g/tools • Posted by u/milwaukee_mark • 23 hours ago

Milwaukee M18 vs DeWalt FLEXVOLT for heavy conduit work — what's your experience?

Our crew has been all-Milwaukee M18 for 6 years. Works great for most stuff. But we've been doing heavier conduit work (2" rigid and up) and the M18 Hole Hawg is struggling on the bigger sizes.

A friend runs DeWalt FLEXVOLT and swears by the FLEXVOLT Right Angle Drill. Looking for real-world comparison from guys who've used both for commercial conduit work, not just YouTube reviewers.

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u/panel_pete • 23 hours ago

Also: what's your battery inventory? If you're all-M18, you need to price out FLEXVOLT batteries and chargers. Battery ecosystem lock-in is real money. Unless you're switching whole-crew, it might be worth demoing a corded right angle for the heavy stuff and keeping M18 for everything else.

u/conduit_king • 23 hours ago

Used both extensively. For heavy rigid conduit in a multi-floor commercial build: DeWalt FLEXVOLT 60V Right Angle Drill has noticeably more torque than the M18 Hole Hawg at comparable RPM settings. It's also slightly larger and heavier, which matters when you're in a tight joist bay. If torque is your bottleneck, FLEXVOLT wins. If compact size matters more, M18.

u/voltage_vince • 23 hours ago

For really heavy iron pipe work (2.5" and up) or pulling through concrete, I'd rather have a corded right angle drill. A Milwaukee 1675-6 or DeWalt DW124 corded will always outrun battery tools when it matters. Battery tools are convenient, but the best battery can't match corded on sustained heavy loads.