Milwaukee’s M18 Fuel brushless drills and impact driver have become incredibly popular, and it’s easy to see why. They offer a lot of power, great runtime, and the latest and greatest features.
We’re huge fans of Milwaukee’s Fuel brushless tools, especially their drills and drivers, which ranked at the top of our Best Cordless Drills and Best Impact Drivers roundups.
Now, Milwaukee has come out with several new M18 compact brushless tools that fill the gap between their great-value brushed drills and drivers, and their premium high performance Fuel models.
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Here is how Milwaukee describes their brushed, compact brushless, and Fuel brushless drills and drivers:
- Brushed: Best-in-class performance & durability, with RedLink electronics
- Compact Brushless (NEW): Most compact, over 50% longer runtime (than the brushed motor models), with RedLink electronics
- High Performance (Fuel): Most powerful, most durable, with PowerState brushless motor and RedLink Plus electronics
There are three new compact brushless M18 tools:
- Drill/Driver (2701)
- Hammer Drill (2702)
- Impact Driver (2750)
Each tool is said to be the most compact in their respective class, and with updated ergonomics, superior balance, and superior control. Milwaukee also says that they offer best-in-class power to weight ratios.
Availability: Launched March 2015
Milwaukee M18 Compact Brushless Drill/Driver 2701
- 500 in-lbs peak torque
- 2-speed gearbox 0-450/0-1800 RPM
- 1/2″ all-metal ratcheting chuck
- 6-7/8″ length
- 3.7 lbs with battery
The 2701-22CT kit comes with the drill/driver, (2) compact 2.0Ah batteries, a charger, and carrying case. A bare tool (2701-20) is also available.
As with Milwaukee’s M18 Fuel cordless drills, you can expect to see a roughly 10% boost in power when using the drill with an XC battery pack.
Pricing: $199 for the kit, $109 for the bare tool.
Buy Now(Kit) Buy Now(Bare Tool)
Milwaukee M18 Compact Brushless Hammer Drill 2702
- 500 in-lbs peak torque
- 2-speed gearbox 0-450/0-1800 RPM
- 0-28,800 BPM
- 1/2″ all-metal ratcheting chuck
- 7-3/8″ length
- 3.9 lbs with battery
As with the drill/driver, the 2702-22CT hammer drill kit kit comes with the drill, (2) 2.0Ah batteries, a charger, and carrying case. A bare tool (2702-20) is also available.
You can also expect to see a roughly 10% gain in power when using the new brushless hammer drill with an XC battery pack. Both of the drill kits are bundled with compact battery packs; higher capacity XC packs are available separately.
Pricing: $229 for the kit, $129 for the bare tool.
Buy Now(Kit) Buy Now(Bare Tool)
Milwaukee M18 Compact Brushless Impact Driver 2750
- 1500 in-lbs of torque
- 0-2,800 RPM
- 0-3,600 IPM
- 1/4″ hex quick change chuck
- 5-3/8″ length
- 3.1 lbs with compact battery
The 2750-22CT impact driver kit comes with (2) 2.0Ah batteries, a charger, and carrying case. This too will be available as a bare tool (2750-20).
Pricing: $199 for the kit, $109 for the bare tool.
Buy Now(Kit) Buy Now(Bare Tool)
First Thoughts
Sweet!
Milwaukee’s M18 Fuel brushless tools are awesome, but they’re also pricey. If you don’t need extreme performance or premium features – such as multiple speed and torque settings in an impact driver – then your options were to go with a brushed motor drill or driver or a competitor’s model.
It looks like the 2701, 2702, and 2750 drills and impact driver were designed to best (or at least go head to head with) Dewalt’s DCD790 drill, the DCD795 hammer drill, and DCF886 impact driver.
The new M18 compact brushless drills and drivers might pose strong competition to Bosch’s brushless 18V lineup, and looks to trump anything Makita has come out with in the USA.
Most compact in class? Best-in-class power to weight ratios? High efficiency and long runtime thanks to new compact brushless motors? Sounds good to me! The tools seem to have great technical specs as well – 500 in-lbs of peak torque for the drills, and 1500 in-lbs for the impact driver.
We’re still waiting to hear about how much these new kits and bare tools will cost. But if they’re even right smack in the middle between Milwaukee’s brushed motor drills and drivers and their Fuel brushless ones, then the new line will surely gain popularity with users with tighter budgets or more modest usage requirements.
While the new drills and drivers don’t break any power or speed records, they look to be appealing new additions to Milwaukee’s M18 lineup of cordless power tools.
