Comparative Analysis of Drill Bit Performance

Some brands claim their drill bits last 15 times as long as the competition. So the question is can that $11 set of bits perform just as well as the set that cost $200? In the first test, we'll see how fast the drill bits can make a hole in mild steel. Not all the drill bits will survive the second test drilling through spring steel and back-to-back attempts. Finally, we'll test a failure load of each drill bit. At a price of only $11 for 14 bits or less than a dollar each is this DeWalt brand. We'll also be testing some DeWalt cobalt bits constructed of high-speed steel. The twist drill bits have a 135 degree split point. No spin shank with three flats. DeWalt claims that their drill bits have a very strong core to avoid breaking. The DeWalt is made in Thailand. Let's kick off our first test drilling through half inch mild steel. I'll use cutting oil to help protect the drill bits. I've attached a wheel to the lever arms of the half horse power drill press. And 20 pounds of weight on the pulley works out to be very close to 175 pounds of downward force on the drill bit. According to the drill press's speed chart, we'll set up the RPM to 600 for the 3-8 inch or 9.5 millimeter drill bits. I put together a review on drill bits three years ago and the DeWalt performed extremely well against the competition. And this time the DeWalt is once again making very quick work of the half-inch mild steel. And the DeWalt is finished in only 10.53 seconds. Very impressive! A look under the microscope and the DeWalt still looks as good as new. At a price of $15 for 14 bits, or just over a dollar each, is this Samada brand. The DeWalt's are made of high-speed steel, but the Samada is made of M35 cobalt, just like the DeWalt 135-degree split point. These M35 cobalt bits are designed for hard materials such as stainless steel, cast iron, and high-temperature alloys. They're also designed for softer materials such as plastics and wood. The Samada is made in China. I'll cool off the test piece before testing each brand. And the test piece is cooled off, and the Samada is off to a decent start. However, the DeWalt is about half again faster. 15.84 seconds or 5 seconds slower than the dual and the samada still looks as good as new at a price of 23 for 21 bits is this ryobi brand just like the dual in the samada 135 degree split point I wasn't able to find robie drill bits constructed with cobalt However, these bits do have a titanium coating The roe we is made in indonesia and the robe is making a lot faster progress than the samada 13.01 seconds is good enough to move in a second place behind the dual and it looks like the roe B has some leftovers stuck on the leading edge of the drill bit tip At a price of $28 for 15 bits is this set of cobalt bits that are made by Irwin. The bits have a 135 degree split point. From my experience testing products, Irwin typically offers above average performance for a below average price. Let's see if that's the case with their drill bits. The Irwin bits are made in China. Just like the DeWalt, the Irwin is very fast. And the Irwin is finished in 11.41 seconds or less than a second slower than the DeWalt. And the Irwin still looks as good as new. At a price of $29, these DeWalt cobalt bits cost more than twice as much as the high speed steel bits. So the question is, are they twice as good? Unlike the previous brands, these DeWalt bits have a pilot point. They claim to have four times the life in stainless steel. These DeWalt bits are made in China and Germany. The size 3-8 bit we'll be testing is made in Germany. And the DeWalt pilot point is making very quick work of the half-inch mild steel. 11.15 seconds is good enough to move into second place behind the DeWalt high-speed steel bit. No visible damage to the DeWalt. At a price of $34 for 14 bits is this Bosch brand. The bits are M42 cobalt, 8% cobalt alloy that delivers 10 times the life. Thick web helix design provides additional stability and tough applications. The Bosch bits are made in China. Affordable M42 bits are very hard to find, and the Bosch is performing very well. At 11.41 seconds, the Bosch and the Irwin are now in a two-way tie for third place. And the Bosch still looks like new. At a price of $38 for 19 pieces is this LWC USMJ brand. That's a lot to say every time, so I'll just call this the LW brand. 135 degree split point. They claim to offer 10 times the life. The LW is made in China. LW claims to be an M42 bit. Unfortunately, the LW is really struggling with the mild steel. And I ended the test at around two and a half minutes. The LW bit is very brittle and experienced a lot of damage. At a price of $40 for 15 bits is this Milwaukee brand. Milwaukee uses some very interesting technology. Variable helix flute that begins with an aggressive 35 degree helical angle and ends at 15 degrees for rapid chip removal. They claim 15 times the life versus black oxide drill bits. The Milwaukee bits are made in China. And Milwaukee claims to deliver fast chip removal and it's making very quick work removing chips. And Milwaukee is finished in only 12.55 seconds. Milwaukee claims to last 15 times longer and it's still very sharp. At a price of $70 for 29 drill bits is this Warrior brand which is sold at Harbor Freight. 