About the Specs
The Festool supposedly generates up to 398 inch-pounds and the Metabo up to 850 inch-pounds of torque. But manufacturers don’t use a common test procedure, and in use, the Festool was clearly more powerful than the Metabo. That’s why you won’t find maximum torque listed in the spec chart on pages 42 and 43.
Weight. I weighed the tools – batteries included – on a postal scale. Then I weighed them a second time, with their side handles attached (except for the Festool, which doesn’t have one) because that’s the way they’re typically used.
Length. To determine lengths, I lightly clamped each tool (with chuck jaws retracted) in a parallel bar clamp and measured the distance between the clamp jaws. The Festool is the shortest.
Rpm. I think this spec – which can have a big influence on productivity – is underrated. The Makita is a good example, because it basically has two low gears: 0–300 and 0–600. At 300 rpm, it bored holes with a 1-inch auger bit through a Douglas fir 2-by in about 5 seconds. At 600 rpm, it took about 2 1/2 seconds.
Charge time. Even though these tools have long runtimes, I still appreciated Bosch’s and Makita’s speedy 30-minute chargers during my torture tests, because I seldom had to wait for a fresh battery.
Web price. All the kits are available online, but only Hilti sells directly from its own website. For customers who have already bought into their platforms, Bosch, Hilti, Hitachi, Makita, and Milwaukee also sell the bare tool, and DeWalt says it will do so later this year.
Warranty. There’s a big difference between Hilti’s lifetime warranty and Panasonic’s two-year one. Also, Bosch and Metabo improve the terms if you register. All the manufacturers offer a 30-day or 90-day money-back guarantee except for Hilti, which can bring demonstration tools right to your job site unless you live in the middle of nowhere.
Torque and Runtime Tests
After testing these tools for torque and runtime, I’ve concluded that performance testing can be misleading. But I learned a lot by pushing the tools hard.
To measure maximum torque, I drove four 1/2-inch by 8-inch Spax self-drilling lag screws as deep as possible into a PSL beam with each tool in low gear. All the drills came well short of sinking the lags, allowing me to compare their depth of penetration. The average scores – in inches deep – from top to bottom were as follows: Makita 4 1/16, Bosch 3 3/4, Panasonic 3 9/16, Festool 3 7/16, Milwaukee 3 3/16, DeWalt 3, Hilti 2 13/16, Hitachi 2 11/16, and Metabo 2 7/16.
The two top scorers – the Makita and the Bosch – drove the lags until they slowed to a stall; neither tool shut itself off automatically to protect against overloading. Though the Bosch seemed to handle that well, the Makita’s motor got so hot I could smell it. The rest of the tools drove until they shut themselves off; to reset them, I just released the trigger. Among these seven tools, a lower score could simply mean that the model offers superior protection against abuse.
I tested for maximum runtime by counting the number of holes each tool could drill through 2-by Douglas fir per charge with a 1-inch Irwin Speedbor solid-center auger bit. Each drill was tested twice – once with each of the included batteries – in low gear at room temperature. To help ensure reasonable accuracy, I distributed the holes over four 2x12s, avoided the knots, and stopped drilling when the drill bit’s screw point punched through. I also kept the bit clean with Blade & Bit pitch remover. The average test scores, in number of holes, were as follows: DeWalt 149, Festool 146, Panasonic 141, Hilti 138, Hitachi 129, Bosch 115, Makita 112, Milwaukee 104, and Metabo 104.
There was, however, a red flag: The two scores for a given tool could vary by up to 24 holes, indicating that my final numbers aren’t particularly exact. Nevertheless, the tests did demonstrate that each tool could drill more than 100 1-inch holes per charge, and every tool except the Metabo was able to drill nonstop with no apparent overheating of the tool or either battery. The Metabo, by contrast, heated up quickly and shut itself off after the first 44 holes. After that, I had to rest it repeatedly to reach the finish line, at which point the torque switch and gearbox were too hot to touch. The tool also overheated with the second battery.
All the tools except the Makita shut themselves off before draining completely, to prevent potentially harmful deep discharge. Still, it’s easy to tell when a tool starts to lose power and it’s time to recharge.