# Milwaukee 12-Volt Lithium Ion Sub-Compact Driver v. DEWALT 12-Volt Max 1/4-I



## boyelectric (Nov 11, 2011)

pretty self explanatory question... I hope.


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## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

boyelectric said:


> pretty self explanatory question... I hope.


 
I've got 4 Milwaukee M12 impacts. One quit working when it got flooded in an underground electric room. Other than that, they're great


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

mcclary's electrical said:


> I've got 4 Milwaukee M12 impacts. One quit working when it got flooded in an underground electric room. Other than that, they're great


 
Had that happen, spray it heavily with motor cleaner and put in a long straight bit, put the other end of the bit in another gun and spin the shaft in both directions. It took a few tries but it has been working since.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

As for the 12v thing go with Milwaukee and forget the Dewalt, you will never go back. There are plenty of great tools in the M12 line up.


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## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

MechanicalDVR said:


> Had that happen, spray it heavily with motor cleaner and put in a long straight bit, put the other end of the bit in another gun and spin the shaft in both directions. It took a few tries but it has been working since.


 
Thanks man, I'll give that a try. There were two in there when it got flooded. One quit and one started working. I'll let you know how it goes:thumbsup:


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

mcclary's electrical said:


> Thanks man, I'll give that a try. There were two in there when it got flooded. One quit and one started working. I'll let you know how it goes:thumbsup:


No problem, I have also had one kicked in a pool and it took some fishing to find it in the black water.


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## boyelectric (Nov 11, 2011)

MechanicalDVR said:


> No problem, I have also had one kicked in a pool and it took some fishing to find it in the black water.



 nasty


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## chewy (May 9, 2010)

Milwaukee.

Sent from my Vodafone 845 using Electrician Talk


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## randomkiller (Sep 28, 2007)

100% behind Milwaukee, leave that yellow crap to the wood working trades.


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## jza (Oct 31, 2009)

Milwaukee.


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## mnelectrician (Dec 1, 2008)

Love my Milwaukee M12 impact. Stays in my pouch and use it every day.


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## zwodubber (Feb 24, 2011)

I bought the m12 impact and drill for portability and love them. I use them more than my 18v Dewalts...

I have also added quite a few bare tools since then :whistling2:


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## Rudeboy (Oct 6, 2009)

Anyone have the m-scope or whatever its called. Thinking of getting one but I read a lot of bad reviews on it.

Anyone?


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## chewy (May 9, 2010)

Rudeboy said:


> Anyone have the m-scope or whatever its called. Thinking of getting one but I read a lot of bad reviews on it.
> 
> Anyone?


I have the cheapest model, its good for confirming your suspicions and giving the all clear to cut or drill into a cavity. I think alot of people had unreasonable expectations, its not for performing micro-surgery.


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## MechanicalDVR (Dec 29, 2007)

Rudeboy said:


> Anyone have the m-scope or whatever its called. Thinking of getting one but I read a lot of bad reviews on it.
> 
> Anyone?


 
Buy the Ridgid, you can do micro surgery with it.


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## spook (Oct 20, 2011)

I have the dewalt and love it, the only problem is the stupid little flashlight is 50 buck,another battery is 55 bucks and you can get a drill,screwdriver and impact and thats about the extent of the tools. If i didn't get it as a gift then I would have went with the m 12 stuff.


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## TooFarFromFenway (Jul 15, 2011)

We use Milwaukee cordless everything. 18v for bigger stuff, and M-12 for the rest. 

Plus, the best part? At least here, there are 3 different shops that will do warranty work. 

Dewalt has a 3 year warranty, and 1 year on all wear items V 5 years for Milwaukee. 

Milwaukee has my personal business too.


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## zwodubber (Feb 24, 2011)

I got this one cheap from a friend and it serves it's purpose. I might get rid of it for a bosch though.


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## ilikepez (Mar 24, 2011)

I don't really know anything about the Dewalt. But I love my Milwaukee M12 driver. I have one and I bought one for my father as a birthday gift. He loves his and wants to buy another one just for around the house.


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## Frasbee (Apr 7, 2008)

Eventually I might make the switch to Milwaukee. Bosch has not kept pace with the level of innovation Milwaukee has.