135 degree split point cobalt drill bits. The Warrior is made in China. And the Warrior is making very good progress but not nearly as fast as some of the other brands. The Warrior is finished in 15.12 seconds and it still looks as good as new. At a price of $76 for 15 drill bits is this Cleline brand. The cleeline bits are 135 degree cobalt split points. The cleeline is made in USA. And the cleeline moves into second place behind the DeWalt high-speed steel bits at 10.99 seconds. And there's no visible damage to the cleeline. At a price of $80 for 29 bits is this ComiWear brand. The ComiWear bits are 135 degree cobalt split points. Designed for hardened metal, stainless steel, cast iron, wood, and plastic. Can also be used for softer metals. The ComiWear bits are made in China. And the ComiWear seems to be cutting just as fast as the cleeline. And the cummerware is finished in a very good time of 11.2 seconds, which is good enough to move into fourth place. Other than some leftovers, no visible damage to the cummerware. At a price of $140 for 29 bits is this Drillhog brand. Super premium... ...Cobalt M42 plus steel. 135 degree split point prevents walking. Three flat sides prevent spinning in the chuck. The drill hog bits are made in USA. And the name drill hog seems to fit as this drill bit has a big appetite for metal. And 10.63 seconds is only 1 tenth of a second slower than the DeWalt. And the drill hog still looks as good as new. At a price of $150 for 29 bits is this Sentry brand. Made from 5% industrial quality M35 Cobalt. It claims to last up to 12 times longer than the average consumer grade high-speed steel drill. 135 degree quick cut point penetrates faster and will not walk or wander. Heavy duty web resists breakage. The Century bits are made in USA. And the Century is handling mild steel just fine, but it's not nearly as fast as some of the other brands. 16.98 seconds to drill the hole. And the Century drill bit is still in good shape. At a price of $200 for 25 bits is this Viking brand. 135 degree split point for accurate centering and fast penetration. The Viking drill and tool bits are made of M42 cobalt. The Viking bits are made in USA. With a name like Viking and a price tag of $200, expectations are very high. And a Viking bit is cutting through the mild steel like a hot knife through butter. In 996 seconds is the fastest time yet. Very impressive! And a Viking still looks as good as new. So the most expensive set of bits, the Viking drill and tool, finish in first place, but the least expensive dual bits finish in second. The drill hog and cleat line also perform very well at just under 11 seconds. Let's kick off our next test drilling through a piece of half-inch spring steel. Springsteel is very hard so I'll lower the RPM to 340 and I'll add 5 pounds of weight for a total of 25 pounds to the rope and pulley setup. So that works out to be around 220 pounds of downward force on the drill bit. Using a regular high-speed steel drill bit on springsteel is asking a lot but the DeWalt is up to the challenge. And the DeWalt needed more than twice as long at 26.4 seconds and became stuck at breakthrough. And the Samada carbide bits don't cut nearly as fast as the other brands but the Samada is not giving up. And it took 44.6 seconds which is about three times the amount of time that it took for the mild steel. And the Robey bits are made of high-speed steel with a titanium coating. And the Robey cut through the mild steel in 13 seconds, but it needed four times as long for the spring steel at 50 seconds. And the Irwin seems to offer better-than-average performance at a below-average price, and the Irwin is performing very well on the spring steel. And 24.9 seconds is fast enough to take the lead from the DeWalt. And the German-made DeWalt Cobalt bits are designed to make very easy work of hard material. And the DeWalt Cobalt bits just took the lead from the Irwin Cobalt in 22.72 seconds. And the M42 Bosch performed very well in the mild steel at 11.4 seconds and made very quick work of the spring steel. At 22.72 seconds, it's only 5.01 seconds behind the DeWalt Cobalt. While it's not a fair test, let's go ahead and do it anyway and sharpen the LW to see if we can get some use out of it. I'll create a 135 degree split point. All the damaged metal has been removed and the LW is ready for action. And the LW wasn't even able to cut through mild steel before, but now it's making very quick work of the spring steel. And the LW just drilled the fastest hole yet in only 14.7 seconds. Very impressive! Unfortunately, the LW is just way too brittle and once again experienced a lot of damage. And Milwaukee claims to be fast and hard material and is definitely drilling a lot faster than average. Not counting the LW, 21.06 seconds is the fastest time of all the bits. And the Warrior Cobalt bit was a little slower than average drilling through the mild steel at 15.12 seconds. And 24.11 seconds is actually a pretty decent time considering the hardness of the test piece. And the Cleline drill bit was pretty fast in mild steel at 10.99 seconds. And the Cleline is still performing very well drilling through the spring steel at 23.8. And the Cummoare was just a little bit slower than the Cleline drilling through the mild steel. However, the Cummoare is actually faster than the Cleline drilling through the spring steel in 22.1 seconds. And