After drilling over 1,000 holes and sinking at least 60 pounds of screws in drill tests dating back to 2013, we’ve found the DeWalt DCD701F2 Xtreme 12V Max Brushless 3/8 in. Drill/Driver Kit to be the best one yet.
Manufacturers like to market them to pros, but don’t be put off: For all of those slightly-more-involved home tasks—from hanging a baby gate to mounting shelving—a drill will make the work faster, easier, and more enjoyable. And you’ll be more likely to achieve solid, professional-looking results than if you used hand tools alone.
Cordless drills are more powerful than they’ve ever been. Yet they’ve also gotten so compact and lightweight that you can probably handle one even if you’ve never picked up a drill in your life.
This DeWalt is similar to the 18-volt Milwaukee, but it offers a little more battery life and an LED that can be used independent of the drill. It also has a higher price tag.
The 18-volt Milwaukee 3601-22CT handles demanding work faster and easier than the smaller, 12-volt drills, yet it manages to retain the great ergonomics and other features of our top-pick DeWalt drill.
This Milwaukee isn’t as comfortable to hold as our top pick, but it has all-day power, especially when used with the high-capacity battery.
The Bosch PS31-2A 12V has power similar to that of the DeWalt DCD701F2, but it’s clunkier to hold. And the little touches, such as the LED, aren’t as nice.
The DeWalt DCD701F2 Xtreme is the most comfortable drill we’ve ever held. It’s loaded with convenience features and packs enough strength and stamina to easily handle common jobs around the home.
The DeWalt DCD701F2 Xtreme 12V Max Brushless 3/8 in. Drill/Driver Kit combines power, comfort, and convenience in a way that none of the other tested drills do. In our tests, it bored 30 1-inch holes through a 2-by-10 on a single battery charge, showing it can handle just about anything within the four walls of a home (and even the occasional foray into more aggressive work, like a small decking repair). Other drills we tested had similar power, but the DeWalt DCD701F2 really excels in ergonomics and convenience features. The molded handle seems to account for every curve and bulge of the hand, the battery is designed so that the drill can stand upright when not in use (other drills, like the runner-up Bosch PS31-2A 12V, need to be placed on their side), and the LED is positioned so that it illuminates the drill front better than most. In all our years of testing, we haven’t found a drill that’s as much a pleasure to use as this one.
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SKIP ADVERTISEMENTIf the DeWalt DCD701F2 is overpriced or unavailable, we also like the Bosch PS31-2A 12V Max 3/8 in. Drill/Driver Kit. In our tests, this 12-volt Bosch couldn’t drill as many 1-inch holes on a single charge as our top pick, but it still has more than enough power for general home tasks. In our own measurements, we found it to be about 5 ounces lighter than the DeWalt DCD701F2, but it feels heavier because the balance isn’t as nice. The Bosch battery slides up into the handle, making the grip fatter and not as contoured as the DeWalt’s. Also, the LED doesn’t illuminate as well. Even with these drawbacks, we’ve been using (and recommending) this drill for years, and we’ve seen firsthand a long track record of reliability.
If you’re looking for a real workhorse of a drill, or if you have other tools in the Milwaukee 12-volt ecosystem, we like the Milwaukee 3403-22 M12 Fuel 1/2 in. Drill/Driver. It’s pricey for a 12-volt tool, but when we tested it with the included 4.0 Ah high-capacity battery, it put up numbers that rivaled or exceeded many of those of the 18-volt drills we looked at. Its considerable power is emphasized by the fact that it comes with a 0.5-inch chuck (the nose of the drill, where the bits fit in), which is larger than what is found on a standard 12-volt drill. This allows the Milwaukee to accept larger drill bits. The downsides are that, like the Bosch PS31-2A 12V, the handle isn’t as comfortable as the DeWalt DCD701F2’s, and when using the lower-capacity battery, the tool can be placed only on its side when set down. We think most will be just fine with the capabilities and comfort of our top-pick DeWalt, but this Milwaukee can definitely get a lot of work done.
