Milwaukee Compact Brushless Combo Kit Offers Brushless Benefits at a More Affordable Price

Milwaukee first introduced its Compact Brushless line around 2016. These are drills and impact drivers with brushless motors that aren’t part of the M18 Fuel line. They tend to be a little smaller and less powerful while still offering the additional runtime and long-life benefits of a brushless motor. Better yet, they cost less and still have Milwaukee’s 5-year warranty. The Milwaukee M18 Compact Brushless Combo Kit (Milwaukee 2892-22CT) is a new part of the line that includes a drill driver and impact driver.

Pros

Both tools are genuinely lightweight and compact in their class
Neither tool struggled to maintain speed in our testing
Lower price than M18 Fuel kits ($249)
Brushless motors

Cons

Drill had lower than expected results in our soft torque test
Basic feature sets

Milwaukee M18 Compact Brushless Drill Driver

Performance

In our 18V cordless drill shootout, the compact models had to drive 3/4″ auger bits and 1-1/2″ self-feed bits for their speed test. Milwaukee keeps the auger bit moving at 1171 RPM—71% of the 1665 RPM no-load speed we measured on our tachometer.

Milwaukee M18 Compact Brushless Combo Kit

With the self-feed bit in low speed, it averages 408 RPM which is 73% of its 556 RPM no-load speed.

These are mixed results. In the high-speed test, Milwaukee is near the bottom. However, it’s in the top 5 in the low-speed test.

Perhaps the bigger takeaway is in the efficiency—its percentage of no-load speed. While there are some drills that have higher percentages, what this shows us is that the motor isn’t struggling to keep these bits moving. We’re confident that you can handle anything that other compact drills can. You might just trade off a little speed.

The other side of performance is torque. It’s important to note that our torque test is a soft torque test. Check out our best cordless drill article for more testing details.

In this test, Milwaukee only averages 121 in-lbs. Soft torque usually runs 50% – 60% of the hard torque, so we expected it to be closer to 250 in-lbs. I don’t have a solid answer for why it’s lower, but Milwaukee isn’t alone here. Seven other compact drills are also in the 120 in-lbs – 130 in-lbs range.

Feature Set

For both tools in this combo kit, the feature set is pretty basic. The Milwaukee 2801 drill driver has a 2-speed brushless motor with an 18+1 clutch, a full-metal chuck, LED light, and a reversible belt hook. It’s basic, but it’s functional and it’s all you really need to effectively make holes and drive fasteners.

Physical Build

We measured the Milwaukee M18 Compact Brushless Drill Driver at 7.78″ tall and 6.63″ long. Aside from the two sub-compact drills we tested, it’s the most compact in the 18V Compact class.

Bare, it’s 2.45 pounds and 3.43 pounds with a 2.0 Ah battery on our scale. That’s also an impressive feat, with just the two sub-compacts and Skil’s compact model weighing less.

Having a lighter weight and compact footprint makes this a really pleasant drill to use. That said, the Gen 3 M18 Fuel drill and hammer drill models are really compact in their own right.

Ratings

Speed Under Load: 3.5
Torque: 2.0
Feature Set: 4.0
Weight: 4.2
Footprint: 4.8
Overall: 4.2 out of 5.0

Milwaukee M18 Compact Brushless Drill Driver Specifications

Model: Milwaukee 2801
Power Source: Milwaukee M18 RedLithium batteries
Chuck: 1/2″
No-Load Speed: 0–500/0–1800 RPM
Torque: 500 in-lbs
Weight: 2.5 lbs
Height: 7.75″
Length: 6.5″