the Drill Hog was also very fast in mild steel at 10.63 seconds. And the Drill Hog still performed very well at 23.65 seconds. The Century was slower than average drilling through mild steel, however, the Century was a little bit faster than average in the spring steel at 24.84 seconds. And the Viking was the fastest in mild steel at just under 10 seconds, and the Viking is still very fast at 22.72 seconds, but it's not the fastest this time. I did sharpen the LW, giving it an unfair advantage, and I'll throw out the results in the final analysis. For the rest of the bits, the Milwaukee came in on top at 21.06 seconds. However, there are quite a few other drill bits that finished the job between 22 and 25 seconds. So let's go ahead and drill through a fresh piece of spring steel once again, and we'll see how the results compare. And the DeWalt high-speed steel drill bit got away with drilling through spring steel the first time, but unfortunately, that was it. And the DeWalt experienced way too much wear and tear to finish the job. Unfortunately, the DeWalt bit did experience quite a bit of damage. And the Somata was one of the slowest drilling bits on the last test, and it's pretty slow this time at 36.16 seconds. And the Somata experienced a lot less damage than the DeWalt. And the Robey really struggled at 50 seconds drilling through the spring steel the first time. And the Robey is just way too soft and dull to drill through the spring steel a second time. And the Irwin was faster than average on the previous test, and is faster this time as well at 20.55 seconds. While there is some wear and tear, the Irwin bit still is in pretty good shape. And the DeWalt Cobalt bit was faster than the Irwin on the last test, but this is all about endurance. This time, the DeWalt Cobalt is a little bit slower than the Irwin at 23.19 seconds. And the DeWalt bit did experience a small amount of wear and tear, but it still has a lot of life left in it. And the Bosch was faster than average last time, and it continues to perform very well on the spring steel. And the Bosch bit moves into second place behind the Irwin at 21.43 seconds. And there's a very small amount of visible wear and tear to both sides of the bit. And sharpening the LW bit did allow it to achieve the fastest whole speed last time, but it did experience a lot of damage. Unfortunately, the LW did lose a lot of speed, but still finished the job in 25.7 seconds. And the LW has by far the most damage of all the drill bits so far. Other than the LW bit, Milwaukee was the fastest to drill through the spring steel last time. And the Milwaukee moves into first place once again with a very impressive 19.25 seconds. However, the Milwaukee did experience a small amount of wear and tear, but it still looks very good. And the Warrior performed faster than average last time and is still faster than average once again this time at 23.03 seconds. However, the Warrior did experience quite a bit of damage, but the damage area has a very sharp edge, which might not actually hurt the drill bit performance. And the Klee line was faster than average drilling through the spring steel in the last round and is faster than average this time as well. And 20.6 seconds is good enough to move into third place just behind the Irwin. While there is a very small amount of wear, the bit is still in very good condition. Not including the LW, the ComiWare was the second fastest drilling through spring steel last time, and it's very fast once again. And the ComiWare takes a lead from the Milwaukee at 18.48 seconds. Very impressive. While there is a very small amount of wear, the bit is still in very good condition. And the Drill Hog was also faster than average drilling through the spring steel in the previous test. And the Drill Hog bit just moved into third place behind the DeWalt Cobalt bit at 19.67 seconds. And the drill bit is still in very good condition with a small amount of wear. And the Century bit was a little bit slower than most of the other bits on the spring steel last time. And this time the Century Bit is also slower than average at 27.01 seconds. And the Century Bit did experience some damage and some doling to the leading edge. And the Viking Drill Bit set is expensive at $200, but it's also been one of the top performers on the previous test. And the Viking just took third place position from the Drill Hog at 19.41 seconds. And the Viking looks almost as good as new with very little visible wear and tear. After drilling through mild steel and two pieces of spring steel, the Kummerware is now the fastest drill bit at 18.48 seconds. Milwaukee finished in second and Viking third. Let's once again drill through the same piece of mild steel that we used to establish our baseline to measure performance loss. And the DeWalt high-speed steel drill bit originally drilled through the mild steel in only 10.53 seconds, but the spring steel did cause a lot of wear and tear. And the DeWalt finished the job this time in 37.81 seconds, which is a 72% loss in performance. And the Samada started off slow at 15.84 seconds on mild steel the first attempt, but it held up a lot better than the DeWalt. And 22.36 seconds is about a 29% performance loss compared to the first attempt. And the Roewe Titanium wasn't able to drill through the Springsteel twice in a