Which Drill Bit Set Brand Wins?
In our test we compared 14 drill bit set options head to head. COMOWARE came out on top. See the measured results, the runner-up, the budget pick, and a link to the full test video. Shoppers cross-shopping drill bit sets, drill sets, dewalt drill bit set and milwaukee drill bit set land here for the head to head that settles it.
COMOWARE
Price shown in test: $36
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Milwaukee
Price shown in test: $65 for 15 bits
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COMOWARE
Price shown in test: $36
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The quick take
The short version of why each pick lands where it does, built straight from the measured results.
“A very affordable Cobra drill bit set came in on top with the best average finish of 1.6. The Cobra drill would definitely be my choice, and it's a terrific deal for M42 cobalt bits at less than $40.”
Best in 2 of 5 measurements, including Spring Steel First Pass and Overall Average Finish.
Best in 1 of 5 measurements, including Spring Steel First Pass.
Best in 2 of 5 measurements, including Spring Steel First Pass and Overall Average Finish.
The measured results
Every number below is read straight from the test. Products are listed in the order they finished.
Mild Steel Initial
- 1COMOWARE M42 cobalt19.65 seconds2nd
2nd place behind the DeWalt Cobalt
- 2Milwaukee20.6 seconds
- 3Irwin23.55 seconds
- 4Viking Drill and Tool32.85 seconds
the slowest of all sets initially
- 5DeWalt Cobalt, pilot point16.36 seconds
the fastest of all 14 sets on the first mild steel test
- 6Warrior19.51 seconds2nd
2nd place initially
- 7Drill America21.1 seconds
- 8Drill Hog29.7 seconds
- 9Bosch30.16 seconds
seemed to have lost a step compared to a previous Project Farm review
- 10GMTOOLS20.55 seconds
- 11CaRollerjust over24 seconds
- 12HIGHFIRE22.86 seconds
- 13Makita HSS, titanium coated20.76 seconds
moved into the lead ahead of the DeWalt HSS at that point in the video
- 14DeWalt HSS (high speed steel)23.55 seconds
noted by the reviewer as much slower than when this same product was tested a couple of years earlier
Spring Steel First Pass
- 1COMOWARE M42 cobalt21.79 seconds
barely outperformed the DeWalt Cobalt; held up the best of any bit so far, still looked nearly as good as new
- 2Milwaukee17.65 seconds1st
only a very small amount of wear and tear
- 3Irwin24.16 seconds
about the same as Drill America
- 4Viking Drill and Tool31.82 seconds
- 5DeWalt Cobalt, pilot point21.89 seconds3rd
- 6Warrior22.05 seconds4th
but experienced quite a bit of battle damage to both sides of the bit
- 7Drill America24.22 seconds
held up quite a bit better than the Warrior
- 8Drill Hog28.71 seconds
- 9Bosch27.78 seconds3rd
moved into 3rd place behind the DeWalt Cobalt, but experienced a chip during this test
- 10GMTOOLS28.8 seconds
quite a bit slower than the DeWalt Cobalt and COMOWARE
- 11CaRoller33.89 seconds
really struggled, the point and flute edges no longer looked sharp
- 12HIGHFIREjust over29 seconds
quite a bit of wear and tear
- 13Makita HSS, titanium coated38.4 seconds
about 8 seconds faster than the DeWalt HSS but still slow, some wear on the tip and chisel edge
- 14DeWalt HSS (high speed steel)46.9 seconds
very slow, minor wear on the chisel edge
Spring Steel Durability Repeat
- 1COMOWARE M42 cobalt21.94 seconds
less than 1 percent slower than the first attempt, the least performance loss of any bit tested
- 2Milwaukee19.46 seconds
still the fastest bit, described as the drill to beat, plenty of life left
- 3Irwinaround28 seconds
still in pretty good condition
- 4Viking Drill and Tooljust under35 seconds
only about 8 percent slower, still in really good condition
- 5DeWalt Cobalt, pilot point25.71 seconds
about 4 seconds slower than its first pass, beginning to show more wear
- 6Warrior
gave up just short of drilling all the way through the spring steel; chips to the leading edge hurt its performance
- 7Drill Americajust under32 seconds
24 percent longer, quite a bit more wear
- 8Drill Hog31.1 seconds3rd
about 7.68 percent longer, held up really well, 3rd best durability result
- 9Boschjust under30 seconds2nd
only about 7 percent more time, 2nd best durability result despite the chip
- 10GMTOOLSjust under38 seconds
almost 24 percent more time, a lot of tip wear
