Review on Hammer Milwaukee Electric Tools 2804-22 by Tres Carmon

The motor on this drill is fantastic. Batteries work well, charger included. The torque produced by this drill made me smile - way better than the older DeWalt I replaced. I also like the position of the light source. However, there are two problems: one minor and one major. The minor one is that the drill heats up relatively quickly - more so than some other drills I own, including the DeWalt and Makita (also brushless). This doesn't really matter for home use, but it should be considered. The main thing is the cartridge itself. With a small diameter drill bit (e.g. a 1/16 or 1/32 drill bit) it is very difficult to properly "center" the drill bit. Looking into the drill chuck, each of the three fingers has two ribbed sections designed to grip the shank of (round) drill bits. This doesn't work particularly well and appears to be a design issue, not a production issue. The chuck itself works fine, but I wouldn't recommend this drill bit for holes smaller than 1/8 inch. In order to achieve adequate centering, the round burs must engage both the front and rear rib sets and therefore need to sit deeper in the chuck than I sometimes like. This is not the same problem I had with my deWalt. With that in mind, I now understand some of the comments about the clutch mechanism. This drill is clearly NOT designed for drilling small drill bits - the clutch actually works well but is almost useless in a situation that requires some dexterity! I keep a drill because it has excellent torque and is definitely a reliable tool. However, in order to meet "fine" and/or "precise" requirements, I subsequently bought a brushless Makita. Which, if I were to buy it again, would actually be my first choice among those I've tried. I would recommend Milwaukee to reconsider the cartridge.