill that you can easily work with all day long and not get to tired.  This is one drill you will not regret buying.

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Hitachi Hammer Drill Review - DV 18DL

       

 This review is for the Hitachi Hammer Drill that came in the kit KC18DCL that we bought from tylertool.com.  The model number for this drill is DV18DL.  This drill packs a lot of power and produces 570lbs of torque.  Compare that with the Milwaukee V28 that produces 600lbs of toque, and the Hitachi is only an 18V.  While most hammer drills have two speed settings, the Hitachi has 4 settings.  The four settings are 0-200/400/900/1800 rpm, so as a user you do have lots of control.  One feature we really like is the unique access to the carbon brushes.  On the back of the drill you have easy access  to change the brushes once they get worn out. 

When you first pick up this tool, you notice this has great balance and is extremely light weighing.  The tool only weights 4.9lbs.  The tool belt clip is a nice feature, but we found the light to be pretty much worthless.  While it does work a little bit, it just got in the way more than it helped.

We ran a couple tests on this drill.  One was simple drilling and the other was mixing concrete.  For the drilling part we used an old, dull drill bit.  We drilled into a treated 4×4 that the drill ran through with no problems.  We also ran this drill through two solid Oak 2×4s, and again there was not much resistance.

For the mixing test, we used a 5 gallon bucket to mix some concrete (normally you want to use a mixing bucket, but we did this so we could see it better with the camera).  Over all, as you can see by the video, the drill did bog down a little, but still mixed the concrete.  To be fair, this drill is not really designed to mix concrete, there are better and more powerful drills that are made to mix conrete and motar.  The side handle did come in handy because you can feel the power from this drill when mixing the concrete. 

Over all, this is a very nice drill.  We like the low profile of the battery and how light this drill is.  This drill has a great feel and very good balance. You can use it all day and not get worn out!

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Hitachi Impact Driver Review - WH 18DL

           

We reviewed the Hitachi combo kit model number  KC18DCL we bought from tylertool.com.  Inside this kit is the Hitachi Impact Driver model number WH18DL.  To learn more about impact drivers, you can see our article on impact drivers.

The Hitachi impact driver is just one of those tools that feels good in your hand.  The driver has a nice balance and is incredibly light, weighing only 3.5lbs without the battery.  This driver puts out an astounding amount of torque coming in at 1,330 in-lbs.  Hitachi put a two piece motor with heavy gauge copper to get this much power into a light weight tool.  On this driver Hitachi has a power mode which is 0-2,600 and a save mode 0-2,000 rpm.  We all know that a tool that runs hot causes more wear and tear and shortens the life of the tool.  Hitachi uses a unique cool flow system that provides a steady stream of air into the motor to help keep this driver running cooler.  Another nice feature Hitachi designed into the impact driver is easy access to the carbon brushes, which allows you to change these easily and quickly.  One last feature worth mentioning is  the tool belt clip. Hitachi has a built in light that will shine  on the area you are working  to let you see your work easier.

We wanted to test this impact driver, so there was no better place than taking it to a job site and letting them run this tool.  Impact drivers can be used for a variety of applications, such as decking and more.  One area where these impact drivers are becoming more popular is fastening metal studs to each other.  We stopped by one jobsite where we knew a lot of this was going on.  We told the workers to give this impact driver a try. They run their drivers all day long, so they will be able to see the difference right away.  We had 9 guys run this tool, some ran it for about 10 minutes while othersran it for a couple hours each. 

The overall feedback we received from the workers was positive.  They all agreed it had a great balance and best of all, it was very light.  Two guys stated they will stick with their impact driver, while six would consider buying this as their next driver.  One note is this tool was dropped numerous times from various heights.  Not one time did the battery come out, and nothing chipped on the driver.

When we ran the tool for a while, we found it very easy to work with.  We had great control for setting the depth of each screw and it didn’t take to long to get the feel down and start doing some serious work.  We were really getting into the Hitachi Impact driver until one worker wanted use to try the Makita driver.  We had a really good feel for the Hitachi, but when we picked up the Makita, I have to say the Makita felt great, great balance and very easy to work with.  We are hoping to test the Makita very soon.

 

Overall, we like the Hitachi impact driver.  Very light and good balance.  We are giving this a 4 blade rating because we liked the Makita impact driver a little more, but still have to put the Makita through some tests.   The side light didn’t provide much help, but the impact driver ran great.

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Hitachi Battery and Charger Review

         

 

This review is for the Hitachi Lithium Ion batteries and charger we bought from tylertool.com.  These came in the Hitachi combo kit model number KC18DCL.  You can also buy these sperately.  The model number for the batteries is EBM1830 and the charger model number is UC 18YRL.

Overall, we like the Lithium batteries.  The Hitachi batteries are backwards compatiable.  Hitachi puts a recharge life for these batteries at around 1,300 to 1,500 charges.  This kit comes with the 3 amp batteries.

The Hitachi charger is also a great charger.  Hitachi includes a universal charger that will allow a user to charge 7.2V - 18V Lithium batteries, and the same for NiCd and NiHM.  Hitachi also has a built in cooling fan which helps lower the over all temerature of the batteries and allows them to cool down and charge faster. 

 

 We like the Hitachi batteries and universal charger.  As you can see, there is not much to batteries and chargers, but after seeing some of the other batteries and chargers put out by manufacturers, we always like to take a look at the ones in the kits we review.

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Hitachi Contractor Bag Review

This is the Hitachi tool bag that came in the kit KC18DCL that we purchased from Tylertool.com.  This tool bag is made from a heavy duty Nylon with two handles to carry the bag.  On the outside there are a couple small pockets to hold hand tools you might access often.  Once you zip open the bag, there are two pockets.  One designed for the charger and the other is a small nylon mesh with a zipper.  This bag will hold all the tools in this kit with room left over for other tools.

As you can see from our other tool bag reviews, we like to test the weight this bag can handle.  Since this is a light kit, weighing under 20lbs., we figured we would put 50lbs. in this bag to test it.  As you can see from the video, we put 50lbs of weight in the bag, lifted it up and gave it a couple good tugs.  The bag held up and nothing tore.  We feel very comfortable over loading this bag and knowing it will hold up.

 

 

 

 

Over we like the bag.  Good storage and built just right for this kit.  As you can see this bag has some great strength.

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