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## coon88 (Dec 9, 2011)

M12 seems to be the best in the compact line of tools there always coming out with great tools for the different trades lmo


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## jjennings2510 (Oct 2, 2011)

I haven't used the Milwaukee M12 line but I do have the Dewalt 12v Max set.....and I haven't been disappointed. The drill is a little weak but it only has a problem when it comes to using a unibit drilling out 1" holes in a panel. Will get it done just a little slow but thats to be expected imo. Even with the abuse it has held up nicely. The 12v impact is a beast tho. It has loosened a ton of old nuts and bolts for me and it keeps on pushing. Thats what I reach for most of the time out of the 3 (also have the screwdriver and its actually pretty powerful too but it has the 1/4" hex head) I've never had any bad luck or had my Dewalts crap out but yes the 12v Max line is a little limited compared to the M12 line. I don't think you can go wrong with either line but I can vouch for Dewalt.


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## sparky711 (Oct 1, 2011)

You can't go wrong with M12, they're great everyday tools. I use the impact, driver and haczall daily and the multi tool comes in handy a lot too. I recommend springing for the XC batteries. Along with the obvious benefit of longer life per charge for some reason they seem to go even stronger with the XC.


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## thoenew (Jan 17, 2012)

I prefer Dewalt for the impact driver. The three LED's around the face are great for many situations as well using the one handed chuck is great. I much more prefer the grip of the Dewalt, it is much more form fitting to the hand. The slid batteries making stand the tool up easy compared to the post batteries. 
The Dewalt inspection camera works pretty good. The little hook you can put on the end comes in handy from time to time. Resolution is decent. We were trying to find where a gas leak was coming from in a Trac pipe we ran. Stuck the camera in the end of the line and could see the nail sticking in. (carpenters got a little careless when siding the building.

I do like the variety of tools the M12 line has, esp. the one hand recip. saw.


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## crazy electrician (Apr 30, 2011)

I have had both and prefer the Dewalt. It feels much better in the hand and seems to have more power and the batteries last much longer between charges.


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## macmikeman (Jan 23, 2007)

DeWalt 18 v kits with charger and second battery are frequently sold for 99 bucks at big box stores. For that price I can burn 3 sets up a year and come out ahead.


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## Podagrower (Mar 16, 2008)

I have a pretty complete set of Dewalt 18v stuff, and a fairly good assortment of M12 stuff as well. One thing that surprised me about the M12 stuff, is the weight of the impact driver. I was hoping it would be a tool that would be in the pouch all the time, but holy crap is that thing heavy. If I had known Dewalt was going to have a 12 volt li ion line, I would have waited for them instead of buying the M12 (this was a few years back), but the variety of M12 tools makes them a better line to have.


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## big vic (Jan 23, 2012)

*Milwaukee M12 Red Lithium Impact Drill / Hackzall Reciprocating Saw Comb. 
*

Gutless.....Weak very weak. Hackzall won't cut a single piece of 1/2 emt without the battery going dead


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## chewy (May 9, 2010)

big vic said:


> *Milwaukee M12 Red Lithium Impact Drill / Hackzall Reciprocating Saw Comb.
> *
> 
> Gutless.....Weak very weak. Hackzall won't cut a single piece of 1/2 emt without the battery going dead


Your either grossly exaggerating or have bad batteries.


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## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

big vic said:


> *Milwaukee M12 Red Lithium Impact Drill / Hackzall Reciprocating Saw Comb. *
> 
> 
> Gutless.....Weak very weak. Hackzall won't cut a single piece of 1/2 emt without the battery going dead


 
you have old batteries.


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## big vic (Jan 23, 2012)

mcclary's electrical said:


> you have old batteries.


Tool isn't six months old and I hardly use it


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## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

big vic said:


> Tool isn't six months old and I hardly use it


 
We only own 4 of those, and 4 of the M18 version. Post pics of your batteries. I can tell you exactly when they were mde by looking at them.


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

mcclary's electrical said:


> We only own 4 of those, and 4 of the M18 version. Post pics of your batteries. I can tell you exactly when they were mde by looking at them.


