Cordless drill/driver kits for homeowners compared: chuck, speed, motor and what is in the box

What a homeowner's drill kit needs

Most household drilling is light: pilot holes, wall plugs, curtain rods, hinges, flat-pack furniture and now and then a hole saw for a lock or a vent. Any of the kits here can do the light end. What separates them for a homeowner is the chuck (can it take the bit you need), the battery count (can one charge while the other works), and the platform (which tools you can add later on the same batteries). Power figures matter less for these jobs than many listings suggest. This page is research-based, from the current listings and the makers' pages; we have not used these kits side by side.

Your job list, matched to a kit

None of these is a hammer drill. For holes in brick or concrete you need a drill with a hammer mode, which is a different tool.

Battery arithmetic: one battery or two

A kit with one battery stops when that battery runs out, until it recharges. A kit with two lets you swap and carry on. Using the makers' own figures: the CRAFTSMAN CMCD725D2 has two 2 Ah batteries, 4 Ah in total; the DEWALT DCD777D1 has one 2 Ah battery. On the same job, the CRAFTSMAN box holds about twice the total charge, and one battery can charge while the other works. For a homeowner who drills a few minutes at a time, one battery is usually enough. For a weekend project, two is the difference between finishing and waiting. If you add batteries later, our DEWALT battery sizes page shows the runtime ratios between pack sizes.

Brushed or brushless

DEWALT lists the DCD771C2 as brushed and the DCD777D1 as brushless; CRAFTSMAN lists the CMCD725D2 as brushless. DEWALT's DCD777D1 page says its brushless motor gives more run time than a brushed one. For light household use either motor type does the job; brushless matters more if you drill often or for long sessions.

Speed: what the RPM column means

The RPM column shows the top gear. Most drill/drivers here have two gears: a low one for driving screws and a high one for drilling. Where a maker gives both, the cell shows both, as on the CRAFTSMAN row. A higher top speed helps small drill bits cut cleanly in wood; it does not make the drill better at driving long screws, which is impact driver work.

The 12V kit

The BLACK+DECKER 12V MAX kit is a different kind of purchase: a small drill sold with a bag of hand tools, aimed at a first home toolkit. It covers the first two rows of the job table. If you expect to add a saw, a vacuum or a garden tool on the same battery later, the 20V-class and 18V-class platforms in the rest of the table offer far more tools.

Which one if...

• First drill, light household jobs, two batteries wanted: the DEWALT DCD771C2 or the CRAFTSMAN CMCD725D2 (brushless).
• Tight spaces such as inside cabinets: the DEWALT DCD777D1, compact per DEWALT.
• You plan to add Milwaukee tools later: the Milwaukee 2606-21CT.
• You want garden tools on the same battery: check RYOBI's ONE+ range and the RYOBI bundle; see RYOBI ONE+ vs CRAFTSMAN V20.
• A starter home toolkit with a light drill: the BLACK+DECKER 12V MAX kit.

If you will want an impact driver too, a two-tool kit may fit better; see cordless combo kits compared.

Reading the table

A figure with a mark comes from the maker's page, linked under Sources. Other cells are from the current listing. "Not stated in listing" means the listing gives no figure and we found no maker page for that exact model number. The RYOBI listing is a bundle we could not match to one RYOBI model number, and BLACK+DECKER's site did not answer our request, so those two rows are listing-only. The weight column shows the listing's weight, which may include the battery or the whole kit.

What this page does not tell you

We have not used these drills, and we do not rank them. We do not measure torque, runtime, clutch feel or durability. For pilot hole sizes and wall plugs, follow the fastener maker's instructions.