Okay after buying the M12 series and being IMPRESSED I decided to replace my aging Dewalt 14.4 drill and circular saw with new and improved tools. Local Farm & Fleet had drill/impact driver set on sale before Christmas for $199.99 (okay $200) so, having missed last years HD Makita set (same price) I decided I NEEDED the Milwaukee drill/driver set.

M18 2601-20 1/2" compact drill ... LOVE the drill and especially the capacity of the keyless chuck. I think the chuck needs to be worked on a bit to get better grip on 'chucked" tools.  I'm not so impressed with the torque at high speed. It has two speed ranges and the drill bits in even soft wood tend to spin. It's not very happy being a "driver" either for long screws (like 3") but it runs a good long time.

M18 2650-20 impact driver ... so far it seems impervious to hard surfaces. No matter what I drive it does the job without complaint.

M18 2630-20 6 1/2" circular saw ... MOST IMPRESSED with cutting capacity. Since I was used to a 4 3/8" circular saw THIS ONE makes me happy. SO far it rips 3/4" ply without a problem and several cuts don't run the battery down (my old Dewalt didn't like more than 3 - 4 cuts before the NiCad battery quit). Of course first thing I did with the carbide saw blade was hit STEEL and loose a tooth (my bad) so I can't say anything about the blade that came with the saw.

My biggest complaint about the entire "M18 system" is the smaller capacity "OEM" drill batteries will NOT fit into the saw.  If I just needed to finish a small cut in 1/4" ply it wouldn't happen if I only have ONE battery available. The larger capacity batteries WILL work on the drills so that's good, especially since the "OEM" batteries for the drills tire easily with any long duration of drilling or impact driving.

The charger works well BUT if you decide to mount it to the wall the keyed MOUNTING slots are UP SIDE DOWN to the charge indicator light; in other words, if I mount it to the wall ABOVE my tool rack (as I have done) you slip the battery in but you can't see the indicator light at eye level (for me that's 5'8"). Batteries charge in about 15-20 minutes for the smaller drill batteries and about 45 minutes for the saw batteries. It just seems awkward.  I'd also like to see manufacturers "gang" their chargers like B&D did with their now defunct LiION system; you plugged each into the one next to it and only used ONE outlet. Come one ONE CHARGER for M12 - M18 system guys!

All-in-all I love these tools. They are a great improvement over the Dewalt though I must say the Dewalts served me for 12 YEARS so I can't complain about them either.  It should also be noted that I STILL have my Makita 14.4v 1/2" drill (NiMH battery system) and the even OLDER Makita 1/4" SINGLE SPEED 7.2v drill (1978)

 

Thanks John!!!! Now the pressure is on, I really need to get my butt in gear and create that Tool Reviews area for our site! A couple folks have sent in reviews to me, and I need to get those up as well. Great review John!

Thought I'd help PUSH you over the edge. 

Glad you like the m12 set John!!

 

Did you read my "Blog" before buying?

 

Yeah, the drill doesn't have the balls for driving screws but that's why I got the impact.

 

 

Actually I bought the M12 set when they first came out because WE had problems with carpenter ants. I needed to see where they were. The camera came with a drill - the impact came a week later ON SALE and, as they say, the rest is history. That was well over a year ago, early Nov 2008 to be exact.

dragon1 said:

Glad you like the m12 set John!!

 

Did you read my "Blog" before buying?

 

Yeah, the drill doesn't have the balls for driving screws but that's why I got the impact.