row. However, the Roewe was able to drill through the Mildsteel this time in 26.39 seconds. On the first attempt, the Irwin Cobalt drilled through the Mildsteel in 11.41 seconds. And the Irwin just took the lead from the Somata at 14.45 seconds. And the Dualt Cobalt was a little bit faster than the Irwin on Mildsteel in the first attempt at 11.15 seconds. And the Dualt Cobalt is faster once again in only 14.34 seconds. And the Bosch tied the Irwin drilling through Mildsteel at 11.41 seconds in the first test. And the Bosch is a fraction of a second slower than the Irwin, this time at 14.6 seconds, which is good enough to move into third place. And the LW is still benefiting from the sharpening, but it experienced way too much damage to compete with the best. And the LW is finished in 17.86 seconds. And the Milwaukee Cobalt made very quick work of the mild steel and the spring steel, but it has lost quite a bit of speed. 17.19 seconds. And it's very rare for a product to experience damage in a way that doesn't show a noticeable performance loss. And the Warrior experienced a very large chip, but it left behind an edge that's performing very well for the Warrior. And 15.79 seconds is almost as fast as the first attempt at drilling through the mild steel. And the clean line drilled through the mild steel in 10.99 seconds the first time. However, the clean line lost quite a bit of speed and finished the hole this time in 15.53 seconds. And the cummerware drilled through mild steel in 11.2 seconds last time, and it showed very little wear and tear drilling through the spring steel. And 12.7 seconds is good enough to move into first place ahead of the DeWalt Cobalt. The drill hog was very fast drilling through the mild steel in the first attempt at 10.63 seconds. And the drill hog is still very fast and moves into second place at 13.21 seconds. And the sentry drill bit was slower than average on the first attempt at 17 seconds. And the drill bit still trails most of the pack once again, but this time at just over 24 seconds. And the Viking drilled the fastest hole in the first test at just under 10 seconds. And the Viking is still the fastest drill bit at 12.65 seconds. Very impressive! So the Viking finished in first, but the much more affordable Kummuware was almost as fast at 12.7 seconds. And Drill Hog finished in third at 13.21 seconds. Looking at just performance loss can be a little bit misleading. For example, the Warrior experienced a lot of damage, but the damage didn't cause significant performance loss immediately. Comiware held up a lot better than the Warrior, but experienced an 11.81% performance loss. Several other brands performed well at less than 22%. Several of the Drill Bit brands claim to offer superior strength. So let's test the failure load of the quarter inch or the 6.5 millimeter bits. And High Speed Steel Dwell broke at 15.9 foot-pounds or 191 inch-pounds. And a snap, crackle, and pop for the Samada at 14.4 foot-pounds or 173 inch-pounds. So the DeWalt is quite a bit stronger. I had to change out torque adapters. And the Ryobi gave up very early at only 92 inch-pounds. And the Irwin gave up even sooner than the Ryobi at 88 inch-pounds. And the DeWalt Cobalt performed quite a bit better than the Ryobi and the Irwin at 168 inch-pounds. And the Bosch is by far the strongest bit yet, finally breaking at 215 inch-pounds. Very impressive! And the LW is extremely brittle and chips easily, but offers decent strength at 181 inch-pounds. And the Milwaukee performed better than the LW at 187 inch-pounds. And the Warrior went two different directions at 141 inch-pounds. And the Glueline gave up quite a bit sooner than average at 121 inch-pounds. And the Cummo wear drills fast, but it isn't quite as strong as some of the other brands at 131 inch-pounds. 212 inch-pounds for the Drill Hog is quite a bit stronger than average. And the Sentry doesn't cut the fastest, but it's the strongest at 225 inch-pounds. And the Viking broke at 157 inch-pounds, which is just a little below average. So when it comes to drill bit strength, the Sentry is the strongest at 225 inch-pounds. Bosch is also very strong at 215, and the Drill Hog finished in third at 212 inch-pounds. So which drill bit is the best? And the most expensive brand, the Viking Drill and Tool, came out on top with an average finish at 3.4. However, the Drill Hog and Coma Wear weren't too far behind. So which drill bit would I recommend? For the person who needs occasional use on softer metals, I'd definitely go with the DeWalt's High Speed Steel. It's a great value for around $11. For me, it's all about value which takes into consideration price as well as performance as it compares to the best of the best. For that reason, the Bosch at $34 is a fantastic value and that's what I'd buy. I'd like to sharpen my own drill bits and that's the biggest concern that I have with the DeWalt and Milwaukee Cobalt bits is that they have a pilot point which makes them very difficult to be sharpened. I always buy everything that I test just to avoid outside influence and to remain unbiased, so thank you very much for supporting the channel. Also, all the videos in this channel are viewer suggested, so if you have a video idea, I hope you'll take time to leave a comment. Thanks so much for watching. Please take care and I look forward to next time.

