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This drill functions well and is very reliable.The battery is fairly long lasting for a Ni-Cad.My largest complaint is that it is tremendously heavy for someone who uses it every day.I like that the Lithium replacement batteries can be used on it.Overall, very happy with it. More substantial than many other competitors.
all the complaints about the batteries I have not experienced. not bad but I could stop with my hands at high torque. my drill I had before this was a 19.2 craftsman. this milwaukee if I tryed the same with my hands again could hurt me. milwaukee brand is my new power tool of choice by far. dropped the think so far a dozen times no problem at all.
It has lots of power, the batteries charge quickly and last very well, and the hammer drill has worked just great for a number of projects I've done boring into brick and concrete. If the battery gets discharged completely then apparently the charger doesn't sense any charge and won't begin to recharge it. Certainly try this before spending all the money to buy a replacement you might not need.I've loved this drill even before I bought my own--5 stars. We bought my father-in-law one of these drills a few years ago and I've been borrowing it from him regularly. By simply holding a 9 volt battery against the terminals of the drill battery (be careful to get the polarity right--the single lead is positive on the Milwaukee battery) for about 30 seconds you can impart just enough charge so that the charger will pick it up and recharge it fully again.
Based on quite a bit of use of that one, I liked it enough to come back and buy the exact same thing for myself--that should tell you how happy I've been with it. If you're not dying to spend an extra hundred bucks for the newest Lithium ion batteries then this model will probably be a good fit for you too.The build quality is still excellent, although I notice now that the drill and the charger are built in China, so I'm a bit worried about that, I haven't had the best luck with the quality that seems to be coming from there so far, but they are getting better. It still comes with a 5 year warranty so I've got my fingers crossed that getting a unit that's not made in the USA won't come back to bite me.The batteries are built in Japan, so I have good confidence in them. If you run into the problem of your battery not taking a charge, you should try the 9 volt battery trick, which worked great for me once before on my father-in-law's unit.
I have called Old Milwaukee and they will not make good on this problem. It's not good new. Do your research. Replacing them is very expensive. Please be aware that the batteries that come with this product have a horrible reputation.
Look at the comments from people buying their replacement batteries. They often fail within the first year of use. The best course of action would be to avoid Old Milwaukee 18 volt products until they remedy the problem. On the up side, if you are willing to frequently buy replacement batteries, then what you've got here is an very well made drill. I really don't want to write and be sour grapes, but this is not an isolated case.
Very nice hammer drill. Nice, well organized case as well. Works great and has loads of power. A little heavy but that is to be expected for a cordless drill.
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