Chris
Well the dcd790 is 3.5lbs and 531in lbs with or without battery on the weight I’m not sure… The dcd 886 is same tq with 1500in lbs and 2.9lbs with or without battery I’m not sure…so where can they claim best power to weight? Will need to see some info before I believe it
Jimmie
These aren’t much bigger than the M12 Fuel versions. Similar prices but with noticeably more power. I wonder if M12 will suffer some cannibalized sales?
JT
My thoughts exactly. I wonder how similar the internals are to the m12 fuel drills
Sim
Hey coach, something came up at work so I can’t make it to the box on Friday. I could help move on Saturday if there’s still stuff to do. p.s. haemmr drills sounds like the name of a WOD to me.
Stuart
I don’t think so. As popular as Milwaukee’s 12V line is, 18V tools are still universally more popular.
Even if the new M18 drills and drivers do take away from M12 Fuel drill and driver sales, other users might go M12 instead of M18, balancing things out. Plus, consider sales by users who otherwise would have went with Dewalt, Bosch, Hitachi, or another brand’s offerings. Sales gained by Milwaukee and denied to other brands will surely be more significant than internal M12 vs. M18 competition.
Chris
Actually I’d be worried about brush less m18 vs fuel… Many people who are with Milwaukee will buy the cheaper brush less tools then the more expensive fuel… new buyers are always hard to judge, it might help market share but it will cannibalize more expensive m18 fuel sales more then m12…power tools I believe is something like the truck market… People stick with what they got… I’d need to see power tool market share numbers and trends to believe otherwise
Stuart
I would think that the product lines are clearly drawn.
Brushed = capable and budget-priced.
Compact brushless = compact size, brushless advantages, mid-range cost.
FUEL = top features, best performance, highest cost.
Chris
But in most cases Stuart for most tradesman and contractors the new brushless line is really all many would need unless you pride yourself in having the best… I have the compact dewalt set, the old brushed set and very rare do I need much else, if I do my dcd985 or dcr895… you don’t rarely need much more then the compact sets and I think will really cannibalize the fuel sales
John
Hello dewalt wake up??????? Milwaukee has/is already launching so many new tools this year. I left you 2 years ago and now I know why
BikerDad
DeWalt has had comparable compact brushless 18v drills & impacts for over a year now. Milwaukee is late to the party on this one.
John
Again not a debate who came first. It’s that milwaukee is clearly developing more product than dewalt. There are PLENTY of tools that Dewalt has came late to the party with.
Chris
You do know the year just started right? We’re only still In January… Many more days to come, everyone has said dewalt has a big year coming up… I’m just waiting it out
John
Correct first of the year and with dewalt launching 1 hammer (shown on toolguyd) and milwaukee launching so many more it’s hard to keep waiting. I been dewalt loyal for so many years but made the jump due to the flop of nano. I have a feeling you are a dewalt rep. Can you share any news about new product?
BikerDad
I’m not sure that’s actually true. DeWalt introduced 5 air tools last year, how many has Milwaukee introduced? How many sockets and ratchets and wrenches did Milwaukee introduce? etc, etc?
To be clear, my point isn’t that DeWalt has introduced MORE tools than Milwaukee, because I don’t know. Perhaps they have, perhaps not. It certainly looks like Milwaukee has introduced more CORDLESS tools over the last year, but there’s far more to the market than just cordless.
fwiw, I also would like to see more DeWalt XR tools… so I sympathize with you, I just don’t think the situation is as dire as the tenor of your posts imply. DeWalt has simply been focusing their product development efforts elsewhere recently. When DeWalt introduces a 7 1/4″ XR series tracksaw, I’ll throw money at them. If they get stupid and let Milwaukee get a cordless tracksaw on the market before them, THEN I’ll be looking to go red. (No, I’m unlikely to drink the green koolaid on this, but stranger things have happened.)
SKIP
You are not correct my friend, Milwaukee came out with the Fuel line (Brushless) waayyyyyyy prior to Dewalt’s “Brushless” line. Dewalt’s bread and butter is NICAD, which is a sorry excuse for a tool.
I would be very shocked if they had anything that could be Milwaukee. Check out Tools in action on Youtube, Milwaukee FUEL beats any tool it goes up against.
Stuart
The key word there is compact. Milwaukee’s initial M18 FUEL drill/driver offerings compare well against Dewalt’s brushed and brushless premium 3-speed drills, but until now there hasn’t been any brushless drills in Milwaukee’s lineup to compare with Dewalt’s compact brushless models. That’s what he was saying.
KL
I don’t need ’em but I want ’em!
Pete
I like that they put “brushless” on the side. I had no idea for a long time that Milwaukee’s “fuel” was their brushless line. Of course now I know.
