My fav: The Festool 15+3 |
Ridgid Fuego: Small drill claims 250 inch-pounds of max torque. Chuck has fairly significant run-out, which is only an issue where precise drilling is necessary. But a slew of broken bits may have something to do with the run-out. List price: $100. Used: $50
DeWalt DC 720: larger drill claims over 1,000 inch-pounds of torque, but feels and acts as powerful as the Festool 15+3, which claims 350 inch-pounds of torque. One of the two batteries stopped working only a month after purchase. No battery guarantee. Never got it replaced. List Price: $200. Used: $50
Festool 15+3: larger drill has three chucks, allowing it to act as a right-angle driver. Also comes with depth-stop chuck for precise drilling. No run-out at all, for perfectly sized holes and no broken bits. My experience with Festool's impeccable service gives me confidence I won't be left with a hunk of junk should something break. My experience with Festool tells me breakage is unlikely. List price: $460. Used Price: $360.
Verdict: The Festool 15+3 goes anywhere the Fuego can, but is more powerful and more accurate. At a price of $360-$460 it's far more expensive than the others. But throw in the price of a right angle driver to augment the DeWalt and Ridgid's capabilities, and the price doesn't look so bad. Throw in the price of poorly-made holes and broken bits, and the Festool starts to look pretty competitive. Add in the fact that Festool won't let you go more than a few days without a working tool, and Festool distributors are local stores with great service, and I think the 15+3 is the best overall value.
My favorite of my three drills? The Festool. Obviously, right? Anybody who has read my blog probably knows I am a Festool devotee. I have been one almost since my first day making furniture. But back then, I favored Festool products because I generally tend to favor the "best" tools I can lay my hands upon. Today, I still favor Festool tools, but it's because I have a good deal of experience with Festools AND their less expensive counterparts from other manufacturers.
But I digress. Back to the drills:
First, let me say that this comparison review isn't entirely fair. Each of these three drills is different in purpose and character...and in price. The Ridgid Fuego is a small drill, meant for light work where you don't want to lug around more drill than necessary. The DeWalt DC 720, on the other hand, is a head-to-head competitor to the Festool 15+3. That said, the DeWalt DC 720 costs around $180-$200 new, whereas the Festool 15+3 is $380 no matter where you get it.
Ridgid Fuego
I bought Ridgid's small Fuego drill at Home Depot at the behest of my contractor friend Kris. He recommended it for small jobs where I wouldn't want to carry a larger drill. I have used it in tight spaces where a larger drill can't go. And for some jobs, I perceived better accuracy and easier handling due to the Fuego's small size. Ridgid claims a max torque of 250 inch-pounds. I a suspicious of this figure, since the Festool 15+3 claims only 350 inch-pounds of max torque, and it's clearly a much more powerful drill. Still, power isn't the point of the Fuego. And for the jobs the Fuego can handle, it's was go-to drill.
Festool 15+3
But that may change. The other day, I was drilling shelf pin holes in the inside of a cherry aquarium stand I was making. I was using a Rockler shelf pin hole drilling jig, and one of Rockler's spring-loaded bits, which centers the drill bit in the holes in the jig. But something was going wrong: the pics were swimming in the holes, almost as if I was using the wrong bit. I took the bit, the jig, and my workpiece to Rockler to diagnose the problem. With a different drill and the same bit, I was able to make holes of the perfect size. That meant that my little Fuego drill has a good amount of run-out in it! Now, I hadn't noticed this before, because the exact size of a hole isn't often so important. But in this application the low tolerances of the Fuego were painfully apparent. You can't drill accurately-sized holes with my Fuego.
Our test drill was the Festool 12+3. The Festool 15+3 I use in my shop is a similar drill, but slightly more powerful. I love the 15+3. It feels good in my hands, has no run-out, and comes with three different chucks that allow it to get into those same spaces otherwise reserved for the Fuego or a right-angle driver. But the 15+3 and 12+3 are even more agile than a right angle driver, because the right-angle chuck can be positioned anywhere around the 360 degrees of the lateral axis of the drill.
Speed and torque settings on the 15+3 are useful and intuitive. It also comes with a depth-stop chuck extension, allowing me to set the depth of a screw or drill bit, without putting a flag of tape around the drill, or using one of Rockler's overpriced drill/countersink combo bits. The 15+3 beeps when the power is low, and beeps a different way if the battery or motor are getting hot. The low battery beep is a great feature if you're working far from your battery charger; better than a battery indicator, even, because you don't have to remember to check the indicator.
DeWalt DC 720
This yellow drill - also purchased at Home Depot - was the second drill I bought. At the time, the Fuego was coming up against its limits and I needed more drill. The DeWalt is powerful, but not as powerful (I suspect) as what DeWalt claims: over 1,000 inch-pounds of torque. It feels and acts about as powerful as the Festool 15+3. I can't complain about the work, though: the DC 720 has taken on almost anything I have thrown at it over the past year, including drilling hinge cup holes with a Forstner bit and drill guide. I also used it to drill 3/4" dog holes in my bench, again with the drill guide. There have been many times I chose to use the DC 720 and drill guide instead of taking my work to the drill press. The results have been mostly satisfactory.
But I have to complain about the battery: the DC 720 came with two batteries, and one of them died only a month after I bought it. I haven't tried to get a new one from DeWalt, because their website is such an unfriendly mess I don't even want to deal with getting on the phone with them. I don't think I'd get a free replacement, but that's just a hunch.
Verdict: See my verdict at the beginning of this post. The winner is the Festool, hands down, even with the higher price factored in.
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