If you take on projects that have you drilling lots of holes and sinking long screws, we recommend stepping up to the Milwaukee 3601-22CT M18 Compact Brushless 1/2 in. Drill/Driver Kit. This 18-volt drill shares the most important characteristics of our less powerful top pick: It’s extremely comfortable to hold and use, and the little convenience features, such as the belt hook and LED, are spot-on. It’s also extremely short—shorter than even any of the 12-volt tools we tested—so it fits into tighter spots. Compared with our 12-volt Milwaukee pick, this larger drill completes tougher jobs much faster, doing the same work in less than half the time with a battery that lasts a lot longer. We tested drills during a kitchen remodel and a few smaller house renovations, and this is the drill we reached for over all the others.
If the Milwaukee 18-volt drill is not available, or if you have other 20-volt DeWalt tools and batteries, we also like the 20-volt DeWalt DCD800E2 20V Max XR Brushless Cordless 1/2 in. Drill/Driver Kit. It’s very similar to the 18-volt Milwaukee in power, ergonomics, and overall design. The DeWalt lasted a little longer in our battery test, and it has an LED that can also be switched on independently of the drill and slightly rotated, a unique feature that turns it into a rudimentary flashlight (which could come in handy in nearly any crawl space). The light is neat but not necessary, so we prefer the typically less expensive 18-volt Milwaukee, which is a little shorter and delivers roughly the same power and battery life.
If you’re looking for more power and battery life than what the 12-volt models provide, but you’re hesitant about the cost of the 18-volt Milwaukee and 20-volt DeWalt drills, we recommend the Ridgid R87012 18V Brushless SubCompact Cordless Drill/Driver Kit. It doesn’t have the same strength as the other two, but it has enough power for most midsize DIY projects, such as light framing. We see it as a good drill for someone starting out on the DIY road who might want a decent drill at a lower cost.
Ryobi’s 300-Piece Drill and Drive Kit and 95-Piece Drill and Impact Drive Kit are the best drill bit sets we’ve found in years of testing.
Whether you’re hanging a shelf, installing a ceiling fan, or building a deck, a cordless drill is a must. In fact, we would argue that it’s the single most important item in your toolbox.
In the past decade, cordless drills have become more powerful, lighter, and more energy-efficient, making corded drills practically obsolete. These improvements in cordless drills come thanks to advancements in lithium-ion battery technology and the introduction of brushless motors, which are more powerful despite requiring less energy. And the changes aren’t unique to cordless drills; they’ve occurred across many of the power tools we test.
“A more recent trend we’re seeing is interchangeable batteries that work among a brand’s entire suite of power tools,” says Courtney Pennicooke, CR’s market analyst for cordless drills. “So you can use the same batteries for your drill, chainsaw, and string trimmer. You can adjust the voltage to match the project you’re working on, and save money by buying bare tools to complete your set.”
The Right Drill for the Task
The voltage of your drill dictates the size of the job it can tackle. Higher-voltage drills, which we call heavy-duty in our ratings, have 18 to 20 volts of power or more. They’re typically heavier but also more capable of tackling difficult tasks like boring a large hole through studs or joists, or driving hundreds of screws on a single battery charge, which is what you’d want if you were building a deck.
Lower-voltage drills, which we call general-use drills in our ratings, typically use about 12 volts. They offer plenty of power for most household tasks, like hanging a shelf or tightening screws, and they weigh less, too. But despite the capabilities of these smaller drills, most people prefer larger, heavy-duty options. In fact, according to a recent CR member survey, two-thirds of those who own cordless drills have a model that’s 18 volts or more.
We also test light-duty drills, which are best-suited for small jobs around the house, such as assembling flat-packed furniture, changing a light fixture, or drilling into drywall. Their batteries range in power from 12 to 20 volts, but their relatively small motors don’t spin or drive with the same force as heavy-duty or general-use drills.
How Consumer Reports Tests Cordless Drills
For our cordless drill tests, we narrow down the field to the most widely available models and run them through a series of tests in our lab, where we use a device called a dynamometer that measures torque under different loads. We translate those readings into scores for power, speed, and run time. We also incorporate ratings for predicted reliability and owner satisfaction based on data from CR’s member surveys.
If you’re unsure about what kind of cordless drill to buy, start with our cordless drills buying guide. CR members can also explore our comprehensive cordless drill ratings. There, you can filter more than 70 drills according to your needs, including category, price, weight, and noise level. Below, in alphabetical order, we highlight 12 of the best cordless drills we’ve tested, in all three sizes.