These look pretty sweet. I Will pick up a set if my current set gets stolen or smashed with some equipment lol.
Nathan
I couldn’t tell from Milwaukee’s page what separates a “Powerstate” Fuel brushless motor from their new non-Fuel brushless motor. Can someone point me to an explanation?
Jerry
Those really are compact. I bet the whole motor/head assembly on that impact driver isn’t much bigger than a high capacity M18 battery.
mnoswad
after being pretty disappointed with the M12 brushed performance, I think before i buy into more of the M12 system, I may have to look into this.
DragonLord
These new Milwaukee tools are not quite as powerful as the DeWalt compact brushless tools. 500 in-lb torque at 450 rpm seems to fall short of the DeWalt solution. The DCD790 is specified for 530 in-lb torque at 600 rpm.
There’s more to the equation than just the raw torque numbers. Similar torque output at a higher speed means more power. I’m a bit disappointed that DeWalt’s UWO power ratings, which I feel are more representative of tool performance, never gained widespread acceptance.
However, Milwaukee’s claim of best-in-class power-to-weight ratio does hold up. Milwaukee 2701 is that it’s half an inch shorter than the DeWalt DCD790, which measures about 7-1/4 inches long. It’s also considerably lighter, at 2.9 lb tool only (see http://www.milwaukeetool.com/power-tools/cordless/2701-20), compared to 3.5 lbs for the DeWalt. (Weight with battery is 3.7 lb vs 4.5 lb.)
Although they were a bit late to the game, Milwaukee came up with an exceptionally compact and lightweight solution, at the cost of some power compared to the DeWalt product. For overhead work and lighter jobs, contractors want tools with just the power they need while minimizing weight and bulk, and it looks like Milwaukee’s new tools will give Yellow & Black some serious competition.
Chris
Dewalt’s website says under bare tool for the 790 is 2.6 lbs and the kit with battery is 3.5lbs so I think the 4.5 is incorrect and dewalt is still lighter
DragonLord
Surprising. The 3.5lb value was specified as the “tool weight”, and so I thought this was the tool-only weight. I just checked my DCD790 and it seems you’re right.
I’m now actually a bit disappointed that Milwaukee has produced a tool which is less powerful (at least on paper) a year and a half after DeWalt announced the DCD790. Again, DeWalt’s torque number is at a higher RPM than Milwaukee’s. Nonetheless, we can’t say for sure which is better until some real-world testing is performed. 😉
Chris
So dewalt has a higher peak torque and at a higher rpm translating into more power, it’s also lighter… A bit longer but these are already very compact drills… I wonder how they claim power to weight?
DragonLord
The problem is that nobody but Ridgid and a two SBD brands (DeWalt, Porter Cable) use the UWO power rating. I think they tried to get others to adopt it, but everybody else still uses torque ratings. Torque is speed-dependent, so it’s not exactly the most accurate indication of tool performance. UWO is power measured at the chuck using a dynamometer, and that’s independent of speed.
Evaluating drills and similar tools would be easier if everyone provided both torque and UWO ratings. At this point, Milwaukee’s claims of “best-in-class power-to-weight ratio” are highly questionable considering the 25% lower speed for similar torque output.
Chris
Maybe since they don’t get the equivalent TQ numbers from dewalt in North America, they are comparing them to Makita, Bosch etc and maybe there can claim it
Chris
Looks like all the dewalt equivalents are lighter then Milwaukee’s
Peter
Great site…
Larry Haney
My Wife got me the 2701-22 Drill/Driver for my birthday!!1 (No she doesn’t have any available sisters!!!)
My first Milwaukee tool…I love it…I didn’t need the Fuel, I’m a retired DIY’er and the Fuel is too much money, and too much everything else…Thought I’d buy myself a present, so i got the bare tool compact blower…That thing is sweet, just right for around the shop…Used the 2AHr batteries from the drill kit…
The only problem I had was the 2.0 AHr batteries…I need bigger batteries…
I want a comparable Impact Driver and some 5.0 AHr batteries…Low and behold…Milwaukee has the 2753-22 Compact Brushless Impact Driver Set with two 5.0AHr batteries for $299.00…
Guess what Santa’s bringing me…
I’m a happy camper…For the non-professional DIY’er, it just doesn’t get any better than this!!!
Dr. Sadeghi
Has Milwaukee developed motorized steel cable cutter yet.? It has made cable cutter but not steel cutter!!!!
Could just blades for the cable cutter which I recently purchased be replaced for that purpose?
It appears that there is market for it.
Could not find any on amazon.