Milwaukee sucks and only hacks own them. 

























:jester:


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## McClary’s Electrical (Feb 21, 2009)

BBQ said:


> Milwaukee sucks and only hacks own them.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


 Duh, that's why we use them:thumbup:


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## BBQ (Nov 16, 2010)

mcclary's electrical said:


> Duh, that's why we use them:thumbup:


:lol::notworthy:


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## big vic (Jan 23, 2012)

http://www.homedepot.com/h_d1/N-5yc...-1&keyword=milwaukee+m+12+combo&storeId=10051


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## mnelectrician (Dec 1, 2008)

The regular batteries last a long time on my m12 impact. The hackzall works a lot better with the xc batteries if you plan on using it all the time.


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## BillyGibson (Aug 4, 2014)

*Milwaulkee 12v*

I havnt had a chance to try the fuel line, but the original 12v milli 1/4" impact was the best little skrew gun I have ever owned. survived 50' drops, held a charge, had at least 66% power compared to my bulky 18v dewalt impact. I need a battery sds and would love if the boss would buy me a 1/4" impact and the 12v sds....... otherwise im still stuck with my 8 year old 18v dewalt saw, drill, impact..... and a couple drill/saw combos from riobi's green line.... think I might go with the riobi sds... its 100 bucks and it performs pretty well (I have drilled a couple of holes with one)


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## sbrn33 (Mar 15, 2007)

big vic said:


> *Milwaukee M12 Red Lithium Impact Drill / Hackzall Reciprocating Saw Comb.
> *
> 
> Gutless.....Weak very weak. Hackzall won't cut a single piece of 1/2 emt without the battery going dead


Just go post a pic! Not some link. Do you really even own these?


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## papaotis (Jun 8, 2013)

billy, it must be horrible that your dewalt is 8 years old and still works:whistling2:


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## sbrn33 (Mar 15, 2007)

You can still post a pic.


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## nbb (Jul 12, 2014)

I know this thread is really old, but I am seeing a lot more Milwaukee stuff on jobsites than before this thread was started.

I personally love my M12 Fuel impact, and the only thing I think DeWalt and Bosch have done better is the LED lighting, but that is irrelevant to my scenario.

They have stepped up in a big way of making cordless tools more versatile.


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## David C (May 19, 2015)

I have both DeWALT and Bosch 12v (driver/impact/drill, DeWALT since 2013, Bosch since 2015) and the DeWALT clearly has a lot better ergonomic and stands up easily with the battery design, has a better lighting than Bosch or Milwaukee, overall more user friendly, very good for homeowners and remodeling. I bought the Bosch because I wanted more compact to carry and more power from the driver, plus Bosch has a better 12v lineup (I got the hammer drill and recip saw too) and is lot more affordable than DeWALT or Milwaukee and shows a lot better build quality, plus the 3 years ProVantage warranty. Compared side to side, the Milwaukee has higher power, but also higher price tag and lesser build quality, but an impressive lineup and decent warranty. The Bosch is powerful, compact and sturdy, but lineup is still limited. DeWALT is great for ergonomics, solid and dependable, but pricier than Bosch and getting outdated and not improving their lineup much.


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## RFguy (Sep 11, 2013)

I love my M12 stuff but as others mentioned, the light on the drills/impacts such. They miss the tip of the driver, unless I'm using a 6" bit. I don't know how they missed such an obvious design flaw.


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## nbb (Jul 12, 2014)

RFguy said:


> I love my M12 stuff but as others mentioned, the light on the drills/impacts such. They miss the tip of the driver, unless I'm using a 6" bit. I don't know how they missed such an obvious design flaw.


I just use a headlamp, or some other source of lighting. The main thing I use the built-in light for is to search for tools in my bag, usually a better flashlight.

That said, I still think Milwaukee has a more well-rounded 12v cordless system than DeWalt. DeWalt was the de facto cordless manufacturer back when they came out with their very robust Ni-Cd 18v XRP pack. They have been riding too long on their name based on ancient technology. They have compensated by lowering the price on their tools instead of developing new ones to use the same battery system.

Edit: Before I get pitchforked, I know that DeWalt also makes Li-Ion tools, and they are even "20v".


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