Finally, we'll test a failure load of each drill bit. At a price of only $11 for 14 bits or less than a dollar each is this DeWalt brand. We'll also be testing some DeWalt cobalt bits constructed of high-speed steel. The twist drill bits have a 135 degree split point. No spin shank with three flats.

DeWalt claims that their drill bits have a very strong core to avoid breaking. The DeWalt is made in Thailand. Let's kick off our first test drilling through half inch mild steel.

I'll use cutting oil to help protect the drill bits. I've attached a wheel to the lever arms of the half horse power drill press. And 20 pounds of weight on the pulley works out to be very close to 175 pounds of downward force on the drill bit. According to the drill press's speed chart, we'll set up the RPM to 600 for the 3-8 inch or 9.5 millimeter drill bits. I put together a review on drill bits three years ago and the DeWalt performed extremely well against the competition.

And this time the DeWalt is once again making very quick work of the half-inch mild steel. And the DeWalt is finished in only 10.53 seconds. Very impressive! A look under the microscope and the DeWalt still looks as good as new. At a price of $15 for 14 bits, or just over a dollar each, is this Samada brand.

The DeWalt's are made of high-speed steel, but the Samada is made of M35 cobalt, just like the DeWalt 135-degree split point. These M35 cobalt bits are designed for hard materials such as stainless steel, cast iron, and high-temperature alloys. They're also designed for softer materials such as plastics and wood.

The Samada is made in China. I'll cool off the test piece before testing each brand. And the test piece is cooled off, and the Samada is off to a decent start.

However, the DeWalt is about half again faster. 15.84 seconds or 5 seconds slower than the dual and the samada still looks as good as new at a price of 23 for 21 bits is this ryobi brand just like the dual in the samada 135 degree split point I wasn't able to find robie drill bits constructed with cobalt However, these bits do have a titanium coating The roe we is made in indonesia and the robe is making a lot faster progress than the samada 13.01 seconds is good enough to move in a second place behind the dual and it looks like the roe B has some leftovers stuck on the leading edge of the drill bit tip At a price of $28 for 15 bits is this set of cobalt bits that are made by Irwin. The bits have a 135 degree split point. From my experience testing products, Irwin typically offers above average performance for a below average price.

Let's see if that's the case with their drill bits. The Irwin bits are made in China. Just like the DeWalt, the Irwin is very fast. And the Irwin is finished in 11.41 seconds or less than a second slower than the DeWalt. And the Irwin still looks as good as new.

At a price of $29, these DeWalt cobalt bits cost more than twice as much as the high speed steel bits. So the question is, are they twice as good? Unlike the previous brands, these DeWalt bits have a pilot point.

They claim to have four times the life in stainless steel. These DeWalt bits are made in China and Germany. The size 3-8 bit we'll be testing is made in Germany. And the DeWalt pilot point is making very quick work of the half-inch mild steel.

11.15 seconds is good enough to move into second place behind the DeWalt high-speed steel bit. No visible damage to the DeWalt. At a price of $34 for 14 bits is this Bosch brand. The bits are M42 cobalt, 8% cobalt alloy that delivers 10 times the life.

Thick web helix design provides additional stability and tough applications. The Bosch bits are made in China. Affordable M42 bits are very hard to find, and the Bosch is performing very well. At 11.41 seconds, the Bosch and the Irwin are now in a two-way tie for third place.

And the Bosch still looks like new. At a price of $38 for 19 pieces is this LWC USMJ brand. That's a lot to say every time, so I'll just call this the LW brand.

135 degree split point. They claim to offer 10 times the life. The LW is made in China.

LW claims to be an M42 bit. Unfortunately, the LW is really struggling with the mild steel. And I ended the test at around two and a half minutes. The LW bit is very brittle and experienced a lot of damage. At a price of $40 for 15 bits is this Milwaukee brand.

Milwaukee uses some very interesting technology. Variable helix flute that begins with an aggressive 35 degree helical angle and ends at 15 degrees for rapid chip removal. They claim 15 times the life versus black oxide drill bits. The Milwaukee bits are made in China. And Milwaukee claims to deliver fast chip removal and it's making very quick work removing chips.

And Milwaukee is finished in only 12.55 seconds. Milwaukee claims to last 15 times longer and it's still very sharp. At a price of $70 for 29 drill bits is this Warrior brand which is sold at Harbor Freight. 135 degree split point cobalt drill bits.

The Warrior is made in China. And the Warrior is making very good progress but not nearly as fast as some of the other brands. The Warrior is finished in 15.12 seconds and it still looks as good as new.

