Milwaukee GEN 4 M18 FUEL 1/2 inch hammer drill review | 2904-20 | drills ep.15 | gen3 vs gen4 

I've watched a lot of unboxing videos of this tool and comparison with it and the gen 3 but you are the first person i hear make mention of the clutch mechanism so in depth. The clutch demonstration puts the icing on the cake... now i understand the difference. I really appreciate ur work.

Awesome! You sounded fine, and great that you’re getting better! Admire your testing, along with your enthusiasm, and graphs. Keep em coming!!! 👍👍👍✌☺

Great review - very thorough; I was impressed. The kick-back mechanism may not be activated by just shaking the drill. Like airbags, it may take a specific force to trigger. There also may be a digital trigger that works when the drill motor is stopped. You might want to try it in a real-life situation to see if it works. One thing you may want to consider is that your top 10 hammer drills are separated by approximately 0.2 of a second. Because of the variability of your tests, this small difference is probably within the margin of error. Also, on your leaderboard, Milwaukee had class-leading torque numbers in most tests. When you are talking about such small margins between the top 10 drills, it may be better to test the drills in more extreme situations. Many reviewers on RU-vid test hammer drills, impact wrenches, and drill drivers to their limits, and in these tests, Milwaukee Gen 4 tools are usually number one. I really like that your tests for these drills emulate real-life scenarios - I applaud that. However, I really don't care if my Milwaukee drill is 0.2 seconds slower than a Flex drill if when the going really gets tough, the Flex drill weakens and fails. BTW, I own a Ridgid hammer drill and impact driver, which are very good, but nowhere near class-leading. So, I am not a Milwaukee fanboy. I do own some Milwaukee tools too, but I don't use just one platform. I bought the Ridgid tool set because it was incredibly cheap, and the Ridgid tools I have used have been competitively good in harsh situations. I have read and watched several reviews of Flex tools lately and I am greatly impressed by their power and design. I have not looked at their hammer drill, but I will when I get some time. Their rear-handle circular saw is a beast, and it appears to be very well constructed with an intelligent design. It is also far cheaper than Milwaukee and has a lifetime warranty. Great job overall, but you might want to push the hammer drills you test a little more to their limits. I worked my way through college as a journeyman carpenter (I am a Civil Engineer now), and in the summer here in Arizona, the outside temperatures in the SHADE exceed 100 degrees F. We had hard deadlines to meet and we pushed our tools to the limit to achieve them. I can assure you that under these extreme working conditions, a LOT of big-name power tools failed; some failed embarrassingly quickly. So, in real-world work, you find out what a tool is really made of. It is these conditions where Milwaukee tools usually excel, but not always. Milwaukee has had its share of failure too. I own the Milwaukee string trimmer that you can put multiple attachments on, and during the summer, if I am cutting tall weeds in thick patches, its overheat protection trips, which is irritating because it is a beast, and it can just about chop down trees (just kidding). Still, I kept it because it has only overheated twice in the years that I have owned it and I suspect that the 9 amp hour battery may be the culprit because Milwaukee's 9 amp hour batteries had some stability problems ( which is why Milwaukee isn't making them anymore). So, no tool manufacturer is perfect. That is why I will switch platforms to buy a superior tool. I am very curious to see how Flex tools perform under extremely demanding conditions. I personally don't trust DeWalt tools because of the raft of battery failures that have occurred. Makita is way overpriced, in my opinion, and often, their tools underperform. Some Makita tools I have not used appear to be top performers, but a lot of the tools I have used are subpar. That being said, I have not used some of their best-reviewed tools like their rear handle circular saw, their sliding miter saw, and their hammer drill. I am sharing this actual work experience to try to help you, not criticize you. As I have said, overall, you did a really good job at testing these drills, collecting the data and comparing them. You also did a superb job in explaining the differences and weaknesses of the Gen 3 and Gen 4 Milwaukee hammer drills. Again, I applaud your efforts.

One more thing DeWalt on the 20 V tools in Europe it’s labeled a 18 V because it’s misleading advertising. The Dewalt is the 20 V max which means on a fully charged battery its max output is 20 V for about three minutes it’s nominal output is 18 V. A fully charged Milwaukee M 18 battery will also read 20 V fully charged for a couple minutes. Keep that in mind for the future the Dewalt platform is a 18 V platform hence the 20 V max.

Thanks for going into the clutch specifics. I haven’t seen that in any other reviews, don’t think they even realized there was a difference. I would prefer this mechanical to digital as well unless the digital was actually implemented better as in the Makita. I use the clutch feature all the time, it’s also a great wrist savor/safety feature, especially for kids or someone inexperienced. I was considering a gen 3 but would have been disappointed with their digital clutch. Also the methodology of the testing here is a great for comparison between different drills without the need for a side by side comparison of every drill. Good job on setting up the tests. It may not be as exciting as watching 2 drills going head to head but it allows you to gather more data and get a more accurate comparison.

These are types of tools vids I enjoy, very informative

The great work continues!

Excellent stuff! The irony was killing me. You put together the leaderboard, then pretty much tell us to ignore it. 🤣

Great review

4:40 Thanks for clearing up my clutch confusion. People say the fuel version clutch is electronic. But if gen 3 was not "fuel", then they are just wrong. Electronic clutches are obviously to save a dollar. Also, for anybody who doesn't know... You can toggle on/off the automatic stop feature (RTM). 5:26 Maybe that's why! Maybe it was off...