- 11CaRoller
took very close to 3 minutes to drill through on the repeat spring steel test, in even worse condition afterward
- 12HIGHFIRE
skipped, since it failed to successfully complete the repeat mild steel test
- 13Makita HSS, titanium coated
gave up after about 30 seconds, made slightly more progress than the DeWalt HSS but ultimately did not finish
- 14DeWalt HSS (high speed steel)
completely stopped making progress, gave up quickly, significant damage to the cutting edge geometry
Ar 500 Armor Test
- 1COMOWARE M42 cobalt
completely shredded the AR500 plate, finishing in 58.69 seconds, the fastest of the only four bit sets to defeat the armor plate, and still in pretty good shape afterward
- 2Milwaukee
defeated the AR500 plate in 1 minute 17 seconds, second fastest of the four bits that finished, though the armor took a toll on it
- 3Irwin
defeated the AR500 plate in 60.29 seconds, almost as fast as COMOWARE, second fastest of the four bits that finished, still in good shape afterward
- 4Viking Drill and Tool
the fourth and final brand to defeat the AR500 armor plate, made very steady progress throughout
- 5DeWalt Cobalt, pilot point
started off making slow progress, completely stopped at around 14 seconds; did not defeat the armor plate and looked pretty dull afterward
- 6Warrior
not tested, having failed to complete the second spring steel durability pass
- 7Drill America
did not defeat the armor plate, ran out of steam at around 20 seconds and the test was ended around 30 seconds
- 8Drill Hog
did not officially defeat the armor plate; ran out of steam just before finishing, described as less than a millimeter away from completion
- 9Bosch
did not defeat the armor plate; made very slow progress and quit at around 2.5 minutes, two bad chips hurt its performance
- 10GMTOOLS
did not defeat the armor plate, ran out of steam at around 20 seconds and the test was ended around 52 seconds
- 11CaRoller
did not defeat the armor plate, ran out of steam at around 20 seconds and the test was ended around 42 seconds
- 12HIGHFIRE
not tested
- 13Makita HSS, titanium coated
not tested, having failed the second spring steel pass
- 14DeWalt HSS (high speed steel)
not tested, having failed the second spring steel pass
Mild Steel Repeat
- 1COMOWARE M42 cobalt18.68 seconds2nd
actually faster than the first pass, 2nd place behind the DeWalt Cobalt
- 2Milwaukee17.24 seconds
19 percent faster than the first pass, moved into the lead
- 3Irwin27 seconds
- 4Viking Drill and Tool31.82 seconds
actually faster than the first pass
- 5DeWalt Cobalt, pilot point17.45 seconds2nd
described as continuing to impress
- 6Warrior26.59 seconds
lost about 26 percent of its speed
- 7Drill America21.89 seconds
less than 1 second different from its first pass
- 8Drill Hog32.54 seconds
- 9Boschjust over38 seconds
about 20 percent more time due to the chip damage
- 10GMTOOLS24.01 seconds
about 4 seconds longer, visible wear and tear
- 12HIGHFIRE
did not complete the hole; the test was ended at just over 3 minutes
- 13Makita HSS, titanium coated28.35 seconds
about 26 percent slower than its first pass
- 14DeWalt HSS (high speed steel)24.58 seconds
about 1 second slower than its first pass
- 11CaRollernot tested
Overall Average Finish
- 1COMOWARE M42 cobalt1.6
the best of all 14 sets tested
- 2Milwaukee2.42nd
second best of all sets tested
- 4Viking Drill and Tool5.4
- 3Irwinnot tested
- 5DeWalt Cobalt, pilot pointnot tested
- 6Warriornot tested
- 7Drill Americanot tested
- 8Drill Hognot tested
- 9Boschnot tested
- 10GMTOOLSnot tested
- 11CaRollernot tested
- 12HIGHFIREnot tested
- 13Makita HSS, titanium coatednot tested
- 14DeWalt HSS (high speed steel)not tested
How it was tested
- time to drill through 0.5 in mild steel plate with a drill press, initial pass
- time to drill through leaf spring steel (about 0.375 in), initial pass
- repeat 0.5 in mild steel pass to measure speed loss after the spring steel test
- repeat spring steel pass to measure further durability and speed loss
- time to drill through AR500 armor plating
- overall average finish ranking across all speed and durability categories
“A very affordable Cobra drill bit set came in on top with the best average finish of 1.6. The Cobra drill would definitely be my choice, and it's a terrific deal for M42 cobalt bits at less than $40.”
