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The Bargain Nexus - Milwaukee 2401-22 12V 12-Volt Li-ion Sub-Compact Driver Kit
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List Price: $249.00
Our Price: $99.00
Your Save: $ 150.00 ( 60% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Milwaukee
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Batteries Included: 1
Binding: Tools & Hardware
Brand: Milwaukee
EAN: 0045242293025
Feature: Torque - 100 in.lbs, Speed - 0-500 rpm
Label: Milwaukee
Manufacturer: Milwaukee
Model: 2401-22
Publisher: Milwaukee
Studio: Milwaukee
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Features
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Torque - 100 in.lbs, Speed - 0-500 rpm
Battery Fuel Gauge for displaying remaining run-time
Built-in LED For illumination of dark work spots
Quick Bit-Loading 1/4¿ Hex Chuck For bit insertion and release with one hand
Metal Gear Housing for job site durability
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: BEST THING I'VE BOUGHT IN YEARS!!!
Comment: This is the best product i have purchased in years. Small and compact, yet,, enough TORQUE to twist out of my hands. I can't say enough. This thing is AWESOME!!
Customer Rating: 
Summary: Great Little Driver
Comment: I have used this driver several times. I install closet shelving, and have used it to drive 200 #8x2" wood screws with a very aggressive thread, through 1/2" drywall, into 2x4 studs, without switching batteries!
Pros: Battery lasts! Compact and light. Strong torque. Clutch works great. No "chuck" to spin against your work, and scratch it up. Battery indicator is great. Spare battery is small enough to keep in your tool belt without weighing you down. Charges quickly.
Cons: I'm left-handed, and it's very easy to switch the forward/reverse switch. I pull the trigger with my middle finger. It's very comfortable that way. The light is powerful, but a little annoying sometimes. You have to use a special holder for a drill bit IF you want to drill. But, this isn't a drill, it's a driver. The RPM's are a little slow, but I imagine to get more RPM's you either gain size or weight.
This has taken the place of my 18V drill/driver for driving screws. I still use the 18V to drill, but switching to this for driving sure has helped my shoulder. 200 screws without charging! That's pretty amazing to me.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Awesome tool
Comment: Powerful enough to drive and drill. Battery life is good and the batteries charge quickly. I thought the light was a little much, but wouldn't you know, I have used it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great little drill/driver
Comment: The Milwaukee 2401-22 is a small, powerful, lightweight, well balanced drill/driver. It comes with 2 long-life batteries that charge in 30 minutes. Combined with a Milwaukee drill chuck, its everything this homeowner needs for home projects. I used it on 3 inch deck screws on a shelving project. A friend who is a professional remodeler uses one for all his lighter duty work. I may buy some of these for Christmas presents!
Customer Rating:
Summary: Indulgent Impulse Buy at First, Now a Household Essential
Comment: Although I thought I'd made a questionable impulse buy, I wasn't surprised to discover it was a high quality tool out of the box (you only need to hold a Milwaukee tool to know they're well-made). As for whether I really needed it or had enough things to use it for, I've done at least two minor home improvement/repair projects that my fiancee never bugged me to do at this point so I think that speaks for itself.
Power?
First of all it does drill. If you thought it was going to drill fast, you had unreasonable expectations. It's not a 2 lb. replacement for the V28 drill or one of Milwaukee's corded wonders. With driving in mind, it has a low RPM rating even though it has enough torque to actually jerk your hand a touch. It's a good thing it has so many clutch settings because you can actually do damage with the little guy if you leave it on the drill setting and you're not careful driving with it. So yes, not fast but plenty of power. Read the manual for a rough idea of what to set the clutch at.
If you actually need to drill more than a handful of holes with it, get some high quality bits and Milwaukee's 1/4" hex to 3/8" drill chuck adapter. It still doesn't replace a heavier duty corded or cordless drill but it makes a world of difference in speed of drilling and drill bit options.
Battery
This is my first Li-Ion tool and I'm blown away. I've had it a couple weeks now and used it for 4-5 random home projects and some gratuitous drilling tests in some scrap wood. The battery currently in use holds its charge when inactive and hasn't dropped a light yet. The batteries recharged in about 30 minutes out of the box as advertised.
Hopefully the Hackzall chews through batteries at least four times faster than this drill because I'm planning on getting the kit for the impact driver rebate and I have no idea what I'm going to do with 4 batteries if it doesn't. Sell them on e-bay I guess :)
Quality/Design
It feels rock solid in my hand and all of the black stuff you see on the tool (including the top) is made from a black rubber grip material that makes the drill easy to handle. It feels good in your hand and the weight and balance of it is perfect.