I don’t know if anybody knows this but there’s a secret setting to turn off the anti kickback, put selector in the middle and pull the trigger 5 times, led will blink 5 times (on) repeat led will turn and then fade to dark to turn (off) anti kickback.

Hey bro I wanna just wanna say I absolutely love what your channel and appreciate your time and effort, and your feedback 👏 👍 with that said. Why are you keeping the outliers in with the results its obvious its an outlier with two 3.42 3.48 and a 5.65 I think you should throw away the outlier and not factor it in with the total 😉. But again this is your choice I respect your decision and thank you for your unbiased results 👍 👏 you are the man 👍 I look forward every week for a new test or review.

Great video! I have both the Gen 3 and Gen 4. The digital clutch on the Gen 3 is horrible and does an awful job with delicate tasks. Not long ago, I broke a screw using the Gen 3 in Speed 1, with the clutch set to 1. Happy to see that the Gen 4 went to a mechanical clutch. I have no problem with the Gen 3 aside from the clutch. Still does an awesome job drilling holes into wood and masonry, and is overall a great hammer drill.

So-called Redlink technology does not stop their drills from burning up, in my experience.

Great review! Must have taken a lot of work to make this. If I could offer a bit of constructive criticism, when you were doing the tests, it would have been nice to have a label of which drill you were using. I was losing track of which drill was which. Other than that great video and I wish you success with your youtube channel. This is the best comparison video I've seen yet so I'm sure you will do great.

Can you say something about the sound characteristics on the new gen? I sold the gen 3 because it's so loud and high pitched, drove me nuts.

Love to see the Bosch biturbo on your test

Still have the gen 3, great drill. Would upgrade to the gen 4 that just came out if it wasn't for the ridiculous price Milwaukee is asking for it over in Europe. The gen 3 can be had solo for 130 euros, while the gen 4 is nearly 300 euros.

Nice 👍❤️🙏

Long time I'm waiting for this clutch comparison review i owned gen3 clutch i way to much even on the lowest setting.

to turn on or off the auto stop on the gen 4 put the drill into neutral and press 5 times and to reengage it press another 5 times

The best idea I can think of for outliers is to run 5 tests and throw out the top and bottom results, or use whichever 3 look most consistent.

👍

i know this is a dumb question but I am just starting to get into the construction world so I am still new to power tools. I remmember the last time I used a drill it had the screw setting along with the hammer and driving. Why does this not have that? I assume the numbers 1-16 are meant for the screws but whats the diffrence between that and the drills that have the screw setting?

Hi.nowadays, any brands of cordless , powertools, brushless or brushes, still very great ....I like it .very much

The autostop was off i have this drill and the autostop wil engaged everytime even in the air trigering it for the sake with no load.

i prefer the electronic clutch once you get used to it you can be more precise with it in my opinion but i know most people do not agree

You realize you don’t have The auto stop on. I know this is an old review but you have to put the Reverse forward switch in the middle and then compress the trigger five times the light will light up for the auto stop this indicates that it’s on you do the same thing to turn it off. You are correct they normally do not work well but on the Milwaukee when you have it activated it works flawlessly. Once it’s on it will stay on until you repeat the process to turn it off and then it stays off until you repeat the process again etc. damn bro!

As an electrician drilling corners and 5/8- 7/8 holes on average hole constantly I like this gen four so far better. It smashed through a top plate where my gen 3 I would’ve had to back out re set and keep drilling . We will see if the safety feature ends up and issue. I bought a hole hawg, not super hawg 18v and am so disappointed. It clutches out in the most minimal hits of a nail, like throw me of the ladder again but go through… the hammer drill shits on it. My gen 3 broke on me , in rough on tools and it just clicks and is burned up.

Does the Milwaukee Chuck have a slight wobble when you look straight at it and pull trigger slow? Mine does I just bought it wondering if they all do that.

Please try turning auto stop on before you demonstrate. Regardless, nice video, and thank you for it.

Good

You can turn auto stop off and on

god dammit Flex they really are showing up big time

I can't decide if i should get the makita 40v XGT or go Milwaukee M18

I bought one. But after hearing how unreliable milwaukee drills are with gearboxs and triggers having regular problems I took it back

This generation of auto turn off is not gyroscopic. It needs to be under load for it to work. Just twisting it jn the air isnt going to trigger it.

No need to said , branded are , ....made in USA .....what are better and best ....( Any , all are best and great .!

I love the fact that you just ignore the fact when people point out that you Obviously are not using the tool correctly that you just ignore it. Must suck to be a RU-vid tool enthusiast and have a professional come and bust your bubble. I’ll probably just start trolling this channel and point out all the discrepancies now.

The axillary handle doesn't fit in the case when it's put together, so you have to constantly watch out that you don't loose the pieces and that Sucks ....🤬🤬

Just returned our Dewalt dcd999 for this drill- Not impressed anymore with them, complete junk.

Waste of money. Hercules brushless 1/2 inch hammer drill is the best on many levels including price and performance.

Bro ,slow down, you're like on 6th gear when talking😂