12v Drill Showdown

We take a look at six drills to see what sort of progress these tools have made in the past decade.

- By Collin Knoff

There was a point in time when drill comparisons were ubiquitous in the pages of this magazine. There was an almost comforting familiarity in seeing the latest and greatest put to the test every 18 months or so. And then, for whatever reason, we stopped doing them in 2009. Maybe it was the lack of perceived technological advancement, or maybe interest just dried up, but it's been 13 long years.

Clearly, it was time to get the band back together and see what was new. We decided to look at 12v drills, which are still the underdogs of the power tool world. Twelve volts is all most people need, and the smaller, lighter package means they're easier to work with as well.

We reached out to all of the usual players (and some new ones) and ended up with five 12v drills and one compact 18v. Supply chain issues meant a few would-be competitors had to miss out, and we decided to throw in a wildcard with a bigger drill. We weren't looking to see if the 12v drills would match the more powerful tool but instead to see if a compact 18-volt drill could match the ease and comfort of the smaller drills. Our goal was to try and find out if there was a new Goldilocks zone in the drill market.

Testing the Drills:

The Lag Bolt Test

We decided not to reinvent the wheel with the testing regiment. To test battery life, we would see how many 1/4 by 11/2-long lag bolts each drill would drive into poplar on the lowest speed, and highest clutch setting. Then to stress test the motor and battery, we would see how many 1 holes could be drilled into 13/4 poplar at the highest speed.