The chuck is awesome. It locks shank bits in tight, has good stability, is very easy to use, has no identifiable wobble for me and it has just enough spring in it to actually eject hot bits if you want to but if the drill is angled up a smidge they won't fly out on you.
It makes excellent use of LEDs. Battery indicators are essential on Li-Ion tools since they give very little indication that they're about to run out of juice by losing power (manual says power will drop just long enough to finish a task while letting you know you need to replace the battery but I can't verify that yet - which is impressive, IMO).
Anybody who has ever had to get under a desk in a dimly lit cubicle farm won't need to ask whether the light was worth implementing. Great feature. I don't know what its critics are talking about. I have no problem finding screws in the dark with it.
Aesthetic
No practical-minded man wants to fess up to this but ugly tools... well, let's just say I'm glad Milwaukee, Bosch, and Makita all tend to outperform DeWalt so I could avoid feeling childish for having a dilemma that's not 100% performance-related. It almost looks like an atomic raygun from some forgotten '50s serial. I find that exceptionally cool and it probably adds more to the experience of using it than I'd like to admit but it would still be a winner if it was butt ugly.
Handle Size Issue
I have average, perhaps even smallish hands for 6'3 (or just a lot of large-handed medium height friends) and the grip is comfortable for me but if you have small hands, give it a test-drive at a hardware store with Milwaukee demo products first. I'm seeing positive reviews from a lot of women though so perhaps it's not really an issue. It's definitely wider than it looks in the pictures though which is why so many probably comment on it.
In fact, I suspect it's that width that keeps the placement of the direction switch from being an issue for most. I hit it by accident sometimes and saw a review from a self-proclaimed large-handed guy saying he had the same problem but enough to actually be a nuisance for him, whereas for me it's a minor issue that doesn't come up often.
Value
On the one hand, $100-130 still seems a bit much for the value-minded consumer who only needs something like it a few times a year. On the other, this is one of those tools you like so much, you start looking for crap to do with it. If you don't know what I mean by that, give this thing a whirl and you may suddenly remember a bunch of projects you've been putting off for a while or invent some new ones.
Also, the versatility you get out of a power tool that accepts hex bits could save you a lot of needlessly pricey purchases for one-time use items (just get the right bit instead for cheap) and it will eliminate the need to keep a wide variety of hand tools on hand. Hex to ratchet set adapters are available (I got a cheap one that covers three sizes) and I recommend Milwaukee's 3/8" hex to drill chuck adapter. If you have a crappy old 3/8" corded Black and Decker drill or equivalent around for drilling the occasional pilot hole, you can replace it with this tool.
And let's not forget Milwaukee's 5 year warranty. Not even Bosch, Milwaukee's biggest rival for quality, IMO, offers that on their power tools. The majority of negative Milwaukee reviews from people who had something go wrong with a tool rarely mention any attempt to actually talk to Milwaukee rather than Amazon for some reason.
Rebate (expires after 2008)
This is huge. Milwaukee has a tool rebate active until the end of the year. Get any two kits and you get the Impact driver for free. When it's sold as a standalone (no batteries or charger), I'm guessing the impact driver will be about 50 more bucks than this tool as a standalone. If like me, you're excited about the Hackzall, for about 90-100 bucks more than the drill/driver, impact driver, flashlight 3-tool combo kit, you get an extra charger, two more batteries and you replace the silly flashlight with a Hackzall which from the reviews I've seen is another lightweight wonder. You could sell the the extra batteries and charger and possibly pay less than you would for the combo kit. With the rebate in mind, consider this a six-star item.
Conclusion
You can't go wrong with this driver/drill as a gift and if you have even a spark of a DIY spirit, tools like this can fan that spark into a fire. It's a fine-quality tool that I expect will last beyond the point that Milwaukee stops making batteries for it in spite of being made with Chinese parts and it adds a lot of lightweight, portable versatility that will be appreciated by anybody who ever needs to screw or put a hole in something. I'm not a pro or seasoned woodworker/rehabber (yet) but I suspect it will be appreciated by the occasional picture frame-hanging homeowner who likes nice things, passionate DIYers and picky professionals alike.
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Editorial Reviews:
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12V Compact Drill Diver, Delivers The Most Power, Up To 25% More Torque 100" LB Of Torque, Has The Longest Run Time, Drives Up To 30% More Screws On A Single Charge, Drives 130 3" Screws, 0-500 RPM, Quick Bit Loading 1/4" Hex Chuck For 1 Handed Bit Insertion & Release, Metal Gear House, Battery Fuel Gauge For Displaying Remaining Run Time, Built-In LED For Illuminating Of Dark Work Spots.
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