At a price of $76 for 15 drill bits is this Cleline brand. The cleeline bits are 135 degree cobalt split points. The cleeline is made in USA. And the cleeline moves into second place behind the DeWalt high-speed steel bits at 10.99 seconds. And there's no visible damage to the cleeline.

At a price of $80 for 29 bits is this ComiWear brand. The ComiWear bits are 135 degree cobalt split points. Designed for hardened metal, stainless steel, cast iron, wood, and plastic.

Can also be used for softer metals. The ComiWear bits are made in China. And the ComiWear seems to be cutting just as fast as the cleeline.

And the cummerware is finished in a very good time of 11.2 seconds, which is good enough to move into fourth place. Other than some leftovers, no visible damage to the cummerware. At a price of $140 for 29 bits is this Drillhog brand.

Super premium... ...Cobalt M42 plus steel. 135 degree split point prevents walking. Three flat sides prevent spinning in the chuck. The drill hog bits are made in USA.

And the name drill hog seems to fit as this drill bit has a big appetite for metal. And 10.63 seconds is only 1 tenth of a second slower than the DeWalt. And the drill hog still looks as good as new. At a price of $150 for 29 bits is this Sentry brand.

Made from 5% industrial quality M35 Cobalt. It claims to last up to 12 times longer than the average consumer grade high-speed steel drill. 135 degree quick cut point penetrates faster and will not walk or wander. Heavy duty web resists breakage.

The Century bits are made in USA. And the Century is handling mild steel just fine, but it's not nearly as fast as some of the other brands. 16.98 seconds to drill the hole.

And the Century drill bit is still in good shape. At a price of $200 for 25 bits is this Viking brand. 135 degree split point for accurate centering and fast penetration. The Viking drill and tool bits are made of M42 cobalt. The Viking bits are made in USA.

With a name like Viking and a price tag of $200, expectations are very high. And a Viking bit is cutting through the mild steel like a hot knife through butter. In 996 seconds is the fastest time yet.

Very impressive! And a Viking still looks as good as new. So the most expensive set of bits, the Viking drill and tool, finish in first place, but the least expensive dual bits finish in second. The drill hog and cleat line also perform very well at just under 11 seconds. Let's kick off our next test drilling through a piece of half-inch spring steel.

Springsteel is very hard so I'll lower the RPM to 340 and I'll add 5 pounds of weight for a total of 25 pounds to the rope and pulley setup. So that works out to be around 220 pounds of downward force on the drill bit. Using a regular high-speed steel drill bit on springsteel is asking a lot but the DeWalt is up to the challenge.

And the DeWalt needed more than twice as long at 26.4 seconds and became stuck at breakthrough. And the Samada carbide bits don't cut nearly as fast as the other brands but the Samada is not giving up. And it took 44.6 seconds which is about three times the amount of time that it took for the mild steel.

And the Robey bits are made of high-speed steel with a titanium coating. And the Robey cut through the mild steel in 13 seconds, but it needed four times as long for the spring steel at 50 seconds. And the Irwin seems to offer better-than-average performance at a below-average price, and the Irwin is performing very well on the spring steel. And 24.9 seconds is fast enough to take the lead from the DeWalt.

And the German-made DeWalt Cobalt bits are designed to make very easy work of hard material. And the DeWalt Cobalt bits just took the lead from the Irwin Cobalt in 22.72 seconds. And the M42 Bosch performed very well in the mild steel at 11.4 seconds and made very quick work of the spring steel.

At 22.72 seconds, it's only 5.01 seconds behind the DeWalt Cobalt. While it's not a fair test, let's go ahead and do it anyway and sharpen the LW to see if we can get some use out of it. I'll create a 135 degree split point. All the damaged metal has been removed and the LW is ready for action.

And the LW wasn't even able to cut through mild steel before, but now it's making very quick work of the spring steel. And the LW just drilled the fastest hole yet in only 14.7 seconds. Very impressive! Unfortunately, the LW is just way too brittle and once again experienced a lot of damage.

And Milwaukee claims to be fast and hard material and is definitely drilling a lot faster than average. Not counting the LW, 21.06 seconds is the fastest time of all the bits. And the Warrior Cobalt bit was a little slower than average drilling through the mild steel at 15.12 seconds.

And 24.11 seconds is actually a pretty decent time considering the hardness of the test piece. And the Cleline drill bit was pretty fast in mild steel at 10.99 seconds. And the Cleline is still performing very well drilling through the spring steel at 23.8.

And the Cummoare was just a little bit slower than the Cleline drilling through the mild steel. However, the Cummoare is actually faster than the Cleline drilling through the spring steel in 22.1 seconds. And the Drill Hog was also very fast in mild steel at 10.63 seconds.

