Drill specs, explained without the marketing
Four numbers do most of the work when you compare cordless drills: torque (or UWO), speed, weight, and price. Here is what each one really measures, and the traps in comparing them across brands.
Torque: in-lbs, Nm, and the DeWalt problem
Torque is rotational force: how hard the drill can twist before it stalls. Most brands state it in inch-pounds (in-lbs); some state Newton-meters (Nm). 1 Nm is about 8.85 in-lbs, so a 65 Nm drill is roughly 575 in-lbs.
DeWalt does not publish in-lbs for most of its 20V MAX drills. It rates them in UWO, Units Watts Out, which measures maximum power output, not torque. UWO cannot be converted to in-lbs, because a drill with the same UWO can trade speed for torque differently in each gear. That is why this site shows the unit next to every torque figure and refuses to rank UWO against in-lbs. Anyone who quietly converts one to the other is making the number up.
No-load RPM
Speed ratings are quoted with the chuck spinning free, in the top gear. Under load, the chuck slows. Two-speed drills quote a range, for example 0-550 / 0-2000 RPM; three-speed drills quote three. High RPM matters for driving small fasteners and drilling wood; low gear is where the torque lives for large bits and lag bolts.
Weight: bare tool vs with battery
Always check which weight a comparison table is quoting. A 2.3 lb bare drill can weigh over 5 lb with a 5.0 Ah pack. This site quotes bare-tool weight wherever the source states it, and marks it n/a rather than guessing when it does not. A compact 2.0 Ah battery adds roughly 0.8 to 1.2 lb; a 5.0 Ah pack adds about 1.8 to 2.5 lb depending on brand and cell type.
What no spec sheet tells you
- Sustained torque under load. Peak torque is a stall point, not what the drill holds while drilling. Independent tests that measure RPM under load (Pro Tool Reviews' head-to-head is the best public one) separate drills that the spec sheet ties.
- Ecosystem lock-in. Batteries are the expensive part. If you own two Milwaukee M12 tools, a third Milwaukee on the same batteries is effectively much cheaper than its bare price suggests.
- Chuck and ergonomics. Metal ratcheting chucks hold small bits better; grip shape and balance are personal and invisible in every table, including ours.
How this site handles specs
Every cell in the comparison table comes from a named source: either the manufacturer's published spec or an independent test that measured it. Where two sources disagree badly (the Makita XFD131's torque, for example, appears as both 440 and 530 in-lbs), the cell reads n/a and the disagreement is noted, because publishing a confident number would be inventing it. Prices move constantly and are shown as recent street prices for orientation only.
Related guides
Once the specs make sense: the cordless drill comparison chart to sort 31 current models on them, what the clutch numbers on a drill mean, and the right drill bit for each material.