And the Drill Hog still performed very well at 23.65 seconds. The Century was slower than average drilling through mild steel, however, the Century was a little bit faster than average in the spring steel at 24.84 seconds. And the Viking was the fastest in mild steel at just under 10 seconds, and the Viking is still very fast at 22.72 seconds, but it's not the fastest this time. I did sharpen the LW, giving it an unfair advantage, and I'll throw out the results in the final analysis.

For the rest of the bits, the Milwaukee came in on top at 21.06 seconds. However, there are quite a few other drill bits that finished the job between 22 and 25 seconds. So let's go ahead and drill through a fresh piece of spring steel once again, and we'll see how the results compare. And the DeWalt high-speed steel drill bit got away with drilling through spring steel the first time, but unfortunately, that was it.

And the DeWalt experienced way too much wear and tear to finish the job. Unfortunately, the DeWalt bit did experience quite a bit of damage. And the Somata was one of the slowest drilling bits on the last test, and it's pretty slow this time at 36.16 seconds. And the Somata experienced a lot less damage than the DeWalt. And the Robey really struggled at 50 seconds drilling through the spring steel the first time.

And the Robey is just way too soft and dull to drill through the spring steel a second time. And the Irwin was faster than average on the previous test, and is faster this time as well at 20.55 seconds. While there is some wear and tear, the Irwin bit still is in pretty good shape. And the DeWalt Cobalt bit was faster than the Irwin on the last test, but this is all about endurance.

This time, the DeWalt Cobalt is a little bit slower than the Irwin at 23.19 seconds. And the DeWalt bit did experience a small amount of wear and tear, but it still has a lot of life left in it. And the Bosch was faster than average last time, and it continues to perform very well on the spring steel.

And the Bosch bit moves into second place behind the Irwin at 21.43 seconds. And there's a very small amount of visible wear and tear to both sides of the bit. And sharpening the LW bit did allow it to achieve the fastest whole speed last time, but it did experience a lot of damage.

Unfortunately, the LW did lose a lot of speed, but still finished the job in 25.7 seconds. And the LW has by far the most damage of all the drill bits so far. Other than the LW bit, Milwaukee was the fastest to drill through the spring steel last time. And the Milwaukee moves into first place once again with a very impressive 19.25 seconds. However, the Milwaukee did experience a small amount of wear and tear, but it still looks very good.

And the Warrior performed faster than average last time and is still faster than average once again this time at 23.03 seconds. However, the Warrior did experience quite a bit of damage, but the damage area has a very sharp edge, which might not actually hurt the drill bit performance. And the Klee line was faster than average drilling through the spring steel in the last round and is faster than average this time as well.

And 20.6 seconds is good enough to move into third place just behind the Irwin. While there is a very small amount of wear, the bit is still in very good condition. Not including the LW, the ComiWare was the second fastest drilling through spring steel last time, and it's very fast once again.

And the ComiWare takes a lead from the Milwaukee at 18.48 seconds. Very impressive. While there is a very small amount of wear, the bit is still in very good condition.

And the Drill Hog was also faster than average drilling through the spring steel in the previous test. And the Drill Hog bit just moved into third place behind the DeWalt Cobalt bit at 19.67 seconds. And the drill bit is still in very good condition with a small amount of wear.

And the Century bit was a little bit slower than most of the other bits on the spring steel last time. And this time the Century Bit is also slower than average at 27.01 seconds. And the Century Bit did experience some damage and some doling to the leading edge.

And the Viking Drill Bit set is expensive at $200, but it's also been one of the top performers on the previous test. And the Viking just took third place position from the Drill Hog at 19.41 seconds. And the Viking looks almost as good as new with very little visible wear and tear.

After drilling through mild steel and two pieces of spring steel, the Kummerware is now the fastest drill bit at 18.48 seconds. Milwaukee finished in second and Viking third. Let's once again drill through the same piece of mild steel that we used to establish our baseline to measure performance loss.

And the DeWalt high-speed steel drill bit originally drilled through the mild steel in only 10.53 seconds, but the spring steel did cause a lot of wear and tear. And the DeWalt finished the job this time in 37.81 seconds, which is a 72% loss in performance. And the Samada started off slow at 15.84 seconds on mild steel the first attempt, but it held up a lot better than the DeWalt. And 22.36 seconds is about a 29% performance loss compared to the first attempt.

And the Roewe Titanium wasn't able to drill through the Springsteel twice in a row. However, the Roewe was able to drill through the Mildsteel this time in 26.39 seconds. On the first attempt, the Irwin Cobalt drilled through the Mildsteel in 11.41 seconds. And the Irwin just took the lead from the Somata at 14.45 seconds. And the Dualt Cobalt was a little bit faster than the Irwin on Mildsteel in the first attempt at 11.15 seconds.

And the Dualt Cobalt is faster once again in only 14.34 seconds. And the Bosch tied the Irwin drilling through Mildsteel at 11.41 seconds in the first test. And the Bosch is a fraction of a second slower than the Irwin, this time at 14.6 seconds, which is good enough to move into third place. And the LW is still benefiting from the sharpening, but it experienced way too much damage to compete with the best.

And the LW is finished in 17.86 seconds. And the Milwaukee Cobalt made very quick work of the mild steel and the spring steel, but it has lost quite a bit of speed. 17.19 seconds. And it's very rare for a product to experience damage in a way that doesn't show a noticeable performance loss.

And the Warrior experienced a very large chip, but it left behind an edge that's performing very well for the Warrior. And 15.79 seconds is almost as fast as the first attempt at drilling through the mild steel. And the clean line drilled through the mild steel in 10.99 seconds the first time.

However, the clean line lost quite a bit of speed and finished the hole this time in 15.53 seconds. And the cummerware drilled through mild steel in 11.2 seconds last time, and it showed very little wear and tear drilling through the spring steel. And 12.7 seconds is good enough to move into first place ahead of the DeWalt Cobalt.

The drill hog was very fast drilling through the mild steel in the first attempt at 10.63 seconds. And the drill hog is still very fast and moves into second place at 13.21 seconds. And the sentry drill bit was slower than average on the first attempt at 17 seconds. And the drill bit still trails most of the pack once again, but this time at just over 24 seconds.

And the Viking drilled the fastest hole in the first test at just under 10 seconds. And the Viking is still the fastest drill bit at 12.65 seconds. Very impressive! So the Viking finished in first, but the much more affordable Kummuware was almost as fast at 12.7 seconds. And Drill Hog finished in third at 13.21 seconds.

Looking at just performance loss can be a little bit misleading. For example, the Warrior experienced a lot of damage, but the damage didn't cause significant performance loss immediately. Comiware held up a lot better than the Warrior, but experienced an 11.81% performance loss.

Several other brands performed well at less than 22%. Several of the Drill Bit brands claim to offer superior strength. So let's test the failure load of the quarter inch or the 6.5 millimeter bits. And High Speed Steel Dwell broke at 15.9 foot-pounds or 191 inch-pounds. And a snap, crackle, and pop for the Samada at 14.4 foot-pounds or 173 inch-pounds.

So the DeWalt is quite a bit stronger. I had to change out torque adapters. And the Ryobi gave up very early at only 92 inch-pounds. And the Irwin gave up even sooner than the Ryobi at 88 inch-pounds.

And the DeWalt Cobalt performed quite a bit better than the Ryobi and the Irwin at 168 inch-pounds. And the Bosch is by far the strongest bit yet, finally breaking at 215 inch-pounds. Very impressive!

And the LW is extremely brittle and chips easily, but offers decent strength at 181 inch-pounds. And the Milwaukee performed better than the LW at 187 inch-pounds. And the Warrior went two different directions at 141 inch-pounds. And the Glueline gave up quite a bit sooner than average at 121 inch-pounds.

And the Cummo wear drills fast, but it isn't quite as strong as some of the other brands at 131 inch-pounds. 212 inch-pounds for the Drill Hog is quite a bit stronger than average. And the Sentry doesn't cut the fastest, but it's the strongest at 225 inch-pounds.

And the Viking broke at 157 inch-pounds, which is just a little below average. So when it comes to drill bit strength, the Sentry is the strongest at 225 inch-pounds. Bosch is also very strong at 215, and the Drill Hog finished in third at 212 inch-pounds.

So which drill bit is the best? And the most expensive brand, the Viking Drill and Tool, came out on top with an average finish at 3.4. However, the Drill Hog and Coma Wear weren't too far behind. So which drill bit would I recommend? For the person who needs occasional use on softer metals, I'd definitely go with the DeWalt's High Speed Steel.

It's a great value for around $11. For me, it's all about value which takes into consideration price as well as performance as it compares to the best of the best. For that reason, the Bosch at $34 is a fantastic value and that's what I'd buy. I'd like to sharpen my own drill bits and that's the biggest concern that I have with the DeWalt and Milwaukee Cobalt bits is that they have a pilot point which makes them very difficult to be sharpened. I always buy everything that I test just to avoid outside influence and to remain unbiased, so thank you very much for supporting the channel.

Also, all the videos in this channel are viewer suggested, so if you have a video idea, I hope you'll take time to leave a comment. Thanks so much for watching. Please take care and I look forward to next time.

Transcript for:Comparative Analysis of Drill Bit Performance

Transcript for:
Comparative Analysis of Drill Bit Performance